1 Peter 4:6

Verse 6. For this cause was the gospel preached to them.

The gospel was preached to them that were dead in Peter's day, because all men are to be judged, and thus no partiality shown. There is no respecter of persons with God.

All will be judged. Hence the gospel must be preached to all. Here we are liable to be misled by a word gospel.

When this word "gospel" is used, we are apt to think of the gospel of Christ. By the use made of the word by the religious world, it is so almost exclusively employed; become crystallized, so to speak. This exclusive sense is not inherent in the word "gospel." From the days of Adam all along the ages until Christ came, from time to time a message was received by man from God. That message was news, joyful news, glad tidings, joyful message, gospel. This is the import of the word. The antediluvians received a message from the court of heaven. It was a gospel to them. After the flood, and during the days of Abraham and on down to the giving of the law from Sinai's smoking summit, messages from God were received. These were glad tidings a gospel to be observed and obeyed. Finally, the full development of God's gracious purpose in man's salvation burst upon an astonished world when that most wonderful of all announcements was made: "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). The development is complete now. The news is full. Partial light was given as God saw fit, and duties imposed to correspond to the light given.

It may be said truthfully, however, that in all ages the basis of acceptance with God has been the same. The same principle is to be found in every age. Faith and obedience God has always exacted; faith in God, and obedience to his commands. In this there has been no change. As God developed his purpose in regard to man's salvation, more light was given and new duties imposed. Still, faith and obedience were required. No more was demanded of Cain than was exacted of his brother Abel. The same thing was not required, nor to be performed in the same manner, of the Jew in Solomon's day that was exacted of Adam. As God saw fit, in his infinite wisdom, to give to the children of men additional light regarding his purpose, he imposed additional duties. While each soul must account for the deeds done in the body, the same things will not be required of Achan that will be required of the sons of Eli, nor of either that there will be of the Athenian philosophers who heard Paul's discourse on Mars Hill. At the great day the books will be opened, and another book, which is the Book of Life, and the judgment will be from these books. As each man's message has been, so he will be judged. This is simple justice, and God is a God of infinite justice. God is no respecter of persons. You and I, having the same light having the same gospel will fare exactly alike. So much will not, however, be exacted of Adam, for he did not have the same message. Now, if all are to be judged by the gospel of Christ as promulgated by the apostles, then there must be a post-mortem preaching of the same, or else there would be a failure of justice. From this I can see no possibility of escape. This pernicious and soul-destroying - doctrine of a message after death finds no warrant nor an intimation thereof in all the Bible, when the same is honestly and fairly interpreted, but finds its basis and its advocacy only in the desires, wishes and inventions of men.

I am impressed with the correctness of this view of the matter after a long and somewhat painful examination of the subject, and from a general view of God's dealings with his creatures, as the same is spread out before our vision in his revealed will, and from what I conceive to be the best, purest and most certain test of the original that has descended to us. It is in these words: "For to this end, even to the dead ones, was a joyful message delivered, that they might be judged indeed according to men in flesh, but might be living according to God in spirit." This is the translation of Joseph B. Rotherham from the Greek text of Tregelles. Others, however good and learned, may take another and a different view of this matter, as they have honestly and concienstiously done, and I am not finding any fault with them for so doing. I timidly and modestly suggest that the foregoing position relieves all perplexity and doubt, and dispels the mysticism thrown around the text by the enemies of the cause of Christ.