1 Peter 3:19-22 (part 1)
The Heavenly Preacher

1. When did Christ do this preaching and to whom?
   1. After his resurrection
      1. There is no thought here of a descent into hell
         1. The Roman Catholic church still teaches a doctrine called "The Harrowing of Hell"
            1. Between his death and resurrection Christ supposedly went into hell and gathered together all the OT people who had trusted in him
            2. He burst the gates of hell at his resurrection, releasing them to heaven
         2. Even the Apostles' Creed, unfortunately, makes a statement that many interpret this way
            1. "He descended into hell"
            2. We don't know who wrote this creed, but it is probable that the original author(s) actually believed that Jesus went to hell after his death
            3. However, officially, they are simply quoting Psalm 16:9, which the apostles applied to Jesus in the NT
               • "But you did not leave his soul in Hell"
               • The meaning of this becomes apparent with the next phrase, though: "Nor did you allow your Holy One to see corruption."
               • The "corruption" means decay.
               • So the whole statement is, You didn't leave Jesus in the grave, nor did you allow his body to undergo decay
               • So when we say, "he descended into hell," we mean that Christ went down into the grave, not that he entered the place of eternal torment.
               • His torment was on the cross and was finished there. When he died he went to be with his Father in paradise, there to await his resurrection (and so it will be with us as well).
      2. 3:18 "made alive in the Spirit", remember, refers to the resurrection. So it was after the resurrection that he went and preached
      3. And the "went" is a big clue as well since the identical word with the identical tense (lit. After having gone) is used in v. 22. These are not two separate goings.
         1. The statement is 1. Put to death in the flesh 2. Made alive in the Spirit, 3. Gone up into heaven — like a creed
         2. Anything that happens then, happens after the "gone up into heaven part of the creed"
   2. To spirits now in prison
      1. Spirits
         1. Usually in the NT refers to evil spirits, i.e. to demons
            1. Many suggest that that's what's going on here
            2. Jesus went to the demons and proclaimed to them his victory and their defeat.
         2. However, the word can mean the spirits of humans who have died, as in Heb 12:23 which speaks of heaven containing both angels and "the spirits of just men made perfect."
         3. For reasons that will come out as we go along, this is the preferable definition here
      2. In prison
         1. These spirits are being held captive (with Satan and his angels) until the righteous judge comes and throws them in hell forever.
         2. This is their present, miserable estate, and is meant to contrast markedly with the glorious freedom of the children of God.
         3. But, I repeat, this is their present estate. Christ did not preach to them while they were in prison, but preached to those who are now in prison in the time of Noah
   3. In the time of Noah
      1. Translation — "He went and preached to the spirits now in prison during their former disobedience in the days of Noah."
      2. Explain Noah
      3. How did he do this? In (or by) the Spirit
         1. But this immediately creates a problem for some, i.e. if it was the Christ preaching by the Holy Spirit back then, he didn't really go and do this after his resurrection. It happened long ago.
         2. But to say this is to misunderstand Peter's doctrine of Christ and the Holy Spirit.
         3. Remember way back to 1:10 — Peter spoke of "the Spirit of Christ" working in the prophets
            1. When did he work? Back then.
            2. Where did he come from? The future.
            3. Technically there was no "Spirit of Christ" back then because Christ was still future.
               • The second person of the Trinity was in existence, yes. He is eternal.
               • But he had not taken to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the HS in the womb of the virgin Mary
            4. Peter conceives of the spirit of Christ — of the resurrected Christ — reaching back into time and inspiring the prophets of the OT with visions of his suffering and subsequent glory.
         4. So here. Christ died. Christ rose again. Christ ascended into heaven. And from that seat of power he reached backward in time so that he could speak not only to you and me but to all who had died before his birth.
         5. First, Peter mentions he did this through the prophets. Now he's saying Christ did it as well through Noah. (And if you're beginning to catch on, Christ did this through Abraham and Moses and David as well — through everyone endowed with a prophetic gift by which Christ might speak from a heavenly glory that was, from their perspective, yet future.

   Heady stuff. Let's recap before we go on. Christ died. Christ rose again. Christ ascended into heaven. At that time, he preached to the imprisoned spirits of men. But he did it not in the present but in the time when they walked the earth in the days of Noah.

2. What did he preach? (A: The Gospel)
   1. The word can mean "preached the gospel" but doesn't have to
      1. The word "preached" sometimes just means "proclaimed."
      2. However, this sense is rare in the NT (more common in OT)
      3. Rev 5:2 "Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?'"
      4. Paul speaks of "preaching circumcision"; The book of Acts talks about "preaching Moses."
      5. But without something explicit, it's hard to take this word as meaning anything other than "He preached the gospel"
   2. He preached the gospel
      1. In fact every other time the word is used where Jesus is doing the preaching, it always means "preaching the gospel"
      2. Furthermore, we have the evidence that the spirits now in prison were "disobedient"
         1. In the NT this word almost always means unbelieving, i.e. disobedient to the gospel
         2. And Peter uses the word exclusively that way
            1. 2:8 They stumble because they disobey the word
            2. 3:1 Even if some (husbands) don't obey the word
            3. 4:17 what will be the end for those who don't obey the gospel
      3. And take a look at 4:6 which pulls in a lot of the vocabulary of this passage and seems to function as a summing up. It says "the gospel" was preached to the dead (more on that when we get there.)
      4. (This BTW is clear proof that the "spirits" are not fallen angels and that Christ isn't preaching to the spirits while they're in prison. EXPLAIN)
3. Why bring this up now?
   1. Jesus (through Noah) preached even to men of such wickedness
      1. It was a Jewish proverb that "The generation of the Flood have no share in the world to come."
      2. They were so supremely wicked that God wiped them all out. He couldn't stand the sight of them anymore.
      3. But Jesus, through Noah, preached even to them.
      4. By using them as the example of the "worst" sinners, Peter encourages those to whom he writes to follow his example by preaching the gospel to those of their own generation.
      5. They might be tempted to think there's no point in speaking of Christ to their neighbors, but if Jesus preached to the flood generation....
   2. Noah was grossly outnumbered
      1. It was a few people, pitifully few, who escaped into the ark.
      2. The Christians of Peter's day are pitifully few as well.
         1. They are surrounded unbelief
         2. They are mocked, as Noah's generation mocked him
         3. They are encouraged to forego laying up treasure in heaven as Noah was encouraged to give up building the ark
         4. They are fearful. Humanly speaking, this mob could overwhelm and destroy them in an instant
         5. And they wait and wait for God to come in judgment and destroy the wicked and vindicate their hope
      3. Where is Christ? They cannot see him for he is hidden in the clouds . . . even as Noah could not see Christ and yet Christ was preaching through him
      4. So the invisible Christ preaches through them and their very process of ark building — of forsaking the passing pleasures of sin for the treasure of heaven — is a testimony that the judgment of God will again come upon the disobedient even as in the days of Noah.
   3. He escaped through great peril to the new world
      1. They were saved "through water", i.e. in the midst of grave danger.
         1. These are the waters of judgment coming down from heaven to destroy mankind.
         2. And they would have destroyed Noah and his family as well without the ark to take them safely to a new earth, freed from all those unbelievers and wicked men
         3. The very waters that destroyed them float Noah and family to safety.
         4. But God saved them and brought them, symbolically into a fresh new creation
      2. So he promises to do for all his children as well, and pictures that in Baptism
   4. And this was a picture of what Baptism signifies and seals
      1. Jesus had a baptism to undergo, his crucifixion
      2. The waters of God's judgment closed in over his head and engulfed him.
      3. Like David, he cried out Ps 69:1,2"¹ Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me."
      4. But God had forsaken him and was judging him (the just for the unjust)
      5. But he was raised again, vindicated, justified. He emerged from the waters alive.
      6. And so, because of him, we say with the Psalmist
         1. Ps 18.16 "He sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters."
         2. Ps 32.6 "Surely in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near me. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance."
         3. Ps 66:10ff "For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. 11You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. 12You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to a spacious place"
      7. Baptism does all this
         1. not by outwardly washing you (removing filth of the flesh)
         2. But as you lay hold of it by faith, you have your conscience sprinkled clean Heb 12:22,23 "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."
         3. We can actually answer to God, "Yes, I have a good conscience" because our insides have been washed by the blood of Christ.
         4. So we have a good conscience not just before men (3.16) but before God as well
         5. Because Jesus has died to sin and been raised to new life.
         6. More on the resurrection and ascension next week.

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