214 EEV. CANON MACCULLOCH^ D.D.^ ON THE DESCENT 



In this narrati\ e, which influenced all later mediaeval belief, we 

 have the deception of Satan, the descent and bursting open of the 

 gates, the binding of Satan (or Death), the release of souls, and 

 the resurrection of the saints. But the preaching in Hades is 

 not mentioned. To each of these, found separately or in 

 connection in other documents, we shall now turn our 

 attention. 



(1) Deception of Satan. — Origen combined this idea with that 

 of a ransom paid to Satan by God in exchange for souls. The 

 devil did not know of the Incarnation or that he could not 

 retain Christ's soul — the ransom, and thus Christ overcame 

 him.* Ignatius already knew of this deception doctrine and 

 taught that the Virginity of Mary and the Incarnation as well 

 as the death of Christ were kept secret from Satan.f Perhaps 

 he borrowed from the Christian sections of the Ascension of 

 Isaiah in which Christ's descent to earth is hidden from the 

 rulers of the heavens, because He takes their forms. The 

 Yirgin-birth escapes their knowledge, and thus when the Prince 

 of this world caused Christ's death, he did not know who He 

 was.J The central idea of the doctrine is that hidden behind 

 the veil of flesh is a deathless Xature by which, in their hour of 

 triumph. Death and Satan are deceived and conquered. P)ut it 

 is perhaps known to St. Paul who speaks of the hidden mystery 

 of which the princes of this world were ignorant, else they 

 would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (i Cor. ii, 8). It 

 may be referred to in Heb. ii, 14 ; Christ took human nature 

 that He might destroy him that had the power of death, i.e., the 

 devil, and deliver his captives. 



The same idta is found in various forms among the Gnostics, 

 either in that of the descent of the heavenly seon Christ 

 invisibly or in the form of the heaven-rulers to earth, or in the 

 docetic doctrine of His body which could not really die. 

 The descent here only concerned this earth, not Hades. § But 

 the Semi-Gnostic Marcion taught a Hades-descent. Christ, 

 having a phantasmal body, could not die, but, as if dead, He 

 went to Hades and deceived him and made him relinquish souls. 



* Origen, Li Ilatt. t. xii, 28 ; xiii, 8, 9 ; xvi, 8 ; in Rom. ii, 13 ; 

 Exhort, ad Mart., 12 ; Hora. 6 in Luc. 

 t Ignatius, ad Ephes. 19. 

 :|: A seen. Is. x, 8 — xi, 19, ed. Dr. Charles. 

 § See below. 



