1 Peter 3:19
by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
Truth to Learn
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!
Behind the Words
The grammatical construction of the beginning of today’s verse can suggest either “in which” or “by which.” After having studied many interpretations of this passage, I am convinced that Peter’s intent is “by which,” meaning “by which spirit he went …” Whether this means the spirit of Christ or The Holy Spirit (which has been the subject of much arguing) I don’t know; I don’t think it really matters, for it is the Spirit of God in either case.
The word “preached” is translated from <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”,”serif”; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> kērussō, which means “to herald forth, to proclaim, or to announce publicly.”
The expression, “preached to the spirits in prison” can be translated as, “proclaimed to the spirits in the guarded place.” It is not likely that this was an evangelistic message else Peter would most likely have used the verb euangellō (good news declaring) rather than kērussō (proclaiming).
Meaning Explained
Though it is one of the shortest verses that we have looked at, this is a very difficult one to understand. It is the sole verse upon which the Roman Catholic Church bases its doctrine of purgatory. But before looking at this verse we must look at the end of the previous verse.
In the end of the previous verse Peter said that Christ was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. Some believe that this is referring to Christ dying in the flesh but living in the spirit. In fact, the Greek grammatical construction of the end of the previous verse suggests that it was “by the Spirit” that Christ was made alive again (in the flesh). The word translated “made alive” in the previous verse is the Greek word dzōopoietheis, which means “to make alive.” It can mean either giving initial life or giving life again after it has been lost. But either way, it can’t refer to Christ’s spirit being made alive since His spirit is eternal.
Finally, to get the full meaning of the current verse we have to join it to the next verse. The construction of this verse and the one following implies that the proclaiming occurred at the time when God was waiting in the days of Noah, but that the imprisonment of the spirits was contemporaneous with Peter’s time. In other words, Peter was saying that Christ proclaimed to the spirits who are currently in prison but the proclaiming occurred in the time of Noah.
We will get into this a bit more when we look more closely at the next verse. What I want you to come away with today is that this verse is in no way saying that Christ preached to the unsaved in purgatory giving them a second chance to be saved. There is absolutely no basis for the notion of purgatory in today’s verse … or anywhere else in the entire Bible.
Application
If you believe that you have to earn the right to be in heaven with God, and you believe that in purgatory you will have a second chance, or that you can work your way out of purgatory, you are in for a rude shock. You cannot earn salvation. You can only receive it as a free gift when you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins. Once this life is over, your choice is made … for eternity!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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