1 Peter 3.19, spirits in prison
Percy asked who the "spirits in prison" are that are
mentioned in 1 Peter 3:19. Somewhere around 414 AD Augustine wrote his
fellow-bishop Evodius about this section of scripture. Over and over
again he confessed its difficulty and several times he urged his friend
to ask other wise people to comment on it. I think Peter had his nerve
when he said Paul wrote some things difficult to understand (2
Peter 3:16). In any case, Augustine thought that "the spirits in prison"
were men who were in the bonds of moral darkness and ignorance.
I tend to the view that they are the spirits of those to whom Noah preached. They are spirits in prison while Peter writes
but they were very much alive when Noah preached to them. In 4:6 Peter
speaks of the gospel being preached "to them that are dead." I don’t
think he meant that the gospel was preached to men who had already died.
They were dead while Peter wrote but when the gospel was preached to
them they were living.
In chapter 3 Peter returns to something he has already mentioned in
2:18-24. He insists there that if suffering is to come, the Christian
servants should make sure it is suffering they didn’t earn. It is better
to suffer for righteousness sake than to suffer (be punished) for
evil-doing. In 3:13-22) he returns to that (especially verse 17).
There are three suffering situations in that section. There is the
(possible) suffering of the Christians (3:14), the suffering of Christ
(3:18) and the suffering of the antediluvian rebels (3:20).
The rebels in Noah’s day suffered at the hand of God for doing evil
and the outcome was not blessing but imprisonment after this earthly
phase of living. Jesus Christ suffered in this earthly phase of living
but he did it for good because he did it for God and the result was
resurrection and enthronement (3:21-22). The Christians are to take
their choice. If they choose good they will (possibly) suffer (3:14) but
the end result is salvation beyond death (proclaimed in their baptism)
because they are raised with Christ (3:21). Their baptism is a
commitment to obedience (3:21) and the antediluvian baptism is the
outcome of a commitment to disobedience. The antediluvian baptism
resulted in death and imprisonment and the Christian baptism results in
life, renewed life to God through the resurrection and glorification of
Christ.
If they should suffer even worse trials than they’re suffering up to
now (1:7) and are martyred at least they won’t have died at the hand of
God as Noah’s peers did. Nor will they die to God. Some saints
who may already have been martyred (compare 4:6) suffered the fate of
Jesus Christ who was put to death in the flesh (3:18, 4:1). But the
gospel had been preached to them (compare 1:12,25) that though they
would suffer as men in the flesh they would live unto God in spirit
(4:6).
Yes, but if the spirits in prison are really the pre-flood peers of
Noah how is it that Jesus preached to them (3:19)? I suppose he could
have done it between his death and resurrection. What he would have
preached, why to that specific group rather than everyone or some other
group would remain a complete mystery. And the purpose for which he
preached to them would be another mystery. To give them a "second
chance"? Why them and not all? Why them when Genesis 6 describes them as so wicked that God "repented" of having made man?
Following many others my guess is that he preached through Noah who,
Peter tells us, was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:6). We’re
told that the Spirit of Christ spoke through the prophets (1 Peter 1:11)
so his Holy Spirit surely spoke through Noah. So maybe we should
capitalize "spirit" in 3:19 and make it the Holy Spirit, plain and
simple.
But that’s probably too simple. The "flesh" very often in scripture
(and especially in Paul) speaks from a moral perspective and suggests
something sinister—the "flesh" is all that is opposed to God (Romans
8:5-8 is a single illustration). But it doesn’t always suggest that. It
can suggest human vulnerability and weakness. Paul speaks of
Christ being put to death in weakness and made alive in power (2
Corinthians 13:4) and Peter speaks of him being put to death in "flesh"
(there’s no definite article) and made alive in "spirit". Flesh and
spirit in Peter probably speak of two modes of existence. "In
(the) flesh" was Christ in his vulnerability and in spirit is his
existing in divine power, beyond vulnerability (that would be where 3:22
comes in). Perhaps Peter (who knows about Christ’s pre-existence, 1
Peter 1:20) is saying that by virtue of his divinity Christ was able and
did indeed preach through Noah to those who now while Peter writes are
spirits in prison.
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com.