Understanding 1 Peter 3:19

Understanding 1 Peter 3:19 (Pertinent scriptures below)

Who are the "spirits in prison", in 1 Peter 3:19, and the "dead" in 1 Peter 4:6?

First, you must understand the word "spirits" (pneumasin in the Greek) in 1 Peter 3:19 and the use of this word as opposed to 'soul' (psyches in the Greek) which words some erroneously use interchangeably, but they are not interchangeable, which distorts or skews their understanding leading to their misunderstanding of this and related passages.

The spirit is NOT the soul ('psyches', singular, or 'psycheas', plural,) nor vice-versa since they can be divided (Hebrews 4:12). So if it's not the soul in 1 Peter 3:19, or relating to the dead, physical, body whose spirit has returned to God and body back to the earth from whence they came, what does this word mean, and who or what does it represent?

Some also say, as aforementioned, that the two words, spirit and soul, are used interchangeably in NT scriptures, but Peter, the writer of this, as well as 2 Peter, used BOTH words, and not one exclusively. See below, Peter 1 and Peter 2 scriptures. It's clear that the two words are NOT interchangeable and have different meanings which one can find by consulting the Greek dictionary.

Now then, after clarifying that 'spirit' and 'soul' are not the same thing, and looking again at 1 Peter 3:19, who or what are the "spirits in prison" since they cannot be the souls of dead humans, and what then is meant by this passage? That takes us to 2 Peter 2 starting at verse 4: there you'll see that the angels (spiritual beings who weren't nor are dead) were cast into hell, prison if you will, for their disobedience, bound in chains and reserved therein until the day of judgment. These misguided angels are the "spirits in prison".

Now concerning the "dead" in 1 Peter 4:6. Who are they if not dead souls in hell?

To understand this, you must understand the total context in which it's used in 1 Peter 4:3-6 and it's origin which can be found in Luke 9:60 and/or the corresponding parallel passage of Matthew 8:22. The dead referrered to are the living dead; those that are ungodly, nonbelievers, worldly, etc. Notice what the Lord tells this individual: to "let the dead bury their dead". So within that context of "dead", when you again look at 1 Peter 4:3-6, it's clear that the reference (dead) is to the Gentiles. The "Gentiles" in 1 Peter 4:3, is the "they" and "them" in 1 Peter 4:4 and likewise in verse 6. So yes, the gospel was in fact preached to the "dead" also, namely the Gentiles, so they too could/can be judged likewise or equally and on the same basis as others in the flesh, but are alive in the spirit, meaning, yet living through the power and breath of God who has quickened all with the same breath of life. And finally, why would anyone think that it could possibly make sense to preach to dead souls in hell, most of which are there because they squandered their opportunity while being alive to believe and obey the gospel of Christ, the saving grace and power which is found in the "good news". It's too late for them as scripture clearly infers or in most cases, blatantly states such as in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. There are no second chances to be saved after death.


1 Peter 3:18-21

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:

1 Peter 2:11

11Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

1 Peter 1:22

22Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Peter 4:3-6

3For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: 4Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: 5Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 6For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

2 Peter 2:4-14

4For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds9The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. 11Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. 12But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 13And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 14Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

Ephesians 4:8-10

8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Luke 9:59-60

59And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

Have a look Here

Gills Exposition states:

(excerpt)

1 Peter 3:19
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in
prison.
] Various are the senses given of this passage: some say, that Christ, upon his death, went in his human soul to hell; either, as some, to preach to the devils and damned spirits, that they might be saved, if they would; and, as others, to let them know that he was come, and to fill them with dread and terror; but though hell may be meant by the prison, yet the text does not say that he went unto it, or preached in it; only that the spirits were in it, to whom he sometimes went, and preached; nor is his human soul, but his divine nature meant, by the Spirit, by which he went and preached to them: and as for the ends proposed, the former is impracticable and impossible; for after death follows judgment, which is an eternal one;

nor is there any salvation, or hope of salvation afterwards; and the latter is absurd, vain, and needless. Others, as the Papists, imagine the sense to be, that Christ, at his death, went in his human soul, into a place they call "Limbus Patrum", which they suppose is meant by the prison here, and delivered the souls of the Old Testament saints and patriarchs from thence, and carried them with him to heaven; but this sense is also false, because, as before observed, not the human soul of Christ, but his divine nature, is designed by the Spirit; nor is there any such place as here feigned, in which the souls of Old Testament saints were, before the death of Christ; for they were in peace and rest, in the kingdom of heaven, in Abraham's bosom, inheriting the promises, and not in a prison; besides, the text says not one word of the delivering of these spirits out of prison, only of Christ's preaching to them: add to all this, and which Beza, with others, observes, the apostle speaks of such as had been disobedient, and unbelievers; a character which will not agree with righteous men, and prophets, and patriarchs, under the former dispensation: others think the words are to be understood of Christ's going to preach, by his apostles, to the Gentiles,

(here)

1 Peter 3:19 - Bible Verse Meaning and Commentary

1 Peter 3:19 does say he went by the Spirit and preached unto the spirits in prison.

How does Jesus live in the believers today so that for them to live is Christ? By the Spirit. And, as Gill points out, it doesn't say He went to the prison.

Acts 2:38. Upon baptism into Christ you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And, 1 Peter 3:19 clearly says that by the Spirit he preached unto the spirits in prison as I reiterated to gill.

1 Peter 3:18-19

"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;"


The above is pretty clear.

One could argue it's anything but clear given the difference of opinions expressed on these scriptures. I'm just trying to ascertain what you are saying. Do you believe Jesus actually went to prison?

Yes.

I Peter 3:19 "By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison,"

Thank you but "Now then, after clarifying that 'spirit' and 'soul' " no you told us. Before Christ died and rose where did they go when they died? That is where He went as its written then when He rose many dead rose and walked again.. oh wow that would be AWESOME and back then scary haha

This is recorded shortly after Jesus’ death on the cross:

”Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split…”

This represents the veil of separation between God and man. The writer of Hebrews mentioned it:

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Placed by the blood of Jesus,by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body…”

The entrance into the presence of God is now exclusively in Christ.

The result of His preaching in prison was this…

”..and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

The spirits in prison were primarily the angels who sinned before the Flood. The "dead" in 1 Pet 4:6 are those who died and were in Hades. There was no possibility of them being saved, but they would go on living until their resurrection. We know that Christ went to Hades after His crucifixion, so we can conclude that when He proclaimed His victory at the cross to the angels who had sinned (and were in Tartarus), He also proclaimed it to all the inhabitants of Hades.

The word prison found in 1 Peter 3:19 concerns the following two chambers, Tartarus, where “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell (Tartarus), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. And the second chamber called the Abyss, the Deep; the bottomless pit or the gate to hell. The word prison would include, Jude 6, 2 Peter 2:4, Revelation 20:7.

It appears Christ did not go into the third or fourth chamber, Hades and Gehenna.

one would think your trying to convince us you want to study.

Yep!

which is you want to study

Whether the Christian has a spirit or whether the Christian has a a soul

Well I've been waiting 17 minutes for an answer

Obviously God is teaching about patience today.

that would be correct my stary eyed friend 😋😊.

Merry Christmas

He allso teaches how to be liberal 😊