4191 - To the Spirits in Prison

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 30, 1913

FromThe Signs of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 38

4191 — To the Spirits in Prison

Please explain in the “Question Corner” Christ preaching to spirits in prison.

A. H. W.

The expression occurs in 1 Peter 3:19, “By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” One can get at the meaning of the text perhaps better by questioning it: To whom does the “He” refer? — To Christ. Verse 18 shows that.

To what does the “which” refer—“by which”? — To the Spirit. See verse 18. Christ was made alive in the Spirit.

Who were the spirits? We reply, The souls shut up in the prison-house of sin, with no power to save themselves. For this did Christ come. Compare carefully Gal. 3:22, 23, and Isa. 61:1.

What put them in prison? — Sin. See verse 20, — “that aforetime were disobedient.”

When did Christ preach to them? — “When the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.”

Through whom did He preach by His Spirit? — Noah, “a preacher of righteousness” “by faith.” 2 Peter 2:5; Heb. 11:7.

What was the result of the preaching? — “Few, that is, eight souls were saved.” 1 Peter 3:20. That preaching also condemned the world, those that did not believe. Heb. 11:7.