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THE PREACHING
'J'O T
SPIRITS IN PRISON
W. KELLY
1^
LIBRARY
OF THE
University of California.
& ^^
Received Sc^rU^. > ^ J^/00
Accession No. J ^///.^y . Class No.
THE PREACHING
TO
THE SPIRITS IN PRISON
1 Peter III. 18-20
W. KELLY
LONDON
T. WESTON, 5 PATERNOSTER ROW
1900
B S 2 "^
^f^ ^7
THE PREACHING
TO
THE SPIRITS IN PRISON
IT may interest, and I trust also profit, the reader, if
we not only examine this scripture but review the
questions raised on it for ages. Here many a Christian
finds perplexity, rejecting what does not fall in with
the analogy of faith, yet unwilling to doubt what
seems intimated by the letter of the word. He is
ready to suspect himself of failure in spiritual intelli-
gence, and to question whether there might not be
some unconscious insubjection of heart and mind to the
perfect revelation of God. The chief at least of the
speculations in which men of reputation have indulged
in ancient and modern times will claim a notice, in the
hope of satisfying the believer that human thoughts
are ever worthless, and that divine writ is clothed by
the Spirit with self-evidencing light and power for all
who have their hearts opened to the Lord and are self-
judged in His sight.
It will be seen, too, by a fall enough examination,
4 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
that the most exact criticism in the details of the
clauses confirms the general scope derived from the
context as a whole, and that grammatical precision
points with equal force in the same direction. Thus
from every point of view the truth comes out with a
fulness of proofs proportioned to the closeness of our
investigation, once we have the right object and aim of
the passage clearly ascertained and held firmly before
our eyes. There is no ground in the passage for any
action of Christ in the intermediate state for saints or
sinners, nothing to hold out a hope for those who die
in unbelief and their sins. How could there be, if all
His words are true ?
The true text is ori koI ^pia-rog dira^ ircpl ajUiapTicov
cTraOev* SiKaiog virep aSUcov, %a ^jma^ Trpocrayayu tw
Oe(p, OavaTCDOelg juev (rapKi ^cooTroirjOeh Se firveviuaTi, €v
u> Kal T0?9 iv (pvXaKiJ Trveviuacrip TropevOelg €Kr]pv^ev,
aireiOrjo-aa-lv irore ore aTre^eSex^rol ^ tov Qeov
imaKpoOvjUila iv ^juepai^ N«e KaracrKeva^oiuievrjg ki^wtov,
ek Ti]v dX/yof,§ tovt ccttiv oktco yp^vxal, SiearcoOtja-av Si
* dtridavep ("died") is the reading of N A C, more than a dozen
cursives, Vulg., Syrr., Memph., Arm., Aeth., with several Greek and
Latin fathers ; while the common text is supported by B K L P, the
mass of cursives, and some of the same fathers.
t Ttfj before 'ttv. is the received reading on the strength of a few
cursives, contrary to all the uncials, the great majority of the cursives,
and all the Greek fathers, not even excepting Epiphanius who
elsewhere does give the article. There need be no hesitation in
accepting the anarthrous form, which cannot mean "His" Spirit.
J dire^edix^To is unquestionably correct, of the uncials K alone
being adverse according to Matthai, and of the cursives not one
supporting the reading of Stephens, Beza, and the Elzevir editions.
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison, 5
v^aT0<5. "Because Christ also once suffered for sins,
Just for unjust, that He might bring us to God, put to
death indeed in [the] flesh but made alive in [the]
Spirit, in which also He went and preached to the
spirits in prison, disobedient aforetime when the long-
suffering of God was awaiting in Noah's days while an
ark was being prepared, in which few, that is, eight
souls, were brought safe through water."
Though the original text is not doubtful but sure,
the interpretations of ancients and moderns are for the
most part precarious and misleading. Why was this ?
It may be helpful, and it is instructive, to note the
unusual uncertainty of the ancient versions. The
Greek is linguistically plain, the construction gram-
matically clear: why, then, should the rendering be
variant and confused but by ideas imparted from
without ? So early was the tendency to bad interpret-
ation instead of faithful translation. Thus the Vulgate
has, without authority, "erant" in verse 19, and "qui"
in 20, but the atrocity of "expectaba^t Dei patien-
tia?^^ ," which misled so many liomanists into error in
It seems to be a mere conjecture of Erasmus, who in his first edition
gave (XTra^ idex^TO (so K), in the rest B.Tra^ e^edix^ro. In fact, it is hard
to comprehend how the adverb could be used with the imperfect,
though it might be with any other tense. It is remarkable that
though Erasmus read the l)lundering dira^ in the text of all his five
editions, he gave the correct word in his notes, even before it was
published in the Complutensian Polyglott.
§ Tlie question between oXiyoi (&< A B, six cursives, Origen, Cyprian,
Augustine) and oXiyaL (C K L P, most cursives and fathers) is more
delicate, and less decided. It is the only case in which the text as
given above difi'ers from the Complutensian edition.
6 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
the Middle Ages and to the present day; for so it
stands in the Tridentine standard of authentic Scrip-
ture, impudently false, yet unabashed in its open
inconsistency with the passage itself. The Pesch. Syr.
was similarly unfaithful in the first errors of the Latin,
renders 0. by " Sheul," and falsely paraphrases the rest
thus, " while the long-suffering of God commanded that
he (Noah) should make the ark upon the hope of their
conversion, and eight souls only entered therein and
were saved in the waters." The Philox. or Harcleian
Syr. is much nearer the truth, as it avoids the error
in 19, though not correct in the slighter case at the
beginning of 20. As to the Memphitic V., Wilkins
gives " living " for " quickened " in 18, and its rendering
of 19 as *' In this to the imprisoned spirits also He
went, He evangelised," which is sufficiently loose,
though not in quite the same way. But verse 20 is
well translated except in giving a finished instead of a
continuous force to the preparation of an ark. Again,
the Aeth. adds "Holy" to "Spirit" in 18, and like
Pesch. Syr. adds "held" or "shut up" to 19. The
Erpenian Arabic is everywhere free, and seems peculiar
in " departed to the spirits which were shut up," which
goes beyond and verges into interpretation, if not mis-
interpretation. One may remark here that tto/o. in
verse 22 has ef? ovpavov, whereas in verse 19 there is a
careful avoidance of eig aSov or any equivalent, which
has been overlooked by those who have argued for the
force of 19 from 22. In the Armenian there is little
or nothing that calls for notice here.
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 7
Nor is the meaning doubtful. The apostle of the
circumcision is eminently plain and practical, fervent
and forcible. He does not, like Paul, penetrate into
root principles or rise into the vast circle of the
divine counsels, " wherein are some things hard to be
understood." He is not like John, profoundly con-
templative on the divine nature as revealed in the Son
of God. Peter is so simple and direct, that the
interpreters err greatly who fancy that his words
convey what their own speculations import. He
would not have the Christian suffer for evil but for
well-doing; and this, not for moral reasons only, but in
a touching appeal to Him who suffered atoningly on
the cross : — " Because Christ also once suffered for sins,
Just for unjust ones, that He might bring us near to
God." Let it be ours, objects of His saving grace, to
suffer only for righteousness and for His name. If it
cost Him everything here up to death, God vindicated
Him by resurrection, " put to death indeed in flesh, but
quickened in Spirit" (or, as in 1 Tim. iii. 16, "justified
in Spirit ") ; in which [Spirit] also having proceeded
He preached to the imprisoned spirits, disobedient as
they were aforetime when the long-suffering of God
was waiting in Noah's days. As the Holy Spirit raised
Him from the dead,* so not personally but in the same
Spirit also He went and preached to the spirits in
prison because of their disobeying the word in Noah's
time, when preached by him.
* This is far from excluding the Father's part (Rom. vi. 4), or yet
the Son's (John ii. 19; x. 18) ; but it adds the Spirit's agency: all the
Godhead shared in it.
8 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
It is an evident and striking reference to Gen. vi. 3,
"And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not always strive
with man, for he indeed is flesh ; but his days shall be
a hundred and twenty years." So long would His
long-suffering wait ; and in result only the patriarch's
family were brought safely through. Thus the persons
who then perished, and whose spirits are in ward for
judgment at the end of all things, are no less clearly
defined than the time in question, and the specific sin
of insubjection to the Divine Spirit which wrought in
Noah's preaching. The more accurately the words are
examined, in textual criticism or in grammar, the more
certainly it will be found that in strict exegesis they
admit only of the meaning here assigned, and this in
the full harmony of the New Testament with the Old.
The connection and scope is evident. The apostle is
exhorting the believers to a patient life of suffering so
as to fill with shame those who vented their spite on
their good behaviour in Christ. Who could gainsay
that it was better, did the will of God so will, to suffer
while doing well than doing ill; and this because
Christ also suffered (but He suffered once, once for all)
for sins ? This should be enough : we should suffer
not for sins, but only for righteousness or for Christ's
name sake. It was His to suffer for us, this once and
for ever, Just for unjust persons (for such were we),
that He might bring us to God. It is ours to suffer at
times especially, but in principle always while in this
present evil world. The kcll connects Christ and us as
suffering, but the contrast is as striking as it is morally
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 9
suggestive. To understand with some Trept aiJ.apTLoov
as a point of comparison between Him and us under
such a junction is to miss the reasoning utterly, not to
speak of failure in reverence towards the Saviour in
that work which stands far above all comparison.
This ought to have been too plain to need further
reproof from SiKaiog virep olSlkwv, where His solitary
and unapproachable place is set out. It was His alone
thus to bring us near to GOD. The participles that
follow tell us how this was done : " Put to death in
flesh but made alive in [the] Spirit."
But here a very important question arises. The
article is certainly to be eliminated: what is the
bearing of its absence on the meaning ? If the
articles were inserted, rri a-apKi and T(p ttv., these
would be the contrast of the two parts of our Lord's
being as man, the outer and the inner ; were it rrjv cr.
and TO irv; it would be the utterly false thought that
His Spirit as man was the object of quickening. The
anarthrous form points to the character of the acts
specified ; but so far is it from denying the agency of
the Holy Ghost in the quickening spoken of, that the
presence of the article would be more consistent with
Christ's Spirit as a man. No doubt, when it is in-
tended to present the Holy Spirit objectively or ex-
trinsically, the article is required and, as far as I can
mark the usage, the prep, ev or vir6\ it is excluded
where the manner of His action is meant. On the
other hand, wherever the spirit either of Christ as
man or of any other is to be expressed, the article is
10 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
indispensable, as may be seen in Matt. v. 3 ; xxvi. 41 ;
xxvii. 50 ; Mark xiv. 38 ; Luke x. 21 ; John xi. 33 ;
xiii. 21; xix. 30; Acts xix. 21; xx. 22; 1 Cor. v.
3, 5, etc.
Again, the following cases without the article clearly
mean the Holy Spirit, but characterising the action
rather than specifying the person, though He must
ever be a person : Matt. xxii. 43 ; John iii. 5 ; iv. 23,
24 ; Eom. viii. 1, 4, 9, 13 ; vl Cor. xii. 13 ; Gal. iii. 2, 15,
16, 18, 25 ; Eph. ii. 22 ; iii. 5 ; v. 18 ; vi. 18 ; Col. i. 8 ;
1 Tim. iii. 16 ; 1 Peter iv. 6 \^^y, i. 10 ; iv. 2 ; xvii. 3 ;
xxi. 10. The attentive reader of these instances will
see that the turning-point is not the presence or
absence of a preposition, as some scholars have
thought. Words after a preposition follow the ordi-
nary rules. Only, after prepositions capable of usage
with a statement of manner (as /cara, e/c, eV, k.tX), the
anarthrous form is of course more common. Thus eV
Tn/evjULari would mean in the power of the Spirit, the
manner of being, or of being carried, built, justified,
or of blessing, preaching, or whatever else may be
in question.
Hence the meaning here seems to be that Christ
was put to death ia- respect of flesh, but quickened
or made alive in respect of Spirit, in the power of
which He went and preached to the spirits in prison.
The €1/ w falls in with the Holy Spirit still more as
that wherein Christ acted in testimony. It is not
said that He went to the prison and there preached
to the spirits ; but that in the power of the Spirit He
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison, 11
went and preached to the spirits that are there. For
it is certain that Toh ev (pvXaKrj Trvev jmaa-ip can signify
"that are in prison" as naturally at least as "that
ivere" there: only the necessity of the context could
really justify the latter sense. But if the context
favour " that are," it is the simple unforced bearing of
the phrase. And that it does favour it should be
plain from aireiOwaa-lv irore ore, k.t.X., which points
to an antecedent time of guilt as the ground of their
being now imprisoned.
It may be doubted then whether quickened " by the
Spirit" best gives the meaning of the apostolic state-
ment : for that would most naturally suppose the
Spirit as an exterior agent. Still the anarthrous
construction, as is certain from the numerous places
cited, does not at all exclude the Holy Spirit: only
it expresses the manner of the quickening, not the
personal agent. But the thought of His power is
conveyed by the phrase that follows, iv w, wherein
Christ is said to have gone and preached, etc. Thereby
it is pointedly contradistinguished from iropevOelg in
verse 22, which is not qualified by eV m or eV in/evjuLaTi,
but left in its strict sense of a personal change of
locality to heaven. Thus it is excessively rash to
say that the rendering of the English version here is
wrong either grammatically or theologically, though
it is more correct to cleave as closely as our language
permits to the Greek style of expressing " Spirit " as
the character rather than agent of the quickening of
Christ, though agent too He was beyond doubt.
12 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
Bishop Middleton wrote with great force on the
insertion of the article, but he was not equally suc-
cessful in accounting for its omission. Prepositions
he treated as exceptions to rule, and anarthrous cases
like crapKly Triev/uiaTi, as practically adverbial. Hence
in our passage, he held the apostle to mean that
"Christ was dead carnally but alive spiritually"; as
indeed he thought would flow from rw ttv. if the
article had been authentic. {Doctrine of the Greek Art.,
p. 430, Rose's Ed., 1855.) The only difference iSj he
thought, that by retaining the article we destroy the
form of the antithesis -between o-. and ttv. But
instances already given show how imperfect this
able treatise is in requiring either the article or
a preposition to accompany irv. in the gen., dat.,
or accus., in order to me^n the Spirit of God.
Eomans viii. 13, to which he himself refers, refutes
his position.
Here Dean Alford, who is so strong against "by
the Spirit" in 1 Peter iii. 18, translates the same
word exactly in the way condemned : " but if hy the
Spirit ye slay the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led hy the Spirit of God, these
are sons of God." So on Gal. v. 5, Alford expressly
remarks on irvevixari "not 'mente' [Fritz] nor
* spiritually,' Middleton, al., but by the [Holy] Spirit,
[reff.] as opposed to o-.," the very rendering he after-
wards treats as wrong grammatically and theologically.
Again, on verse 16 he particularly observes that irv.
without the article may and does here mean " by
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 13
the Spirit" \i.e. of God]. His reason, probably after
Winer or the like, is invalid; for it is not because
it is a sort of proper name, but because it is employed
characteristically. There is no need to multiply proofs
against the comments on tti/. in 1 Peter iii. 18 — proofs
equally at least against Middleton. Consequently
Barrow, Hall, Leighton, Pearson, Ussher, etc., the
divines who denied the applicability of the passage
to Christ's descent to hades, were not mistaken, as
thinks Dr. E. H. Browne, the late Bishop of Ely.
They contend that the true meaning of the text is
that our Lord by the Spirit in Noah preached to the
antediluvians, who are now for their disobedience
imprisoned in hades.
"This interpretation of the passage," says the
Bishop, "depends on the accuracy of the English
version. That version reads in the eighteenth verse,
' quickened by the Spirit.' It is to be noted, however,
that all the versions except one (the Ethiopic) seem
to have understood it 'quickened by the Spirit': and
it is scarcely possible, upon any correct principles
of interpretation, to give any other translation to
the words. If, therefore, we follow the original, in
preference to the English version, we must read the
passage thus : ' Christ suffered for us, the Just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God ; being put to
death in the flesh, but quick in His Spirit ; by which
(or in which) He went and preached (or proclaimed) to
the spirits in safe keeping,' etc." {An Exposition of the
Thirty-nine Articles^ etc., 1868, pp. 94, 95.)
14 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
I confess to surprise at such a rendering of ^woTroit]-
Oe}^ irvevixaTL as "quick in His Spirit." For, first,
though there is an occasional looseness in the LXX.,
it is certain that the New Testament strictly and
exclusively employs ^woyoveoo for keeping alive,
^cooTToieco for making alive. Secondly, is it not
singular to reason from a non-authentic lection as
the original ? And the Bishop of Ely (see note,
p. 94) knows that the best critics reject the article
before ttp. If absent, it is impossible for ttk to mean
"in His Spirit."
Besides, the resulting theology is as strange as the
grammar; for he proceeds, "There is, it will be
observed, a marked antithesis between ' tlesh ' and
'spirit.' In Christ's Flesh or Body He was put to
death. Men were 'able to kill the body,' but they
could not kill His soul. He was therefore alive in
His Soul, and in or hy that He went to the souls
who were in safe custody {ev (pvXaKfj); His Body
was dead, but His Spirit or Soul went to their spirits
or souls. This is the natural interpretation of the
passage; and if it ended here, it would contain no
difficulty, and its sense would never have been
doubted. It would have contained a simple assertion
of our Lord's descent to the spirits of the dead."
To my mind such a sense must seem far below
scripture. For what a poor inference that men could
not kill Christ's soul ! ^^ Why, they could not kill the
soul of the least of His saints, nay, nor of the most
wretched of His enemies. Indeed, "kill the soul"
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 15
in any case is a singular phrase to use of anyone,
most of all to feel it worth while denying it in the
case of our Lord Jesus. How different His language !
"Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after
that have no more that they can do. But I will
forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him, which
after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell ;
yea, I say unto you, Fear him." "He was therefore
alive in His soul" is a feeble platitude for the issue
of the clause; as surely as it supposes a wrong sense
given to ^MOTroirjOe}^, not to speak of the confusion
of the soul with the spirit in a way foreign to all
exact speech. The interpretation, therefore, would be
in every respect unnatural even if it ended here.
When we follow, the gulf widens which severs truth
from error. "But it is added that He not only went
to the spirits in safe keeping, but that He went and
preached to them. Hence the passage has appeared to
savour of false doctrine, and hence its force has been
explained away. But the word 'preached,' or 'pro-
claimed,' by no means necessarily infers that He
preached either faith or repentance. Christ had just
finished the work of salvation, had made an end of
sin, and conquered hell. Even the angels seemed not
to be fully enlightened as to all the work of grace
which God performs for man. It is not likely then
that the souls of the departed patriarchs should have
fully understood or known all that Christ has just
accomplished for them. They indeed may have
known, and no doubt did know, the great truth that
16 The Preaching to the SpU'its in Prison.
redemption was to be wrought for all men by the
suffering and death of the Messiah. But before the
accomplishment of this great work, neither angels nor
devils seem fully to have understood the mystery of it.
If this be true, when the blessed Soul of ourjjrucified
Redeemer went among the souls of those whom He
has just redeemed, what can be more probable than
that He should have 'proclaimed' {eKripv^ev) to them
that their redemption had been fully effected, that
Satan had been conquered, that the great sacrifice had
been offered up ? If angels joy over one sinner that
repenteth, may we not suppose paradise filled with
rapture when the Soul of Jesus came among the souls
of His redeemed, Himself the herald {kyjpv^) of His
own victory ? " '^
It is certain, however, that the preaching of which
the apostle here speaks was addressed neither to angels
nor to devils, nor yet to patriarchs, but expressly to
those who did not hearken to it in the days of the
divine long-suffering, just before the deluge. The text
itself therefore dissolves the airy fabric we have just
seen, and proves that the preaching was addressed,
like all other proclamations of the truth, to faith, but,
as in this world habitually, met with unbelief and
insubjection of heart in those who heard. Indeed,
in p. 96 Dr. B. confesses that the proof-text is not
favourable to the point they would make it prove.
" The only (?) difficulty in this interpretation of this
difficult passage, is in the fact that the preaching is
specially said to have been addressed to those who had
The Preaching to the Spirits in Priso7t. 17
once been disobedient in the days of Noah. That
many who died in the flood may yet have been saved
from final damnation seems highly probable, and has
been the opinion of many learned divines. The flood
was a great temporal judgment, and it follows not
that 'all who perished in the flood are to perish
in the lake of fire.' But the real difficulty con-
sists in the fact that the proclamation of the finishing
of the great work of salvation is represented by
St. Peter as having been addressed to those ante-
diluvian penitents (?), and no mention is made of the
penitents of later ages, who are equally interested in
the tidings."
The really important thing for all to weigh is that
this difficulty is created by the interpretation that
Christ went in His soul and preached to the spirits iii
the separate state. The text itself speaks of His
preaching to such as had been once disobedient in
Noah's days. The only unforced inference is that
these are in prison because of their disobedience of
old, not that being in prison they obeyed Christ's
preaching in hades. Nor is there the smallest hint
that, having perished in that great temporal judgment,
they were alleviated by any subsequent preaching of
our Lord, but rather that they are kept waiting for
a still more tremendous, because an eternal, judgment
before the great white throne. They despised Noah,
the preacher of righteousness, yet not with impunity,
for the flood took them all away; but worse remains
than the flood brought in upon the world of the
18 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
ungodly. They are kept for judgment like such angels
as sinned.
" It must be confessed," continues Dr. B., " that this
is a knot which cannot be easily untied. Yet should
not this induce us to reject the literal and grammatical
interpretation of the passage, and to fall back upon
those forced glosses which have been coined in order to
avoid, instead of fairly meeting and endeavouring to.
solve," the acknowledged difficulty. To my conviction
there is nothing to untie, where one cleaves to the
strict language of the apostle and the real bearing
of his argument. For he is exposing indirectly . the
Jewish unbelief, which would have nothing but a
Messiah visibly reigning in power and glory, to the
exaltation of the chosen people and the confusion of
their enemies. The faith of the believing or Christian
Jews in Him, dead, risen, and gone to heaven, exposed
them to the derision of their brethren after the flesh,
who felt not their sins, and cared not for the grace
of God displayed in redemption by the blood of Jesus.
He had preached, not as present, but rendering testi-
mony by virtue of the Spirit. Hence the importance
of pointing to His testimony by Noah, a testimony
to man as such, like the gospel of Christ; for it was
before the days of Israel or even Abraham, and the
most striking epoch and also period of preaching to
men in all the Old Testament.
This is as we saw confirmed by Genesis vi. 3, where
Jehovah said, " My Spirit shall not always strive with
man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison, 19
a hundred and twenty years." Then the ark was
preparing, the space of God's long-suffering; and
" the waters of Noah came," and man was destroyed
from the face of the earth. And as it was in the
days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the
Son of man; for the days of the gospel are pre-
eminently of testimony, as were those before the
deluge, during which Noah prepared an ark to the
saving of his house, and became heir to the righteous-
ness which is by faith. Again, he was not a believer
only, but a preacher of righteousness, more emphatic-
ally than we find it said of any other in Old Testament
times. The preaching was in the power of the Spirit,
and hence attributed to the Spirit of Christ, who is
ever the active person in the Godhead, as is well
known in each visitation of man before the incarnation/
preparing both the way and mind for it. Compare
"the Spirit of Christ" which was in the prophets of
old (1 Peter i. 11).
This then would encourage the believing Jews, as
it might well admonish their despisers. It is a
question of preaching to the world still in the Holy
Spirit, not yet of the public reign and government
of the Lord. So Christ wrought by the Spirit then ;
and so He does now. As the flood came on those
heedless of the preaching of old, so it will be when
He comes in judgment, for He is ready to judge quick
and dead. And if they taunt the believers with being
so few compared with the masses that believe not, let
them not forget that but eight souls were then saved
20 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
through water; which figure now saves, baptism, on one
side of it death, and on the other, resurrection. Christ
has passed through actually for us, as we also in spirit
by faith, having a good conscience before God through
Him who is not only risen but at the right hand of
God in heaven, where the highest and mightiest of
creatures are subjected to Christ ; who is therefore as
full of assured security for His own as of irremediable
ruin for all who slight the warning.
In thus tracing the links of the apostolic thought
and word, I am greatly mistaken if the least strain
is put on any part, as without doubt the true text and
the exact version have been already given. It is not
so with those who have flattered themselves that they
adhere most closely to the words of the apostle and
their plain sense.
Thus when Bishop Middleton considers the true
meaning to "be dead carnally, but alive spiritually,"
almost every word is misrepresented. For, to bear
such a translation, the sentence should have been
QaviAV juLev capKLKwg, ^cov Se TrvevjuLartKoo^, though one
might call such a statement absurd and heterodox. I
deny that we must or can render OavarcoOeh fxev arapKi
^woTTOitjOeh Se TTvevjULari in any such fashion. Bishop
Browne is as wrong in adopting such a thought in the
note to p. 95, as he is in giving " quick in His Spirit "
in the text of p. 95, or in expounding it as Christ alive
in His soul, in or hi/ which He went to the souls ev (p.
All this in my judgment is as loose in grammar as in
philosophy, if they allude to this ; and as faulty also
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 21
in theology, as it has not the least coherence with the
context or the scope of the apostle's reasoning.
If Peter too had meant to say that the soul of our
Lord went to these other souls, he must have taken
a most circuitous and unexampled mode of expressing
it in employing the phrase h a), referring to irvevinarL
just before. The statement, if not the interpretation,
would be most unnatural. Taken as it stands for
Christ's going and preaching in virtue of the Spirit
by Noah to the rebellious antediluvians, it is in my
judgment fully justified, were this necessary, by the
Pauline phrase, kol eXOcov evriyyeklcraTO elprjvtjv vjuliv
Toh /maKpau Ka\ eiprji/rjv Toig eyyvg. The latter is even
a stronger instance ; for there is no explanatory
reference to irvevuxari ev w. Further, it is not a natural v*
interpretation to take roig ev (p. irv. as those who luere,
but who are, in prison, because of aTreiOtja-acriv irore
ore, K.T.X., following, which very simply attributes
their being in custody to their disobedience of old.
There is no need nor just ground for joining Trore with
TTopevOeh €Kr}p., but with oLTreiO., which marks off their
unbelief at the preaching from the time when they k
were in prison. We are thus shown as plainly as
words can that we here read of Christ preaching, not
in person but by virtue of the Spirit, to those suffering
the consequences of having been disobedient in the ^
days of Noah. — ^
Again, be it observed, the moral aim of this supposed
preaching in the unseen world is as unsatisfactory
as we have seen the grammar to be irregular and
22 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
the doctrine strange. For it supposes a preaching
confessedly without either faith or repentance as its
end ; and it selects, in what seems the most arbitrary
way, out of all the departed souls those spirits im-
prisoned because of their heedlessness, when the long-
suffering of God was awaiting in the days of Noah.*
To single out such wilful sinners, as the objects to
whom Christ in the under-world proclaimed His
triumph and their fully effected redemption, seems
to be a statement as foreign to scripture as can be
conceived, and equally ill adapted to impress their
danger on such as now despise the preached word.
Bishop Horsley's Sermon on the passage, which is so
warmly commended in Bishop Middleton's Treatise and
in Bishop Browne's Exposition, appears to sober minds
little worthy of confidence. Thus he affirms strongly
that the English translation of f. ^e irv., though "a
true proposition, is certainly not the sense of the
apostle's words. It is of great importance to remark,
though it may seem a grammatical nicety, that the
prepositions, in either branch of this clause, have been
supplied by the translators and are not in the original.
The words ' flesh ' and * spirit,' in the original, stand
without any preposition, in that case which, in the
Greek language, without any preposition, is the case
**~ * The careful student will notice that the original is not exactly
rendered by the English translators and most others in this respect,
that aTreid-ffaaaLv from the omission of the article must needs be a
predicate, and not an epithet describing or defining the spirits. The
meaning therefore is not "which were," etc., for this requires rofs,
A but "disobedient as they once were when," etc.
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 23
either of the cause or instrument by which — of the
time when— of the place where — of the part in which
— of the manner how — or of the respect in which,
according to the exigence of the context ; and to any
one who will consider the original with critical
accuracy it will be obvious, from the perfect antithesis
of these two clauses concerning flesh and spirit, that
if the word ' spirit ' denote the active cause by which
Christ was restored to life, which must be supposed by
them who understand the word of the Holy Ghost, the
word ' flesh ' must equally denote the active cause by
which He was put to death, which therefore must have
been the flesh of His own body — -an interpretation too
manifestly absurd to be admitted. But if the word
'flesh' denote, as it most evidently does, the part in
which death took effect upon Him, ' spirit ' must denote
the part in which life was preserved (!) in Him, that is,
His own soul; and the word 'quickened' is often
applied to signify, not the resuscitation of life ex-
tinguished, but the preservation and continuance of
life subsisting (?). The exact rendering, therefore, of
the apostle's words would be, 'Being put to death in
the flesh, but quick in the spirit,' that is, surviving in
His soul the stroke of death which His body had
sustained, ' by which,' or rather ' in which,' that is, in
which surviving soul, ' He went and preached to the
souls of men in prison or in safe keeping.' "
I have given this long extract, which clearly puts
this able divine's objections to the Authorised Version.
Now without committing myself to the defence of what
24 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
is not quite correct, I have no hesitation in asserting
that Horsley, by his own mistaken view, has diverged
^ incomparably farther from the truth. We need not go
beyond the Bishop himself and the passage in debate,
where he gives a difference of shade to the two
participles, which are quite as much contrasted with
each other as their complementary datives. According
to his own principle therefore, as the first means " put
to death," the other should be " made alive," even if its
uniform usage by inspired writers did not force one to
the same conclusion. Why then did not H. carry out
fairly and fully his own reasoning ? Because it would
have involved him in the result that Christ was not
only put to death in the flesh, but made alive in His
own soul or spirit. (The good Bishop of course shrank
from so portentous an inference, and was therefore
driven to modify the antithesis, not in irvevjuari, but
in an unnatural and unfounded interpretation put on
^oooTToirjOel^, which even Dean A. explodes, who insists
justly on "brought to life," instead of "preserved
^ alive."
^^T' The truth is that Horsley did not himself seize the
exact force of arapKl and Trvev/uLari, still less the
difference produced by ep in the beginning of verse 20.
Christ was put to death in (i.e. in respect to) flesh, as
a living man below; He was made alive in (i.e. in
respect to) Spirit, as one henceforth living in the life
of resurrection, characterised by the Spirit as the other
by flesh, though Christ was not a spirit only but had a
spiritual body. It is not His own spirit as man, which
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 25
is far worse than the English Version here, both
grammatically and theologically. Grammatically it
would demand t^ ttp., which is a reading unknown to
the best copies and scouted by all competent critics;
but even if diplomatically and grammatically legiti-
mate, it would land us in the frightful heterodoxy that
Christ died not merely in flesh but in spirit, and had
to be quickened in the human spirit, which dies not
even in the lost. Only the materialist conceives that ^,
spirit, if he at all allows of spirit, can die. v.. Ji
Further, if f. ^e ttp. refers to the resurrection ofV
Christ, it is harshness itself and out of all reason to
suppose Him back in the separate state in the verse
following, where Horsley takes iv w to mean in
which surviving soul He went and preached to the
souls of men in prison. But understand it as ei^
means we should, that Christ also went ev TrvevjuLari,
not merely in character of Spirit, but in His power
when He preached through Noah; and all is precise
in grammar, correct in doctrine, clear in sense, and
consistent with the context. When we are raised
by -and -by it will be Sia to evoiKOvv avrov irvevjjia,
/g^^xbecause of His Spirit that dwelleth in us. It was
/^lot suitable to Christ, so to speak of His resurrection.
He was, when put to death, quickened Tn/evjuLari,
denoting the character of His life in resurrection
(not merely the agent), ev w kol marking the Spirit's
power in which, before He was thus put to death
and raised, He went and preached to the spirits in
prison, disobedient as they were once when, etc. y
26 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
Who can wonder, therefore, that the Anglican
divines in the 5th of Queen Elizabeth dropped the
reference to this passage of Peter in Article iii., while
they had inserted it in the 6 th and 7th of King
Edward the Sixth ? Nor need we with Bishop Horsley
impute it to undue reliance on the opinion of
Augustine (Ep. 99 [164], Evodio), who was followed
by some others of the Fathers in rejecting the super-
stitious idea of Christ's preaching in hades. The
excellent Leighton, at a later day, was so far from
seeing this to be the plain meaning of the passage
that he does not hesitate to say, "They that dream
of the descent of Christ's soul into hell think this
place sounds somewhat that way ; but, being ex-
amined, it proves no way suitable, nor can by the
strongest wresting be drawn to fit their purpose."
V* On the other hand, the figurative explanation of
Toh ev 0. irvevfiacTLv is quite indefensible and uncalled
for. The sense of sinners shut up in a prison of
darkness while living on earth, whether in Noah's
day or in apostolic times, whether of the Gentiles or
of the Jews and Gentiles, must be rejected. Bishop
Horsley, however, is as mistaken on his side when
he avers that such passages as Isaiah xlix. 9, Ixi. 1,
refer to the liberation of souls from hades ; 'lihey
describe Jehovah's gracious work on the earth.
Equally wrong is his idea that irore joined with
aireS. implies that the imprisoned souls were he-
covered from that disobedience, and before their death
had been brought to repentance and faith in the
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 27
Eedeemer to come. Contrariwise the scope is that,
having once on a time disobeyed when God's long-
suffering was waiting before the deluge, they are in
prison. In virtue (or in the power) of the Spirit
Christ went and preached to such, by a preacher
of righteousness, no doubt ; but it is styled His
preaching to enhance the solemnity of w^hat was
then refused, as it was also in Peter's day. These
spirits were in prison as having once been disobedient
thus and then; and God will not be mocked now
if Christ's preaching in the Spirit be rejected and
He be despised in His servants. Where would be
the force of the few, that is, eight souls who were
saved through water, if the disobedient mass, or any
of them, were saved none the less though outside /rN
the ark ? -^
Again, it is certainly a suicidal citation which H.
makes from the beginning of Eevelation xx. 13. For
we know that the sea at that epoch will have none to
give up but the unblessed and unholy, all the righteous
dead having already been raised in the first resurrection.
Nor is there the least reason from scripture to fancy
that souls deceive themselves by false hopes and
apprehensions after death, so that some should need
above others the preaching of our Lord in hades. It
is nowhere said that thither He went and preached.
The spirits are said to be in prison, and this, as
having once on a time been disobedient ; but it is
not said or meant that Christ went there and preached
to them.
28 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison,
It is no question then of discrediting clear assertions
of Holy Writ on account of difficulties, which may seem
to the human mind to arise out of them. It is inexact
interpretation, which produces endless confusion, leads
too naturally into false doctrine, and has no connection
with the passage any more than with the general tenor
of revealed truth elsewhere. To put such a notion,
based on a spurious reading, slighting the exactness of
grammar, ignoring the nice distinctions of the phrases,
and resulting in the most impotent conclusion
spiritually ; to put this on the same level " with the
doctrines of atonement — of gratuitous redemption — of
justification by faith without the works of the law — of
sanctification by the influence of the Holy Spirit"; to
say that, discrediting Christ's preaching in hades, we
must, on similar grounds, part at once with the hope of
resurrection, is more worthy of a bold or weak special
pleader than becoming a grave and godly minister of
Christ. To urge that its great use is to confute the
notion of death as a temporary extinction of the soul,
or of its sleep between death and resurrection, is
certainly not to claim much from so wonderful a fact,
if a fact. Whether scripture does not abundantly
confute such dreary and mischievous dogmas of
unbelief, without resorting to strange doctrine, based
on a hasty and superficial interpretation of 1 Peter
iii. 18-20, may safely be left to spiritual men who
judge according to the word of God.
It is curious to see how an intrepid and strong-
minded writer, such as Bishop Horsley unquestionably
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 29
was, commits himself to untenable statements * once
he leaves the lines of the Holy Spirit in scripture.
" The apostle's assertion, therefore " (says he), " is this,
that Christ went and preached to souls of men in
prison. This invisible mansion of departed spirits,
though certainly not a place of penal confinement to
the good, is nevertheless in some respects a prison.
It is a place of seclusion from the external — a place
of unfinished happiness, consisting in rest, security,
and hope, more than enjoyment. It is a place which
the souls of men never would have entered had not
sin introduced death, and from which there is no exit
by any natural means for those who once have entered.
The deliverance of the saints from it is to be effected
by our Lord's power. It is described in the old Latin
language as a place enclosed within an impassable
fence; and in the poetical parts of scripture it is
represented (?) as secured by gates of brass, which
our Lord is to batter down, and barricaded with huge
massive iron bars, which He is to cut in sunder. As
a place of confinement, therefore, though not of punish-
ment, it may w^ell be called a prison. The original
word, however, in this text of the apostle imports not
* Indeed, so far from agi-eeing with Bishop Browne that it is an
"admirable sermon," I am surprised at the want of knowledge that
Horsley displays, e.g. in respect of Calvin's views. For he imputes
to his favourite author the doctrine of Christ's literal descent into
Gehenna ; whereas C. really held that Christ suffered on the cross the
divine wrath due to sin, and that this is the meaning of His descent
into hell — sound doctrine, though mistakenly attached to that clause
of the creed.
30 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison,
of necessity so much as this, but merely a place of
safe keeping; for so this passage might be rendered
with great exactness, 'He went and preached to the
spirits in safe keeping.' And the invisible mansion
of departed souls is to the righteous a place of safe
keeping where they are preserved under the shadow
of God's right hand, as their condition sometimes is
described (?) in Scripture, till the season shall arrive
for their advancement to their future glory; as the
souls of the wicked, on tlie other hand, are reserved,
in the other division of the same place, unto the
judgment of the great day. Now, if Christ went and
preached to souls of men thus in prison or in safe
keeping, surely He went to the prison (?) of those
souls, or to the place of their custody; and wliat
place that should be but the hell of the Apostles'
Creed to which our Lord descended, I have not yet
met with the critic that could explain."
The careful reader will perceive, indeed any one
when it is pointed out, the immediate departure from
scriptural sense and accuracy. For the apostle does
not assert "that Christ went and preached to souls
of men in prison." He speaks not of human souls
generally, but only of those characterised by dis-
obedience of yore, when Noah the preacher of right-
eousness prepared an ark to the saving of his house.
This makes all the difference possible ; for there is no
reference whatever to the invisible mansion of departed
spirits as a whole, still less to the special place of
seclusion for the good. These last are in fact excluded
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 31
by the language and the thought of the apostle. His
argument is against those who, as incredulous Jews
were especially apt to do, made light of preaching
Christ only present in Spirit, not reigning in power,
and of the comparative fewness of those who professed
to believe. His refutation of their taunts, and proof
of their extreme danger, are/grounded on the Lord's
dealing with the men of Noah's day, who similarly
slighted the divine warning, while those only were
saved who heeded it. How few the latter, how many
the former!
It is true indeed that " it is a place which the souls
of men never would have entered had not sin been
introduced"; but what is this to the purpose? It
applies on the side of good as of evil, of heaven as of
hell ; for sin, which forfeited living on the earth along
with innocence, furnished occasion for that infinite
grace which gives the believer eternal life and heavenly
glory in and with the Son of God, the last Adam.
And if the actual condition of the departed be as
regards the body incomplete, even so it is not correct to
speak of our being at home with the Lord as " a place
of unfinished happiness." Doubtless the Lord Himself,
the saints with Him, and those on earth are looking
onward to the day of His and their manifested glory,
when the world shall know that the Father sent the
Son and loved us even as He loved Him; when He
will gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Him
in whom also we have obtained inheritance, being
K
82 The Preaching to the Sph'its in Prison.
predestinated according to His purpose; when in
virtue of the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of
beings heavenly, earthly, and infernal, and every tongue
shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to God the
Father's glory.
Nowhere does scripture speak of **the deliverance
of the saints from " this state of things, though surely
it is of the Lord's grace and the divine virtue of life in
Him, that He will raise their bodies and transform
what was erst of humiliation into conformity to His
body of glory, according to the working of power
whereby He is able even to subdue all things to
Himself. This no doubt is the full answer to the cry
of the wretched though quickened man (in Rom. vii.) :
"Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death ?"
For it is our resurrection (Rom. viii. 11) which will
manifest the victory over death* through our Lord
Jesus Christ, as it is His resurrection which has even
now given us life in the Spirit, freeing us from the law
of sin and death. We have for our souls what we shall
know at His coming for our mortal bodies. But
deliverance from a place of seclusion for our spirits, to
be effected by our Lord's power, is a dream wholly
opposed to the scriptural representation of the saints'
enjoyment with Christ meanwhile. The apostle
declares that to depart and be with Him even now
* In 1 Corinthians xv. 55 it is twice, *'0 death," ddvare, t< B D
E F G I, some cursives, the more ancient versions save the Syriac and
Gothic, several Greek, and all, or almost all, the Latin fathers. Two
uncials of the ninth century (K L) with the hulk of cursives support
the reading of a8r). The Alex, before being changed gave irov aov y?Kos.
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 33
and thus is very much better than remaining here,
though doubtless there will be more for the body when
He comes: for the soul there cannot be. Therefore,
while earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our
house which is from heaven, he says that we are
confident and willing rather to be absent from the
body and present with the Lord (that is, rather than
abide here in the body absent from the Lord). Yet
are we now, not shut up as were believers before
redemption, but called to stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ made us free.
Hence it is in vain to urge what "the old Latin
language" describes, since it is quite opposed to the
truth ; and it is a mistake to cite the poetical parts
of scripture which treat of the deliverance of God's
people on earth. For " the gates of brass " and " the
bars of iron" (Isaiah xlv. 2) certainly refer to Babylon,
not to the presence of the Lord, wdth whom are the
spirits of departed saints. So Psalm cxxi. 5, " Jehovah
is thy shade upon thy right hand," is expressly a
prophetic song for Israel in the latter day, and in no
way about those deceased; as Isaiah xlix. 2 certainly
has no such reference, the context plainly giving the
transition from Israel to Christ. It is a distressing
misrepresentation then to call His presence a place
of confinement, though not of punishment, which
"may well be called a prison." Never does God's
word so call it. The converted robber asked to be
remembered when Christ comes in His kingdom {i.e.
in the resurrection state and the day of glory for the
34 The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.
earth) ; and the Lord gives him, as a nearer comfort
and intrinsically the deepest joy, the assurance of
being with Him that very day in paradise. It is
grievous dishonour to Him and ignorance of scripture
to slight such grace, even to the length of saying that
it "may well be called a prison." Certainly it will
never be so called by one who appreciates either the
blessedness of Christ's love or the honour the Father
is now putting on the Son. The Father's house can
only be called " a prison " by the darkest prejudice.
It is where Christ is now, and where we shall be when
Christ at His coming takes us to be with Him as the
expression of His fullest love. The presence of the
Lord on high is the very kernel of joy by grace,
whether for the separate spirit after death or when we
are all changed at His coming.
^ Feeling apparently that this is rather strong
language (though many of the fathers knew no better,
through their ignorance of eternal life in Christ and
of redemption), Bishop Horsley qualifies his defence,
and affirms that the original word in the text of the
apostle imports not so much as this, but merely a
place of safe keeping. !N"ow what are .the facts of the
usage of ^v\aKy\ ? Primarily it means the act of
watching ; hence (2) the persons that watch or guard
(as in Latin and English) ; (3) the time ; (4) the place,
not only where those watching are posted, but (5)
where others are kept as in ward or prison. Such
(with the moral application of taking heed, and being
on one's guard, from keeping in ward) are the chief
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. 35
senses in which the word was employed by the Greeks.
The New Testament has it once in the first sense (Luke
ii. 8), once in the second (Acts xii. 10), five times in
the third (Matt. xiv. 25 ; xxiv. 43 ; Mark vi. 48 ; Luke
xii. 38 twice), and forty times in the fifth sense, in-
cluding not only 1 Peter iii. 19 but Eevelation xviii. 2,
where it is in the Authorised Version translated " the
hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and
hateful bird," all evidently equivalent to the meaning
of "prison," which is used even of Satan's place of
temporary detention. Never elsewhere does the Holy
Spirit use it in the more general signification of a
mere *' place of safe keeping." Is there any special
reason in our text why it should here be so rendered ?
The assigned ground of custody being the former
disobedience of the spirits thus restrained, there ought
to be no hesitation in accepting the English Version
as fully justified, and rejecting that suggested as both
unexampled in New Testament usage and at issue with
the context. \
It is then going beyond scripture to affirm that
" Christ went and preached to souls of men thus in
prison or safe keeping"; and no proof is given that
He went to the prison of those souls or to the place
of their custody. It is quite sure that the apostle
speaks only of the spirits in prison, disobedient once
when the long-suffering of GoD waited in Noah's
days, not of souls of men as a whole in the separate
state. It is sure that Christ, in the power of the
Spirit, went and preached to the former; but it is
36 The Preaching to the Sph'its hi Prison.
nowhere written that He went to the prison or place
of custody of any souls whatever, and preached there.
The building and the groundwork of Bishop Horsley
are alike unsubstantial ; his handling of scripture is
careless, and his reasoning unsound. Such passages
as Isaiah xlii. 7 and xlix. 9 have only to be examined
with ordinary attention in order to satisfy any candid
mind that it is a question of the deliverance of
captives in this world, be it literal or figurative, and
in no way of men's souls after death.
If, as Bishop Browne holds, hades and paradise
are two names applying to the same state, it would
seem to follow that paradise must apply to the place
of departed saints, and hades to their state as separate
from the body. For 2 Corinthians xii. 2, 4 naturally
connects paradise, not with heaven merely, but even
with the third heaven, where the Lord is (cf. Luke
xxiii. 43); and Kevelation ii. 7 is decisive, that in
this very paradise of God will the faithful have
their future reward at Christ's coming, when risen
from the dead or changed. It is an error, therefore,
to think that "it was not heaven"; for the latter
scripture certainly identifies the scene of the separate
spirits of the saints with that of their future glorifica-
tion.* They are with the Lord now as they will be
* One sees hence the rashness of Bishop Horsley, who says,
" Paradise was certainly some place where our Lord was to be on
the very day on which He suffered, and where the companion of His
sufferings was to be with Him. It was not heaven ; for to heaven
our Lord, after His death, ascended not till after His resurrection,
as appears from His own words to Mary Magdalene. He was not,
The Preaching to the Spirits in Prison. ^7
when changed, and thus completely and for ever
with Him ; but now as then in heaven.') The ancients j
who denied this were as wrong as the moderns, who
popularly hold the soul's passing at once to its final
reward with very little thought of the resurrection
at Christ's second coming, or of the kingdom.
But we may here add that the ancient versions
are too loose to render any help worth naming.
Without discussing now whether the Peschito does
(as Bode and others assert) or does not use scheiul
for the grave as well as hades, it is plain that " lived "
in spirit is faulty for fa)O7rof>70el9, ' and that to leave ^
out "in [or in the power of] which," substituting a
mere connective particle " and," is far from the truth.
"To the souls which were kept" may after a fashion
represent toI