The belief that Jesus went to hell between his crucifixion and resurrection, also known as the "harrowing of hell" has been believed since ancient times and is found even in the apostle's creed. The verse in Luke 23:43 and Luke 23:46 teaches that Jesus went to His father's presence immediately after he died on the cross. Luke 23 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. -kjv Luke 23 46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. -kjv The verses that people who believed in the "harrowing of hell" cited were: Ephesians 4:9, 1 Peter 3:19-20 and John 20:17. Ephesians 4 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? -kjv This verse is referring to the incarnation, when Jesus became man and not Jesus descending to hell. 1 Peter 3 19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. -kjv This verse is not talking about Jesus preaching in hell but rather that Jesus is preaching through Noah in the past to the people who were still alive in the days of Noah but who rejected the teachings of Noah and hence are now "spirits in prison" John 20 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. -kjv This verse is not talking about Jesus' spirit has not been to the Father but that Jesus is telling Mary Magdalene that she should stop clinging unto him because His bodily resurrection is still in the future. In other words, Jesus is saying that "Mary, you can let go of me because for the next forty days, I will still be with you" Hence, there is no biblical basis for the "harrowing of hell" and even the later version of the apostle's creed was wrong.
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Luke 16 8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. -kjv 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. -niv 8 “The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted astutely. For the sons of this age are more astute than the sons of light in dealing with their own people. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of the unrighteous money so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings. -hcsb Observation and comments
The gist of the parable of the dishonest manager is this: The dishonest manager is confronted by the rich man of squandering his possessions and the rich man intends to remove him from his position. The dishonest manager don't wish to beg his master nor think that he can retain his position, so what he did was to forgive some of the debts of the debtors so that he can make more friends and others may welcome him should he be dismissed and the master praised the actions of the dishonest manger.
Is Jesus advocating dishonesty? No. The master praised the dishonest manager because he has acted astutely. What Jesus is saying that basically what he did was unrighteous but he was astute and that's how he saved his neck by using wealth to make friends. That is how the unrighteous used money. Those who follow the King should use money in the same way, not use money dishonestly but we need to use the money to extend the kingdom of God. Support missionaries, support people going for vocation training, support the work of God and one day when we go to heaven, we will meet people in heaven who will tell us that because of the money you gave to a missionary, that's how I came to the saving knowledge of Jesus and that's how I came to heaven to celebrate eternity with you and we will be welcomed by all those people whom we have worked as partners so that they can hear the gospel. Jesus is saying money may be unrighteous but we can use it to advance the kingdom of God. Learnt this from open line moody radio.
Question from moody radio listener: How did the people in the old testament know that they are saved or not? I know God made the relationship known like Moses, Abraham and the prophets, but without Jesus, how are the people saved in the old testament? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik from Moody Radio openline on Oct 24, 2015 I think the simplest way to understand salvation is people are saved the same way all the time, by grace through faith in the revealed will of God. So, it is always by God's undeserved kindness towards us, that is by grace through faith through trust. However, what is the object of trust? What are we trusting in? It is by whatever God has revealed for us to trust in. In the old testament, people were told to trust that if they sinned, and offered sacrifices, God will provide a covering for their sins and probably they received enough revelation of a coming Messiah, though they might not have known that his name is Jesus. They might not have comprehended of all the details that have been revealed to them about Jesus in the scriptures. So, if they offered the sacrifices in trust in God forgiving them and they look forward to that coming redeemer, that was their trust and their sins are forgiven. We know that those old testament sacrifices are like paying the minimum balance of the credit card and holding them off for another month but it does not deal with the principal and interest of the debt. When Jesus came, his death paid the penalty, paid the principal and interest and everything dealing with the debt. This is not only true of the case for us who believed today but even for the people in the old testament. It is Jesus' death that dealt with sin. It is Jesus's death that is the fulfilment of the old testament sacrifical system. Above answer is not word for word from Dr Michael Rydelnik. Some words are phrased based on my own understanding of the audio clip.