Sunday, November 18, 2007

The Spirits in Prison

1Pe 3:16 Having 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.
1Pe 3:17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
1Pe 3:18 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:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 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.
1Pe 3:21 The 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:
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

The topic of this essay is the identity of the "spirits in prison", to whom Jesus preached in the Spirit. Initially it would seem that he somehow went back in time to preach to the people of Noah's time. Another equally enigmatic interpretation would be that he preached to the departed spirits of those who were unbelieving in Noah's time while he was in the grave.

An immediate problem with the first is the question of why only those of Noah's time and not anyone else in the rebellious history of mankind?

This problem extends to the second interpretation as well, but, more importantly, the preaching seems to have happened after his resurrection or quickening, not while he was in the grave, which might still give creedance to the idea of his proclamation to departed spirits, although this alone presents a multitude of problems. One problem, again, is why only the departed spirits of those of Noah's time?

Another interpretation of this passage is that he made proclamation to the angels who rebelled in their unions with the daughters of men. The support passages for this are ...
2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
...and....
Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

While this interpretation has some merit, it has problems of its own. While these angelic prisoners are associated in scripture with the flood of Noah's time (Peter's account), the verses are immediately followed with the events of Sodom which is also done in the account by Jude without mention of the flood. The angels leaving their first estate may have more to do with the sexual sins of men which are not exclusive to the flooded world. Furthermore, why would Jesus need to preach to these imprisoned angels and why would we need to know about it? Lastly, while the rebellious angels and their activities contributed to the wickedness of men, it can be argued that this type of activity was not exclusive to the pre-flood world, so again, why only the angels who were disobedient in the days of God's long-suffering before the flood?

Before taking a serious look at the original passage in question, we should take a few moments to address the reasons we cannot easily see the plain interpretation of holy scripture. Instead of just being able to read scripture and understand it simply and harmoniously, we have to reverse or discard all other definitions of words or traditional ideas before we can see clearly which takes up so much of our time and energy. One such definition is that a spirit is a departed soul of a deceased person, which will not be addressed in this particular essay, but, will suffice to say this idea is nowhere supported as anything other than erroneous in scripture.

Aside from the familiar spirits of the witches most noted in the Old Testament, which incidentally is translated as a mumbling or empty vessel, "spirit" is properly translated as wind, breath, or moving air. Without the personifications traditionally associated with "spirits", wind is the excellent associative description of the term. It is invisible, yet powerful; able to move things, which in the context of the "spirit of (place the numerous applications here...ie..man, jealousy, wickedness, God..etc..)" makes it chiefly an ACTIVE influence or motivator. God's spirit is so influential it can create and sustain life.

When scripture says..
Heb 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Heb 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
...there appears to be a contradiction in terms in that angels are spirits, right? Yes, angels by nature would be invisible powerful beings and thus spiritual, but, in the context of this verse, he makes his angels to be active influences in the lives of men. Reference the angelic activities in the Daniel regarding the prince of Persia as well as the spirit who volunteered to be a "lying spirit" in the vision of Machaiah in 2 Kings 22/2 Chronicles 18.

The term "spirit" refers to the invisible, powerful things that motivate, animate, and influence us IN ACTION, be it God himself, angels, emotions, thoughts, unexplained illness, or anything else where the affect can be seen, but, the cause is not.


Having said that, to discover what is being refererred to as "spirits in prison" and why, let's remind ourselves of what Christ was here to do...

Psa 68:18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.
Isa 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Gal 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

The spirit of disobedience from disbelief imprisons the sons of men. The life, death, and resurrection of Christ sets us free from this bondage. In spirit, Christ "having gone(YLT)", meaning having made this journey, preached and preaches to the spirit of imprisonment that also kept those who would not get on the ark in Noah's time. The parallel of baptism that saves us and the ark that saved Noah is the sole reason for Peter's limitation to Christ only preaching to those particular "spirits", namely the spirits of disbelief and disobedience that imprisons the whole of man and prevents him from seeing what is readily available for his salvation.

1Pe 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
Joh 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

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