Jehovah's Witness' belief about the "spirits" Jesus preached to in prison 1 Peter 3:18-20

[ComeHome2Rome]

Last night I heard something I’ve Never heard before & would like to know how to defend our Catholic Faith position re: 1 Peter 3:18-20

The Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that these spirits from the Days of Noah spoken about in 1 Peter 3:18-20 that Jesus preached to in prison after his death are actually fallen angels, demons referred to in 2 Peter 2:4-5. Further they claim based on Genesis 6:1-2 that these fallen angels, demons, out of lust for human women had taken on the form of human men & that they had children together, Gen. 6:4.

I know that the spirits that Jesus preached to were the spirits of the human beings that lived before Jesus came on earth in order to give them an opportunity to accept Him & be saved since God desires the salvation of all. I know that the “sons of God” were human beings who were of the line who worshipped the one true God & the “daughters of men” were the decendants of the the people who did not worship the one true God.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses interpretation of the Bible passages seemed so bizzare that my brain was & is still spinning leaving me unable to defend the truth in a convincing way. “What? That’s not true” was not an intelligent or convincing response. Please help!

 

[Richard_Kastner]

Last night I heard something I’ve Never heard before & would like to know how to defend our Catholic Faith position re: 1 Peter 3:18-20

The Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that these spirits from the Days of Noah spoken about in 1 Peter 3:18-20 that Jesus preached to in prison after his death are actually fallen angels, demons referred to in 2 Peter 2:4-5. Further they claim based on Genesis 6:1-2 that these fallen angels, demons, out of lust for human women had taken on the form of human men & that they had children together, Gen. 6:4.

I know that the spirits that Jesus preached to were the spirits of the human beings that lived before Jesus came on earth in order to give them an opportunity to accept Him & be saved since God desires the salvation of all. I know that the “sons of God” were human beings who were of the line who worshipped the one true God & the “daughters of men” were the decendants of the the people who did not worship the one true God.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses interpretation of the Bible passages seemed so bizzare that my brain was & is still spinning leaving me unable to defend the truth in a convincing way. “What? That’s not true” was not an intelligent or convincing response. Please help!

Here’s the passage in question.

1Pet.3
18For 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:

19By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20Which 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.

21The 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:

22Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

This passage does not say that Jesus preached to the antedeluvians after His death. But by the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead. The Gospel message was taught through the movement of that same Spirit in Moses and that God was going to destroy the world by a flood.

I have heard the fallen angel procreating with man, but this is just not possible as Jesus says that angels do not have the capacity to procreate.

Mark12
19Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

20Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.

21And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.

22And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.

23In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.

24And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

25For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

 

[alwayswondering]

In the LDS church, they believe that when you die you go to Paradise, and in Paradise you either are relaxing and chilling or whatever, or you’re in spirit prison. This is for the people that weren’t LDS or lived a bad life, and in there you’re being “taught” by missionaries about the gospel. They support this belief with that same scripture.

I’m not sure exactly what it means outside of that, though…

 

[adrift]

.

I know that the spirits that Jesus preached to were the spirits of the human beings that lived before Jesus came on earth in order to give them an opportunity to accept Him & be saved since God desires the salvation of all. I know that the “sons of God” were human beings who were of the line who worshipped the one true God & the “daughters of men” were the decendants of the the people who did not worship the one true God.

I don’t believe this is correct. They were those who had died but could not go to heaven because it was closed do to sin.
emphasis mine

The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his Resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there . . . It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell. Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him. (CCC 632-633)

 

[CEM5]

Here’s the passage in question.

1Pet.3
18For 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:

19By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20Which 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.

21The 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:

22Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

This passage does not say that Jesus preached to the antedeluvians after His death. But by the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead. The Gospel message was taught through the movement of that same Spirit in Moses and that God was going to destroy the world by a flood.

I have heard the fallen angel procreating with man, but this is just not possible as Jesus says that angels do not have the capacity to procreate.

Mark12
19Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

20Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.

21And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.

22And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.

23In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.

24And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

25For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

Hi Richard -- excellent answer! (sure you aren’t Catholic? - lol - )

In addition to 1 Peter 3, this passage correlates with it: (emphasis added)

1 Peter 4:
5 But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 6** For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does**.

blessings,
CEM

 

[T_More]

Hi Richard -- excellent answer! (sure you aren’t Catholic? - lol - )

In addition to 1 Peter 3, this passage correlates with it: (emphasis added)

1 Peter 4:
5 But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 6** For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does**.

blessings,
CEM

CEM beat me to it.

Reading a little further on in chapter 4 defeats the WTBS interpretation. As what so happens so many other times, when reading a little further on and remembering that originally there were no chapter and verses numbered in Sacred Scripture, helps us to see how the particular area of the bible flows when reading.

The angels were not given the redemptive power of Christ’s sacrifice, so their attempt to explain the that the spirits were fallen angels falls flat on it’s face.

 

[Nicea325]

CEM beat me to it.

Reading a little further on in chapter 4 defeats the WTBS interpretation. As what so happens so many other times, when reading a little further on and remembering that originally there were no chapter and verses numbered in Sacred Scripture, helps us to see how the particular area of the bible flows when reading.

The angels were not given the redemptive power of Christ’s sacrifice, so their attempt to explain the that the spirits were fallen angels falls flat on it’s face.

Exactly! The fallen angels were booted out of heaven. Most people really do not understand angels and their fall. ALL Angels were in probation prior to our creation and when the rebellious angels lost,the “good” angels closed ranks and the fallen sent to Hell.