☧ Christology · States & Descent

Metaphorical-Only

The *descendit* is merely metaphor for the depth of Christ's suffering on the cross — Calvin's secondary suggestion, not preferred by the LC.

This is a contested or rejected alternative.

The Westminster baseline on States & Descent is Humiliation-And-Exaltation; No-Local-Descent. Personas and schools listed below hold this alternative position instead — either because they argued for it at the Assembly (like the Erastians on polity) or because they represent a receiving tradition that departed from the Standards on this point.

Cruxes on this attribute

The Assembly navigated 1 crux that bear directly on States & Descent.

The Descent into Hell 1647 What does the Apostles’ Creed’s "descendit ad inferna" mean?

Other positions on States & Descent

Humiliation-And-Exaltation; No-Local-Descent WCF Two states (humiliation, exaltation); the *descendit* is interpreted as the continued state of death between cross and resurrection, not a local descent (LC Q. 50). Local-Descent Christ literally descended into a place called Hades — variously to liberate OT saints, to suffer further, or to triumph over hell; not the Standards' reading.

Cite this position

Study Reformed, “Metaphorical-Only” (Position), Westminster Standards Atlas, version 79a5f9880ac1, https://studyreformed.com/atlas/cite/position/christology/states_and_descent/metaphorical_only/.

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Ontology version 79a5f9880ac1 — the state of the Atlas you are reading, so a citation stays checkable when the ontology is revised.