Preaching to Imprisoned Spirits (1 Pet 3:19)

Some biblical texts have caused much dismay within the Christian community. For a small group of texts this concern can be seen throughout Christian history. One verse that fits this description is 1 Peter 3:19. I will quote it in its context:

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. ¹⁹ After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— ²⁰ to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹ and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (NIV)

I have written on this passage in chapter 12 of my book Surprised by Hell. In that chapter I highlight what the church fathers said about Christ’s descent to Hades and probe several New Testament passages, including 1 Peter 3:19. In this post, I will focus on that one verse with the help of a remarkable book titled, The Disobedient Spirits and Christian Baptism: A Study of 1 Peter III. 19 and Its Context by Bo Reicke. Reicke first presented the content of this book as his doctoral dissertation in 1946 at Uppsala University in Sweden. While Reicke’s work contains many insights, it’s not easy to read because he frequently leaves Hebrew, Greek, and Latin quotations untranslated.

Let’s begin.

The passage above raises many questions. Who are the “imprisoned spirits”? What was proclaimed to them? What was the result of the proclamation? Based on how the church fathers touched on the idea of Christ’s descent to Hades (in Latin, descensus ad inferos), Reicke concludes, “The theory of Descent could have existed to a great extent independently of iii. 19, and that this verse plays no necessary or essential part in its history” (10). This is an important point. The doctrine of Christ’s descent does not stand or fall on this one verse. It was a widely held belief in early Christianity.

Christ’s Descent

Reicke points to other verses that were used to support Christ’s descent. For example,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay. (Ps 16:10)

Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. (Acts 2:31)

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matt 12:40)

This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”

(What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) (Eph 4:8-10)

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. (Rom 14:9)

Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. (Matt 12:29)

I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (Rev 1:18)

Note “the realm of the dead” (Sheol in Hebrew; Hades in Greek) was not viewed as a theoretical concept. It was viewed as a place where human souls resided. Reicke then notes the connection between 1 Peter 3:19 and 1 Peter 4:6. Here’s the latter verse in its context:

⁵ but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. (ESV)

(I have quoted from the ESV because the NIV adds the word now—”to those who are now dead” but that word is not in the Greek.) Reicke says that the first conception of 1 Peter 4:6 must be that the writer is commenting on 1 Peter 3:19. In other words, in 4:6 Peter is giving more information on the content of the proclamation in 3:19.

The Problem

If Peter’s statement in 3:19 means what it seems to say, namely, that the gospel was preached to the sinners of Noah’s day, Reicke says “certain dogmatic and practical difficulties easily arise” (12). For instance, it would open a path of salvation for any kind of sinner after death thus removing responsibility for behavior in this life.

Two Ways Forward

So how should we proceed? Reicke writes:

the interpreter has two alternatives: (a) If he wishes to retain the theory of Descent and a preaching of a gospel of hope to the unbelievers in Hell, which is the first impression received on reading, especially because of iv. 6, he must neglect the dogmatic and practical doubts which from from this theory; (b) but if he cannot overcome the doubts indicated, he must either deny that a descent to the dead is mentioned here, or at least try to apprehend the preaching then in a less generously positive way, e.g. by considering it as a pronouncement of judgement or as a manifestations of power, or by assuming that the spirits were such as had managed to improve in some way, or that it refers to young people or other rather innocent ones among the antidiluvian generation. (13)

For the past 1600 years, since the time of Augustine, most interpreters have gone with option b. Reicke, however, attempts to go with option a. While noting the lack of quotations on 1 Peter 3:19 among the church fathers until the third century, Reicke says,

Thus we find that at least this passage iv. 6 actually seems to have been interpreted as treating the Descent by leading Christian writers about the middle of the second century.

This would indirectly make it probably that iii. 19 was at that time also associated with Christ’s descent and a preaching of the Gospel in its connection. (19)

Augustine (354-430)

In Augustine’s time, we have evidence that 1 Peter 3:19 was interpreted as affirming a saving descent. In 414 or 415, a priest named Evodius wrote the following to Augustine:

I ask a fourth question: What spirits are those about which Peter testifies in his Letter concerning the Lord when he says, He was put to death in the flesh, but brought to life in the spirit, and in that spirit he also preached to those spirits that were in prison (1 Pt 3:18-19), and so on? He adds that those spirits were in hell and that Christ descended there and brought the good news to all and by grace set all free from darkness and punishments, so that from the time of the Lord’s resurrection we await the judgment while hell is meanwhile empty. I desire to know what Your Holiness thinks on this matter. (Letter 163)

Evodius is writing because he is unsure of the identity of the spirits, but he indicates a belief in a universal mission with these phrases: “brought the good news to all,” “set all free from darkness” and “hell is meanwhile empty.” (While Evodius and Reicke use the word “hell” this should not be understood as the final place of punishment for the wicked because the final judgment has not yet occurred. Instead, it is an intermediate state or holding place for reprobate deceased humans. For more information on the intermediate state, see chapter 2 of my book.)

In Letter 164 Augustine responds by admitting that Peter’s words “always disturbs us very deeply.” (In total he uses the word “disturb” eight times in Letter 164.) Augustine’s primary problem seems to be why Peter only mentions the one generation before the flood: “After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built” (1 Pet 3:19-20). What about everyone else?

Augustine continues by affirming Christ’s rescue of Adam:

Almost the whole Church agrees concerning that first man, the father of the human race, that Christ released him, and we should not suppose that the Church has believed this in vain, from whatever source this has been handed down, even if the authority of the canonical scriptures is not explicitly brought forth on this subject.

So “almost the whole Church” believes that at least one person was rescued when Christ’s descended to Hades. Augustine also recognizes that some people think the same benefit was granted to Old Testament saints, but this causes him confusion. Since Abraham was in a place of peace in Jesus’ parable in Luke 16, Augustine doesn’t understand what Abraham gained through Christ’s descent. He proceeds:

But because clear testimonies mention both hell and its pains, no reason comes to mind why the savior should be believed to have gone there except to save people from those pains. But I still ask whether he judged worthy of that benefit all those whom he found there or only certain persons. I do not doubt that he was in hell and that he gave this benefit to people situated in those pains. Hence, I have not yet found what he bestowed on those righteous people who were in the bosom of Abraham when he descended into hell, for I do not see that he ever withdrew from them in terms of the beatific presence of his divinity.

Augustine affirms that Christ descent must have been for the purpose of saving people. The only question is whether this resulted in the salvation of “all those whom he found there” or “only certain persons.” Augustine, then, reiterates his belief that at least some were saved at Christ’s descent:

Among these there is also the fact that he was in hell and that, after he loosened the pains of hell by which it was not possible that he be held and from which he is also correctly understood to have released and set free those whom he willed to, he received back the body that he had left on the cross and that was placed in the tomb.

Since Augustine is unsure of how many were included in the rescue mission, he leaves things ambiguous: “he is also correctly understood to have released and set free those whom he willed to.”

Regarding the extent of salvation at Christ’s descent, Hippolytus (c. 170-235) taught that the “spirits” had been converted before Christ visited the underworld. In that sense, they were worthy of being released. Around the same time, however, Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) affirmed a universal rescue operation: “Do not [the Scriptures] show that the Lord preached the Gospel to those that perished in the flood, or rather had been chained, and to those kept in ward and guard?” (Stromata, Book 6, 37-39).

Augustine then states, “you see what disturbs me so that I do not dare to affirm anything about this.” Despite his hesitancy, he continues by giving an eccentric interpretation: Peter’s words mean that Christ preached in a pre-existing form to the people of Noah’s time while they were alive. But Augustine does not have certainty that this interpretation is the only correct one. He concludes with a plea for help:

Let anyone who is displeased with this explanation of the words of Peter or who, even if not displeased, still finds them insufficient, seek to understand them in relation to hell. If anyone can solve those problems by which, as I mentioned, I am disturbed, so that he removes all doubt about them, he should share the solution with me.

It seems that Augustine, one of the smartest people in the history of the Church, is begging for assistance on this matter. He is truly disturbed by Peter’s words. But keep in mind that Augustine’s belief in a saving descent is not threatened by his interpretation of 1 Peter 3:19.

Reicke calls Augustine’s interpretation of 1 Peter 3:19 “evasive” because he believes Augustine is trying to avoid the clear meaning of the words, which point to Christ’s descent after his death. Reicke says this type of interpretation continued with Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli.

Fallen Angels 

In chapter 2, Reicke seeks to identify the imprisoned spirits. In favor of fallen angels, he gives the following support:

1. The end of the passage: “who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him” (1 Pet 3:22). The reference to angels can connect with two other passages in the General Epistles, which refer to imprisoned angels (Jude 6; 2 Pet 2:4):

• • And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. (Jude 6)
  • For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment. (2 Pet 2:4)

Many believe the fallen angels bound with chains are “the sons of God” who married “daughters of humans” in Genesis 6.

2. The Greek word for “spirits” (pneumata), which Peter uses, is the ordinary term for “demons and similar beings” (61). It is only used rarely for deceased humans. Reicke, however, notes the exceptions, such as Hebrews 12:23. Likewise, in 1 Enoch pneumata is usually used of fallen angels. (Reicke believes 1 Enoch is an important background for 1 Peter.) He does admit, though, that pneumata is used for the souls of dead people in 1 Enoch chapter 12.

Deceased Humans

In favor of people from Noah’s time, this support is mentioned:

1. 1 Peter 3:20 with its strong anthropological emphasis: “to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water.”
2. The word “dead” in 1 Peter 4:6. This word connects with “the dead” in the previous verse and makes it certain that Peter is referring to deceased humans. Hence, if 1 Peter 4:6 is commenting on 1 Peter 3:19, deceased humans must have heard Christ’s proclamation and “spirits” must include deceased humans.

Both Angels and Humans 

After reviewing the evidence, Reicke says, “it must be quite probable that pnuemata in 1 Pet iii. 19 can be both Angels and souls of human beings at the same time without any distinction” (59). However, he believes “the most important thought must be of the fallen Angels.” He concludes, “Who are the spirits in prison? They are the transgressors from the time of the Flood, with no very great difference between Angels and people, but with greater stress on the motif complex connected with the Angels’ fall” (69).

I think Reicke is right that “spirits” probably includes both fallen angels and human beings. However, because of the way Genesis 6 emphasizes human guilt as well as Peter’s statement referring “to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah”—I think the greater stress should be placed on humans.

Christ’s Proclamation

What did Christ proclaim?

The Greek term used “is the special term for preaching the Gospel” (120). “As the Gospel is the same as the message about Christ we must thus opine that Christ went to the spirits and communicated to them the secret about Himself as the humbly suffering, and thereby victorious, Messiah” (120). Reicke continues,

This is actually all that we can get from the text. . . It does not say that the spirits were released from prison . . . However, seeing that these spirits had distinguished themselves by disobedience, defiant and rebellious behavior we can perhaps be certain of the effect that they were astonished and ashamed to find the glory of the Messiah in such a humble form as Christ. (121)

The idea of release comes from other passages, such as, Ephesians 4:8: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.”

Why does Peter only mention Noah’s generation?

1. Because the flood story fits with Peter’s analogy of being saved through baptism. “In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also” (1 Pet 3:20-21).
2. Reicke says, “Christ has communicated the Messianic Secret, the Gospel, to these beings who are the deepest root and the real source of heathendom, indeed, its most prominent patrons at the present day” (132). By “these beings,” he means fallen angels and humans. This is a huge point because it implies that everyone—even people who lived long before Christ, even fallen angels—has heard the good news.

1 Peter 4:6

In chapter 8, Reicke takes a closer look at 1 Peter 4:6 and its links with 1 Peter 3:19:

After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits (1 Pet 3:19)

For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. (1 Pet 4:6)

First, both refer to a universal evangelization. Even the people in Noah’s time were not excluded. Second, “the preaching to the sinners from Noah’s time may be considered as a special form of the general preaching to the dead” (210). So we have a specific example (1 Pet 3:19) followed by the general idea (1 Pet 4:6). Moreover, Reicke adds, “The dead” cannot possibly mean only the sinners from Noah’s day; it must denote all dead beings in general” (209).

Near the end of the book, Reicke asks whether we should think Christ’s visit to Hades was positive or negative. In addition to engaging with several ancient texts, he points to Isaiah 24:18-23:

Whoever flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.

The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.
¹⁹ The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰ The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
that it falls—never to rise again.

²¹ In that day the LORD will punish
the powers in the heavens above
and the kings on the earth below.
²² They will be herded together
like prisoners bound in a dungeon;
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished^[a] after many days.

The footnote at the end of verse 22 says, “Or released” and this makes better sense because they were already “punished” in verse 21. Note the connection between “the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below” supporting Reicke’s argument that there is no great distinction between fallen angels and deceased human sinners.

Conclusion

First Peter 3:19 is a challenging, even disturbing passage, but sometimes our nicely packaged theology needs to be disturbed. Some people become more concerned when 1 Peter 3:19 is linked with 1 Peter 4:6 because it results in this idea: Christ continued to proclaim the gospel after his death, even to imprisoned spirits. And these spirits probably included fallen angels and humans who perished in the flood.

Why should deceased humans be included? Because Peter writes, “After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built” (1 Pet 3:19-20). While Genesis mentions “the sons of God” or fallen angels prior to the flood account, it clearly places the emphasis on human guilt. If the phrase “those who were disobedient long ago” does not refer exclusively to humans, it at least includes them. Moreover, a few verses later, Peter says, “the gospel was preached even to those who are dead” (4:6) and “the dead” must include deceased humans. To the dismay of some, this opens up a new dimension to Christ’s rescue operation.