Peter once wrote about Paul’s letters that “in all his letters… there are some things difficult to understand» (2 Pet 3:16). We could say the same of Peter’s letters! Here is a statement that has readers stumped:
Because Christ also died for sins once, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God, dead in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. In the spirit he also went and preached to the imprisoned spirits, who were once disobedient when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved by means of water (1 Pet 3:18-20).
In verse 18, Peter is talking about the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus was “put to death in the flesh,” that is, he died in his humanity. And he was resurrected, “made alive in the spirit.” But what is “the spirit” here? Some interpreters interpret it as the human soul of Jesus. Others say it is the place where the resurrected Jesus is now alive. But the unification of the resurrection of Jesus with “the spirit” indicates that Peter is referring to the Holy Spirit (see Ro 8:4-11). Peter claims that Jesus rose from the dead in the power of the Spirit.
Proclaimed to the spirits in prison
If Peter is saying in verse 18 that Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, then he is saying at the beginning of verse 19 that “in the Spirit he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.” Many scholars interpret Peter as saying that either between or after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus undertook a preaching campaign.
Who are said to be the ones receiving the preaching of Jesus? “The imprisoned spirits” who “once were disobedient.” But who are these “spirits”? According to some, they are the souls of Old Testament believers, whom Jesus freed from captivity and took with him to heaven. The message that Jesus proclaims, his death and resurrection, is therefore good news for them.
Others have taken these “spirits” to be damned souls who rejected Noah millennia before. For such individuals, Jesus is confirming his doom by proclaiming his victory over them and all his enemies in his death and resurrection. (Some interpreters have seen Jesus offering an opportunity postmortem of faith and repentance to these “spirits in prison”).
What did Jesus do?
These interpretations have at least one thing in common. They see Jesus doing something locally, if not bodily, after His death and burial, but before His ascension to heaven. However, a problem with such interpretations is that they affirm an activity of Jesus that does not appear anywhere else in Scripture. We must be cautious in presenting such a claim without clearer Biblical testimony.
Another problem with such interpretations arises from Peter’s description of these “spirits” as those who “once disobeyed…in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark” (v. 20).
Why would Jesus release only a few Old Testament saints from captivity? Why would Peter describe the Old Testament saints this way? We could also ask, why would Jesus proclaim the damnation of a single generation of souls in hell and not others? Each of these interpretations also carries its own responsibilities. There is no clear testimony in the Scriptures that Old Testament believers, at the time of their death, were confined to the limbus patrum (“the limbo of the fathers”) until the time when Christ freed them in His resurrection.
The teaching of Jesus in the parable of “Lazarus and the rich man” points in the opposite direction. At death, the souls of Old Testament believers went immediately into the presence of God (Lk 16:22). There is no clear reason why Christ would travel to hell to proclaim its victory to any damned human soul. There is certainly no Biblical guarantee for an offer of salvation to those who have already died. The final judgment, after all, will take into account only what one has done in this life, nothing that one has done in the Hereafter (1 Pet 1:17; 2 Cor 5:10; Heb 9:27).
Still others have taken these “spirits” to be wicked angels over whom Christ triumphed in His resurrection. It is said that Jesus announces the conquest of his resurrection over the spiritual powers and authorities, who are bound in hellish captivity. This view may imply a proclamation of victory in hell, but it is not necessarily so. While it is true that Jesus’ resurrection declared victory over His spiritual and demonic enemies (see verse 22), it is doubtful that Peter had that victory in mind in verse 19. Peter seems to understand that the “spirits” of verse 19 , in reality, they are human beings when he says that they were disobedient «in the days of Noah during the building of the ark” (v. 20).
a better interpretation
There is another way of interpreting Peter’s words that avoids these difficulties and accounts for the context of these verses within Peter’s argument. The one making the proclamation of verse 19 is not the risen Jesus. No doubt it is Jesus who preaches, but he preaches in the Holy Spirit. The timing of this proclamation is not the window between the death and ascension of Jesus Christ. It is during Noah’s lifetime.
So what is Peter saying? He is saying that Noah, in the course of building the ark, bore witness to God’s coming judgment. He was the “preacher of justice”, as Peter says in one of his letters (2 Pet 2: 5). Noah preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit whom Peter earlier called “the Spirit of Christ” (1 Pet 1:11). But the men and women of Noah’s generation, despite the “patience of God” in delaying judgment, spurned that proclamation. Because of their “previous” disobedience, they are currently “in prison.” That is, their souls when they died were justly sent to hell to be punished for their sins.
Stand ready to give an account
These words would have brought tremendous pastoral encouragement to Peter’s first readers. Many of them were Gentiles, who had been redeemed from worthless and evil lives (1 Pet 1:18; cf. 4:3-4; cf. Eph 2:12). These believers were being persecuted for their faith, a reality that is explicitly addressed in 1 Peter 3:8-17. Despite this persecution, they should always be”always prepared to present a defense before anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Pet 3:15-16).
How can believers do this hard work? In 1 Peter 3:18-20, the writer again points us to the death and resurrection of Christ for sinners. Believers today, like the Noah of old, are called to bear witness to the hope of the gospel before a world that mocks and mocks us in unbelief. We do so in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ at work in Noah’s ministry of proclamation and the Spirit by which Christ was raised from the dead.
Our task is not futile. The risen Jesus has won the victory (1 Pet 3:21-22). We must not fear or despair (1 Pet 3:14). Rather, we are to have Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts as we speak to others about Him (1 Pet 3:15).
How good to know that our Savior has won the victory! Peter reminds us not to live by what our senses tell us, but by what we know to be true by faith. Jesus is on his throne and works among us by his Spirit. Let us be faithful and serve him in our generation.
Originally posted on . Translated by Team Coalition.