“Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. So he went and preached to the spirits in prison— those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.”
I have to admit, this passage caught me off guard. Starting out, it seems like pretty straightforward Gospel-message stuff. Then in verse 19 it says, “So he went and preached to the spirits in prison — those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat.” Wait, what?? Hold on, so Jesus died, was raised to life in the Spirit (but possibly not yet physically), and preached to the people that rejected God back in Noah’s day?
For those of you who want to investigate this further, there are some commentaries that can illuminate various scholars’ positions. I tend to lean towards those who believe that this passage tells us some of what Jesus was doing for 3 days while he was dead (and descended into Hell). If anyone would have been privy to some of these fascinating details, it would have been Peter. Here he also uses the flood as a metaphor for baptism and our new life in Jesus. I also find it interesting that he contrasts Jesus’ descent into Hell with his ascent to Heaven.
Here’s your freedom for today: the Bible is full of mystery. You don’t have to understand it all. In fact, you can’t understand it all. If you were to agree with me that these verses describe Jesus’ days in hell, then what are the implications for him preaching to those who rejected God in Noah’s day? Can they be saved out of hell? What would be the point of preaching to them? If those questions lean you away from my position, then what position does that leave? Is this somehow a metaphor for something else? When we don’t understand, we have to hold our opinions loosely. We might be wrong. And that is why our salvation does not depend on our ability to articulate our doctrine.