I was looking for something new. But I will bring up an example. We don't have to discuss it if it has been recently worn out but it is a good example of one that is hard to understand at first read.
1 Peter 3
18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
19in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison
20who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared.
Does this mean that Jesus preached to spirits in prison after he was killed, or after he was made alive? Or does this mean that Noah preached to those people while they were still alive by the Spirit of Christ that was in him before they died and were put in prison which is where they are now?
Peter said that the Spirit of Christ was in these old prophets when they preached and I was wondering if that is what Peter is referring to when he says this?
They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
Hi, Amanuensis.
I've only read a few posts on the first page of this thread, so I don't know whether or not anyone else here has already mentioned what I'm about to say.
In either case, if we continue on just a bit with what Peter said, then I believe that we get more very relevant information.
Here's a fuller context of what Peter said:
I Peter chapter 3
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18] For 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:
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19] By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
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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.
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21] The 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:
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22] Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
I Peter chapter 4
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1] Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
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2] That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
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3] For 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:
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4] Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
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5]
Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
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6]
For 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.
It seems to me that Peter is referring to the same exact "spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing" (I Peter 3:19-20) in I Peter 4:6.
In other words, those dead to whom the gospel was preached.
Why was the gospel preached to them?
Well, it seems to me that Peter gave us the exact reason why when he said "For for this cause was the gospel preached also unto them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (I Peter 4:6).
This understanding would also perfectly align itself with what Peter had just finished saying in the previous verse, namely this:
"Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead" (I Peter 4:5).
Again, in both verses, we're reading about judgment.
In verse 5, it's Christ judging the quick, or the living, and the dead.
In verse 6, it's Christ preaching the gospel specifically to them that were dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
Whatever type of judgment this was, we know, from other scriptures, that it wasn't the final Great White Throne judgment because that doesn't occur until the end of Christ's Millennial Reign (Revelation 20:7-15).
Anyhow, as I suggested earlier, I believe that these additional words of Peter are very relevant to the question at hand.