August 12, 2001

THE SPIRITS IN PRISON

1 Peter 3:18-20

   "For Christ also has 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...eight souls were saved by water" (1 Pet.3:18-20).

   This unfortunate choice of words has given some the impression that the Lord Jesus, in a disembodied state, "went and preached unto the spirits in prison." This preaching supposedly occurred between Christ's death and resurrection. But is that really what happened and what Peter had in mind?

   These confined "spirits" were the disobedient people in the days of Noah . They had rejected God's warning of impending judgment thru Noah, a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2:5). Peter was addressing believers who were experiencing similar rejection from unbelieving Jews of God's warning through them. Peter also referred to " the Spirit of Christ " in Noah in much the same way other prophets searched "what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify..." (See 1 Peter 1:11). Peter was rallying his readers to be strong and to not be disheartened because of this opposition. This is evident from the preceding verses where "they speak evil of you..." and "falsely accuse you..." Peter was encouraging believers who were suffering "for well doing [rather] than for evil doing" (1 Pet. 3:16-17), just as Noah had suffered before the flood.

   Peter referred again to this very same situation of Noah warning the unrighteous of God's judgment and of His "delivering the godly out of temptation" (2 Pet. 2:4-10). We know of no active ministry of the Lord Jesus between his death and resurrection for His Spirit had been given to the Father and His body lay in the tomb. No direct statement of such is made in any scripture and such notions arise only from misreading other texts. Even His "descending into the lower parts of the earth" of Ephesians 4:9 simply speaks of His coming into this world in contrast to the heavenly realm from whence He came. This same contrast may be found in Philippians 2:5-11 and in John 3:13.

Ivan L. Burgener