I PETER 3:18-20 AND I PETER 4:6

Q:  I am confused about these verses and the related verse I Peter 4:6. What do they mean?

You are not alone, Martin Luther said this regarding the I Peter 3 passage: “This is a strange text and certainly a more obscure passage than any other passage in the NT. I still do not know for sure what the apostle means.” This event is actually part of the Apostle's Creed (but not the later creeds) even though no one knows for sure what transpired in Hell. If the dead were given a second chance, it could be used as an argument for the existence of Purgatory.

My wife and I had the ill fortune to visit a small church in the Northeast years ago on a vacation. These verses were being taught in the college Sunday school class by the pastor. One poor boy had the gall to sheepishly note that these verses seemed to teach the possibility of repentance after death. The pastor yelled at him at the top of his voice, “You've been reading Catholic books!” Of course, that effectively cut off any further discussion on the subject. I will try to be a little more open-minded.

In M. Eugene Boring's commentary on I Peter he outlines ten “overlapping and interlocking issues” that need to be resolved before properly understanding this passage. They include questions such as the relationship of this passage to other teachings in the Bible, whether Peter composed these verses or took them from existing liturgy, the relationship between this passage and the seemingly similar statement in I Peter 4:6, the timing and number of trips of Christ to “prison,” the location of this prison, the form in which he went and to whom he preached, the possible background of this passage in Old Testament apocalyptic literature or Greek mystery religions, the nature of the “preaching,” and any specific historical context behind the writing of the letter to his audience. Since there are several possible answers to each of these questions and all are interrelated, the number of combinations and permutations are so numerous that any authoritative answer is highly unlikely to ever arise this side of the grave. Nevertheless, here are a few of the morelikely possibilities to consider:

View 1: Christ announced his victory to imprisoned evil spiritual beings (fallen angels) referred to in Genesis 6 and II Peter 2:4-5. “Preach” can mean proclaim, without any idea of possible repentance (Peter does not use the common Greek word from which we get “evangelism,” used by him elsewhere). In favor of this view is the fact that “spirit” never refers to a dead human being in the Bible without clearly identifying it as such. In I Enoch, the fallen angels are said to be in prison. This is not the same as Hell at all, but a special holding tank. Thus, Jesus pronounces the final judgment on them. Other possibly pertinent cross-references to this idea are Colossians 2:15; 2 Peter 2:4-5; Revelation 12:7-9; Revelation 20:1-2; and Jude 6.

Variation on this theme: The spirits are the Nephilim mentioned in Genesis 6.

Anti: see Hebrews 2:16.

View 2: It refers to the preincarnate Jesus preaching (in his spirit through Noah) to those who would later die in the flood. Prison = flesh. This has the advantage of fitting in with two other statements in the same letter: I Peter 1:10-11, which indicates that the OT prophets had the spirit of Christ within them, and I Peter 3:20, which indicates that during the building of the ark, God attempted to reach sinners through the person of Noah.

Anti: It doesn't really fit in with the immediate context of Christ's death and resurrection.

View 3: This refers to Christ after his death preaching to spirits of human beings who died in the flood (since they were prime examples of a particularly evil generation) (a) with the possible chance of repentance or (b) just to announce judgment on them. Those who favor option 3a sometimes cite Ephesians 4:8-10 to support their view, but that passage is almost equally ambiguous in meaning. In possible support of view 3b is I Peter 4:6, which may be related:

Anti: Why preach only to them? Second chances after death are not mentioned anywhere else in Bible.

I Peter 4:6

View 1: Refers to those dead in their sins who accepted the word while they were physically alive. Now they are alive in the spirit even though they may have died physically. Not related to I Peter 3.

View 2: Refers to all who are spiritually dead. Not related to I Peter 3.

Anti: “Dead” in the rest of the passage refers to the physically dead. And “preached” is in the past, one-time, tense.

View 3: Refers to all the dead up to that time (or at least to the righteous dead), so that they had a second chance. Might be related to the event in I Peter 3.

Anti: Second chance are not mentioned elsewhere.