1 Peter 3:18-20 Preaching to the spirits in prison

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In the following passage I am having trouble understanding why the risen Christ would “preach to the spirits in prison” who appear to be the ones who died in the flood. If they were condemned souls, what purpose could Christ have to preach to them?
  • 1 Peter 3:18-20 For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. *
 
It makes no sense for Jesus to preach salvation to the damned. One explanation I’ve read is that these spirits were those folks who were disobedient while Noah was building the Ark but later repented when the rains started to fall but nevertheless perished in the Flood.
 
Hi Jim another understanding is, there were two compartments in the grave, paradise, bossom of Abraham, and a place of torture ( see Luke 16 ), Jesus led the righteous side to heaven at his ressurrection. So, Jesus is simply anounicing the completed gospel to the righteous so that they may follow him to heaven.
 
To expand on the earlier points, here are some exerpts from the Challoner commentary on 1 Peter 3:

**Ver. 19. In which (to wit, soul or spirit) also he came, and preached to those spirits who were in prison. The true and common interpretation of this place seems to be, that the soul of Christ, after the separation from the body and before the resurrection, descended to a place in the interior parts of the earth, called hell in that which we call the apostles’ creed, (sometimes called Abraham’s bosom, sometimes Limbus Patrum [Limbo of the Fathers], a place where were detained all the souls of the patriarchs, prophets, and just men, as it were in prison) and preached to these spirits in this prison; i.e. brought them this happy news, that he who was their Redeemer, who opened as it were heaven’s gates. Among these were many who had been formerly at first incredulous in the time of Noe [Noah], who would not take warning from his preparing and building the ark, but it may be reasonably supposed that many of them repented of their sins when they saw the danger approaching, and before they perished by the waters of the deluge, so that they died at least not guilty of eternal damnation; because, though they were sinners, yet they worshipped the true God, for we do not find any proofs of idolatry before the deluge. These then, and all the souls of the just, Christ descended to free from their captivity, from their prison, and to lead them at his ascension triumphant with him into heaven. **

Dr. Pearson on the fifth article of the creed, writes thus: "There is nothing which the Fathers agree in more, than as to a local and real descent of the soul of Christ into the infernal parts, unto the habitation of the souls departed…This was the general opinion of the Church, as may appear by the testimonies of those ancient writers, who lived successively and wrote in several ages, and delivered this exposition in such express terms as are not capable of any other interpretation." Thus Dr. Pearson. He cites the Fathers. See the edition, in the year 1683, p. 237. (Witham) — Prison. See here a proof of a third place, or middle state of souls: for these spirits in prison, to whom Christ went to preach after his death, were not in heaven, nor yet in the hell of the damned; because heaven is no prison, and Christ did not go to preach to the damned. (Challoner) — St. Augustine, in his 99th epistle, confesses that his text is replete with difficulties. This he declares is clear, beyond all doubt, that Jesus Christ descended in soul after his death into the regions below, and concludes with these words: Quis ergo nisi infidelis negaverit fuisse apud inferos Christum? In this prison souls would not be detained unless they were indebted to divine justice, nor would salvation be preached to them unless they were in a state that was capable of receiving salvation.
 
Eph 4
7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.” 9(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
 
Home > Commentaries > Robertson’s Word Pictures > 1 Peter >
Chapter 3 > Verse 19
Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament

In which also (en wi kai). That is, in spirit (relative referring to pneumati). But, a number of modern scholars have followed Griesbach’s conjecture that the original text was either Nwe kai (Noah also), or Enwc kai (Enoch also), or en wi kai Enwc (in which Enoch also) which an early scribe misunderstood or omitted Enwc kai in copying (omoioteleuton). It is allowed in Stier and Theile’s Polyglott. It is advocated by J. Cramer in 1891, by J. Rendel Harris in The Expositor (1901), and Sidelights on N.T. Research (p. 208), by Nestle in 1902, by Moffatt’s New Translation of the New Testament. Windisch rejects it as inconsistent with the context. There is no manuscript for the conjecture, though it would relieve the difficulty greatly. Luther admits that he does not know what Peter means. Bigg has no doubt that the event recorded took place between Christ’s death and his resurrection and holds that Peter is alluding to Christ’s Descensus ad Inferos in Acts 2:27 (with which he compares Matthew 27:52; Luke 23:34; Ephesians 4:9). With this Windisch agrees. But Wohlenberg holds that Peter means that Christ in his preexistent state preached to those who rejected the preaching of Noah who are now in prison. Augustine held that Christ was in Noah when he preached. Bigg argues strongly that Christ during the time between his death and resurrection preached to those who once heard Noah (but are now in prison) and offered them another chance and not mere condemnation. If so, why did Jesus confine his preaching to this one group? So the theories run on about this passage. One can only say that it is a slim hope for those who neglect or reject Christ in this life to gamble with a possible second chance after death which rests on very precarious exegesis of a most difficult passage in Peter’s Epistle. Accepting the text as we have, what can we make of it? He went and preached (poreuqeiß ekhruxen). First aorist passive (deponent) participle of poreuomai and first aorist active indicative of khrussw, the verb commonly used of the preaching of Jesus. Naturally the words mean personal action by Christ “in spirit” as illustration of his “quickening” (verse Ephesians 18) whether done before his death or afterwards. It is interesting to observe that, just as the relative en wi here tells something suggested by the word pneumati (in spirit) just before, so in verse Ephesians 21 the relative o (which) tells another illustration of the words di udatoß (by water) just before. Peter jumps from the flood in Noah’s time to baptism in Peter’s time, just as he jumped backwards from Christ’s time to Noah’s time. He easily goes off at a word. What does he mean here by the story that illustrates Christ’s quickening in spirit? Unto the spirits in prison (toiß en pulakh pneumasin). The language is plain enough except that it does not make it clear whether Jesus did the preaching to spirits in prison at the time or to people whose spirits are now in prison, the point of doubt already discussed. The metaphorical use of en pulakh can be illustrated by 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 20:7 (the final abode of the lost). See Hebrews 12:23 for the use of pneumata for disembodied spirits.

bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=1pe&chapter=003&verse=019&next=020&prev=018
 
Clement of Alexandria (200 A.D.)
Christ went to hell in his spirit to proclaim the message of salvation to the souls of sinners who had been imprisoned there since the time of the flood (Stromateis 6:6).

Augustine (400 A.D.)
The preexistent Christ proclaimed salvation through Noah to the people who lived before the flood (Epistolae 164).

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1570), a Roman Catholic theologian
The spirit of Christ went to release the souls of the righteous who repented before the flood and had been kept in Limbo, the place between heaven and hell where the souls of the Old Testament saints were kept (DeControversiis 2:4,13).

Friedrich Spitta (1890)
After His death and before His resurrection, Christ preached to fallen angels, also known as “sons of God,” who during Noah’s time had married “daughters of men” (Genesis 6:2; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6).

angelfire.com/nt/theology/1pt3-18.html
 
When these people were relesed as with Lazarus from the tomb, they continued to live in Christ because of this preaching to the Spirits in prison. We know that Lazarus was a prefiguration of Christ’s Resurrection, he went on to become a bishop of the Church. Their salvation was at hand.
 
Thank you all for you (name removed by moderator)ut. It was very helpful and informative.
 
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