Bibles from different versions made a different translation of the specific one word in 1 Peter 3:19 just to harmonize on their respective interpretations. Here’s what is written in King James Version and let us first to quote the whole passage of 1 Peter 3:19 up to verse 20, it says "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; (20) Which 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." Now, we will focus in verse 19 where the said word has a different translation.
"By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;"-KJV
“After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits” -NIV
These are the different interpretations, according to some, they’re the souls of Old Testament believers, whom Jesus liberated from captivity and brought with him to heaven. The preaching of the Gospel(see 1 Peter 4:6), about his death and resurrection, is therefore good news to them, some interpreters have seen Jesus offering a postmortem opportunity for faith and repentance to these “spirits in prison.”
Others have taken these “spirits” to be condemned souls who rejected Noah millennia earlier. For such individuals, Jesus is confirming their condemnation by proclaiming his victory over them and all his enemies in his death and resurrection.
While some interpret that this happened in Noah’s day. Because Peter uses the nebulous language of “spirits,” it is possible that he could be thinking about Noah’s time, rather than hell. Advocates of this view ask why Peter would mention “the days of Noah”(v.20), if he was referring to hell.
"By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;"-KJV
“After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits” -NIV
These are the different interpretations, according to some, they’re the souls of Old Testament believers, whom Jesus liberated from captivity and brought with him to heaven. The preaching of the Gospel(see 1 Peter 4:6), about his death and resurrection, is therefore good news to them, some interpreters have seen Jesus offering a postmortem opportunity for faith and repentance to these “spirits in prison.”
Others have taken these “spirits” to be condemned souls who rejected Noah millennia earlier. For such individuals, Jesus is confirming their condemnation by proclaiming his victory over them and all his enemies in his death and resurrection.
While some interpret that this happened in Noah’s day. Because Peter uses the nebulous language of “spirits,” it is possible that he could be thinking about Noah’s time, rather than hell. Advocates of this view ask why Peter would mention “the days of Noah”(v.20), if he was referring to hell.
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