Bible Question:
In 1 Peter 3:19-21 - It says here that God went to preached to the spirits in prison. My catholic relatives says that this is the purgatory. Can you pls. explain to me this passages. |
Bible Answer: Lourdes, I went to blueletterbible.com to bring up this commentary on the verse that you seek. God bless (19-20a) Through godly suffering, Jesus has preached to the spirits in prison a. Apparently, this work was done in the period after Jesus' death, but before His first appearance as resurrected to the disciples; Jesus went to Hades - the abode of the dead - and preached to the spirits there b. Are these spirits demonic spirits or human spirits? Their disobedience was in the days of Noah; we have evidence that this was a time of gross sin for both demons and humans, when there was an ungodly co-mingling of humans and demons (Genesis 6:1-2) c. Why would Jesus preach to these imprisoned spirits? In all probability, this was preaching (the proclamation of God's message) but not evangelism (the proclamation of good news); Jesus probably preached judgment to these disobedient spirits i. In this, there is a completeness is Jesus' triumph over evil, even the evil occurring before the flood ii. The Bible says that even those under the earth must acknowledge Jesus' ultimate Lordship; here Jesus was announcing that fact: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth (Philippians 2:10) d. Some feel that this preaching was done by Jesus to the people of Noah's time, in Noah's time; when Peter refers to their imprisonment, he refers to their current state, not their state when Jesus preached to them - preaching through Noah (or Enoch) i. "This passage, once cleared of misunderstanding, should also function today as an encouragement to us to be bold in our witness (as Noah was), to be confident that, though we may be few, God will certainly save us (as he did Noah), and to remind us that just as certainly as the flood eventually came, so final judgment will certainly come to our world as well, and Christ will ultimately triumph over all evil in the universe." (Grudem) e. Other feel that this preaching offered a second chance to those demonic spirits who were imprisoned at the flood (but the Bible knows nothing of such second chances) i. "Before Christ came, they had not heard the Gospel of God's Reign. . . . But at Christ's preaching they repented like the men of Nineveh; for it is said that angels subjected themselves to Him [verse 22]" (Hart) |
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Questions and/or Subjects for 1 Peter | Author | ||
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Rrwal9510 | ||
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Pigskin | ||
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Lourdes | ||
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inmyheart | ||
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dabmci | ||
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Parable | ||
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Heaven Bound | ||
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-Faith Dude- | ||
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Holy Bible | ||
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SUGARDOLL2 | ||
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jackel |