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There is actually very little direct evidence or even direct mention in the scriptures of what Jesus did for the three days that His body lay in the tomb.

However, there are several scriptural allusions or hints that, when taken together, give indications of what Jesus did during those three days. Perhaps the most direct is 1 Peter 3:18-19. "For Christ also died…being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah,…"

The Navarre Bible commentary has this to say: "…'Being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit': there is disagreement among commentators as to what "flesh" and "spirit" mean here. Some identify them with our concepts of body and soul - "dead as regards the body, alive as regards the soul". Others see them as equivalent to the humanity-divinity of our Lord: "dead as far as his human nature is concerned, alive (continues to live) as far as his divinity is concerned". Finally, having regard to the meaning these terms have in the Old Testament, the phrase may refer to the earthly condition of our Lord compared with the glorious condition he had after his resurrection; in which case it would be an early form of words used to convey the idea that Jesus Christ, on dying, left his mortal condition behind for ever in order to move into his glorious, immortal state through his resurrection (cf. 1 Cor. 15:35-49).

'In which', that is, in the spirit. The ambiguity of the original text (referred to in the previous note) continues, so it is possible to understand the 'in which' in the three ways outlined. Some take it as meaning that Christ went to preach to the spirits in prison "with his soul", separated from his body; for some he went 'in his glorious condition', which is not incompatible with the resurrection in the strict sense happening afterwards.

In any event, these verses are one of the clear references in the New Testament to our Lord descending into hell [my comment: in the sense of Hades or "the realm of the dead"] (cf. Also Mt 12:38-41; Acts 2:24-36; Rom 10:6-7; Eph 4:8-9; Rev 1:18). After dying on the cross, Jesus Christ went to bring his message of salvation "to the spirits in prison": many Fathers and commentators are inclined to the view that this is a reference to the just of the Old Testament who, not being able to enter heaven until the Redemption took place, were kept in the bosom of Abraham, which is also called the "limbo" of the just.

The reference to the contemporaries of Noah is probably explained by the fact that, for the Jews of the time, those people (along with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah: (cf. Mt 24:36-39; Lk 17:26-30) were classic inveterate sinners. By bringing in this reference St. Peter is teaching that the Redemption embraces all men: even the contemporaries of Noah, if they repented, could have attained salvation through the merits of Christ."