1 Peter 3:18,19

[JeanneH]

Hi All,

Who are the spirits in prison that Jesus descended to, to preach to? I thought that they were all the good souls that died from Adam and Eve to the time of Jesus resurrection. My JW friend tells me that they are the angels that fell with Satan.

I don’t believe that for a second but are there any scriptures that can prove she is wrong, if in fact she is? I know that JW’s like proof texts.

thanks
Jeanne

 

[Lancer]

You picked a “humdinger” of a verse…the opening line of theIgnatius Catholic Study Bible
New Testament***
Second Catholic Edition RSV…
**…study page…titled: Christ and "The Spirits in Prison" (pg 456)…
*

Few passages of the NT are as difficult to interpret as 1 Peter 3: 18-20.

.

Here are just a few other thoughts expressed on that page:

In the early third century, St. Clement of Alexandria took these verses to mean that Christ, during the silence of Holy Saturday, descended to the dead to make a final offer of salvation to the deceased sinners of Noah’s day.

In the fifth century, St. Augustine proposed a different interpretation: Christ, by an exercise of his preexistent divinity, preached to the ancient world through the person of Noah, urging the wicked to repent before the floodwaters of judgment came to sweep them away.

Much later, near the turn of the seventeenth century, St. Robert Bellarmine reconnected the passage with Holy Saturday, only he proposed that Christ descended to the dead to announce his salvation to those sinners who had privately repented just before the onset of the flood.

 *In view of the diversity of opinion, even among great theologians of the Church, a definitive interpretation of the passage seems out of the question*   .

Christ and "The Spirits in Prison"* (pg 456)*

To me…the pivotal aspect seems to be centered around the Incarnation…and some way that Christ devised to give all “who had gone before”…an opportunity to know who sent him and to believe in him and the Good News and to repent…it was some type of event to offer them the salvific benefits of his Pascal Mystery.

Hope this is somewhat helpful.

Pax Christi

P.S. Great question/great verse to ponder…but we are left like his Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who had to do a lot of pondering during Christ’s entire natural life on earth…all the while keeping faith…just believing and trusting in Him and in the Father who sent him, and especially trusting in her spiritual spouse…the Holy Spirit…to lead His Church and all the faithful who are the Body of Christ…into all Truth!

 

[Della]

As I understand it, the souls of the dead before Christ were awaiting the time when he would come to release them from Sheol/the bosom of Abraham into heaven. As St. Paul noted, the blood of goats and rams were not sufficient to redeem us, but Christ’s death on the cross purchased humanity for God for all who desired it. Christ entered Sheol to preach his Gospel to them and lead those who accepted it into heaven with him. So, it is possible the good among the pagans, such as Aristotle and others who pursued truth and lived according to the light they had been given could be saved.

 

[JeanneH]

Thanks Lancer,
I do have the study bible mentioned and never thought to look in there. I will read the entire essay now.

Della,
I understand the verse the way you do. I don’t know how my friend comes to the conclusion that Jesus is talking to the fallen angels. As far as I can see those angels are doomed and waiting for the second death.

Thanks to the both of you.

Jeanne

 

[Della]

JWs belief Jesus was the Archangel Michael, became a man (just a man, not God incarnate) and became Michael again at the resurrection. So, you can see why your friend would think he was preaching to fallen angels and not to the righteous dead of OT times.