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18, 19. Uvrj'Uccrf Kvsv/uaffi, in spirit; to the spirits ) These ex- pressions are adapted to each other.
19. ’Ev w) in which spirit. Christ had to do with the living, in the flesh ; with spirits, in spirit. He Himself has efficacy with the livino- and the dead. There are wonders in that invisible world. In a subject full of mystery, we ought not to dismiss from it the proper signification of the language employed, because it has no parallel passages. For they, to whom each mystery has first been revealed, have most nobly believed the word of God even without parallel passages. For instance, our Saviour only once said, This is My body. The mystery respecting the change of those who shall be alive at the coming of the Lord, is only once written. — roTg — msv-
to the spirits) Peter does not say that all the spirits were in that place of confinement, for many might have been in a more gloomy place ; but he means, that Christ preached to all who were in con- finement.— h puXaxjj, in guard) The guilty are punished in prison ; they are kept in guard , until they experience wThat the Judge is about to do. The expression about the state of those living under the Old Testament, Gal. iii. 23, bears some analogy to this. — ms 6- yuaov, to the spirits) of the dead. Comp. Heb. xii. 23. He does not call them souls , as in the next verse. — mpevdeig, going) namely, to those spirits. The same WTord is used in ver. 22. Those spirits were not in the tomb of Jesus : He went to them. — sxiipv^sv, He preached) By this preaching, which followed close upon His being quickened, Christ showed Himself both alive , even then, and righteous. Peter would not say, svrjyysXkaro, He preached the Gos- pel, if even ever so much the preaching of grace only were here designed : for the hearers had fallen asleep before the times of the Gospel ; therefore he uses a word of wider meaning, He preached (or published). Noah, a preacher of righteousness, was despised, 2 Pet. ii. 5 ; but Christ wras a more powerful preacher , who, when quickened in spirit, vindicated His own righteousness, which was not believed by them of former times, and openly refuted their un- belief, 1 Tim. iii. 16. If he were speaking of preaching by Noah, the word sometime would either be altogether omitted, or be joined wdth the word preached. This preaching was a prelude to the general judgment ; comp. ch. iv. 5 ; and the term u preaching” itself is to be taken in its wider sense, that it may be understood to have been to some a preaching of the Gospel, as Hutter says, to their consolation, which is more peculiarly the office of Christ ; to others, and perhaps the greater part, a publishing of the law, for their
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