The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Peter — Section 176

tmry to tho etcrnnl principles of tl10 Divine of the blessednes~ of those who should be Lnw; "quibus rnnctiesimum Doi jus viola.- alive and remain nnto the coming of the tur" (Dengel). St. Peter is probably re- Lord. On the other hand, some of St. Peter'ij ferring, not only to the sin of idolatry in r€'n<lers mny, perhaps, l:ave thonght tl.at tho,e itself, but also to the many licentious who had pnssed away belorc the gospel practices connected with it. After the times couhl not be justly jurlged in the persecution of Nero, in which St. Peter &'lme way as those who then were living. perished, Christianity was regarded by the The two classe~, tho Ii ving anrl the dead, state as e. religio illicita. Christianity wns were Eeparated by a great diffcr,mce: tho condemned by the law of Rome; idolatry is living had heard the gospel, the dead had opposed to the eternal Law of God. Thie not; the living had opportunities and p1\vi- ,·erRe could not havo been i.ddrcssed to lcges which had not been granted to tho Hebrew Christians. dead. But, St. Peter says, the gospel ,va.s Ver. 4.-Wherein they think it strange. preached l\lao to the dead ; they too heard Wherein, in which course of life, in the fact the glad tiding3 of salvation (,cat ve1<poi, e/,- that the Ula-istians once lived like the 11n•.\(a-611), Some have thought that the Gentiles, but now aro so wholly changed. word "dead" is nsed metaphorically for the The word £evl(ea-9o., means commonly to be doad in trespasses and sins. Ilnt it seems a guest, to live as a stranger in another's scarcely possible to give the word a literal house (Acts x. 6, 18; x:x.i. 16); here it sense in ver. 5 anrl a metapborfoal sense in means to be astonished, RB at somo strange ver. 6. Some uuderstantl th;; apostle as sight, as such guests would no doubt some- menning that the gospel had been preached times be (comp. ver. 12 and Acts :x.vii. 20). to those who then were dead, before their That ye run not with them to the same death; but it seems unnatural to assign dif- excess of riot. 'fhe Greek words are very ferent times to the verb and the substantive. strong, "while ye run not with them," as if The aorist EU7l'Y'YE.\10-611 directs onr thoughtd the Gentiles were running greedily in troops to some definite occasion. The absence oft.he to riot and ruin. 'Ihe word for ''excess" nrticle (1<0.l v<Kpois) shonld aho he noticed; (av&xva-«) is found here only in the New the words nssert tliat the gospel was preo.ched Testament; it means" an ove1·.ll.owing;" the to dend persons-to some that were dead. renderingsentina("B sewer" or "cesspool")is 'fhese considerntions lead us to connect the doubtful. The word rendered "dot" (oio-onlo.) passage witli eh. iii. 19, 20. There St. Peter occms also in Eph. v. 18 nnd Titus i. 6, and is tell:, us that Christ himself went am\ used in the adverbial form in describing tho preached in the spirit " to the spirits in recklessness of the prodigal son (Luke xv. prison;" then tl1c gospel was preached, the 13). It means that lost state iu which a good news of salvalion was announced, to man is given up to self-indulgence, and some that were dead. The nrticle is absent saves neither reputation, earthly position, both here and in ver. 5 ((oivTa, K<1l v,Kpo6s). nor his immortal soul. Speaking evil of All men, quick and dead alike, must appenr you; better, perhnps, translated litera.lly, before tho j udgment-seat of Christ; so St. blao-pheming. The words " of you" are not Peter may not have intended to limit the in the originnl; they who revile Christians area of the Lord's preaching in Hades here, for well-doing are blnsphemer~, they 8peak as he hi.d done in eh. iii. 'fb.ere he men- really against God. tioned one section ooly of the departeu ; Ver. 5.-Who shall give account to him partly bcc,mse the Deluge furnished n con- that is ready to judgo the qniok and tho spicuous example of men who suffered for dead. The juclgmeut fa nt hand; the Judge evil-doing, partly becnusc he rcgarued it as a stnndeth before the door; all men, quick striking typo of Christian bnptism. Here, and dead nlike, must give account to him. perhnps, he nss,,1·ts the gencml fact-the It is better to suffer now for well-doing thnn gospel wns preached to the dead; perhaps then for evil-doing. llfon call you to give (we ma.y not presume to dogruatize in a nccouut now (eh. iii. 15); they themselves ml\ttcr so mysterious, a.bout which so little must give account to God. is rnvealed) to all the vnst population of the . Ver. 6.-For for this cause was the gospel underworld, who had passed away before tho preached also to them tho.t are dead. The gospel times. Like the men of Tyre au,! conjunction "for" seems to link this verso Sidon, of Sodom nnd Gomorrah, they bo.d closely to ver. 5, while the Ko.I ("also" or not seen tho works or he,ud the words of "even") gives an emphasis to " them that are Christ during their lifo on the earth; uow dead" (rcal v<Kpois). We naturally refer these they heard from the Lcru himself wLat he last words to the Kai ,,Kpo6s of the preceding had done for tho salvation of ruanki11 d. verse. The apo.;tlo scem8 to be meeting an Therefore God was ready tn ju,lge the quick objection.. '£he Thessalonian Christiana and the dend, for to both was the gospel feo.1·ed lest believers who fell nsleep bcforo preached. Tb.at they might be judged aa- the second advent should lose somctliing cording to men in the 11.esh, but live accord-  172 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [on. 1v. 1-19.