08. The Spirits in Prison

Those who teach the Doctrine of a "SECOND CHANCE," base it on what Peter says about—"Preaching to the Spirits in Prison." The passage reads thus—

"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 (Holy Spirit): by which (the H. S.) also He went and PREACHED TO THE 'SPIRITS IN PRISON'; which sometime (atoretime) were disobedient; when once the longsuffering of God waited (120 years) in the 'Days of Noah,' while the Ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." 1 Pet. 3:18-20.

Who were these "Spirits in Prison"? The word "spirits" by itself without any qualifying word, as "unclean spirits," "evil spirits," "spirits of just men" (Heb. 12:23), etc., always means in the Scriptures supernatural beings, therefore these "spirits" could not have been the spirits of dead men. When were these "spirits" disobedient? We are told that it was in the "Days of Noah." This clearly points back to the time of the "Flood." Were there any "Supernatural Beings" on the earth at the time of the Flood? We turn to 2 Pet. 2:4-5, and read—

"For if God spared not the ANGELS THAT SINNED, but cast them down to hell (Tartarus), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto Judgment: and spared NOAH . . . bringing in the FLOOD upon the world of the ungodly," etc.

Here we are told that in the "Days of Noah" there were some "**ANGELS**" who sinned, and that their sin caused the "Flood." These "Angels" were not Satan's Angels, for they are at liberty, and when they are mentioned Satan is always mentioned with them (Matt. 25:41. Rev. 12:7-9), but these "Angels" are in a dark "prison house," and confined in chains, and according to Jude 6-7, their sin was in leaving their "**First Estate,**" the Heavenlies, and committing fornication with "**Strange Flesh,**" that is with the "**Daughters of Men.**" Gen. 6:1-4. See the Chapter on "The Fallen Angels."

Then we must note that these "Angels" were not cast down to "Hell," but to a "prison house" called **TARTARUS**, which, while it is in the "Underworld," is a separate place from the "Hell Section" of Hades. See the Chart on "The Underworld." Now Jesus when He went down into the "Underworld," during the time between His Death and Resurrection, did not go to "Tartarus," He went to the "Paradise Section" of Hades, the place where the souls of the Righteous went before Jesus emptied it at His Resurrection, and He went there to meet the "Penitent Thief," and not to preach. Again we are told that Jesus Himself did not personally preach to the "Spirits in Prison," but that He preached through the Holy Spirit. This harmonizes with the account in Genesis, where God said to Noah, "My Spirit (Holy Spirit) shall not always strive with man." Gen. 6:3. The instrument that the Holy Spirit used was Noah, called in 2 Pet. 2:5, a "Preacher of Righteousness." The preaching then to the "Spirits in Prison" was not **after** they were imprisoned, but **BEFORE**. And it was not the "Gospel" that was preached to them. Where the word "preach" is used without a qualifying word, it may mean anything. That it was not the "Gospel" that was preached to them is clear, for there was no "Gospel" at that time to preach, for Jesus had not yet made Atonement for "Sin." The statement then that Jesus preached to the "Spirits in Prison" cannot mean that Jesus **personally** went to "Tartarus" and preached, but that He preached by the Holy Spirit through Noah. As confirmation of this

THE SPIRITS IN PRISON interpretation we have the statement of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, where he says, "Jesus came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." Eph. 2:17. Now this was not literally true, for Jesus was never at Ephesus. What the Apostle meant was that Jesus had preached peace to them through him, for he was pastor at Ephesus for three years. Acts 20: 17-27. Again we must not forget that, as that preaching was to those who were disobedient in the "DAYS OF NOAH," it was preaching to a "special class," the "Spirits" who are now in prison, and was not a proclamation to the wicked dead in general.

But I think I hear some one say, "Does it not clearly say in 1 Pet. 4:6, 'For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit.'"? Yes. But the context shows that there should be no chapter division, and that the dead here referred to were the "Spirits in Prison" of the preceding chapter (vs. 19-20), who, as we have seen, were not dead but alive when they were preached to, and though they were "Angels" they will be judged like men in the flesh for the deeds done in their bodies when they cohabited with the "Daughters of Men," and after judgment shall survive in their "Spirit bodies." The use of the word Gospel in the passage does not necessarily mean the Gospel as it is now preached, but merely the proclamation of "good news" of some kind. Therefore we have no Scriptural authority for believing or teaching that the "wicked dead," since their death, ever had, or ever will have, the "Gospel of Salvation" preached to them. To teach it is to go contrary to the whole trend of Scripture.


FLESH OF BIRDS, BEASTS, MEN AND FISHES

BODIES CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL

VIII