Someone inquires, “Did Jesus preach in Hell?” The short answer is, “No.”
It may be that the question arises from either of these two verses that were penned by the apostle Peter. “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6 NKJV).
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20)
The point of 1 Peter 4:6 is that the Gospel “was preached” (past tense) to those who “are dead” (present tense) so that it is appropriate for judgment (for righteousness or for sinfulness) to come upon them. The people of 1 Peter 4:6 had been alive when they heard the Gospel, but at the time of the apostle’s writing they were dead. Afterward, final judgment will occur (Hebrews 9:27).
The same sort of thing is true respecting 1 Peter 3:18-20. The Holy Spirit (1 Peter 3:18) preached to the spirits who were in prison. However, like with 1 Peter 4:6, those “in prison” had been alive when they had been acquainted with God’s Word, but at the time of Peter’s writing, they were dead. Those “spirits in prison” of 1 Peter 3:19 were souls who had lived prior to the universal flood and who had been availed of God’s Word through the preaching of Noah (1 Peter 3:20). The means by which the Spirit preached to them was through the preacher of righteousness – Noah. “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:4-5). Generally, those living prior to the flood of Noah’s day had 120 years to hear and obey the Word of God simultaneously as Noah built the ark (Genesis 6:3).
Incidentally, “went and preached” is merely a redundancy comparable to “he spoke, saying” or “he speaking, said.” The words “went and preached” represent the same activity, not travel plans acted out followed by preaching.
