"The Spirits In Prison"

1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached  unto the spirits in prison:

1 Peter 3:19, is a passage which has been wholly misinterpreted and misunderstood, because it has been taken, not only apart from the Context, but apart from the larger question, the scope or subject of the whole chapter.

This verse does not stand alone. It is not an illuminated text that we hang on a wall: but is made up of words which God has placed in immediate connection with other words, on which they depend for their right understanding.

The question we have to ask ourselves, as to the whole chapter, is this: What is it about? What is the great subject which is being treated of ?

This smaller passage itself commences at (1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath 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:), with the word “For.” “For Christ Himself also suffered, the just for the unjust.” (1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;), is therefore part of the reason which is being given to explain or illustrate something which has been already said. It is not a new and independent subject which is being introduced.

We must ask therefore, What is this something which has been said, and has to be thus illustrated, and explained ?

It requires only care and common sense to see, what the Translators themselves saw, when they put at the head of the chapter “exhorting all men to unity and love, and to suffer persecution.” This is right so far as it goes, but it is not all. On reading the whole passage we do indeed see that it is an exhortation to suffer persecution, and especially if the suffering and the persecution be for “well doing.” “It is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing than for evil doing.” This is the scope. This is what it is all about. This is (1 Peter 3:17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.), and then, (1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath 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:), goes on to give us the reason why it is “better:” “For.” What follows, must be interpreted by the sense of this scope. It is to show us why it is Better to “suffer for well doing.”

Now, in (1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;), about “the spirits in prison” is usually taken by itself apart from the scope as referring to people who have died, and as teaching that after death they have “a second chance.”

But the simple question is, In what way would this be a reason for, or proof of the fact that it is “better to suffer for well doing than for evil doing.”

If these were dead men, they must have been evil doers, or there would be no reason for their needing this “second chance.” It would, therefore, be an excuse for evil doing, seeing that they have this hope to lean upon.

We can see at once, that this common interpretation must be wrong, as it is inconsequent and illogical. It has no connection with or relation to what has gone before: and takes no account of the word “For” which introduces this statement.

We have, therefore, still to look for a reason, why “it is better to suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.”

The reason given is that Christ suffered for the well doing. All he did was “just.” He “suffered for the unjust,” to bring us to God. That was “better.” But “He was put to death in the flesh.” What then ? Where does the “better” come in ? “ What happened after that ? Ah! He had a glorious resurrection. He was “made a quickening spirit’ (1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.). “He was put to death indeed as to the flesh.” He was “quickened” or made alive again, as to spirit.

What does made alive mean ? What can it mean but resurrection ? How can anyone who has died be made alive again except by being raised from the dead?

It is the very expression used in (1 Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.). “It is sown a natural (Greek, psychical or soulical) body: it is raised a spiritual body.” And so also it stand written, the first Adam “became, or, came to be, a living soul,” “the last Adam was made to be a quickening spirit.” How ? The verses that follow go to explain that this was in resurrection.

But here, in (1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;), there is more than resurrection. It was that which made it “better” for Christ to have suffered for well doing. He had a glorious triumph as well. He went in His resurrection body , and made proclamation of it to “the in prison spirits.”

What and who can these be ? To answer this question we have to go a little further ahead. But not far. The same Peter tells us over a leaf, in (2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;), of the angels that sinned in the days of Noah, and who are now cast down to Tartarus and there “delivered into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.” And when we read further in (Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.), of the same historical fact, the sinning and imprisonment of these angels: and are so called in (Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. And, Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?), than we are at no loss to understand that the triumph of Christ was so great that, in His resurrection body, He went and made proclamation of it: and it reached to the limits of creation: even the angels now in prison for their sin.

Anyone can see that, (1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;). And, (1 Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.), are a parenthetical clause, and that the Relative “which” at the beginning of 1 Peter 3:20 introduces a digression about these angels, in order to tells us what their sin was, “disobedience,” and when their sin was, “in the days of Noah.” And having come round to “the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (at the end of the digression), to the point where we start in (1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath 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:), we are led on now to the end of the Triumph, beyond resurrection: ever to ascension and exaltation and glory, “angels and authorities and powers having been made subject unto Him,” (1 Peter 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.).

Here was triumph indeed. Here we see the reason of the “For” in (1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath 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:). Yes! It is indeed “better to suffer for well doing than for evil doing.” It was “better” for Christ, the just: and, it will be better for us. We also shall have a resurrection. If we are judged (according to the will of men) and put to death in the flesh, it is only that we might live again in resurrection (according to the will of God) in our spiritual bodies, as Christ did. This is the argument in (1 Peter 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.). It is in view of this blessed hope that the Gospel was preached to them that are now dead. This is why it is preached to us: to show us why it is “better to suffer for well doing.”

If we ask, why these “in prison spirits” should have this proclamation made to them, we have only to follow up the clue already given in the nearer and remoter contexts.

They took part in the gigantic plot to corrupt and destroy the whole human race. The nature of their sin is clear from (Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.). The time of it is also given in (2 Peter 2:4-5 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;), and here, in ( 1 Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.). The object of it we have in Genesis the 6th chapter. The great promise and prophecy had gone forth in (Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.), that “the seed of the woman” should come into the world, and should finally crush the head of the “Old Serpent.”

Satan`s object therefore was to frustrate this counsel of God.

Having as yet no clue as to the line by which “the seed of the woman” should come into the world, his first effort was to corrupt and destroy the whole human race. This he carried out as described in Genesis the 6th chapter and Jude 1:6. “The sons of God” were angels: “the angels who sinned.” All beings who are the direct creation of God are called his “sons.” Adam was “a son of God” (Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;), And, (Luke 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.). We are not. By nature we are sons of Adam begotten in his likeness, (Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:). The “New Nature” in us makes us “sons of God,” because that is God`s own new creation work (Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.). For the same reason also, angels are called “sons of God,” because they are the direct creation of God. In the Old Testament the expression always has this meaning. Before Adam was created “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?). An Angel was sent to the lions` den to shut the loin` mouth (Daniel 6:22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.), as another was sent to the fiery furnace to deliver God`s servants: this angel is called “a son of God” (for there is no article).

It is written in the Book of (Enoch 15:1-10 The addressing me, He spoke and said: Hear, neither be afraid, O Enoch, O righteous man, and scribe of righteousness: approach hither, and hear my voice. Go, say to the Watchers of heaven, who have sent thee to pray for them: You ought to pray for men, and not men for you. Wherefore have you forsaken the lofty and holy heaven, which endures for ever, and have lain with women: have defiled yourselves with the daughters of men: have taken to yourselves wives: have acted like the sons of the earth, and have begotten giants ? You being spiritual, holy, and living a life which is eternal, have polluted yourselves with women: have begotten in carnal blood: have lusted in the blood of men: and have done as those who are flesh blood do. These however die and perish. Therefore have I given to them wives, that they might cohabit with them: that sons might be born to them, and that this might be transacted upon earth. But you from beginning were made spiritual, living a life which is eternal, and not subject to death in all the generations of the world. Therefore I made not wives for you, because being spiritual, your dwelling is in heaven. Now the giants, who have been born of flesh and of spirit, shall call upon earth evil spirits, and on earth shall be their habitation. Evil spirits shall proceed from their flesh, because they were created from above: from the holy Watchers was their beginning and primary foundation. Evil spirits shall be upon earth, and the spirits of the wicked shall they be called. The habitation of the spirits of heaven shall be in heaven: but upon earth shall be the habitation of terrestrial spirits, who are born in earth. The spirit of the giants shall be like clouds, which shall oppress, corrupt, fall, contend, and bruise upon earth. They shall cause lamentation. No food shall they eat: and they shall be thirsty: they shall be concealed, and those spirits shall rise up against the sons of men, and against women: for they come forth from them during the days of slaughter and destruction.

Enoch 18:16 The stars which roll over fire are those which transgressed the commandment of God before their time arrived: for they came not in their proper season. Therefore was He offended with them, and bound them, until the period of the consummation of their crime in the secret year,

They cannot in (Genesis the 6th chapter), be the seed of Seth, as is generally taught, because they are contrasted with “the daughters of Men:” which shows they must be of a different nature.

We know from Genesis the 6th chapter how nearly that great plot succeeded: how the whole earth was corrupted, (Genesis 6:11-12 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.).

All, except Noah`s family, were tainted with this uncanny and unholy breed called “Nephilim.” Noah was (tamim), i.e. “without blemish,” as the word for “perfect” here is generally rendered elsewhere. All had to be destroyed by the Flood: but the angels who sinned are “reserved,” in “chains” and “in prison,” (1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.), for their judgment, at a yet future day.

The aim of Satan was to corrupt, and so secure the destruction of the whole human race. And his plot would have succeeded, but for the direct interposition of Divine judgment.

“The seed of the woman” ultimately came into the world. The Word of God was fulfilled: and now, though His heel had been bruised, and He suffered and died, yet God raised Him from the dead, the token that Satan`s head shall in due time be crushed.

 

This glorious triumph had to be heralded forth. Those who had taken part in that awful plot had to learn that the designs of Satan, their lord and master, had failed. This was the reason why Christ, having risen from the dead, went and proclaimed His glorious triumph.

This is why it is “better to suffer for well doing than for evil doing, For Christ also suffered” for well doing, “the just for the unjust.” And, it was “better” for Him: for He has triumphed gloriously: and it is “better” for us also: for we are thereby saved eternally.

Not merely saved through the judgment ( as the digression shows): not saved by means of material water: but by the “suffering” of that perfect sacrifice, which has made the comers thereunto “perfect as pertaining to the conscience,” (Hebrews 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.), and given them “the answer of a good conscience toward God,” (1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:).

Thus we see how the scope (or one great subject) of the whole passage determines for us the sense in which we are to understand the words which are employed in it: and we see also how this is the only sense which gives cogency and consistency to the whole argument.

Moreover the scope of this passage is in harmony with the scope of the whole Epistle. We see and are shown throughout how it is “better to suffer for well doing than for evil doing.”

In (1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:), the trial of our faith is to be found unto praise and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

In (1 Peter 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.), the subject of prophecy was that Christ`s sufferings were to be followed by glory.

In (1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;), we are, in our trials, to “hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

In (1 Peter 1:19-21 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.), when Christ`s sufferings were over, and the “precious blood” was shed, God “raised Him from dead and gave Him glory.”

In (1 Peter 2:20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.), they are asked, “What glory is it when ye be buffeted for your faults ye shall take it patiently ? but if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

In (1 Peter 2:21-24 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.), Christ`s example is given to prove this, He suffered for well doing, and when he died he committed His spirit unto Him who judgeth righteously, compare (Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.). And all this was done in order that we, having died to sins, might live again unto righteousness, in newness of life here, and of resurrection life which the righteous Judge shall give us in that day, (2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.).

In (1 Peter 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.), though they might be judged indeed according to the will of men, in the flesh: they might live again in resurrection life according to the will of God, in their spiritual bodies.

In (1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.), they are to rejoice that inasmuch as they were partakers of Christ`s sufferings, they would be glad also with exceeding joy when Christ`s glory should be revealed.

In (1 Peter 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.), if they suffered, and this suffering was according to the will of God, they were to commit themselves (in well doing) to God as to a faithful creator, who was thus able to recreate them in resurrection.

In (1 Peter 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:), Peter himself was a witness of this great truth, for he had been a witness of Christ`s sufferings and would be a partaker of His glory also when it shall be revealed.

Finally, in (1 Peter 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.), they are reminded that though they may “suffer awhile,” yet, the God of all grace has called them unto eternal glory.

There can be no question, therefore, as to what is the scope of the Epistle as a whole: neither can there be any doubt as to the scope of the particular passage (1 Peter 3:18-22 For Christ also hath 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 few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.), where the resurrection, ascension, and glorification of Christ after His sufferings, proved that it was “better to suffer for well doing than for evil doing.” A triumph it was. And, a triumph so great, that He went and proclaimed it to the in prison spirits in Tartarus to show them that all this triumph was in spite of the Satanic plot referred to and recorded in Genesis the 6th chapter, and in which they had so great a share, so great a guilt, and so great a condemnation. This is the triumph of, (Colossians 2:14-15 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.).

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