121. Christ's Incorruptibility, Duration in the Tomb, and Descent to Hell
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Lecture Notes
Main Topics #
The Incorruptibility of Christ’s Body #
- The Problem: If Christ’s body was of the same nature as ours, and our bodies begin to dissolve and putrefy after death, why did Christ’s body not undergo the same corruption?
- The Solution: Putrefaction arises from the infirmity of nature—the natural heat being exhausted and extraneous heat causing decomposition. Christ’s death, however, was not from natural weakness but from voluntary passion undertaken from charity.
- Divine Power’s Role: The divine power preserved Christ’s body from putrefaction to demonstrate His divinity and the voluntary nature of His death. If His body had putrefied, “the usefulness of the blood that I have shed” would be lost (Psalm 29).
- Distinction: The body was able to be putrefied as regards the condition of a sufferable nature, but not as regards the merit of putrefaction, which arises from sin. Since Christ had no sin, putrefaction was not fitting.
- Hope from Resurrection: Christ’s rising from the sepulcher by divine power is sufficient to give men hope of rising even from dust, demonstrating that divine power is not limited by natural conditions.
Duration in the Tomb: One Day and Two Nights #
- The Figure of Speech: The “three days and three nights” of Matthew 12 (comparing Christ to Jonah) should be understood as a synecdoche—using part for the whole.
- Distinction from Other Figures: Synecdoche differs from metonymy (which concerns universal whole to part) by referring specifically to the composed or integral whole and its parts. Example: “The Word was made flesh” (Synecdoche) involves the integral whole (person) and part (flesh).
- The Calculation: From the time of burial:
- Part of Friday (from the sixth hour until evening)—counted as the “first day”
- The whole night of Friday-Saturday
- The whole day of Saturday
- Part of Sunday morning (early dawn/diluculum)—counted as part of the “third night”
- The Meaning: This one day and two nights represents the twofold death from which Christ frees us:
- Two nights represent the death of the soul (spiritual death from sin)
- One day represents the death of the body
- The day signifies light because Christ’s death proceeded from charity and voluntary passion, not from sin or weakness
- The Diluculum (Early Morning): The early morning of resurrection partakes of both night and day (like twilight), representing the transition from darkness to light, from death to resurrection.
The Descent to Hell: Suitability and Effects #
Three Reasons for Suitability #
- To Carry Our Punishment: Just as Christ underwent death to liberate us from death, He descended to hell to liberate us from descent to hell. As Isaiah prophesied: “Truly, he bore our infirmities and our sorrows he carried.”
- To Overcome the Devil: Through His passion, the devil was overcome, and those detained in hell by the devil were liberated (Zechariah 9; Colossians 2).
- To Demonstrate Divine Power: Just as Christ showed His power on earth living and dying, and in resurrection, He showed it in hell by visiting and illuminating it. “Lift up, O gates, your princes” (Psalm 23)—removing the power of the princes of hell.
The Descent and Local Motion #
- Against: Some object that the soul, being incorporeal, cannot move locally (locally being proper to bodies), so descent to hell seems impossible.
- Resolution: The soul’s descent is not local motion in the bodily sense but the kind of motion by which angels move—the application of power to something not previously applied to. Christ applied His power to those in hell through His descent.
Distinction of Hells and Different Effects #
Christ descended to hell in two ways:
- Through Effect: In all parts of hell, but with different effects in each
- Through Essence/Presence: In the specific place where the just were detained
Three regions affected differently:
- Hell of the Damned: Christ’s effect was to refute or upbraid their incredulity and malice (not to convert them, but to manifest His divinity and shame their infidelity)
- Purgatory: He gave those detained there the hope of eventually obtaining glory
- Limbo of the Fathers (Hell of the Just): He poured in the light of eternal glory—the beatific vision itself
Two Senses of “Sadness” in Hell #
- Sadness from Punishment: Suffering for actual sin (Psalm 17: “the sorrows of hell surrounded me”)
- Sadness from Delay of Glory: Deprivation of the vision of God (Proverbs 13: “hope which is deferred afflicts the soul”)
- The holy fathers experienced the second kind; Christ solved both kinds—the first by preserving from punishment, the second by giving glory.
The Presence of the Whole Christ in Hell #
- The Distinction: In one sense something is somewhere through its effect; in another through its essence.
- Christ’s Presence: The whole Christ (the Word as person) was in hell through His soul, though not His whole human nature (body and soul were separated). The effect of His power was extended to all parts of hell from His presence in one place.
- Analogy: Just as in one place of the earth suffering, Christ liberated the whole world by His action, so in one part of hell His presence derived effect to all parts.
Key Arguments #
For the Incorruptibility of Christ’s Body #
Objection 1: Christ’s body is of the same nature as ours; our bodies putrefy; therefore Christ’s body should putrefy.
Response: Putrefaction arises from natural infirmity. Christ’s death proceeded from voluntary passion, not from weakness of nature. Divine power preserved His body to demonstrate this voluntary nature and preserve the efficacy of His blood.
Objection 2: Christ wished to be buried to give men hope of rising from tombs. He should have undergone corruption to give hope to those turned to dust.
Response: Christ’s rising from the sepulcher by divine power—not just from dust—is sufficient proof that divine power can raise men from dust. The demonstration of His divine power through incorruptibility is more fitting than putrefaction would be.
For Understanding “Three Days and Three Nights” as Synecdoche #
Objection: Matthew 12:40 explicitly states “three days and three nights,” implying a literal three full periods.
Response: Augustine explains that people “not knowing the way of Scripture” erroneously demand literal precision. Scripture uses synecdoche: parts of days are counted as whole days. The three hours of darkness (noon to 3 PM) counted as “night,” three hours after (until sunset) counted as “day,” then the full Sabbath night and day, then the early dawn of resurrection—yielding the synecdochical formula.
For the Descent to Hell of the Damned #
Objection: “I will penetrate all the lower parts of the earth” (Ecclesiasticus 24) indicates Christ descended to all hells, including the damned.
Response: Christ’s effect penetrated all hells, but His presence (in essence/through His soul) was specifically in the place of the just. The effect of refuting malice reached the damned, but He did not dwell there in the same way.
Objection: Peter says Christ preached “in spirit” to those “in prison” and “incredulous”—meaning the damned.
Response: Augustine better explains this as referring to Christ’s divine power exercised throughout time on those living in mortal bodies (which are a prison of the soul), not specifically to the descent to hell. The preaching through internal inspirations and through the just was directed to those disbelieving in Noah’s time, for instance.
For Liberation of the Holy Fathers #
The Mystery: If the fathers were already freed from actual sin through faith in Christ, why did they need liberation at the descent to hell?
Resolution: They were freed from actual sin through faith but remained excluded from the beatific vision due to the guilt of original sin. Christ’s descent removed this impediment by:
- Removing the obstacle (original sin’s guilt) that prevented entry to glory
- Applying the universal causality of His passion specifically to the dead through His descent (just as sacraments apply it to the living)
- Giving them the beatific vision (the light of eternal glory)
Important Definitions #
Synecdoche (σύν + ἐκδοχή): A figure of speech involving the composed or integral whole and its part—using a part for the whole or the whole for a part. Distinguished from metonymy by specifically dealing with integral wholes. Example: “The Word was made flesh.”
Putrefaction (putrefactio): The dissolution of a body into its constituent elements through the loss of natural heat and the action of extraneous heat, arising from the infirmity of nature—a sign of subjection to sin and death.
Diluculum: The early morning or dawn, which partakes of both night and day—representing the liminal moment of Christ’s resurrection.
Descent to Hell (descensus ad inferos): The passage of Christ’s soul to the infernal regions after His death, through which He applied the universal causality of His passion to those who had died before His crucifixion and freed them from the impediments to glory.
Limbo of the Fathers (limbus patrum): The place where the just who died before Christ were detained, not suffering active punishment but deprived of the beatific vision due to original sin.
The Beatific Vision (visio Dei): The direct face-to-face knowledge of God in His essence, constituting the perfect happiness of the blessed—which Christ gave to the holy fathers at His descent.
Hell of the Damned: The place of those eternally condemned through actual mortal sin, where they suffer both the pain of punishment and the pain of loss (deprivation of the vision of God).
Examples & Illustrations #
The Monastery Visit: Berquist illustrates synecdoche by noting: “I went to the monastery today”—though he only went in the afternoon and left later. A part of the day is used for the whole day in common speech. This is synecdoche, familiar in everyday language though the technical name is unfamiliar.
Molière’s Comedy: Berquist references Molière’s comedy where a character who has been speaking prose his whole life doesn’t realize he’s been using a figure of speech. Similarly, we use synecdoche constantly (“I saw Mr. Republican” meaning Bob Taft, a prominent Republican) without knowing the technical term.
The Fountain of Life: Earlier in the discussion (referenced here), Christ is the fountain of life according to His divinity, but according to His humanity He can and did experience death—showing how apparent contradictions resolve through proper distinction.
The Doctor and Medicine: Just as a doctor preserves someone from sickness through medicine (not through removing the sickness externally), Christ solved the sorrows of punishment by preserving the saints from them.
Shakespeare and Human Realities: Berquist reflects on Shakespeare’s gentle presentation of common people without judgment, and notes Shakespeare’s insight that women are difficult to understand (Cymbeline: “Who is it that can read a woman?")—showing that even great literature recognizes the complexity of human nature.
Notable Quotes #
“The body of Christ was incinerated, right, or reduced to ashes, I should say, in the sepulchre…For just as death is the punishment of the sin of the first parent, so also this return to ashes.”
“Putrefaction of any body arises from the infirmity of the nature of that body, which is not able anymore to contain that body as something one. But the death of Christ…ought not to be with the infirmity of nature, lest it be believed that it was not voluntary.”
“From his person, it is said in Psalm 29, what usefulness in my blood when I descend to corruption. As if, if my body putrefies, there is lost the usefulness of the blood that I have shed.”
“It is a custom mode of speaking of Scripture…In which apartheid totem intelligitair [parts are understood for wholes].”
“We have been using Synecdoche all my life…Very common…We commonly use those ways of speaking. What’s unfamiliar, maybe, is the word they used to name it.”
“So the Moliere comedy…the guy who’s been speaking prose all his life? I didn’t know that. Well, it’s a question of not knowing the word, right?”
“Christ in the middle of the night rose, right, huh? Not dividing the night into two equal parts, but within that night…that diluculum, that early morning, is a part of the night and part of the day.”
“The universal cause should be applied to singular effects through something special. Whence just as the power of the Passion of Christ is applied to those living through the sacraments…So also is applied to the dead through the descent of Christ to hell.”
“The soul of Christ does not go down to hell by that kind of motion by which bodies are moved, right? But by that kind of motion by which angels are moved.”
“To those who were detained in purgatory, he gave them the hope of obtaining glory, right? But to the holy fathers, huh? Who, for original sin alone, were detained in hell, he poured in the light of eternal glory.”
Questions Addressed #
Was it suitable for Christ’s body to be corrupted or return to ashes?
No. Although Christ’s body was capable of putrefaction as regards its natural condition, putrefaction arises from natural infirmity and the separation of the natural heat that holds the body together. Since Christ’s death was entirely voluntary and not from weakness of nature, and since divine power preserves the efficacy of His redemptive blood, it was fitting that His body remain uncorrupted. The divine power that preserved His incorruptibility and raised Him from the dead is sufficient to give us hope of rising even from dust.
How should “three days and three nights” be understood in Matthew 12:40?
Through the figure of synecdoche (using parts for the whole). The calculation includes: a part of Friday (from the sixth hour), the whole night of Friday-Saturday, the whole day of Saturday, and the early morning of Sunday. This yields synecdochically “three days and three nights” and fittingly represents the twofold death (soul and body) from which Christ frees us—the night representing death of soul and death of body, the day representing Christ’s voluntary death proceeding from charity rather than from sin.
Was it suitable for Christ to descend to hell?
Yes, for three reasons: (1) to carry the punishment due to sin (descent to hell) and thereby liberate us from it, just as His death liberated us from death; (2) to overcome the devil and liberate those detained by the devil; (3) to demonstrate His divine power universally—on earth living, in death, in resurrection, and in hell.
Did Christ’s descent extend to the hell of the damned?
Christ’s effect extended to the hell of the damned (refuting their incredulity and malice), but His presence (in essence through His soul) was specifically in the place where the just were detained. The whole Christ (as person) was there, but through the application of His power to a specific location, His effect reached all parts of hell—just as from one place on earth His passion liberated the whole world.
Did Christ liberate those in purgatory?
No explicit statement is made, though Berquist notes that to those detained in purgatory Christ gave “the hope of obtaining glory.” The focus is on the liberation of the holy fathers from original sin’s impediment to glory.
How could an incorporeal soul “descend” locally to hell?
The soul does not descend by local bodily motion (which is proper to bodies) but by the kind of motion proper to angels—the application of power to something not previously applied to. Christ applied His divine and human power through His soul to those detained in hell, thus “descending” in the sense of extending His efficacy to that domain.