1 Peter 3:19

_BY WHICH ALSO HE WENT AND PREACHED UNTO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON;_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

19_By which also _Peter added this, that we might know that the vivifying power of the Spirit of which he spoke, was not only put forth as to Christ himself, but is also poured forth with regard to us, as Paul shews in Romans 5:5. He then says, that Christ did not rise only for himself, but that he made known to others the same power of his Spirit, so that it penetrated to the dead. It hence follows, that we shall not less feel it in vivifying whatever is mortal in us. But as the obscurity of this passage has produced, as usual, various explanations, I shall first disprove what has been brought forward by some, and secondly, we shall seek its genuine and true meaning. Common has been the opinion that Christ’s descent into hell is here referred to; but the words mean no such thing; for there is no mention made of the soul of Christ, but only that he went by the Spirit: and t

14-22 We sanctify God before others, when our conduct invites and encourages them to glorify and honour him. What was the ground and reason of their hope? We should be able to defend our religion with meekness, in the fear of God. There is no room for any other fears where this great fear is; it disturbs not. The conscience is good, when it does its office well. That person is in a sad condition on whom sin and suffering meet: sin makes suffering extreme, comfortless, and destructive. Surely it is better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing, whatever our natural impatience at times may suggest. The example of Christ is an argument for patience under sufferings. In the case of our Lord's suffering, he that knew no sin, suffered instead of those who knew no righteousness. The blessed end and design of our Lord's sufferings were, to reconcile us to God, and to bring us to eternal g...

Verse 19. _BY WHICH_] Spirit, his own Divine energy and authority. _HE WENT AND PREACHED_] By the ministry of Noah, one hundred and twenty years. _UNTO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON_] The inhabitants of the antediluvian world, who, having been _disobedient_, and convicted of the most flagrant transgressions against God, were sentenced by his just law to destruction. But their punishment was delayed to see if they would _repent_; and _the long-suffering of God waited_ one hundred and twenty years, which were granted to them for this purpose; during which time, as criminals tried and convicted, they are represented as being _in prison_-detained under the arrest of Divine justice, which _waited_ either for their _repentance_ or the expiration of the _respite_, that the punishment pronounced might be inflicted. This I have long believed to be the sense of this difficult passage, and n

BY WHICH - Evidently by the Spirit referred to in the previous verse - ἐν ᾧ en hō - the divine nature of the Son of God; that by which he was “quickened” again, after he had been put to death; the Son of God regarded as a Divine Being, or in that same nature which afterward became incarnate, and whose agency was employed in quickening the man Christ Jesus, who had been put to death. The meaning is, that the same “Spirit” which was efficacious in restoring him to life, after he was put to death, was that by which he preached to the spirits in prison. HE WENT - To wit, in the days of Noah. No particular stress should be laid here on the phrase “he went.” The literal sense is, “he, having gone, preached,” etc. πορευθεὶς poreutheis. It is well known that such expressions are often redundant in

EXPOSITIONS 1 PETER 3:1 LIKEWISE, YE WIVES. St. Peter has spoken of the duties of servants: why does he omit those of masters? There must have been Christian masters in Asia Minor, as is plain from Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1. But we notice that St. Paul, though he has a few words for masters, addresses slaves at much greater length. Probably Christian masters were comparatively few, while large numbers of slaves had embraced the religion which could do so much to comfort and elevate the oppressed. Again, the immediate purpose of the apostle is to inculcate submission to authority; therefore, having enforced upon Christian servants the example of their Lord, he proce

BY WHICH ALSO HE WENT AND PREACHED UNTO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON. Various are the senses given of this passage: some say, that Christ, upon his death, went in his human soul to hell; either, as some, to preach to the devils and damned spirits, that they might be saved, if they would; and, as others, to let them know that he was come, and to fill them with dread and terror; but though hell may be meant by the prison, yet the text does not say that he went unto it, or preached in it; only that the spirits were in it, to whom he sometimes went, and preached; nor is his human soul, but his divine nature meant, by the Spirit, by which he went and preached to them: and as for the ends proposed, the former is impracticable and impossible; for after death follows judgment, which is an eternal one; nor is there any salvation, or hope of salvation afterwards; and the latter is absurd, vain, and needl...

1 PETER 3:19 evn w|- kai, Several scholars have advocated the conjectural emendation that introduces the subject “Enoch” (enwkaienw,). Instead of improving the intelligibility of the passage (as a conjectured reading ought to do), the word VEnw,c breaks the continuity of the argument by introducing an abrupt and unexpected change of subject from that of ver. 1 Peter 3:18. 2 ------------------------- 2See Metzger, _Journal of Religion,_ xxxii (1952), pp. 256 f. or, more briefly, _The Text of the New Testament,_ p. 185, n. 1, and the discussion of Wi...

IV. THE COMFORT IN THE MIDST OF TRIALS AND SUFFERING CHAPTER 3:10-4:19 _ 1. The comfort in suffering (1 Peter 3:10)_ 2. Few saved as illustrated by Noah's preaching (1 Peter 3:18) 3. The new life in its transforming power (1 Peter 4:1) 4. Suffering and glory (1 Peter 4:12) 1 Peter 3:10 The words which stand in the beginning of this section are quoted from Psalms 34:12. It is interesting to note that the Spirit of

Christ Himself suffered injustice at the hands of men, but see how splendid the result! All salvation everywhere in the universe is the result of His suffering and sacrifice, and these have raised Him in triumph above all orders of creatures. Through our faith outwardly expressed in baptism we are made partakers in the power of His resurrection (Php_3:10), so our suffering counts for little. While this seems to be the general idea of the section there is one very difficult passage in it a passage that has been termed the darkest in the NT the words which deal with the preaching to the spirits in prison. A brilliant emendation by Rendel Harris (accepted in Moffatt's NT) seems the real solution of the problem. At the beginning of _1 Peter 3:19_ the Gr. reads _enô kai,_ and Harris thinks that the word _enô ch_ followed this, and had been slipped by the scribe. We should therefore read, I