The concept of Limbo of the Patriarchs is not spelled out in Scripture, but is seen by some as implicit in various references.

This concept of Limbo affirms that admittance to Heaven is possible only through the intervention of Jesus Christ, but does not portray Moses, etc. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into Hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead.' It adds: 'But he descended there as Saviour, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.' It does not use the word 'Limbo'. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Christ's descent into Hell as meaning primarily that 'the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. The term 'Limbo of the Fathers' was a medieval name for the part of the underworld ( Hades) where the patriarchs of the Old Testament were believed to be kept until Christ's soul descended into it by his death through crucifixion and freed them (see Harrowing of Hell). The 'Limbo of the Patriarchs' or 'Limbo of the Fathers' (Latin limbus patrum) is seen as the temporary state of those who, despite the sins they may have committed, died in the friendship of God but could not enter Heaven until redemption by Jesus Christ made it possible.

Limbo prime