Every human belng has In

some way benefited frolIl

undeselYed, incomparable
sufferings and death ofJesus
Christ. Hence, He can be called,
"the Savior of all men, especially
of believers," I Tim. 4: 10.
Therefore, we, as Christians, are
able to endure patiently any
unjust persecution for Christ,
which God has willed that we
undergb, I Pet. 3: 17: because,
when we do, we are like Christ,
close to Christ, and a benefit to
other people.
I Peter 3:18-22, which focuses
on the consequences of
cannot be a contrast between
Christ's human and divine
natures, since it cannot be said of
His eternal deity that it is "madt
alive." It cannot be translated, as
many have, "IN the body .... BY the
Spirit," because of the parallel of
the dative phrases in Greek,
which reads, "in the flesh"aIid "in
the spirit." It cannot be a contrast
of the physical and spiritllal
aspects of Christ's humanness, for
two reasons: 0). the human spiOt
does not die; (2). Christ was
"made alive" in his resurrection in
his complete humanity- ' bod.y
and spirit.
(although English trahslations do
not reflect this fact), emphasize '
quality and therefore'-tteneite two
modes oCChrist's existence befeire
and after HiS resurrection.'
On the basis, of these
observations of the text, we are ,
ready to interpret the meaning of
the contrast in verse 18. By
"flesh" is meant Christ's earthly ,
existence before His resurrection;
and by "spirit" is meant His ' .
glOrified, exalted existence
beginning with His resurrectiori,
and for eternity thereafter.
I 15:35-50
corroborates, tb,is ,
Christ's suffering, is one
of the. most difficult
passages in the whole
Bible to interpret
The Consequences of
Christ's Suffering
\11terpretation, which
contrasts twei orders,of
life, two aeons, two'
world-periods, two
creatiotts--one correctly: but, as we
learn-how to interpret
it, we will be sharper in
interpreting any other
biblical text.
Furthermore,what we will learn
from this text is wonh the time,
effort and struggle put into the
interpreting of it.
Having seen the nature of
Christ's suffering-penal,
vicarious; and propitiatory; and
the purpose of His suffering-to
brihg us to God in knowledge,
favor, resemblance and
communion; we ate now in a
position to consider the '
consequences of those sufferings
COSMICALLY, SPIRITUALLY,
PERSONALLY, INDIVIDUALLY,
AND ETERNALLY.
FIRST, HAVING BEEN PUT
TO DEATH IN THE FLESH,
CHRIST WAS MADE ALIVE IN
THE SPIRIT, vs. 18. But what is
the meaning of this contrast
between "death in the flesh" and
"made alive in the Spirit"? It
I Peter 3:17-22
Joe Moren"aft
beginning with Adalll, ,
the other beginning
with the resurrection of
. What, then, is the exact point
of the contrast- "put to death in
the flesh" and "made alive in the
spirit? In order to answer that
question, let us consider carefully .
the details of the text. (1). The
balanced grammatical structure
and the parallel dative phrases
implies a contrast between "flesh"
and "spirit" suggesting that the
two nouns should be understood
to be in the same case. (2). The
verb, "made alive," is used teri
other times in the New Testament
referring to resurrection. It is ..
used in Romans 8: 11
synonymously with "raised up,"
which clearly refers to
resurrection. Therefore, in I Pet.
3: 18 we have a reference to the
resurrection of Christ. (3). The
words, "flesh: (SARlO, and
"spirit," (PNEUMA), when used
without an ankle, ("the"),
Jesus Christ and
consuIlll1ll\red with His Second
Coming. These are profound
Verses filled with much. tru\h, b,ul
notice three points:
, (1). the COntrast between
Christ's, and the ChtiStian's, pre-
resurrection existence and
Christ's, and the Christian's,
resurrection existence;
(2). the description of Christ's
resurrection-life as "Spiritual:
vs.44, and as Spirit,"
vs.45. This is not' to'say that his
resurrection was hot a bodily one,
i.e., involving His entire '
humanity. It is to say that His :
resurrection-life is Spirit-
produced, Spiritl transformed, .
Spirit-filled, Spirit-dominated;
and Spirit-qualified. MHis ,
resurrection, Christ became life-
giving Spirit! th.ls does not
obliterate the personal distinction
36 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon August/September, 1998
between Christ and the Spirit.
Although their Persons are
distinct, their Presence is the
same. Instead it emphasizes the
point that at His resurrection,
Christ experienced a "Spiritual
qualification and transformation
so thorough, an endowment of
the Spirit so complete that as a
result Chlist and the Spirit can be
equated. This unprecedented
possession of the Spittt and the
accompanying change in Christ
result in a unity so close that not
only can it be said simply that the
Spirit makes alive, but also that
Christ as Spirit makes alive."-
Richard Gaffin, THE
CENTRALITY OF THE
RESURRECTION. So we see,
that Paul in I Corinthians and
Peter in I Peter use the word
"spirit" in the same sense, to
denote post-resurrection life.
(3). The fact that "flesh .and
blood" cannot inherit the
Kingdom of God, because they
are "perislulble." This existing,
earthly life and body are
perishable. "Flesh"(SARX), in I
Cor. 15:50 is used in the same
way as "flesh" in J Pet. 3: 18. It
denotes the pelishability of
present human life, including the
entire sphere of human existence,
man's environment and the whole
natural, earthly order with
everything that is characteristic of
human life, (pre-resurrection),
Rom. 1:3. Thus, the flesh-spirit
contrast in I Peter and I
Corinthians, is not an
anthropological contrast, it is a
chronolOgical and historical
contrast. "Flesh" for Christ, and
Christians, is pre-resurrection life;
and "spirit" for Chlist, and
Christians, is post-resurrection
life. As Cillistians, we have
expeltenced inner resurrection
from the "flesh," i.e., fallen
human nature; but, since we have
not yet experienced outward,
physical resurrection, we will
continue to struggle against "the
flesh", although we will do so
victoriously, Romans 6-7.
Christ was "made alive in the
spirit" because He was "put to
death in the flesh." Just as Christ
suffered in His entire humanity,
so He was raised from the dead
and glOrified in His entire
humanity. His redemptive work
was not complete until the
Victory of His resurrection. His
exaltation was His reward from
God for His humiliation for our
salvation, Phil. 2:8-9.
The implicatiOns of this truth
are impOitant for us. Just as all
who are in Adam die, so all who
are in Christ, the last Adam, are
made alive, I Cor. 15:22. All
human beings in their fallen,
unbelieving condition are related
to Adam, biologically and
cQvenantally, Rom. 5;12f.
Whatever happened to him
happens to his descendants, i.e.,
the human race. Whatever he
did, the race suffers the
consequences of. From Adam we
inherit the guilt of sin, a sinful
human nature, the condemnation
of God, and death. But for those
who belong to Christ, things are
totally different. We have a new
Head, a new Representative-
Jesus Christ. God raised Him
from the dead as "the Last Adam,"
I Cor. 15:45; so that now,
whatever happened to Him,
happens to those who belong to
Him. Whatever He did, we enjoy
the consequences of-life and
resurrection! "All who are in
Christ live!" Because He was .
raised from the dead, it is
absolutely celtain that we, who
are "in Christ" by grace through
faith, will expeI1ence this glorious
resurrection and thorough
transformation by the Spirit as
well. " .. .lfthe Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead dwells
in you, He who raised Christ
Jesus from the dead will also give
life to your monal bodies through
His Spirit who indwells you,"
Rom. 8:11.
It is cenain. We can be
assured of it. The eternal and
irreversible salvation of all
believers in]esus, who trust in
Him as their substirute and
covenant head, is based here.
Because Christ was "made alive in
the spittt," Le., raised from the
dead and glorified, all His people
will experience Spiritual
resurrection from the inward
death they inherited from Adam,
which separates them from God
and makes them unwilling and
unable to make any proper
response to the offers and
commands of God, from the
depravity and slavery of sin in the
new birth, Rom. 6: Hf; John
5:24ff, which Spiritually
transforms and endows with life
the whole inner life of a person.
And, all who have experienced
the new bilth in Ch!ist, II Cor.
5:17, are eternally saved, and
will, without fail, be physically
raised from the dead and glOrified
by the Spirit at the Return of
Jesus Christ, Rom. 8: 11; I Cor.
15:50f. Our salvation is not
complete until our Spiritually
resurrected "inner person" (soul)
is reunited to our Spiritually
resurrected "outer person" (body)
at the Second Coming of Christ.
SECOND, CHRIST WENT
AND PREACHED TO THE
SPIRITS IN PRISON, vs. 19. The
interpretations of this verse have
August/September, 1998;' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon;' 37
. - - _. _ ._ . .. . _._--- -- - . __ .. _--- ----
been many, requiring us,
therefore, to be careful and
specific in our consideration of
the details of the text, to make
sure our interpretation is a
.. , correct one.' Verse 19 reads: "in
which also He went and made
proclamation (preached) to the
spirits in plison." Let us study
every word.
a.The phrase, "in which,"
refers to Christ's resurrected state.
Although the NIV has "through
whom," the Greek can just as
accurately be translated, "in
which," i.e., in which state of
"spirit" that Christ's being "made
alive," brought Him-His exalted,
resurrected state. The antecedent
of "which" cannot be the first part
of the sentence "having been put
to death in the flesh," for Christ is
no longer dead. Therefore it
must refer to the second part,
"made alive in the spirit," or
resurrected, Rom. 8: 11.
b. By the word, "also,"
apparently Peter wants us to
understand verse 19 as
continuing the sequence of verbs,
"put to death," and "made alive."
Clnist "also went and preached."
To bring us to God and to ..
complete His victory over sin,
Satan and death, Christ had to die
and to be raised from the dead;
and "also," as a further
encouragement to us, as the risen
Christ, He "went and preached to
spirits in prison," proclaiming His
victory.
c.We must not overlook the
word, "went," which, in the
Greek, is used in verse 19 and in
verse 22, where it refers to
Christ's ascension: "having gone
into heaven." Therefore,
apparently it has the same
reference in verse 19. The Greek
participle, translated "went,"
denotes a specific change of
location. The risen, ascending
Chlist "went" somewhere to
preach.
d. The .Greek word translated,
"made proclamation" or
"preached" is EKERUXEN,
meaning to proclaim publicly and
loudly, to announce as one
heralding victory. This verb is in
the aorist tense, denoting decisive
proclamation at a definite point of
time. It is used for the
proclamation of the gospel of
"SOTERIA," i.e., victory over sin,
Satan and death in Christ. By this
verb we are to understand that
the resurrected Christ went
somewhere and proclaimed His
victory over sin, Satan, death, and
over all His enemies. This is bad
news for His enemies; buUt is
wonderful, encouraging news for
Christians being persecuted for
His Name's sake.
. e. Who are "the spirits in
prison" to whom Christ
preached? The word, "spirits," is
used regularly in the New
Testament to denote evil spirits,
or demons, Mk. 1:23, 26, 27;
3:11; 5:2, 8. Peter places two
qualifications on the word:
(l). They are kept "in prison."
In II Peter 2:4, he expands the
meaning of the phrase: "For if
God did not spare angels when
they sinned, but cast them into
hell and committed them to pits
of darkness, reselved for
judgment .... " Jude picks up on
this in verse 6: "And angels who
did not keep their own domain,
but abandoned their proper
abode, He has kept in eternal
bonds under darkness for the
judgment of the great day." And
in Revelation 20:7,John writes:
"And when the thousand years
are completed, Satan will be
38 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon August/September, 1998
released from his prison." We
must conclude, then, that Peter,
in 3:18, is referring to Satan and
demons, i.e., fallen angels, when
he speaks of "spirits in prison."
(The Bible does not speak of the
souls of men being kept in
prison.)
(2). They are "the spirits ...
who once (aforetime, or long ago)
were disobedient...." Notice that
the phrase is "the spirits ... who
once were disobedient," NOT
"the spirits of those who were
once disobedient." If it were the
latter, Peter could be referring to
the souls of the dead who were
disobedient in their lifetime.
However, the word, "spirits," as
Peter qualifies it, refers to evil
spirits who disobeyed as spirits.
To say they disobeyed "once"
or "aforetime" or "long ago" is to
indicate that their disobedience,
i.e., their deliberate and
conscious resistance to God's
authority, was "fonnerly," at some
time in the past. Their
disobedience took place prior to
their imprisonment and to
Christ's preaching to them. In
fact, verse 20 tells us that this
disobedience took place "in the
days of Noah." Therefore, the
term, "spirits," applies to the
fallen angels (demons) whose
activity was so pronounced and
so dominant in the days before
Noah's Flood, when evil was
spreading so rapidly in the
earth-"Then the Lord saw that
the wickedness of man was great
on the earth, and every intent of
the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. - And God
looked on the earth, and behold,
it was conupt; for all flesh had
corrupted their way upon the
earth," Gen. 6:5, 12.
From Adam to Noah, God was
patient with fallen man. For the
120 years Noah preached and
built the ark, God was lenient in
waiting to execute His sentence
on the depraved human race. But
His patience has limits! "Then
God said to Noah, 'The end of all
flesh had come before Me; for the
earth is filled with violence
because of them; and behold, I
am about to ...
the'ear$:;/', . .Iatn: l;Iringing the
flood to
destroY'!JWfiesl;t ,in, ,',,; . ,"" ".
But, this cannot be correct, since
there is no second chance for
salvation after death for those in
hell, Heb. 9:27.
Others have understood the
text as teaching that Christ
preached through the preaching
of Noah to the disobedient people
of His day, and who, because
they persisted in their
disobedience, are NOW "spirits
in prison" in hell. They were not
in hell, when Christ preached to
infinitely endowed by the Holy
Spirit with an immeasurable
superabundance oflife so as to
enable Him to give eternal life to
those dead in their .sins, In.
12:24,32; 3:34. Having died for
sin and been raised, glorified and
given the Spirit without measure,
Christ now preaches to "spirits in
, prison," i.e, guilty and depraved
people, imprisoned by sin and
Satan, Isa. 61:1, setting them
free, through the preaching of the
gospel by apostles and
"Amazing! The resurrected, glorified,
exalted Christ, ascending to the highest
place of honor and authority in the
universe-(jod's right hand; enters the
world of Satan and demons, forcibly
calls them to gather, and declares His
victory over sin, Satan and death to
<Jf:f';::' ,
life, fromutfder,.heayeu;
everytliing'tIl$is' Jh(
eanh '
6:13, 17.
Noah's
contemporaries were
notoriously evil and
served as agents of
demonic spirits in their
rebellion against God.
There is no other time
in history in which the
contrast between faith
ministers. "Through
which" in verse 19
refers to the agency of
the Holy Spirit, who
"made him alive".
Ephesians 2: 17 seems
to confirm this view,
when it speaks of the
resurrected Christ
"coming and preaching"
to the Ephesians
through the apostles.
This truth, taught
them, who a few hours earlier were
rejoicing that they had destroyed (jod's
Son in death and the grave."
and unbelief, obedience
and disobedience, was as
pronounced as in the days of
Noah just before the Flood. The
rebellious evil spirits seemed to
control the human race with the
exception of Noah and his family.
How has this phrase; "Christ
preached to spirits in prison,"
been interpreted by Bible
scholars? Some of the
interpretations are far- fetched, so
let me mention only three, two of
which have some feasibility, but
all falling short of the text, as we
shall see.
Some have interpreted the text
as saying that between Christ's
crucifixion and resurrection,
Christ went to hell to preach to
evangelize the lost souls there.
them through Noah, but they are
in hell now. The translators of
the NASB apparently held this
view, as is evident from their
placing of the word, "now", in
italics, in the phrase, "the spirits
now in prison." This
interpretation is appealing, but
we must lay it aside because,
"now" is absent in the Greek, and
it does not deal adequately with
the grammar of the verse, which
indicates that "went and
preached" has the resurrected,
not the pre- incarnate, Christ as
its subject. .. '
A third interpretation is that of
the great Scottish, Bible scholar,
John Brown. And it is very
appealing. According to Brown,
in his resurrection, Christ was
elsewhere in the Bible,
Rom. 10:l3-15 and
Eph. 2:17, is a great motive for
evangelism and world missions.
However, although this
interpretation excites us, because
it is taught in the Word of God,
we must reject it as the proper
interpretation of I Peter 3:19 for
these reasons: (1). Brown
stretches the meaning of "made
alive"; (2). He fails to do justice to
the aorist tense of "preach,"
indicating a point in time, not a
'contip,uous action; (3). And he
fails to deal adequately with the
grammatical structure of the text,
and with such phrases, as
"spirits ... who were
disobedient ... in the days of
Noah."
After having held the previous
August/September, 1998 THE COUNSEL of C1ialcedOn 39
two. views, (nDt the first Dne), I
nDW find myself in the pDsitiDn Df
having to reject them, and to.
adDpt the fDllDwing Dne, because
Df the fDrce Df Dur CDncise
exegesis 0 f the verse in the earlier
paragraphs. The resurrected
Christ, during His Ascension to.
Go.d's right hand, prDclaimed His
victory o.ver sin, Satan and death
to the fallen spirit-wDrld,
(demDns), who. are chained in
darkness until their eternal
damnatiDn Dn the final day Df
judgment, when they are cast into.
the bDttDmless pit Df helL As
CDlDSSians 2:15 says: "When He
disanned the ru lers and
;luthDrities, (Le., demDnic spirits),
He made a public display Df
them, having triumphed Dver
them through Him." (Remember
that the Bible refers to Satan as
"the prince Df the pDwer Df the
air.")
Amazing! The resurrected,
glDlified, exalted Christ,
ascending to the highest place Df
hDnDr and authDrity in the
universe-
o
GDd's right hand;
enters the wDrld Df Satan and
demDns, fDrcibly calls them to
. a t h e r and declares His viCtDry
Dver sin, Satan and death to
them, who. a few hDudearlier
were rejDicing that they had
destrDyed GDd's SDn in death and.
the grave. NDW they are told
authDritatively that, while they
"bruised His heel," He had, in
fact, "crushed their heads:' Gen.
3:15f. What a sennDn that must
have been! What a cDngregatiDn,
fDrced to. listen to. every wDrd! It
was a cDngregatiDn cDmprised
Dnly Df Satan and his fiendish,
totally evil, perverted, GDd-
o hating, man-hating, murderous,
lying, enviDus, enraged,
NDn-PrDfit Org.
U.s. PDstage
PAlO
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monstrous demDns. The risen
Christ takes the pulpit, calls the
service to Drder, lDDks at His
cDngregatiDn and triumphantly
ShDutS: YOU ARE FINISHED!!
HAVE DEFEATED YOU
FOREVER! I AM COMING
BACK AT THE END OF
HISTORY TO CAST YOU INTO
THE BOTTOMLESS PIT OF
HELL! UNTIL THEN, I AM
KEEPING YOU CHAINED IN
DARKNESS, AWAITING THAT
GREAT DAY OF JUDGMENT,
WHEN I WILL SAY TO YOU-
GO TO HELL!!
Praise GDd, suffering,
slandered Christians! Satan's
servants and dupes do. nDt have a
snDwball's chance in hell to harm
YDU Dr to' defeat yDU, Dr to keep
GDd from fulfilling His prDmises
and advancing His kingdDm,
Heb. 2: 14f. Let this truth get
hDld Df you and excite YDU! Let it
encourage and uplift YDU! Let it
motivate YDU! No. matter what
they do. to you, they are defeated
and they knDw it. Christ told
them! In blind, reckless fury and
hatred, they are destroying
themselves trying to destrDY yDu,
while YDU remain Hyper- 0
cDnquerors, mDre than
cDnquerors in Christ. DDn't let
their threats and intimidatiDns get
to YDU! It's all a big bluff! They
hate Christ for "rubbing it in",
when he proclaimed His victory
to. the spirits in prisDn. Now,
since they cannDt get at Him, they
will try to get at thDse whDm
Christ lDves most, His blDDd-
bDught people. But I am
absDlutely convinced that nDthing
in time Dr eternity, in life Dr
death, Dn earth Dr in hell, can
separate us from the lDve Df GDd
in Christjesus Dur LDrd. Q
40 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ August/September, 1998
I