Did Jesus’ spirit leave his body and go to Hades?

Question:

I have a general question that I'm hoping you can help me find supporting scriptures.

Somebody challenged me that he doesn't believe that the spirit left Jesus' body when he died and went to Hades.  His argument is that Jesus is God and he's in control of even Hades so that his spirit would not need to leave his body and go to Hades.  He further argues that Jesus already holds the key to Hades, so why would he need to go down there to get the key?  I tried to explain to him my understanding is that Jesus is fully God and was fully man. He went through everything that we'd have to go through, including death, so that he can be our savior, and the definition of death is a spirit leaving the body. However, he wants scripture to say that Jesus' spirit left his body and went to Hades instead of an "assumption." Help!

Answer:

The Bible states multiple times that Christ's spirit left his body at the cross:

"And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.'" Having said this, He breathed His last" (Luke 23:46).

"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit" (Matthew 27:50).

"So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit" (John 19:30).

Reference is also made to Christ's soul being in Hades: "he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption" (Acts 2:31). In order to leave, He had to be there in the first place.

I hope these passages will be of assistance.

by Andrew Hamilton

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