But Even If ...
With Peter’s words from First Peter 3, verses 10 through 12 fresh in our thoughts, we will look at verse 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
What an interesting question. The people to whom he is writing, many of them at least, have fled from the Jerusalem area because of persecution. And now he asks, Who is going to hurt you as long as you are doing good and serving God? Really? It was for that very reason …to avoid being hurt ... not wanting to be arrested, tortured and put to death that they are now living where they are.
Perhaps Peter is implying that they have NOT been zealous of doing good … and God is punishing them? But before we come to some conclusion, we must realize that anyone reading Peter’s words will notice the following verse.
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. (a)
But even if … Well that changes things a bit. This makes the previous verse more of a generality. So we could say that it is generally true that as we serve God faithfully, He is there to watch over us. He has a plan and He has included us in it. He is immortal and we could say that our lives are also immortal … until His purpose for us on Earth is completed.
Even if … The promise of God, says Peter, is that God will make it all worthwhile. (14b)you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. His pay scale is out of this world. We will be blessed.
Peter goes on with the thought, that even though those in authority may persecute you, Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, Don’t let them rattle you … go before the court with a plan. And here, says Peter, is the plan: but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Have your simple testimony ready. Be ready to talk about Jesus. And do it respectfully. This is something that works well at any time, but Peter is particularly using this advice for when you are taken up before authorities … for living, acting and teaching in a way that they deem not acceptable. So he simply says, have your basic beliefs regarding Christ ready to share.
He talks a little about a possible outcome. 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
That may be our only ‘best outcome’ that we can hope for. If we act defiantly in our defence we make it so much easier for them to strike us down. This does not mean the persecution will go away. Jesus behaved as a Lamb … but He was still taken to the slaughter.
So if we end up suffering anyway, even after having given our ‘gentle’ answer, he says, (17) it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
According to what we just read here, it may just be God’s will for us to suffer. Why? Peter will expand on this later.
But for now he gives us the example of Jesus. Jesus said this, "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. Mt 10:24-25
It is an honor to be treated like Jesus was treated. Peter reminds us, 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,
At this point Peter takes a kind of a side track. He is going to introduce topics or subjects that seem to have no connection whatsoever to his loving letter of advice for Christians who are facing difficult times.
So here is the last part of verse 18 … being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
Here is something we seldom think about. We are very familiar with the part that says, made alive in the spirit. But the part about ‘proclaiming’ to spirits in prison, what is that about? We need to read a bit further.
to the spirits in prison,
20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
What are the key words here? did not obey, days of Noah and spirits in prison.
OK, let’s test our beliefs based on our knowledge of the Bible. Is there a heaven and a hell? Do all unbelievers go to hell when they die? As a conservative Christan, I heartily say yes to both questions. I likely could write a book on the subject, but let’s go on to another question. Did all of those who died in the flood go to hell? Think about it. We know that very few … eight in total, believed that God was going to destroy the earth. They believed and they got in the boat. It took Noah 120 years to build the boat. If other people had ‘believed’ the warnings of Noah, they would have had to build their own boats. There would have been no room for hundreds or thousands of others in Noah’s ark.
So, any other believers would have to have started building their boats quite early on in the preaching of Noah, or they never would have been ready in time.
Billions of people died in the flood. Men, women and children, from the worst to the not-so-worst.
Salvation from hell has alway been based on belief .. on faith. Salvation has never been based upon performance. The belief that was required to be saved from the coming flood, was more than just a belief that it was going to rain for forty days. The required belief was a belief in God. It would be the lack of this belief in God that would have resulted in those people going to hell forever.
But now a list of other questions: What if someone believed in God … but just did not believe that He would actually do something like the flood? What if some of the kids in the family urged their parents to go to the ark … but were told, No, it’s all a bunch of nonsense? In a population of billions, how many people were ‘under the age of accountability’? And here is a very important question … when believers died before the coming of Christ, did they go to heaven or somewhere else?
Well, that is quite a number of questions. Because Peter has opened the door to these questions, I think it is important that we ‘walk through’ and discuss answers.
I am going to start with the last one. And I think it best if I make a statement and then show what the Bible says about it.
When Jesus died, He did not go to heaven, He went somewhere else.
But when Jesus was dying on the cross, next to Him was another man who was also dying. Here is the account
Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."
42 And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
So there is the setting. One of the criminals is showing a repentant spirit. His question to Jesus shows that he believed Jesus would eventually have a kingdom. All he asks is to be remembered, if that would be possible.
Jesus gives him a very heartening answer. In the midst of His own intense suffering He said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
If Jesus meant, “Today you will be with me in heaven”, then when did He go preach to the spirits in prison? And how could Jesus promise this criminal that he would be in heaven with him that very day, when all along He said, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.?
Peter said that Jesus ‘preached’ to spirits in prison. He would have had to have done that during the 3 days that he was in the ‘heart’ of the earth.
To add a little more ‘biblical’ information about the place Jesus was in for three days, we can look at this passage in Luke. 19 ¶ "There was once a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and lead a life of daily luxury.
20 And there was a poor man called Lazarus who was put down at his gate. He was covered with sores.
21 He used to long to be fed with the scraps from the rich man’s table. Yes, and the dogs used to come and lick his sores.
22 Well, it happened that the poor man died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And from the place of the dead he looked up in torment and saw Abraham a long way away, and Lazarus in his arms.
24 ‘Father Abraham,’ he cried out, ‘please pity me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’
25 But Abraham replied, ‘Remember, my son, that you used to have the good things in your lifetime, just as Lazarus suffered the bad. Now he is being comforted here, while you are in agony.
26 And besides this, a great chasm has been set between you and us, so that those who want to go to you from this side cannot do so, and people cannot come to us from your side.’
27 At this he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house
28 for I have five brothers. He could warn them and prevent their coming to this place of torture.’
29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets: they can listen to them.’
30 ‘Ah no, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘if only someone were to go to them from the dead, they would change completely.’
31 But Abraham told him, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they would not be convinced even if somebody were to rise from the dead.’" (Philips Translation)
Quite a story. And this is a real account, not a parable. In any of His parables, Jesus never gave someone a name, as He does Lazarus.
So we have several names for this place. Jesus called it Paradise. Peter calls it prison. Jesus also called it ‘heart of the earth’.
A comment on why the place existed at all is important. As we know, Jesus paid the cost to open the opportunity for us to have a home with Him in heaven. His resurrection from the dead is what sealed the deal. Because He lives, we will live also. But until Jesus actually paid the price, no one's sins up to that point in time … were actually forgiven. Even though the Jewish people followed their instructions to bring a sacrifice to the priest, confess their sins etc., their sins were not yet forgiven. They had done their part, but Jesus still had to do his part. So from creation up to the day of Jesus’ resurrection, no believer died and went to heaven. They died and went to Paradise where Abraham and Lazarus are. It was a place where conversation could take place between a rich man in hell and Abraham … on the other side. But no way was Abraham in heaven having a conversation with an unbeliever in hell. Everyone went to Hades at death prior to Jesus’ resurrection.
So Peter says that Jesus went and talked to the ‘spirits in prison’. By the way, another name for this place is Hades. Often we think of Hades as being that bad, hot place. Technically the word Hades means ‘place of the unseen dead’. With that definition it includes the place where Lazarus, Father Abraham, the penitent criminal, and Jesus were. And it includes the other place, where the unbelieving rich man was residing.
So the ‘spirits in prison’ is a different way of saying, those who are in a ‘holding place’.
In our passage in Peter we notice that Peter is singling out ‘spirits’ of those who died in Noah’s day. Is he talking only about the wicked? Or could he be talking about the little babies who died innocently in the flood? And could he be talking to the God-believers who just possibly did not have enough faith to believe that a flood was actually coming?
I do not believe that Jesus went there with a message for the wicked in hell. There would be no point.
But we can include Adam and every single other believer who has died since the foundation of the world.
I have heard other bible teachers explain Peter’s comments in another way. They fail to recognise that believers prior to Jesus’ resurrection did not go to heaven when they died, but went to the ‘waiting’ place that we also call Abraham’s bosom, the heart of the earth, and Paradise. They assume all believers from Adam onwards all went to heaven when they died. They assume that the only ‘spirits’ that Jesus could have talked to were all unsaved and therefore in hell. They assume that Jesus went to them with a message and shared it with them for some reason.
Let’s take another look these verses: 18 being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
Jesus’ body died on the cross, but He was very much alive in His spirit. He went to the heart of the earth with a message. Everyone up above on the surface of the earth that were gathered around the cross had already heard the message. It was a simple statement; “It is finished!”.
So Jesus went, not to hell to suffer pain for us … because salvation’s price was already paid. It was finished!
I can imagine that Jesus had quite a three day ministry down there. It was a time of joy. All of the sacrifices that had been offered down through thousands of years had pointed to this event. The sacrifices could not take away sin, we are told in Hebrews ….. For this reason, all the believers were still here and not in heaven. But once the sacrifice of Jesus had been made, they would now be clean of their sins and able to make the transition to heaven.
There is even more to this story. After Jesus had spent three days and three nights in the center of the Earth, it was time for Him to rise from the dead and reappear on the surface of the Earth. Perhaps you will recall having read that, just before Jesus died, an earthquake occurred in Jerusalem and graves were opened.
Here is the passage: The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:52-53)
For three days the graves lay open, but on the third day ... after Jesus rose, so did ‘many of the saints’ rise with Him.
These 'saints' certainly did not come down from heaven, just to make appearances for a few days.
The passage states that they actually appeared to many in the city. This is the only place in the bible that talks about this. It could leave us wondering, for how long did this go on? What finally happened to them? Why are they not mentioned in the story of Pentedcost? Were they part of the 120 that were gathered there?
While the Bible does not specifically say what happened to them, there are answers.
Perhaps you recall this part of the account; Jesus has just appeared to Mary. She threw her arms around Him and Jesus said, "Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’" John 20:17
What was the reason that Jesus asked her to not cling to Him? It was so that He could ascend to the Father in Heaven. But, you may be thinking … that does not make any sense … The ascension did not take place until 40 days later. Why make it sound like it was going to happen immediately? The answer is, it was about to happen very shortly. He would ascend up to Heaven that very day … and he would take with him all of the ‘saints’ that had come out of the graves in Jerusalem. Here is the passage that says so: Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." Eph 4:8
Jesus led all of the captives that were in Paradise up to heaven with Him. Included would be the ones who had come out of the cemetery in Jerusalem. This would be one good reason that we never read anything more about them in scripture.
Getting back to our passage in Peter
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
As I mentioned earlier, Peter is singling out only a part of the group of spirits who had been waiting for the salvation plan to be completed on the cross. The group of ‘disobedient’ spirits was likely the one largest group of any that were there. The number could have been huge … and they would have all arrived there at roughly the same time. So, to this significant group of ‘doubters’, Jesus is able to say … “It is finished. And what is more … Noah, (who by the way would be present right there) was God’s spokesman. God is trustworthy. Believe Him. Take His word literally”. And that is a lesson we all need to learn.
Now Peter gives us a clue why he singled out just that one group of residents who were in Paradise … It is because he wanted to use the story of the flood as an analogy for baptism.
He is saying, Just as eight persons were saved from drowning, in the same way water baptism has a message for us. Water, in Noah’s day, was the agent of death. It was the water that killed them.
When we go down into the water of baptism, we are submerged in the agent of death. But we are lifted out of that ‘death’, just as eight persons were lifted above the agent of death all those years ago.
And just as Noah and his family were being lifted above the waters, they were a picture of Salvation. God lifts us up and out of the sea of sin and gives us life, and the ark pictures that for us. In the same way, says Peter,, water baptism also pictures salvation so very clearly. Note, he does not say that baptism saves us …
21 ¶ There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (NKJV)
Baptism is referred to as being an ‘antitype’. What is that? It means that Baptism is a figurative event and offers a figurative result. Not an actual result. That is, when you come up out of the water you are being spared from drowning … you are allowed to have physical life … BUT when we trust Christ as our saviour we are baptised out of sin and into Christ. This is a spiritual phenomenon.
Paul said it this way to the Corinthians; For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 1Co 12:13
Notice that Paul does not mention water. The Holy Spirit takes us out of the sea of sin and places us into Christ. We have been baptized into Christ.
So, says Peter, the water is not merely washing away dirt from your body … it is an answer. It is a statement.
By going through the act of being baptised we are stating that we have a clear conscience. We are saying, I am no longer drowning in sin … I have been lifted out by Jesus. I have been forgiven. My conscience is clear.
The last part of verse 21 states that we have eternal life through Jesus Christ. And now that he has mentioned Jesus, he goes on to say that He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. (22)
When Stephen was attacked for his testimony against the Jews, in his dying breath he said that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Some passages state that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God.
The writer of Hebrews said, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Heb 1:3
‘Sitting’ at the right hand of the Father indicates that the work providing salvation for the world was done. He could rest. And we have incredible assurance in the finished work of Jesus Christ. “It is finished.”
In Stephen’s testimony Jesus was standing. That is a posture of respect and honor by Jesus. Jesus was welcoming him home. He stood up, perhaps with open arms, to receive the first of many who would be faithful to the death for the cause of Jesus.
Peter is not specifying that Jesus is sitting or standing. He is pointing out that He is there now. His position is one of authority. Peter says, angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
We might wonder, since Jesus was the creator of the earth, the creator of everything, even angels … would that not automatically assume that he has always been ‘over’ the angels, authorities and powers? I think so, in a sense.
But I think something else is being alluded to here. At one point in time Lucifer had been given charge over creation. He became prideful and attempted to overtake God’s throne. He was unsuccessful. From that point on his ultimate destiny was to be the Lake of Fire.
But up to this present time, he has never been there. God did not revoke Lucifer’s position over the earth.
Paul points out that at one time we were all following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — Eph 2:2
At present Satan is still “over” this created world. But Peter points out that Jesus has actually taken Satan’s authority. At present Satan is still active but his days are numbered.
Peter wants us to be reminded of that even if we should be called upon to suffer to His name, even if it looks so dark all around us - our outlook is bright. Just a little longer to put up with the actions of sinful authorities, and before we know it we will be in the presence of our King!
What an interesting question. The people to whom he is writing, many of them at least, have fled from the Jerusalem area because of persecution. And now he asks, Who is going to hurt you as long as you are doing good and serving God? Really? It was for that very reason …to avoid being hurt ... not wanting to be arrested, tortured and put to death that they are now living where they are.
Perhaps Peter is implying that they have NOT been zealous of doing good … and God is punishing them? But before we come to some conclusion, we must realize that anyone reading Peter’s words will notice the following verse.
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. (a)
But even if … Well that changes things a bit. This makes the previous verse more of a generality. So we could say that it is generally true that as we serve God faithfully, He is there to watch over us. He has a plan and He has included us in it. He is immortal and we could say that our lives are also immortal … until His purpose for us on Earth is completed.
Even if … The promise of God, says Peter, is that God will make it all worthwhile. (14b)you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. His pay scale is out of this world. We will be blessed.
Peter goes on with the thought, that even though those in authority may persecute you, Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, Don’t let them rattle you … go before the court with a plan. And here, says Peter, is the plan: but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Have your simple testimony ready. Be ready to talk about Jesus. And do it respectfully. This is something that works well at any time, but Peter is particularly using this advice for when you are taken up before authorities … for living, acting and teaching in a way that they deem not acceptable. So he simply says, have your basic beliefs regarding Christ ready to share.
He talks a little about a possible outcome. 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
That may be our only ‘best outcome’ that we can hope for. If we act defiantly in our defence we make it so much easier for them to strike us down. This does not mean the persecution will go away. Jesus behaved as a Lamb … but He was still taken to the slaughter.
So if we end up suffering anyway, even after having given our ‘gentle’ answer, he says, (17) it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
According to what we just read here, it may just be God’s will for us to suffer. Why? Peter will expand on this later.
But for now he gives us the example of Jesus. Jesus said this, "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. Mt 10:24-25
It is an honor to be treated like Jesus was treated. Peter reminds us, 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,
At this point Peter takes a kind of a side track. He is going to introduce topics or subjects that seem to have no connection whatsoever to his loving letter of advice for Christians who are facing difficult times.
So here is the last part of verse 18 … being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
Here is something we seldom think about. We are very familiar with the part that says, made alive in the spirit. But the part about ‘proclaiming’ to spirits in prison, what is that about? We need to read a bit further.
to the spirits in prison,
20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
What are the key words here? did not obey, days of Noah and spirits in prison.
OK, let’s test our beliefs based on our knowledge of the Bible. Is there a heaven and a hell? Do all unbelievers go to hell when they die? As a conservative Christan, I heartily say yes to both questions. I likely could write a book on the subject, but let’s go on to another question. Did all of those who died in the flood go to hell? Think about it. We know that very few … eight in total, believed that God was going to destroy the earth. They believed and they got in the boat. It took Noah 120 years to build the boat. If other people had ‘believed’ the warnings of Noah, they would have had to build their own boats. There would have been no room for hundreds or thousands of others in Noah’s ark.
So, any other believers would have to have started building their boats quite early on in the preaching of Noah, or they never would have been ready in time.
Billions of people died in the flood. Men, women and children, from the worst to the not-so-worst.
Salvation from hell has alway been based on belief .. on faith. Salvation has never been based upon performance. The belief that was required to be saved from the coming flood, was more than just a belief that it was going to rain for forty days. The required belief was a belief in God. It would be the lack of this belief in God that would have resulted in those people going to hell forever.
But now a list of other questions: What if someone believed in God … but just did not believe that He would actually do something like the flood? What if some of the kids in the family urged their parents to go to the ark … but were told, No, it’s all a bunch of nonsense? In a population of billions, how many people were ‘under the age of accountability’? And here is a very important question … when believers died before the coming of Christ, did they go to heaven or somewhere else?
Well, that is quite a number of questions. Because Peter has opened the door to these questions, I think it is important that we ‘walk through’ and discuss answers.
I am going to start with the last one. And I think it best if I make a statement and then show what the Bible says about it.
When Jesus died, He did not go to heaven, He went somewhere else.
But when Jesus was dying on the cross, next to Him was another man who was also dying. Here is the account
Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong."
42 And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
So there is the setting. One of the criminals is showing a repentant spirit. His question to Jesus shows that he believed Jesus would eventually have a kingdom. All he asks is to be remembered, if that would be possible.
Jesus gives him a very heartening answer. In the midst of His own intense suffering He said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
If Jesus meant, “Today you will be with me in heaven”, then when did He go preach to the spirits in prison? And how could Jesus promise this criminal that he would be in heaven with him that very day, when all along He said, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.?
Peter said that Jesus ‘preached’ to spirits in prison. He would have had to have done that during the 3 days that he was in the ‘heart’ of the earth.
To add a little more ‘biblical’ information about the place Jesus was in for three days, we can look at this passage in Luke. 19 ¶ "There was once a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and lead a life of daily luxury.
20 And there was a poor man called Lazarus who was put down at his gate. He was covered with sores.
21 He used to long to be fed with the scraps from the rich man’s table. Yes, and the dogs used to come and lick his sores.
22 Well, it happened that the poor man died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And from the place of the dead he looked up in torment and saw Abraham a long way away, and Lazarus in his arms.
24 ‘Father Abraham,’ he cried out, ‘please pity me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’
25 But Abraham replied, ‘Remember, my son, that you used to have the good things in your lifetime, just as Lazarus suffered the bad. Now he is being comforted here, while you are in agony.
26 And besides this, a great chasm has been set between you and us, so that those who want to go to you from this side cannot do so, and people cannot come to us from your side.’
27 At this he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house
28 for I have five brothers. He could warn them and prevent their coming to this place of torture.’
29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets: they can listen to them.’
30 ‘Ah no, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘if only someone were to go to them from the dead, they would change completely.’
31 But Abraham told him, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they would not be convinced even if somebody were to rise from the dead.’" (Philips Translation)
Quite a story. And this is a real account, not a parable. In any of His parables, Jesus never gave someone a name, as He does Lazarus.
So we have several names for this place. Jesus called it Paradise. Peter calls it prison. Jesus also called it ‘heart of the earth’.
A comment on why the place existed at all is important. As we know, Jesus paid the cost to open the opportunity for us to have a home with Him in heaven. His resurrection from the dead is what sealed the deal. Because He lives, we will live also. But until Jesus actually paid the price, no one's sins up to that point in time … were actually forgiven. Even though the Jewish people followed their instructions to bring a sacrifice to the priest, confess their sins etc., their sins were not yet forgiven. They had done their part, but Jesus still had to do his part. So from creation up to the day of Jesus’ resurrection, no believer died and went to heaven. They died and went to Paradise where Abraham and Lazarus are. It was a place where conversation could take place between a rich man in hell and Abraham … on the other side. But no way was Abraham in heaven having a conversation with an unbeliever in hell. Everyone went to Hades at death prior to Jesus’ resurrection.
So Peter says that Jesus went and talked to the ‘spirits in prison’. By the way, another name for this place is Hades. Often we think of Hades as being that bad, hot place. Technically the word Hades means ‘place of the unseen dead’. With that definition it includes the place where Lazarus, Father Abraham, the penitent criminal, and Jesus were. And it includes the other place, where the unbelieving rich man was residing.
So the ‘spirits in prison’ is a different way of saying, those who are in a ‘holding place’.
In our passage in Peter we notice that Peter is singling out ‘spirits’ of those who died in Noah’s day. Is he talking only about the wicked? Or could he be talking about the little babies who died innocently in the flood? And could he be talking to the God-believers who just possibly did not have enough faith to believe that a flood was actually coming?
I do not believe that Jesus went there with a message for the wicked in hell. There would be no point.
But we can include Adam and every single other believer who has died since the foundation of the world.
I have heard other bible teachers explain Peter’s comments in another way. They fail to recognise that believers prior to Jesus’ resurrection did not go to heaven when they died, but went to the ‘waiting’ place that we also call Abraham’s bosom, the heart of the earth, and Paradise. They assume all believers from Adam onwards all went to heaven when they died. They assume that the only ‘spirits’ that Jesus could have talked to were all unsaved and therefore in hell. They assume that Jesus went to them with a message and shared it with them for some reason.
Let’s take another look these verses: 18 being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
Jesus’ body died on the cross, but He was very much alive in His spirit. He went to the heart of the earth with a message. Everyone up above on the surface of the earth that were gathered around the cross had already heard the message. It was a simple statement; “It is finished!”.
So Jesus went, not to hell to suffer pain for us … because salvation’s price was already paid. It was finished!
I can imagine that Jesus had quite a three day ministry down there. It was a time of joy. All of the sacrifices that had been offered down through thousands of years had pointed to this event. The sacrifices could not take away sin, we are told in Hebrews ….. For this reason, all the believers were still here and not in heaven. But once the sacrifice of Jesus had been made, they would now be clean of their sins and able to make the transition to heaven.
There is even more to this story. After Jesus had spent three days and three nights in the center of the Earth, it was time for Him to rise from the dead and reappear on the surface of the Earth. Perhaps you will recall having read that, just before Jesus died, an earthquake occurred in Jerusalem and graves were opened.
Here is the passage: The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:52-53)
For three days the graves lay open, but on the third day ... after Jesus rose, so did ‘many of the saints’ rise with Him.
These 'saints' certainly did not come down from heaven, just to make appearances for a few days.
The passage states that they actually appeared to many in the city. This is the only place in the bible that talks about this. It could leave us wondering, for how long did this go on? What finally happened to them? Why are they not mentioned in the story of Pentedcost? Were they part of the 120 that were gathered there?
While the Bible does not specifically say what happened to them, there are answers.
Perhaps you recall this part of the account; Jesus has just appeared to Mary. She threw her arms around Him and Jesus said, "Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’" John 20:17
What was the reason that Jesus asked her to not cling to Him? It was so that He could ascend to the Father in Heaven. But, you may be thinking … that does not make any sense … The ascension did not take place until 40 days later. Why make it sound like it was going to happen immediately? The answer is, it was about to happen very shortly. He would ascend up to Heaven that very day … and he would take with him all of the ‘saints’ that had come out of the graves in Jerusalem. Here is the passage that says so: Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." Eph 4:8
Jesus led all of the captives that were in Paradise up to heaven with Him. Included would be the ones who had come out of the cemetery in Jerusalem. This would be one good reason that we never read anything more about them in scripture.
Getting back to our passage in Peter
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
As I mentioned earlier, Peter is singling out only a part of the group of spirits who had been waiting for the salvation plan to be completed on the cross. The group of ‘disobedient’ spirits was likely the one largest group of any that were there. The number could have been huge … and they would have all arrived there at roughly the same time. So, to this significant group of ‘doubters’, Jesus is able to say … “It is finished. And what is more … Noah, (who by the way would be present right there) was God’s spokesman. God is trustworthy. Believe Him. Take His word literally”. And that is a lesson we all need to learn.
Now Peter gives us a clue why he singled out just that one group of residents who were in Paradise … It is because he wanted to use the story of the flood as an analogy for baptism.
He is saying, Just as eight persons were saved from drowning, in the same way water baptism has a message for us. Water, in Noah’s day, was the agent of death. It was the water that killed them.
When we go down into the water of baptism, we are submerged in the agent of death. But we are lifted out of that ‘death’, just as eight persons were lifted above the agent of death all those years ago.
And just as Noah and his family were being lifted above the waters, they were a picture of Salvation. God lifts us up and out of the sea of sin and gives us life, and the ark pictures that for us. In the same way, says Peter,, water baptism also pictures salvation so very clearly. Note, he does not say that baptism saves us …
21 ¶ There is also an antitype which now saves us — baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (NKJV)
Baptism is referred to as being an ‘antitype’. What is that? It means that Baptism is a figurative event and offers a figurative result. Not an actual result. That is, when you come up out of the water you are being spared from drowning … you are allowed to have physical life … BUT when we trust Christ as our saviour we are baptised out of sin and into Christ. This is a spiritual phenomenon.
Paul said it this way to the Corinthians; For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 1Co 12:13
Notice that Paul does not mention water. The Holy Spirit takes us out of the sea of sin and places us into Christ. We have been baptized into Christ.
So, says Peter, the water is not merely washing away dirt from your body … it is an answer. It is a statement.
By going through the act of being baptised we are stating that we have a clear conscience. We are saying, I am no longer drowning in sin … I have been lifted out by Jesus. I have been forgiven. My conscience is clear.
The last part of verse 21 states that we have eternal life through Jesus Christ. And now that he has mentioned Jesus, he goes on to say that He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. (22)
When Stephen was attacked for his testimony against the Jews, in his dying breath he said that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Some passages state that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God.
The writer of Hebrews said, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Heb 1:3
‘Sitting’ at the right hand of the Father indicates that the work providing salvation for the world was done. He could rest. And we have incredible assurance in the finished work of Jesus Christ. “It is finished.”
In Stephen’s testimony Jesus was standing. That is a posture of respect and honor by Jesus. Jesus was welcoming him home. He stood up, perhaps with open arms, to receive the first of many who would be faithful to the death for the cause of Jesus.
Peter is not specifying that Jesus is sitting or standing. He is pointing out that He is there now. His position is one of authority. Peter says, angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
We might wonder, since Jesus was the creator of the earth, the creator of everything, even angels … would that not automatically assume that he has always been ‘over’ the angels, authorities and powers? I think so, in a sense.
But I think something else is being alluded to here. At one point in time Lucifer had been given charge over creation. He became prideful and attempted to overtake God’s throne. He was unsuccessful. From that point on his ultimate destiny was to be the Lake of Fire.
But up to this present time, he has never been there. God did not revoke Lucifer’s position over the earth.
Paul points out that at one time we were all following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — Eph 2:2
At present Satan is still “over” this created world. But Peter points out that Jesus has actually taken Satan’s authority. At present Satan is still active but his days are numbered.
Peter wants us to be reminded of that even if we should be called upon to suffer to His name, even if it looks so dark all around us - our outlook is bright. Just a little longer to put up with the actions of sinful authorities, and before we know it we will be in the presence of our King!