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A reader writes in:
"Between Jesus' (the Son) death and resurrection only two persons of the Trinity existed: the Father and the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus' death and after the resurrection there were/are three divine persons. How is this possible if God is a perfect unity and never changes?"
Classical Trinitarian Christian theology insists that there was never a time when the second person of the Trinity did not exist. The prologue to John's Gospel equates the second person with the pre-existent Logos or Word, taking part in the creation of the universe. The second person became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, was crucified and was raised in body to sit at the right hand of the first person of the Trinity (God the Father). The embodied, risen Christ remains there, interceding for us.
The question of "What happened to Jesus in between his death and resurrection?" is a popular question. It is answered by the decensus clause in the Apostles Creed, "He descended to the dead." This is inferred from several Biblical sources.
"Acts 2:27 and 2:31 declare in effect that Hades ("place of the dead") could not hold the crucified Christ. 1 Peter 3:19–20 says that Jesus 'went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah' and 1 Peter 4:6 says that the gospel was 'proclaimed even to the dead…'" (Wikipedia)
Those, along with several other passages led to a doctrine of the "Harrowing of Hell," meaning that in between the time of his death and resurrection, Jesus was traveling the length and width of Hell, showing his dominion over even this area. In the tradition that developed from this doctrine, Jesus not only traversed it, but broke it's gates, releasing Adam and Eve and all of it's captives. In the icon above, Christ rises from hell, trampling upon its gates, taking Adam and Eve by the wrist, and raising them to heaven with him.
Some theologians maintained there was a kind of bait and switch going on here. Hell eagerly swallows Jesus up, thinking it has triumphed by taking in the Son of God. But when Jesus breaks out on the third day, it is shattered forever. This led to a minority, but ancient thread of universalism in Christianity, known as Apocatastasis. Here's a piece of Eastern Orthodox liturgy (St. Basil the Great, I believe) that I use on Holy Saturday.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Today Hell cried out, groaning: “Would that I had not received him who was born of Mary, for he came to me and broke my power; he shattered the gates of brass, and as God, raised up the souls which before I had held.”
O praise the Lord, all you nations of the Earth.
Today, Hell cried out, groaning: “My authority has been broken down; I received one dead, as one of the mortals; but against this one I prevailed not. I perish with him and with those I had ruled. From eternity I had held the dead, but behold, he raises all.”
For his merciful kindness is ever more and more towards us; and the truth of the Lord endures forever.
Today Hell cried out, groaning: “My power has been trampled on; the Shepherd has been crucified, and he raised up Adam; I have been deprived of those over whom I ruled, and all those I swallowed in my strength I have disgorged. He who was crucified has emptied the tombs, and the power of death avails not.”
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
So to answer the question, according to orthodox theology, the second person of the most holy Trinity did continue to exist in between death and resurrection, and indeed was very busy.
David+
Further Information:
WIkipedia - The Harrowing of Hell
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