I Always Wonder Of 1st Pet 3:18-20......And I Thought How Could He Go And Preach To The Spirits In Prison While He Told The Thieve On The Cross, Luke 23:43 That He Would Be With Him That Day In Paradise?.Was The Thieve With Him In Prison While He Was Preaching ;Or He Was Waiting In Paradise For His Return?.........And I Question , What Is The Truth Of The Three Events ; Did Really Jesus SOUL Died; And If He Did, How Could He Preach To The Spirits In Prison?. But If His SOUL Did NOT Died, But Indeed He Preach To The Spirits In Prison; Why He Told The Thieve On The Cross,TODAY Shall Thou Be With Me In Paradise? .....Mind Bugling ...Some One Please Help Since We Can't Have It ALL Three Ways.... God Bless...
Maybe this will help to answer your questions. First of all, you must have a very good Bible Teacher, or you would not know that He did go most likely to proclaim HIS Victory over Sin, and Death, and maybe Hades. I think, He even proclaimed His Victory to the spirits (demons) in the pit, who had tried so HARD to stop Messiah from coming from the human race, when they took daughters of men as wives.
Ephesians 4:8 (ASV)
[SUP]
8 [/SUP] Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led
captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men.
That is an expression that comes from ancient military Commanders, and it is a reference to the victory parade a Commander would have when he came home after a Great Victory. He would take those captive who where once holding his people captive and parade them before the cheering crowds. In the KJV, ASV, NKJV, and YLT this expression is used in Judges 5:12 and elsewhere in the Old Testament. Some theologians insist that at the time of Christ's death, Hades was divided into two parts, a good part for believers (they thought was Abraham's Bosom), and a bad part, the place of torment for the spirits of unrepentant sinners. I don't think we have enough info in the Bible on that subject to come to a definite conclusion on that. In fact there seems to be some compelling evidence in the Old Testament that the human spirit of a believer has always returned directly to GOD in Heaven, Who brought that believer's spirit to eternal life.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 (NKJV)
[SUP]
19 [/SUP] For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all
is vanity.
[SUP]
20 [/SUP] All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.
[SUP]
21 [/SUP]
Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward,
and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?
I lean towards the idea that His Victory Parade was leading only Sin and Death that held us captive. They however, insist that in this Victory Parade of Christ's, He lead captivity captive, in that He showed His Victory over Sin, over Death, and over the location of the good part of Hades, which He took Heaven after His death. My understanding is that Christ died first, then the thief on the Cross, so His proclamation of Victory to the imprisoned could easily have only taken a minute or two. I would speculate that since the Tribulation Saints clearly arrive at a specific location in Heaven, "Under the Altar", immediately after their death, Rev. 6:9; they had to figure out a way for the old theory for the location of the good part of hades, to be taken to heaven. Like I said, we are dealing with insufficient evidence in Scripture to validate either idea.
When you read Rev. 6:9, we see the "souls" of those dead are crying out to the Lord; which only adds to your list of how do you explain it. This is where I think the confusion comes from. The Bible clearly indicates that it is very difficult to distinguish between the human soul and human spirit. But it also says that it CAN BE DONE WITH THE WORD OF GOD.
Hebrews 4:12 (HCSB)
[SUP]
12 [/SUP] For
the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword,
penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.
If we can find Christ defining what Soul is, would that not greatly help clarify the difference between soul and spirit?
Luke 12:19 (NKJV)
[SUP]
19 [/SUP]
And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."
CLEARLY, Christ is defining a mental debate with one's own self, as debating with your Soul. Is it not then clear that SOUL is your mind and all of it's cognitive abilities?
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NKJV)
[SUP]
23 [/SUP] Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you
completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
body = the sum total of all tangible cells, everything you can see or look at with a microscope.
soul = the sum total of all the intangible parts and functions of the human mind, thoughts, emotions, feelings, memories cognitive abilities, reason, psyche {in fact the Greek word for soul is: [FONT="]
psychē - [/FONT]Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. }.
spirit = the part of man that was dead to GOD at natural birth due to Adam's sin, and must be born again via the Holy Spirit Himself, bringing that spirit to be eternally alive to GOD.
John 3:6 (KJV)
[SUP]
6 [/SUP]
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Both the soul and spirit THINK. Here is Paul struggling with those opposite thoughts of soul and spirit.
Romans 7:15-25 (HCSB)
[SUP]
15 [/SUP] For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.
[SUP]
16 [/SUP] And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
[SUP]
17 [/SUP] So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.
[SUP]
18 [/SUP] For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
[SUP]
19 [/SUP] For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.
[SUP]
20 [/SUP] Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me.
[SUP]
21 [/SUP] So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me.
[SUP]
22 [/SUP]
For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law.
[SUP]
23 [/SUP] But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.
[SUP]
24 [/SUP] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?
[SUP]
25 [/SUP] I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.
I believe Paul is calling his born again spirit his "inner self". This is Paul before He is fully spiritually mature.
As we feed on the Word of GOD our spirits will mature, and become stronger, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, our born again spirits will become dominant over our souls. BUT NOTICE, Paul is definitely describing two thinking parts of himself, one is Alive to the will of GOD, and the other is only concerned about the will of the flesh. Hence the human spirit thinks as well as the human soul.
Before one is born again, those two are indistinguishable because they both are only in tune with the flesh.
Therefore if you are born again, all of this will make sense to you, if not, it will all sound like foolishness. 1 Cor. 2:14
With this much difficulty in separating soul from spirit; I personally think our translators probably struggled with the difference between spirit and soul, as well as those who wrote Language dictionaries. Thus it may be possible that Rev. 6:9 would have been better translated stating the spirits of the dead where under the altar crying out.
To answer How did Jesus proclaim His Victory to the imprisoned spirits. THAT was done by the spirit of JESUS which is part of GOD Himself. The question on Paradise is also easily answered. Jesus died first, giving Him time to proclaim His Victory to the imprisoned. Then when you understand that it was the spirit of JESUS, that took the born again spirit of the thief, with Him when He went to the Father, there to specifically to proclaim His Victory to all the heavenly hosts; it all falls in place. What a Celebration that must have been! His blood however had to be delivered to the Altar of GOD, poured out and sprinkled there in His Resurrected body, when He took on HIS Role as our HIGH PRIEST.
We can also prove that Paradise is the Eternal Dwelling Place of GOD.
2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (HCSB)
[SUP]
2 [/SUP] I know a man in Christ who was
caught up into the third heaven 14 years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don’t know, God knows.
[SUP]
3 [/SUP] I know that this man—whether in the body or out of the body I don’t know, God knows—
[SUP]
4 [/SUP] was
caught up into paradise. He heard inexpressible words, which a man is not allowed to speak.
Third Heaven = The Throne in Heaven or the angels of Heaven =
THE ETERNAL DWELLING PLACE OF GOD.
Second heaven = the stars of heaven or the galaxies of heaven =
THE CREATED UNIVERSE.
First heaven = the birds soared in heaven or the rain fell from heaven =
THE ATMOSPHERE.
