Who Are the Spirits in Prison?
Hi, well the passage is speaking to Christians faced with the possibility of persecution. Peter is giving the example of Christ, who was also persecuted. This fact is important, for the Christians he is addressing are being encouraged to identify with the experience of Christ. Jesus also suffered. In fact, he was "put to death in the body" (NIV) or "in the flesh" (RSV), but "made alive by the Spirit" or "in the spirit." While admittedly difficult, it appears that two different spheres of life are being described. In the human sphere of life ("the flesh"--the NIV translation is unfortunate in that it does not make this clear) Jesus was put to death. As far as the world was concerned, he was dead forever, executed as a criminal. Yet the church knew that on Easter he came alive, not in the merely human sphere, but in the spiritual sphere. So his body was raised, but it was not raised as only a natural human body (as was Lazarus's body), but as an immortal body. Therefore we find stories about the risen Christ being able to do things that he could not do before his death, such as appear and disappear and enter locked rooms.
It was in this spiritual sphere of life (a better translation than the NIV's "through whom" would be the NRSV's "in which") that Jesus went to the "spirits in prison." We learn in the next verse that these spirits "disobeyed in the days of Noah." Who, then, could they be? There are two possibilities. In the days of Noah the earth was full of violence because people were very wicked (see Gen 6:3-6, 11). These people all died in the flood. Could they be these spirits? When we look at the use of the term spirit in the New Testament, we notice that it is almost never used of dead people. When it is used of dead people, it is always qualified in some way to make it clear that it is people who are being written about (for example, Heb 12:23). Normally dead human beings are referred to as "souls." Since there is nothing in this passage to make it clear that it is human beings who are being written about, it is unlikely that these are dead people.
The other possibility is that they are the "sons of God" of Genesis 6:2, or perhaps their offspring. The term "sons of God" refers to spiritual beings from the divine council. The New Testament refers to them as angels who "abandoned their own home" (Jude 6) or who "sinned" (2 Pet 2:4). Here, then, we have truly rebellious, disobedient spirits. Furthermore, there is a long tradition, both in the New Testament and in other Jewish writings, that these fallen angels were kept in a prison (see 1 Enoch 10-16; 21 for a discussion of the punishment of these "Watchers," as he calls them). This, then, appears to be the mostly likely identification of these "spirits in prison." Not only are we talking about beings usually referred to as "spirits," but we are also talking about beings who were known to Jews as being in a "prison."
Was Jesus proclaiming the gospel to these "spirits"? Was he giving them a "second chance"? The term for "preach" is normally used in the New Testament for preaching the gospel, but it can also mean to "announce" or "proclaim" (Lk 12:3; Rom 2:21; Rev 5:2). Therefore it does not necessarily mean to proclaim the gospel. Are there other passages in Jewish or Christian literature in which something is proclaimed or preached to these spirits? Again we turn back to 1 Enoch (which was known to the early church, for it is cited in Jude) and discover that Enoch proclaims to these spirits their doom.
Does such an interpretation fit this passage? The passage ends on a note of triumph with the submission of all "angels, authorities and powers" to the exalted Jesus. While the New Testament does not speak anywhere of preaching the gospel to spirits, it does speak of the victory of Christ over the spiritual world (for example, 2 Cor 2:14; Eph 6:11-12; Col 2:15; Rev 12:7-11). Thus a reference in this passage to the proclamation of that victory fits right in with the tone of both the passage and the New Testament in general.
We can now summarize what the passage is saying. The Christians in Asia Minor were facing persecution and possible martyrdom. Peter calls them to look at the example of Jesus. He was, from the human point of view, killed. Yet, in fact, he rose, not simply to renewed natural life, but to transformed life in the spiritual world, and in that world he proclaimed his victory to the fallen angels who were disobedient in Noah's day. This may have been during his ascension, for while this text does not tell us where this prison was, some Jews located it in the "second heaven" and thus on the way between earth and the heaven where God dwells. Whatever the case, in the end of this section in 1 Peter Christ is in heaven with all spiritual beings subject to him.
Peter's point is that Christians through baptism have identified with Christ and so will be saved in the final judgment and share his triumph. They too will live with Christ in exaltation, no matter how human beings persecute or condemn them. As for their persecutors, unless they repent, what hope do they have, living as they do in the purely human sphere? Christ triumphed over his foes and proclaimed his victory. The Christians in Asia Minor (and today) will do the same if they remain faithful to this Christ.
posted by I love Jesus! ! ! @ Tuesday, July 24, 2007
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