Preaching to Spirits in Prison?

After the resurrection, Jesus was no longer limited by His human form and was able to do things He could not previously do, such as appearing and disappearing, and walking through doors. According to 1 Peter 3:19, He was also able to visit the "spirits in prison", meaning that He traveled to the underworld known to the Jews as Hades. Who were these spirits and what was preached to them? The interpretation of this obscure passage has led some to conclude that there is hope for salvation after death; that a gospel message was preached to dead souls in Hell. But this is in direct conflict with many other passages like Hebrews 9:27 which states, "it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgement". We would like to believe in a second chance for salvation after death, but nowhere in Scripture is this taught.

The "spirits" referenced were "those who disobeyed" in Noah's time, however, the word "spirits" is almost never used to refer to dead people unless clearly specified. By far, the more common term used for dead people is "souls". When the term "spirit" is used, it is usually in reference to a spirit being, i.e. an angel. If you will think back to Genesis, specifically chapter 6, the "sons of God" were sleeping with the daughters of men and producing the Nephilim, at the time of Noah. One interpretation of this passage is that the "sons of God" were fallen angels (the other is that they were of the godly line of Seth while the daughters of men were of the ungodly line of Canaan). I am beginning to lean toward the first interpretation, which can be backed up by Jude 1:6; "I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness..." and 2 Peter 2:4; "God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into Hell, in gloomy pits of darkness..." We already know that Satan took 1/3 of the heavenly host with him when he was thrown out of heaven and that they await judgement. There is a long tradition, both in the New Testament and other Jewish writings (namely the extra-Biblical book of Enoch) that these fallen angels were kept in prison, therefore this would be the logical interpretation of "spirits in prison".

Why preach to fallen angels then? This is when the resource books pay off, because there is an alternate interpretation of the Greek word "preach". The term "euangelizomai" (from which we get the word "evangelize") means "to preach or tell the good news". This is not the word used in the Greek translation however. What is used is the word "ekeryxen", which means "to proclaim a message". The exact nature of this proclamation is not given, but could simply mean that Jesus went to Hades to proclaim victory. Or it could mean that He went there to tell the righteous souls who were awaiting the Messiah, to get ready to depart for heaven. Several passages in the New Testament teach that Jesus, between the resurrection and ascension, visited Hades, which is not the equivalent of Hell despite the words of the Apostles Creed.

The Greek word is Hadas (from which we get the English word Hades). This is the region of the dead. Before Jesus' ascension, the spirits of all people went to Hades. After His ascension, only the spirits of unbelievers go to Hades, while the spirits of believers go directly to be with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1-8). It is into this region that Jesus entered after His crucifixion (Acts 2:25-31 in which Peter quotes from Psalm 16:9-10). Ephesians 4:8-10 says that Jesus, "had descended into the lower parts of the earth." This may also speak of Jesus' visit to Hades before His ascension. Finally, Romans 10:7 refers to Jesus in "the abyss" while He was among the dead. After the final judgment, Hades will be cast into Hell (Revelation 20:14), which is the "lake of fire" prepared for the devil and his demons along with those who reject Jesus.

Tomorrow's reading: 1 Pet. 5:12-14; 2 Pet. 1:1-3:18