I Peter 3:19 to 4:6 has several hard sentences. The first is I Peter 3:19 which speaks of Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison. Then is the image of baptism in I Peter 3:20-22. And finally is I Peter 4:6 which says that "the gospel was preached even to those who are dead".
I Peter 4:6 is usually interpreted as preaching to those who are "spiritually dead", but this interpretation has the problem that it does not explain the use of the word 'even' in the sentence. Since the gospel is essentially preached to the "spiritually dead" the use of also (KJV) or even (modern versions) does not make sense.
Some take this passage as preaching to those who died before the coming of Jesus, so that they could also hear the gospel and believe. The problem with this interpretation are several, the main being that the passage implies that the gospel was preached by the church and not by Christ. So those who see this as the Old Testament dead see I Peter 4:6 as looking back to I Peter 3:19. But I Peter 3:19 and 20 seems to restrict that event to the time of Noah - compare II Peter 2:4 and Jude 6.
There is one other interpretation which to me makes more sense.
Peter is writing his epistle in the context of the suffering coming on the church due to persecution. One of the expectation of the early church was the immediate return of Jesus to receive those who believe into glory. This expectation is seen in the nbext verse I Peter 4:7 which reads as, "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."
They were then disturbed by the fact that some believers had died before the return of Christ and was concerned as to what would happen to them. Paul addresses this issue in I Corinthians 15. I feel that Peter is also addressing the same issue here and 'the dead' here refers to those who heard the gospel but died either naturally or due to persecution. Peter is saying that these have not believed in vain as their spirits would live.
This interpretation takes into the consideration the issues of the time much better than the other two interpretations.
What do you think of this?
I Peter 4:6 is usually interpreted as preaching to those who are "spiritually dead", but this interpretation has the problem that it does not explain the use of the word 'even' in the sentence. Since the gospel is essentially preached to the "spiritually dead" the use of also (KJV) or even (modern versions) does not make sense.
Some take this passage as preaching to those who died before the coming of Jesus, so that they could also hear the gospel and believe. The problem with this interpretation are several, the main being that the passage implies that the gospel was preached by the church and not by Christ. So those who see this as the Old Testament dead see I Peter 4:6 as looking back to I Peter 3:19. But I Peter 3:19 and 20 seems to restrict that event to the time of Noah - compare II Peter 2:4 and Jude 6.
There is one other interpretation which to me makes more sense.
Peter is writing his epistle in the context of the suffering coming on the church due to persecution. One of the expectation of the early church was the immediate return of Jesus to receive those who believe into glory. This expectation is seen in the nbext verse I Peter 4:7 which reads as, "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."
They were then disturbed by the fact that some believers had died before the return of Christ and was concerned as to what would happen to them. Paul addresses this issue in I Corinthians 15. I feel that Peter is also addressing the same issue here and 'the dead' here refers to those who heard the gospel but died either naturally or due to persecution. Peter is saying that these have not believed in vain as their spirits would live.
This interpretation takes into the consideration the issues of the time much better than the other two interpretations.
What do you think of this?
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