In the OT a sense of gloom and unreality was felt about the lot of the spirits of men taken away from the light and activity of earthly life. A't Hrst no distinction was supposed to exist in that shadowy realm between good and bad any more than lietween king and subject. But in NT times such ideas had grown up, and our I^ord sanctioned current belief when in the parable of Dives and Lazarus (Lk 16"-3') He contrasted haijpinoss in the society of Abraham with misery 'in uniiKnls.' This agrees with His promise to the penitent Oiief (23«) : ' To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.' St. Peter in his first sermon (Ac 2-'-^') quotes Ps le'" and ex]>lains the words, ' Thou wilt not lea- e my soul in Hades,' as a prophecy of the KcMirec- tion of Christ, which received no fulfilment in (he
case of David. He distinctly implies that Christ's soul pas.sed into Hades at His death.
St. Paul (Ro 10'), adapting Dt SQi', teaches the same truth inferring that it is not necessary to sear.li I lie .le|.ili, since Christ is risen from the 'I' Mil. lie lejar.ls the Descent as the preparation 1..1 I lie A ee|i,,,,|, Kjih 4a ' Now this, He ascended, wliat 1,-, It but, that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth ?' In the LXX rendering of Ps 62"' (63»), this phra.se, t4 /cariiroT-a rijt 7^$, is referred to Hades. It is therefore probable that St. Paul uses it in the same sense.* Obedience even unto death secured for the Lord the sove- reignty of the underworld ; His descent was the pletlge of His lordship over it (Ph 2»»).
The famous passage 1 P S'""-" (cf. 4") introduces the question of the object of the Descent : ' Be- cause Christ also sutt'ered for sins once, the right- eous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God ; being juit t.i death in the fiesh, but quick- ened in the spirit : in wlnrli .-ilso he went and preached untu tlie ,-|iiiits m ]iris<iii, wliieh afore- time were disobedient, "h lii'M the long-sutiering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing ' ; 4" ' For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.'
The earliest Christian tradition, which was pro- bably independent of this passage, certainly sup- ports the interpretation that Christ preached to the spirits of the men and women who were drowned in the Flood. Not until the time of St. Augustine was any other interpretation oft'ered. The Apostle is endeavouring to encourage his readers in Christlike patience under persecution. Christ died, the just for the unjust, but His death in the flesh was followed by quickening in the spirit. Therefore we need not fear death, which will bring us freedom from sin and increase of spiritual energy. The reference which follows (v.~) to the Ascension suggests that this preach- ing took place after Christ's death, and not that Christ in Noah preached to the men of Noah's time.
In view of modern interpretations, however, we must enter further into detail. irveviJi.a.Ta in the NT generally refers to angels (Ac 23*), b\it it refers also to spirits of the dead (He 12-3, ^,f_ Lk 243'-3»). And 1 P 4'^ proves that this is the sense liere.t
Some critics suppose tliat tlie preaching was to the fallen angels mentioned in 2 P 2^ Jude ^ ; according to Baur, after Christ's deatli ; according to Spitta, before the Im-.arnation. This view is regarded by Charles (art, ' l';sili:i,t..lugy ' in Enryc. Bibl.) as the only pn-ihle .ilienrative. But Charles holds that'Clm-t |.riMihed a gospel of redemption between His death and His resur- rection. Salmond thinks that the key may be found in a non-canonical Jewish book. Others, again, think that Enoch was regarded as an in- carnation of tlie Messiah, and that the passage refers to his preaching. But as Clemen says (Niedergefahren, p. 131), while we hear in the Book of Enoeli (12^"^- 13" 14"^-) of a preaching of punishnieiit to f.illen .niuels, we hear nothing of a preaeliine of ^,il\ :ii i.iii (o I he souls of men.
Perli.i|.s tie' ine-i e\ I i;i(,nUnary interpretation of all is thiit wliieh Clemen quotes from Cramer. An unknown person, in po.ssession of 1 and 2 Pet., is supposed to have been reminded by v.- of a former vvoTayr) of angels, and therefore nn the basis ef 2 P 2"- with wliich he compared .hide ''• " and
* Some commentators explain the words as contrasting the earth beneath with the heavens above, and refer them to the Incarnation when Christ descended to the earth.
t The tense of iiu.yyikl/THr, shows that the preachintj was re- garded as a completed act in the past.
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HELL (DESCENT INTO)
HELL (DESCENT INTO)
also the Book of Enoch, is supiiosed to have written in the margin : 'Ej'ojx Toh iv ipvXaKrj Tnie('fia<TLv Topcvdels iK-qpv^ev, k.t.\., understanding vvei'/ianv of angels and eKripv^ev of a concio damnatoria. Some one else at a later time, referring the first word to the souls of the departed and the latter to the preaching of salvation, reading ENfiK for ENS2X, and this again for iv ij Kal, took the whole into the text after v.'* !