1 Peter 3:18-20 (Particularly Verse 19)

[Sabra]

Hi guys. There has been this one verse that I've been itching to understand what it means.

1 Peter 3:18-20 (NLT) says:

"Christ also suffered when He died for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners that He might bring us safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the spirit. So He wnet and preached to the spirits in prison - those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building His boat."

Okay, what is your take on this passage, particularly verse 19 that talks about Christ preaching to the spirits in prison? I know that this is not a reference to the Catholic belief of purgatory because He only went to preach to those who "disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat" and there is no reference to Him preaching to anyone other than those stated before or since then. This passage has long stumped me.

I snicker to myself at the statement of Peter when he says that some of Paul's writings are difficult to understand. Perhaps he is calling the kettle black? [I hope I've got that statement right! ]

Please help me to understand this verse.

Sabra.

 

[strawberrygate]

Hi Sabra, I've heard that this verse means Jesus literally went to hell to preach.
I will be interested to hear what others have to say.

 

[Honibee]

Hi Sabra, I've heard that this verse means Jesus literally went to hell to preach.

That's been my understanding as well. Those who lived before Jesus death were addressed by Jesus when He went to Hades.

 

[ClementofRome]

I believe as St. Augustine believed that Christ spoke through Noah with the prophetic message to those who were destined to destruction...

However, I also believe with Martin Luther that one must be very careful and not be dogmatic with one's interpretation of this very difficult passage...also the large number of textual variants in v. 18-19 add to the difficulty.

 

[Honibee]

Listened to Dr. David Jeremiah this morning who talked on this very topic! His conclusion was that Jesus DID descend into Sheol and preached, taking with Him all who were found in 'paradise'...

 

[HypnoToad]

Since it specifies Jesus went to those who disobeyed at Noah's time, it's hard for me to swallow that it means ALL those who died, or who were in Sheol, or Hades. If it's supposed to be all, why would it specify only those around Noah's time? That simply makes no sense.

Also, the word "preached" merely means "proclaimed" - so there's nothing that actually says Jesus was preaching the Gospel, as opposed to merely proclaiming His victory.

Given those things, I would lean towards the understanding that it is specifically about fallen angels. Depending on how you interpret Genesis, it could be about the ones who came down and gave rise the nephilim.

 

[Sabra]

ClementofRome:

I believe as St. Augustine believed that Christ spoke through Noah with the prophetic message to those who were destined to destruction...

Yeah, I think I read something like this in a commentary at my grand parents place. It's still quite a weird and difficult passage though. The thing is that it was probably very easy to understand for those in Peter's day and time.

To everyone:
Thanks for taking the time to reply, you have given me things to think about!

 

[Stinker]

".....but made alive by the Spirit; by which also He (had long ago) went and made proclaimation to the (people who are now) spirits in prison, who (back then) were disobedient,when the patience of God kept waiting (for the people to repent at Noah's preaching via the Holy Spirit) in the days of Noah. (1Pet.3:18-20)