1 Peter 3:18-19

"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: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;" 1 Peter 3:18-19

What does verse 19 mean?

tozer said something re: this verse (this will be a paraphrase)
If you cannot find the answer right there in the text verse read the rest it may answer your question. (basically don't let a verse stump ya from continuing your study, be diligent)
I have no idea about that verse. I am sure many do not have a clear understanding of this verse. Read all your study Bibles and commentaries and go to a church library check all there info...pray and see what happens..

I read several commentaries after posting and the say that Jesus went to hell and preached to the damned souls there. It's just so totally differant from any doctrine I've heard and it's kind of hard for me to get my mind around it.

I guess I'll get back to the Book. :-)

Jordan

Hi Just listened to a commentary by John Vernon Mc Gee The Webpage is:http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/popup.pl?book=1Pe&chapter=3&verse=19&version=KJV#19
Its in Realplayer and it is short and to the point.
He says that the reason people are confused with these verses is to with the timeline.
You have to read verse 20 which shows Peter was talking about The people drowned in the flood in Noahs day.
Jesus preached in the spirit through Noah to these people when they were alive but at the time Peter was explaining it in his letter they were at that stage dead and there spirits were in prison
So he didnt go to hell to preach which I had heard as well but preached in the spirit through Noah and when they rejected Noah died and were "spirits in prison".These people werent "spirits in prison" when Jesus preached through Noah to Them but were "Spirits In Prison" when Peter was writing this verse thousands of years later.
When you get to the webpage above scroll down and press go and realplayer should popup.
Thanks for your question,I wouldnt have looked it up myself otherwise and his answer seems like a reasonably good and correct explanation,
Rgds Staff

Hi Jordan,

I've heard different explanations about this passage also but i've never really given it much study myself. But just now looking at this I noticed two things:

One, in regards to what you shared from the commentaries: this passage does not say [b]souls[/b] but rather [b]spirits[/b]. I think that is significant.

Two, it looks like whoever they are, they are also mentioned in verse 20.

Hope this is helpfull to your study.

Chris

Barnes Commentary (which can be downloaded with eSword) :-

The idea, however, would be conveyed by this language that he did this personally, or by himself, and not merely by employing the agency of another. It would then be implied here, that though the instrumentality of Noah was employed, yet that it was done not by the Holy Spirit, but by him who afterward became incarnate. On the supposition, therefore, that this whole passage refers to his preaching to the antediluvians in the time of Noah, and not to the “spirits” after they were confined in prison, this is language which the apostle would have properly and probably used. If that supposition meets the full force of the language, then no argument can be based on it in proof that he went to preach to them after their death, and while his body was lying in the grave.

If I've understood it correctly, the concept presented by Barnes would render the verses something like :-

[color=0000CC]1Pe 3:18-20 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: By which[/color][color=CC0000] he had, prior to the flood, gone [/color][color=0000CC]and preached unto [/color][color=CC0000]those whose spirits are now[/color][color=0000CC] in prison; 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. [/color]

PassingThru

Matthew Henry and Adam Clarke in most ways belive this... from matthew henrys commentary..

1. For the explication of this we may notice, (1.) The preacher - Christ Jesus, who has interested himself in the affairs of the church and of the world ever since he was first promised to Adam, Gen_3:15. He went, not by a local motion, but by special operation, as God is frequently said to move, Gen_11:5; Hos_5:15; Mic_1:3. He went and preached, by his Spirit striving with them, and inspiring and enabling Enoch and Noah to plead with them, and preach righteousness to them, as 2Pe_2:5. (2.) The hearers. Because they were dead and disembodied when the apostle speaks of them, therefore he properly calls them spirits now in prison; not that they were in prison when Christ preached to them, as the vulgar Latin translation and the popish expositors pretend. (3.) The sin of these people: They were disobedient, that is, rebellious, unpersuadable, and unbelieving, as the word signifies; this their sin is aggravated from the patience and long-suffering of God (which once waited upon them for 120 years together), while Noah was preparing the ark, and by that, as well as by his preaching, giving them fair warning of what was coming upon them. (4.) The event of all: Their bodies were drowned, and their spirits cast into hell, which is called a prison (Mat_5:25; 2Pe_2:4, 2Pe_2:5); but Noah and his family, who believed and were obedient, were saved in the ark.

Hope it helps, but then I read john macarthur study bible and he believes Christs Spirit went to hell or the abyss to proclaim to the demon spirits inspite of His death He triumphed over them. And he gives Col. 2:14,15 as backing. Matthew Henry and Adam Clarke seem more logical. But pray about it and see what the Lord will reveal to you in His Word.

In Christ,

Craig

HomeFree89 wrote:
"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: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;" 1 Peter 3:18-19

What does verse 19 mean?

I've always refered Peter 3:18-20 to [b]2Peter 2:4[/b] [color=990000]For if God did not spare sinning angels, [b]but delivered them[/color][in eternity] [color=990000]to chains of darkness[/b], thrust down into Tartarus, having been kept to judgment;[/color]
This verses' co- text is [b]Jude 1:6[/b] [color=990000]And those angels not having kept their first place, but having deserted their dwelling-place, He has [b]kept in eterinty chains under darkness[/b] for the judgment of a great Day;[/color]

PassingThru:
I like how you interprated the verse in blue & red.

The only other expaination woud be that of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim]Nephilim[/url]