IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT PUZZLES YOU?

If so please EMail us with your question and we will do our best to give you a satisfactory answer.EMailus.

FREE Scholarly verse by verse commentaries on the Bible.

THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

What Are The Spirits In Prsion (1 Peter 3.18-22)?

At the time of Jesus, Noah and the Flood were seen as epoch making. It was constantly talked about, for from a world point of view Noah and the Flood had been the world’s first great intervention of God in history. It was as though from the time of Noah all had begun again. That is why Jesus used Noah as an illustration in Matthew 24.37-39; Luke 17.26-27 in a way that portrayed this. Previously, He says, the days of Noah had come and then had come the great climax, the judgment of God and the deliverance of the few. Now they were to expect a similar climax as a result of the days of the Christ on earth, in the final return of the Son of Man to judge and to save. It was to happen again. Noah pointed forward to a greater, to Christ Himself.

This thought of Noah’s importance does not only occur in the Gospels. The importance of Noah and the events that occurred then was an idea constantly portrayed in Jewish eschatalogical writings where he, and the fallen angels who cohabited with women, are mentioned extensively. The Flood was seen as a time of judgment on the many and of preservation of the few (2 Peter 2.5). And in 2 Peter 3.6-7 it is described as the judgment of God that came on the world, which men have overlooked. And Peter adds there that there will in the end be a second similar judgment wrought by fire.

Isaiah 54.8-10 also stressed the uniqueness of the Flood and its relationship to God’s deliverance of His own and of His final victory. He writes of God saying, ‘In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you’. And this is then described as being ‘as the waters of Noah to me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you nor rebuke you’. So even though the mountains depart and the hills be removed His promise is that His true people would never face God’s wrath revealed in a similar way to the waters of Noah. This was what He had basically promised with regard to the Flood. It would not be repeated. Thus although Peter tells us that a judgment by fire was to come, it would not effect His people, for He will not again be angry with us and rebuke us like He did at the Flood..

Furthermore Noah was seen as an example par excellence of the truly righteous. He was the first man ever to be called righteous (Genesis 6.9), and in Ezekiel 14.14, 20 he is depicted with Job and Daniel as the epitome of righteousness. Hebrews 11.7 tells us how he ‘prepared an ark for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith’. Thus there the righteousness of this righteous man is indicated to be ‘by faith’.

2 Peter 2.4-5 further tells us that ‘God spared not the angels when they sinned but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a proclaimer of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly’. Thus Noah is contrasted with the fallen angels and his righteousness and acceptability to God is constantly emphasised over against the evil angels. Here in contrast with God’s judgment on the fallen angels was a truly righeous man.

But now to Peter and the rest of the Apostles a second epoch making event even greater than the Flood had occurred in the coming of Christ, and in His death and resurrection. And in this event also, coming judgment was forecast and deliverance would be available to the few. A greater than Noah was here. Thus Noah was seen very much as a type of the coming of Christ. Clearly to Peter he was an example of deliverance in the midst of judgment, and the Flood was also an example of the defeat and imprisonment of evil spirits.

So here in 1 Peter 3.18-22, when speaking to those who are suffering for righteousness’ sake (verse 14), who better to bring to mind than Noah, the proclaimer of righteousness, who was also delivered through judgment, and see in him the picture of what was now again happening through Christ?

Peter says, let the Christians in their suffering as righteous ones (verse 14), look back to the one who first was righteous, and was delivered (Noah), and then look to the Righteous One Who has now come (verse 18), Who suffered on their behalf, died, and was made alive in spirit, and Who announced to the spirits who were in prison from the time of Noah His great triumph. This would be the precursor to His subjection to Himself of the whole spirit world (verse 22). Peter’s purpose in mentioning these spirits here first is in order to bring out Jesus’ triumph over the world of spirits (see verse 22) and in order to introduce his illustration of salvation in terms of Noah and the Flood.

If we take the passage chronologically the order is - Christ died, He was raised from the dead, and then He proclaimed His triumph to the spirits in prison. Then, finally entering Heaven, He was exalted to God’s right hand, and all angels and spirits were subjected to Him.

In the days of Noah God waited patiently while the ark was being prepared in which a remnant were saved through water. So now in antitype He is waiting patiently while His true people, His elect (1.1), are being saved ‘through water’. But Noah was not saved by the water. He was saved by the ark. The water simply bore the ark up. In the same way these Christians are being saved in Christ in Whom they are hid and sheltered. They are baptised into Christ (Romans 6.3) and into His death. But it is not baptism that raises them up, but Christ and His Holy Spirit. Baptism is but a picture of that, an important symbol illustrating what is happening when a man believes in Christ. The waters of judgment bear His people up in the ark of Christ Himself, and this is achieved, not by a ritual washing, but by the response of a good conscience towards God, through a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, a baptism in which the heart is fully responsive, repenting and seeking forgiveness. Then the Holy Spirit is poured on them like water. They are baptised (drenched) in the Holy Spirit.

So when we read of the ‘spirits in prison’ it is in that context. Being ‘put to death in the flesh’ (1 Peter 3.18) clearly refers to His crucifixion and being ‘made alive in the spirit’ almost certainly signifies His resurrection, as 4.6 confirms. So it is important to see that this would place the visit to the spirits in prison after His resurrection. Others, with little justification, see it as a pre-resurrection being 'made alive'. But that does not fit here and there are no real grounds in Scripture for introducing such an idea. Jesus descent into Hades (the world of the dead) is never signified as ‘in spirit’ or through the Spirit. He died as human flesh, and the thought of His ‘descent into Hades’ is of Him entering His tomb, the world of the dead, ‘the heart of the earth’ (Matthew 12.40). Similarly in Romans 10.7 He is depicted as descending ‘into the abyss’. In Ephesians 4.9 He is depicted as descending into ‘the lower parts of the earth’. In Acts 2.31 Peter says that ‘neither was He left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption’. Thus Hades speaks rather of the place where the body corrupts, the grave. And says that Jesus’ flesh was not long enough in the grave to see corruption. In none of this is there any idea of being ‘made alive in spirit’ before His resurrection. The idea is of the mysterious world of the dead, where He too was dead.

For a similar order of events as in 1 Peter 3.18 compare ‘He Who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached on in the world, received up in glory’ (1 Timothy 3.16). Although the generalised nature of the descriptions prevent dogmatism, the resurrection (justified in the Spirit) would appear to come prior to His manifestation to the angelic world (seen of angels).

But what would be the purpose of such a post-resurrection visit to fallen angels? The word 'preached, proclaimed' does not necessarily refer to the proclamation of the Gospel (compare Revelation 5.2). If that were intended why not use 'preached the Gospel' as in 4.6? It could equally be a proclamation of triumph, a declaration of victory, the proclamation of a herald, declaring the wonderful event that has taken place, and letting the evil angels who had tried to take over men know that the perfect Man had wholly defeated their purpose. The resurrection was seen as evidence of Christ's victory and vindication (Ephesians 1.21; 4.8; Colossians 2.15 see also 1 Peter 3.22). In it He made an open show of, and led in triumphant procession, spiritual beings, principalities and powers, whom He had conquered (Ephesians 1.20-22). And once risen He let the spirits in prison aware of it. So here we learn in Peter that He also proclaimed His triumph to the angels who sinned at the time of Noah. This is preparatory to Peter then using what happened to Noah as an illustration of salvation.

It was important in an environment where spiritual forces, both good and bad, were seen as numerous and active, that Jesus be seen as becoming Lord over all (verse 22). So here we are told that He also made the same proclamation to 'the spirits in prison' who had been disobedient in the days of Noah, as He did to those who were in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1.21 compare 6.12; Colossians 2.15). This was so that we might know that all spirits, both imprisoned spirits of the past and 'free' spirits, were all made aware of His victory and power. As verse 22 makes clear all spirits everywhere were made subject to Him. So the whole climactic process of deliverance is seen as repeated. God’s action in delivering His own at the time of Noah, and the defeat at that time of the evil spirits, was again repeated in the coming of Jesus although in fuller measure. That was why He could speak of Himself as stronger than Satan and thus able to cast out Satan’s minions (Mark 3.23-27). A greater than Satan was here. And the ark of salvation was prepared for those who would believe in Him, while all spirits were made subject to Him because He was over them in power and authority. Noah’s experience had been but a foreshadowing.

In the New Testament 'spirits' invariably refers to angels (Hebrews 1.7, 14 and probably Revelation 1.4; 3.1; 4.5; 5.6) or evil spirits (see Luke 10.20 where it is used unqualified; and compare Mark 3.11; 5.7 and often in the Gospels, where it is qualified by some adjective; Revelation 16.13, 14). The alternative use is of the spirits of prophets (1 Corinthians 12.10; 14.32; 1 Timothy 4.1; 1 John 4.1). It is only once used otherwise, and then it is of 'the spirits of the righteous ones made perfect' (Hebrews 12.23) and there too it is because they have been made alive in Christ. The word 'spirits' when used of men thus refers to Jesus rising again as man (verse 18 here in 1 Peter 3) and to the glorified saints (Hebrews 12.23). That use is in contrast to the rest of the dead. The unrighteous dead are never describe as 'spirits'. It is therefore very unlikely that 'spirits in prison' is to be seen as referring to men.

But this is really settled conclusively by the fact that Peter, like Jude, elsewhere specifically refers to such ‘spirits’. He speaks of the evil angels who sinned prior to the Flood who are in a position very similar to being in prison (2 Peter 2.4; Jude 1.6). They were fixed in his mind as of great importance. So 1 Peter 3.19 appears to be referring to the angels who sinned before the Flood by breaking the barriers which separated spirits from men, and sought a takeover of the human race by deception (Genesis 6.1-4 - in the Old Testament 'sons of God' is regularly used of angels).

This thought then leads on to the thought of the preparing of the ark during the days of God’s longsuffering, in which a small remnant were saved through water. The ark containing the remnant was borne up on the water. And this is then compared with baptism. The presence of the remnant in the ark was due to their response in faith to the demands of God in response to His gracious offer of salvation. That is why they were saved, not by water but through water, while all other perished in the water. This would tie in with baptism as signifying death, and rising again, as it does elsewhere. The ark of the risen Christ bears His people through the water. They are already in Christ and their baptism is an illustration of their salvation, their baptism being an earthly experience that makes them aware of, and participate more deeply in, a heavenly experience. But here in Peter the thought is that while those waters of Noah brought death to all, the baptismal water brings about, by symbolism, a rising again in Christ to the remnant who have responded to Him.

So Peter likens the waters that bore the ark, floating triumphantly over the waters of judgment and death, to baptism. But it is not the waters which save, and he immediately stresses that he means baptism as depicting 'the interrogation (or 'appeal') of a good conscience towards God' and not to 'the putting away of the filth of the flesh'. It is not as an automatic ritual cleansing but a sign of having expeienced true repentance for the forgiveness of sins and of the resulting new man in Christ, and is made possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is what baptism continually signified, and it resulted because men had experienced new birth in the Spirit.

If we wish to press the illustration we could see the ark as symbolising Jesus Christ, seen as an ‘ark’, an ark comparable with that still in preparation when the evil angels made their attempt to seize hold of the world, an ark of salvation. Here in Peter He is seen as ‘prepared’ through the resurrection from the dead. Others would see it as the ark of the church. But that does not fit the context. All the concentration here is on Christ, and those who are His are 'in Christ' (verse 16), and this would suggest that we must see in the ark our Lord Himself.

Then having been prepared as the ark into Whom His people can come for salvation, He is exalted to the right hand of God, entering Heaven, with Angels, and principalities and powers having been made subject to Him. And with Him are exalted His true people ‘in Christ’, that is in the ark of Christ (Ephesians 2.4-6).

How then does all this fit in with 1 Peter 4.6? In 4.1 Christians are depicted as having died with Christ. Through this they have come alive in order to live to the will of God. Thus they might be seen as having been judged according to the flesh by dying with Christ so that they are no longer tied to the flesh (verse 2), and as living according to God in the spirit because they have been 'raised with Christ' (Ephesians 2.6). 'The dead' in 4.6 are, however, defined by verse 5 as those already dead as compared with the living. They are Christians who have died and who will have to give account to the One who will judge the living and the dead. They were previously seen as dead in sins (Ephesians 2.1), and crucified with Christ, but now have literally died, even though saved. But they have died in Christ and are therefore safe in the ark.

This was a constant problem to the early church. What of those who have died before the second coming (1 Thessalonians 4.13-14)?’ And the reply is that they will be raised from the dead, experiencing the glorious transformation also experienced by living Christians, and will come with Him (1 Thessalonians 4.14-18). Thus Peter says ‘that is why the Gospel was preached to them, so that, although dying as all die, they will live according to Christ in the spirit, just as Christ Himself was made alive in the Spirit’ (3.18). They will be raised from the dead. The preaching of the Gospel to them (while they were alive) was not in vain. It results in their final guarantee of spiritual life. Note the different verb here for preached ('the preaching of the Gospel') in contrast to the earlier 'proclamation'. Thus 4.1-6 is a follow on from 3.18-22. 3.18-22 concentrates on the revealing of His victory which results in the preparation of a means of salvation. 4.1-6 centres on that means of salvation, which is applicable to those in Christ whether living or dead. And he then goes on to stress that that consummation is ‘at hand’ (could happen at any time).

We must beware of reading too much from the general apocalyptic literature into the passage. We do not know what contact the Apostles would have with such literature, as opposed to their general ideas. They were busy people, and books would not come easily to hand. Peter never (unlike Jude) gives any indication of having acquaintance with 1 Enoch (and even Jude may only have picked up background ideas and one or two quotes). Much of what Peter says in that realm probably comes from his reading of Jude and from vague apocalyptic ideas. He says too little about it to suggest anything but ideas on the topic mainly taken from Jude. We should not therefore looked at apocalyptic literature in detail for an interpretation of 1 Peter.