What does it mean that Christ preached unto the spirits
in prison?
This question is based upon what Peter declared in I Pet.
3:19 – “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in
prison;” These individuals are called “spirits” because they
were in a disembodied state when Peter wrote (cf. James 2:
26). They were “in prison,” which means they were under
restraint as wicked persons. Disobedient and fallen angels
are described as being in “chains of darkness” (2 Pet. 2:4;
Jude 6). Some have concluded from this passage that Peter
was speaking about Christ preaching to the spirits in prison
at the time of his writing. Thus, some conclude that some
get a second chance to be saved even after having died.
However, this is not what Peter was saying. He was not
saying that these were in a disembodied state and in prison
when the preaching was done; rather, such was their condition
when Peter wrote.
The next passage makes the meaning crystal clear, for it
tells us when these disembodied spirits lived in the flesh
and when the preaching took place. I Pet. 3:20 states,
“Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering
of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by
water.” The antecedent of “which” are “the spirits in
prison.” They are described as “disobedient.” When? Peter
said, “when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days
of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.” Even though when
Peter wrote they were disembodied spirits, they actually lived
in the flesh during the days of Noah, and they are described
as being “disobedient.” It was during the days of Noah when
they lived in the flesh that Christ preached unto them.
What one does through an authorized agent, he is said to do
himself. Christ, in the person of Noah, preached to the
people during the time when the ark was being prepared.
Noah is described as “a preacher of righteousness” in 2 Pet.
2:5. However, they rejected the message of Noah, and thus
died in a state of disobedience. To suggest that I Pet. 3:19
gives another chance to be saved after having died is to
grossly pervert the context.