QUESTION: Hello pastor I want you to explain to me what these verses in 1 Peter 3:19–20 “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; (20) Which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water mean.” – Amos
RESPONSE: When someone inquires, “What does this text mean?” They have asked far more than they (those asking) believe they are asking, according to a professional Bible teacher.
In my training, you must answer to both the demands of the person who posed the question and the likely interests of the listening audience when replying to inquiries asked in public rather than privately.
It is my prayer, therefore, that the response I will give the Lord will help both audiences be served by it.
Context of the Passage
First and foremost, the scripture is 1Peter 3:18-20, not 3:19-20; thus, the immediate context of the paragraph begins from verse 18.
The importance of context in biblical exegesis (and other literary works) cannot be overstated. One of the rules of Bible interpretation is context, and we must comprehend these guidelines when we attempt to interpret the Bible, particularly these confusing sections. When you’re reading 1 Peter 3:18-20, keep the following things in mind:
It’s in the Bible (Salvation History/Heilsgeschichte), it’s in Peter’s Epistle (Genre), it was dictated by Peter and transcribed by Mark (Authorship), and it’s a passage from this portion of Peter (Theme). Context comes into play when attempting to interpret a single verse or even a paragraph from any book of the Bible.
Let us now move to the portion containing the verses in question, for the sake of space and context. Which section do we refer to when we ask? We’re not talking about the chapter the text belongs to, but rather which theme it belongs to. The first epistle of Peter is divided into five theological themes:
- Suffering (1:6-7; 2:21)
- Holiness/Sanctification/New Birth (1:2-3, 14-18, 23)
- Salvation/Atonement/Victory (1:3,5,9-13; 4:7; 5:4,10; 3:18-20)
- Priesthood of all Believers/Community/Relationships (1:13-18; 2:9=this is why I call myself Priest Isaiah White,13-17, 25; 4:8-11; 5:2)
- Return of the Lord/Eschatology (1:3-5,9,13)
As you can see, the passage is about salvation, thus in order to interpret it correctly, we must compare the author’s perspective to the Bible’s broader salvation history.
Now, it is just the first rule of context, but there are another 6-7 guidelines to follow in Bible interpretation, and they all function together every time you interpret.
Who were these Spirits?
According to 1 Peter 3:18-20, Jesus the Just suffered on behalf of the unjust to secure them (Vs.18), after which he went and ‘preached’ to the ‘Spirits’ in Prison (Vs.19), who had previously disobeyed Noah’s teaching and refused to enter the Ark, the-then provided (Vs.20).
Now the question is, who were these spirits in the first place? We need to know who they weren’t before we can figure out who they were. In verse 19, Peter says that Jesus proclaimed (Greek: Kerusso) rather than preached (Greek: eungellizo).
When Jesus is shown to mankind (salvation objects) in the New Testament, the Greek transcription is ‘Eungellizo,’ but when Jesus is presented to the opposition (Anti-Christ inhuman/human), the Greek transliteration is ‘Kerusso.’ Whoever these spirits in 1Peter were, all they needed was a declaration, a proclamation= Kerusso (new normal information=Mark 16:15, 1Corinthians 1:23; 2Corinthians 4:5), not evangelism (1Peter 4:6; 1Corinthians 9:16) for conversion because they were not objects of salvation.
As a result, Peter believes that demons assisted captives in failing to enter the Ark. And it is those spirits who are imprisoned (Greek: fulake, which means “under watch”. We know this wasn’t a prison ministry in which Jesus was involved) that Jesus declared his victory over them, making their captivity a thing of the past.
Do the Dead Hear?
“For unto this purpose was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit,” Peter says in 4:6 after the waters in 3:18-20 have settled. Do the dead know or hear anything? Is the Gospel preached to them?
Not according to other passages of the Bible, at least (Ecclesiastes 9:5; Psalm 6:5; 115:17). Nekrois is the Greek word translated as “dead” in 4:6. And, according to 4:6, these dead are evangelized, not kerusso, so they can hear. Lazarus, who was dead to us (John 11:14, 32) and sleeping to Jesus (John 11:11-13), was called out of the grave by Jesus.
The same Jesus indicated in John 5:25 that the dead will hear, and Apostle Paul emphasizes the same in 1Thessolonians 4:13-18.
So, do the dead hear? Yes, they hear, but they can only hear God, and that can only happen at the end of the world in the eschatological event of the resurrection, which will only happen once since the Lazarus event.
So no one outside of that time hears anything from any other agent. In Peter 4:6, the word Nekrois (dead) is used metaphorically, as it is elsewhere in the New Testament:
- those who are unable to respond to God because of moral turpitude or spiritual alienation are dead and powerless (Ephesians 2.1, 5);
- of people regarded as dead as a result of their separation (Luke 15.24, 32);
- of those who are no longer under the authority of something that has died (Romans 6.11)
The context of 1Peter 4:1-5, where Peter addresses the once dead in the flood of sins and goes on to declare in verse 6 that these were evangelized and not proclaimed to like the anti-Christ spirits, leads to this conclusion. I hope this has been of help.
God bless you,
I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest M.I.T White (+256-775 822833)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24)
Questioning to Believe and Believing to Live
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 