1 Peter 3:19 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Peter 3:19

Comments

Christ was quickened by the Spirit, and it was by the same Spirit that he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. This describes what he did back in the days of Noah, who will be the next example that Peter brings to us. Christ did not preach in his incarnate form, for he had not yet come into the world. Nor did he preach as a dead spirit during the time between the crucifixion and the resurrection. He preached by his Spirit because it was actually Noah who did the preaching, but he spoke by inspiration of the Spirit of Christ. Peter confirms that Noah was a preacher of righteousness in his Second Epistle (2 Peter 2:5). Why are those who heard this preaching called ‘the spirits in prison’? Because that is where they are now and the reason is given in the next verse – they did not obey the message. They were very much alive at the time when Noah preached to them, but Peter’s point is that since they refused to hear the preaching of God’s prophet, they have been judged, just as those who now persecute the Christians to whom Peter writes will be judged. This is said to assure his hearers that God will not ignore the unjust treatment meted out to his beloved people. Those individual men and women who lived at the time of Noah have not ceased to exist or lost their identity, but are reserved by God in Hades. This passage teaches the immortality of the soul and the state in which the dead are held while they wait for the final hour. Peter shows us by revelation that they are now imprisoned in death, waiting only for the final judgment when Death and Hades will deliver up the dead that are within them (Revelation 20:13). While Christ was freed from death by the quickening power of the Spirit of God; these spirits, who lived so long ago, remain in a state of imprisonment because they did not avail themselves of the quickening influence of the Spirit, who spoke to them through the preaching of Noah.

Application

So, the message is: ‘Take your stand. Take a deeper view of hostility and suffering. Look at all the advantages of it: you will be vindicated in the end. Consider that this happened to Christ. Consider also, that it happened to Noah. Think of him.’ He witnessed and stood up to derision and scorn for 120 years, throughout the time of the building of the ark. He actually had a far tougher time than us, because, apart from him and his sons – his family, consisting of only eight souls – nobody else was saved! Yet God was with him, blessed him, preserved him, and rewarded him. Peter says, ‘It’s always been the same. Noah had such a bleak time but he was vindicated and blessed, and, in the end, he was the one by whom the world was judged.’ Noah is brought in as another example of patient suffering for doing good. He suffered as a faithful preacher in his time; his message was derided and ridiculed by his generation, and yet his testimony to all generations has been of lasting value. That generation perished, but those who have come afterwards owe their existence to his faith and obedience. Though he suffered, he did not flinch from carrying out the task assigned to him and in warning his contemporaries that he might save any of them who would listen.

Questions

Many people have taught that because verse 19 follows directly from the death and resurrection of Christ, it refers to something he did immediately after the resurrection. The idea then is that Christ preached to the spirits. What spirits? There is a divergence here. Some say, the spirits in hell. Others say, No, these were not human spirits; these were the fallen angels who were imprisoned, it is said, way back in the time of Noah. Those that were involved there at the flood were imprisoned, and he went to proclaim his triumph to them. But the subject here is an example of suffering. There is no great reason why Peter should suddenly talk about a great mystery – what Christ did after the resurrection in preaching either to condemned human souls, or preaching to condemned fallen angels. But there is every reason why he should give examples of suffering that God uses. The first one is that of Christ, the highest example. The second one is that of Noah who suffered great hostility, and yet God used him for a new order entirely.

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Introduction

1 Peter 3:19 Commentary and Bible Study