The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 140

self in the spirit, he preached to spirits: ark (Gen. vii.17, 18). Tho argument of ver. u TivE'Vµa,.-1, ,rvEV,1.u:un; spiritu, spiritibus/' 21 mo.kes the second intcrp1·etntion the says Dengel; "eongruens sermo." He more probable. 'l'he ,erse now before us prenched alt:o to the spirits; not only once limits the area of the Lord's preachin"': to li,ing men, but now also to spirits, even without it we might have supposed tho.t he to them. The 1eal ealls for attention; it im- preached to the whole multitu,le of the plies a new and a.dditioua,l fact; it emphasizes dead, or at lenst to nil tho ungodly <lead the subste.nti'rn (1eal -ro,s .,..,,,6,..a,rw). The whose spirits were in prison. Why does preaching and the condition of the hearers St. Peter specify the generation that wos are mentioned together; they were spirits swept a.way by tho Flood? Did they need when they heard the preaching. It Eeems the prE'aching of the Christ more than impossible to understand these words of other sin[ul souls? or was there o.ny specio.l preaching through N oe.h or the apostles to reason why that gro.ce shoulcl be vouchsafed men who passed afterwards into the state of to them rather than to others? The fact disembodied spirits. And he preached in must have been revealed to the apostle; the spirit. The words seem to limit the but evidently we are in the presence of e. preaching to the time when the Lord's soul mystery into which we can see only a little was left in Hades (Acts ii. 27). Ruther, in- wn.y. Those antediluvians were a con- <1Ped, says that "e.s both expressions (Oava• spicuous instance of men who suffered for .,..,e,i, and ("'01ro,.,B,is) apply to Christ in evil-doing (see ver. 17); e.s Christ is the his entire Person, consisting of body and transcendent Exe.mple of one who suffered for soul, what follows must not be conceived as well-doing. It is helter to suffer with him nn activity which he exercised in his spirit than with them : they a.re in plison. His only, and whilst separated. from his body." chosen ure with him in Paradise. But St. But docs BavaTwB.Cs apply to body and soul 1 Peter cannot rest in the contemplation of Men "are not able to kill the soul." And the Lord's death a.a an example; ho must is it true, as Hnther continues, 1hat the pe.ss on to the deeper, the more mysterious first words of this ,erse are not opposed to aspects of that most stupendous of events. the ,iew that Christ preached in his glori- The Lord suffered concerning sins, for the fied body, "inasmuch as in t:his body the sake of unrighteous men ; not only rud he Lord is no longer iv ,rap«[, but entirely Iv die for them, he rud not rest from his holy 1n1d,,..au "? Indeed, we nre taught that work even while bis sacred body le.y in the "flesh and blood cannot inherit the king- grave; be went and preached to some whose dom of God;" and that that which "is sown sins ho.d been most notorious, and most a natural body is raised e. spiritual body " signally punished. The judgment had (,u;;,..a ,n,ev,,an«dv); but Christ himself so.id been oue of unexampled awfulness; eight of bis resurrection-body, "A spirit bath not sonls only were saved in the a.i-k, many flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke thouse.nds perished. It may be that St. xxiv. 39). He preached to "the spirits in Peter mentions the fewness of the se.ved to prison ( ,., q,v>,.a«ji)." (For q,v;>..a1ef,, comp. Rev. indicate· one reason for· this gracious visit. xx. 7; Matt. v. 25, etc.). It cannot mean It seems that the awful destruction of the the whole realm of the dead, but only that Deluge had made a deep impression upon pa.rt of Hades in which the souls of the his mind; he mentions it twice in his ungodly are reserved unto the day of judg- Second Epistle (ii. 5; iii. 6); be saw in it e. rnent. Bengel says, "1n carcere puniuntur solemn anticipation of the fost tremendous sontes: in cu•todia ser,antur, dum expe- judgment. Doubtless he remembered well riantur quid facturus sit judex?" But it how the Lord, in his great prophetic dis- seems doubtful whether this distinction course upon the Mount of Olives, had com- between cpvAa1Cf, and li,u,..wT-f,p,ov can be pared the days of Noah to the coming of pressed; in Re,. x.x. 7 q,vAa1ri is used of the the Son of roan (Matt. uiv. 37-39); those prison of Satan, though, indeed, that prison words seem to give a special character to is not the 6.~v,r,ros into which he will be the Deluge, separating it from other lesser cast ut the last. judgments, and investing it with e. peculie.r Ver. 20.-Which sometime were dis- awfulness. It may be the.t the apostlo's ob6dient, when once the long-suffering of thoughts had dwelt much upon the mo.ny God waited in the d&ys of Noah, while the mysterious problems (such as the greo.t ark was a-prepe.ring, wherein few, that is, destruction of infant life) connected with it; eight soul.a were saved by water . .Omit the and that t1 special rei·elaiion was vouchse.fcd word" once" (a'...-aO, which is without autho- to him to clear up some of his difficulties. rity. Wherein; literally, into which; they These spirits, in prison e.t the time of tho were saved by entering into it. The last descent into Hades, had aforetime been dis- words may mean, "they were carried safely obedient. The Greek word (a.,ru8,/,r,m) through the water," or, " they were saved means literally" disbelieving;" but, here, os L,y water; " that is, the water bore up the in eh. ii. 7 and elsewhere, it ste.nds l'c,;· th1t CH. m. 1-22.J THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. 13:3