Question: Please explain I Peter 3:19.
Answer: This text says, “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” In order to get a proper understanding of this verse we must consider it in connection with the preceding verse (18) and the following verse (20) which cover the entire thought. The 18th, 19th and 20th verses read: “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: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 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.”
These three verses belong together to form the complete thought, and to separate any of them from the others will leave us adrift with not certain direction. The 19th verse is the difficult one, but it does not make any sense at all with relation to the other scriptures if it is singled out and separated from the 18th and 20th verses. Taken by itself it would seem to teach something which is entirely incompatible with the general, overall teachings of the Scriptures in regard to Christ and to God’s dealing with and attitude toward mankind.
The closing phrase of verse 18 says that Christ was quickened by the Spirit. Then the first two words of the 19th verse are “BY WHICH.” Here is the key to understanding verse 19. “BY WHICH” by what? By the same spirit and divine operation that quickened Christ and made Him alive again after He had died for our sins; it was the same Spirit and Divine Operation that carried out the action described in verse 19.
Let us realize that the Holy Spirit didn’t just become operative in this New Testament Dispensation. He was operative in a lesser degree in Old Testament times, but operative nevertheless. Peter says in II Peter 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” This was true of all the prophets of Old Testament times. In Acts 1:16, Peter said: “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas,…” Here he declares that the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David. This was true of Noah also. Peter called him a “Preacher of righteousness” (II Peter 2:5), and the Holy Ghost spake through him as he preached righteousness to the people while the ark was preparing.
Verse 20 identifies the time of this action “…When once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,…”
If the phrase, “The spirits in prison,” is a sticker to you, just realize that the souls of men in sin are bound in prison. A prison is a place where a person’s liberty and freedom are taken away from him and he cannot do as he would. Describing the condition of the sinner, Jesus said in John 8:34, “…Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [bond slave] of sin.” Again He said in John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do….” The devil is the master of the sinner and rules his life and his activities. Paul said in Romans 6:16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” So we see that the person who has yielded himself to sin is the servant of sin and is not free to do righteousness. Again Paul said in describing his condition in his law experience when he could not be free from sin, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” (Romans 7:22-23.) He was not free to do what he wanted to do because in his mind he wanted to do right and serve God; but he was captivated by sin and was a servant of the devil and could not do what he wanted to do. This made him a miserable, wretched person, and he cried out for deliverance in verse 24 and found his deliverance through Jesus Christ in verse 25.
Jesus said in John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Again He said in John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Hebrews 7:25 says, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost [completely, entirely, through and through] that come unto God by him,…” Matthew 1:21 says, “…Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
The Psalmist said in Psalm 142:7, “Bring my soul out of prison,…” Note, he was talking about his soul being in prison. In such a state and condition his freedom and liberty was taken away. This is just the condition in which these ungodly sinners were in Noah’s time when God determined to destroy them all. In Isaiah 42:7, which is contained in a prophecy concerning Christ and His work and ministry and the effects of salvation, we read: “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” It was to people in this condition that the Spirit of God through Noah preached while the ark was a preparing. All souls in sin are in the prison house, and it is the work of Christ through His salvation and saving grace to liberate them and set them free from the bondage and slavery of sin by saving them from their sins, and this is just what He wanted to do and would have done for those people in Noah’s time if they would have believed and obeyed the preaching of Noah.
Hebrews 11:7 says that Noah condemned the world. How did he do it? He condemned the world by preaching righteousness to them in the power of the Spirit of God and then by believing and obeying it himself. The preaching of righteousness by the Holy Ghost had the same effect then that it does now either condemns or saves either a savor of life unto life or death unto death. It was a savor of life to Noah and his family (eight souls) because they believed and obeyed. It was a savor of death to all the others because they did not believe and obey.
They had their chance, and God waited on them for 120 years to repent and turn from their evil ways. Why would it then be thought, as some say, that people were supposed to be imprisoned and preach to them and give them a second chance for salvation? He does not do that for people now, so why should He be partial to this people who had a chance for saving themselves the same as people do now and turned it down as people do now? It is not so.
