Brother Rushmore, We were studying this chapter in class last Wednesday night. Came to these verses and we really weren’t sure what they meant especially the last part of verse 19, “preached to the spirits in prison.” Would appreciate your help in understanding verse 19. Thank-you, Billy Roughton
The biblical reference in the inquiry is:
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:18-20, King James Version).
Most translations read about the same as the quotation above. Some read as below with the inclusion of the added word “now” in italics by the translators, which indicates their understanding that the spirits addressed were once the ungodly people who died in the universal flood of Noah’s day, but these souls are now in “prison.”
“in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water” (1 Peter 3:19-20, New American Standard).
Many commentators have presumed that following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, our Lord descended into Hades and particularly to the chamber reserved for the unrighteous until the great Judgment. While there, they think, Jesus Christ preached to those incarcerated souls, either to offer them a second chance at redemption or to magnify their condemnation. However, nowhere in the Bible is there the least hint that a second chance following death is possible for any soul. This view, then, would be unique and contradictory to all else taught regarding the unalterable state of the dead respecting eternity. The word translated “preached” means to herald or proclaim, which is not usually associated with a negative message of condemnation.
Other commentators suppose that the verse under consideration amounts to a flashback to the 120 years while Noah was preparing the ark and during which time he had opportunity to preach to his wayward fellows. The idea is that Jesus Christ through Noah proclaimed a saving message, which would have become effective finally for actual redemption upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter also penned that Noah occupied the position as a preacher in his lifetime. “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5).
In this sense, the “spirits in prison” were not in “prison” when they were the recipients of preaching by Jesus Christ through Noah, but by the first century when Peter mentioned them, they were in “prison.” See the following commentaries respecting the passage under review: Wycliffe; Matthew Henry; Barnes’ Notes; Adam Clarke (and Genesis 6:22); McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, “, Christ’s Descent Into”; James Burton Coffman. Each of them note that some have incorrectly construed the reference to mean Christ entered Hades, whereas the passage actually refers to the efforts of Noah, whose preaching was divine in origin.
