Jump to content
  • Welcome Guest

    For an ad free experience on Online Baptist, Please login or register for free

The Spirits in Prison, revisited


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Our pastor presented this to us for Bible study last night and mentioned that verses 18 -21 appeared to him to be Peter's "oh look... a squirrel" moment, going off on a tangent, but then acknowledged that it was there for a reason. He also interjected the possibility of the passage's meaning Christ had preached through Noah. He then asked for opinions. I gave my opinion that it could not have been "Christ preaching through Noah" because it mentions His being "put to death in the flesh" to do so. I also pointed out that some of the "disobedient" "spirits" might include "Lamech" and "Methuselah" because both of them were alive during the time Noah preached and built the ark, and that they were believers, ancestors in lineage of Christ. I only got silence in response to that. So I wonder if, instead of a "look a squirrel": moment, the passage of verses 18-21 correlates with verses 14-17. I've colored possible correlations in corresponding colors. What say ye?

1 Peter 3

13And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?

14But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

16Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

17For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

18For 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:

19By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20Which 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.

21The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

22Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Edited by heartstrings
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

By dying and entering the spirit world, Christ went to the "prison" and preached Hope to those who had died before the flood. I do not believe he preached this to the wicked dead such as Cain, Nimrod, or Lamech(The murdering one with two wives) because I believe their fate was sealed and they went to Hell. But I believe He preached to those "sons of God" AKA believers, who had "called upon the name of the Lord" back in Genesis 4, contributed progeny to the lineage of Christ in Genesis 5, but had disobeyed in Genesis 6.

But the "gist" of this has to be something along the lines that Christ was put to death in the flesh and "quickened by the Spirit" and this made it possible for Him to go and preach to the dead "in prison". Likewise we who are "put to death in the flesh" have also been "quickened by the Spirit, which is the only way possible for us to preach the "hope that is in us" to those dead in trespasses and sins, in this world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Methuselah died in the year of the flood.  I have read that his name means "When I die, the deluge" If I remember correctly Lamech died the same year.

Edited by Invicta
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
1 hour ago, Invicta said:

Methuselah died in the year of the flood.  I have read that his name means "When I die, the deluge" If I remember correctly Lamech died the same year.

I didn't know Lamech died the same year. Interesting. I wonder if they were killed in the flood, or died just before it came? I always thought that Methuselah died the same year but prior to the occurence, but it doesn't really say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
8 minutes ago, heartstrings said:

I didn't know Lamech died the same year. Interesting. I wonder if they were killed in the flood, or died just before it came? I always thought that Methuselah died the same year but prior to the occurence, but it doesn't really say.

I once (Many years ago) did a chart based on the years given in scripture.  I can't remember all the detais, but if I remember Lamech also died in the same year as the flood.  Another interesting point is that Abraham seems to have lived while Shem was alive, and again I base this on memoy as I don't have the chart any more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...