Question 194: Who are we to understand by the “Spirits in Prison”?

Answer:

The passage in 1 Peter 3:19, 20 is one which has been much discussed. It is generally interpreted as meaning that the preaching to the spirits "in prison" implies not the preaching of the Gospel, but the announcement of Moshiach's finished work. Nor does it imply a second day of grace. The spirits were clearly those of the Antediluvians. The passage however, is mysterious and has puzzled Bible students in all times. Peter is the only Bible writer who mentions the occurrence, whatever it may have been, so that there are no other passages to shed light upon it. The apostle was speaking in the context of the operation of Ruach HaKodesh and it has been generally thought by Augustine among the Fathers and by Dr Adam Clarke and other modern commentators that he referred to the Antediluvians as having, like others who lived before Moshiach, been under the Spirit's influence, though they repelled it. In that case his meaning would be that Moshiach had from the beginning been preaching through or by the Spirit, to men in all ages, as he preaches to men now by His Spirit through His ministers. Other theologians, Dean Al-ford among them, contend that somewhere in the universe these Spirits were imprisoned and that Moshiach preached to them in the interval between His death and resurrection, though that view is surrounded by other difficulties which are obvious. The reference is incidental and does not practically concern us so much as does the lesson Peter is enforcing, that through Ruach HaKodesh we are enabled to live to the spirit and not to the flesh.