Post by Lee on Jun 14, 2014 14:40:47 GMT
THE SPIRIT’S WORK BY NOAH NOT A WORK IN HADES
When Peter writes (1 Peter 3:19, 20) “The Spirits in Prison,” he seems to give countenance to the popular idea that men can become disembodied spirits existing in a death-state. It looks so wonderfully like it that I should like to know how you can explain it in accordance with Christadelphian ideas. (L. A.)
ANSWER.—The phrase in question is a mere synonym for the men now in hades, or the death state. A careful reading of the context will shew this. “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited IN THE DAYS OF NOAH, while the ark was a preparing (1 Peter 3:19, 20.) Now who were disobedient in the days of Noah? The men who were contemporary with him. Hence “spirits” and “men” are in this case equivalent. What was the condition of those men at the time of Peter’s writing? They were dead and in their graves, and gone to nothing. Hence “prison” is interchangeable with grave, of which we have illustration in Isaiah 24:2; Zech. 9:11, 12. The grave is certainly a prison of the most effective description; there is no escape from it, and dead men wasted to nothing in it, may, with a retrospective glance at their having once lived, be well described as “spirits.” When were these disobedient men preached to by the Spirit? The answer is, “in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.” The Spirit preached through Noah, who is styled “a preacher in righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5.) This was “the spirit of Christ which was in the prophets” (1 Peter 1:2), and in Noah amongst the rest. The anointing spirit of which Jesus of Nazareth was the complete embodiment was common to all the servants, messengers and prophets of ancient times. Hence, the Spirit which quickened Jesus in his resurrection, and developed a saving name through him, was the same power, influence, or agency that operated through Noah in proclaiming a salvation which Peter says was a figure of that to be achieved through Christ (2 Peter 3:21). If it be asked why Peter should suddenly diverge from Christ to Noah, the context would suggest that he did so to show the parallel between the two dispensations, thus: There was preaching in Noah’s time, and preaching in the apostles’ time; disobedience in both; salvation in both; by water in both.
If you contend that Peter means that Christ in a disembodied state went to hell during the three days he was in the grave, and preached the gospel to the immortal souls of those who were drowned at the flood, you involve yourself in strange difficulties. Christ did not go himself, observe; he wept by the spirit, and preached, &c. Why, “by the spirit?” Did he inspire some devil in hell to preach the gospel? and why was the preaching confined to the souls drowned at the deluge, when, according to the theory in question, hell had received countless millions of souls since the flood, all as wicked, and all as much in need of the supposed privilege? But in truth, these difficulties are perfectly gratuitous. There is no hell, no disembodied state, no immortal souls. These are myths of paganism.
. Vol. 29: The Christadelphian: Volume 29. 2001 (electronic ed.) (340–341). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.
When Peter writes (1 Peter 3:19, 20) “The Spirits in Prison,” he seems to give countenance to the popular idea that men can become disembodied spirits existing in a death-state. It looks so wonderfully like it that I should like to know how you can explain it in accordance with Christadelphian ideas. (L. A.)
ANSWER.—The phrase in question is a mere synonym for the men now in hades, or the death state. A careful reading of the context will shew this. “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited IN THE DAYS OF NOAH, while the ark was a preparing (1 Peter 3:19, 20.) Now who were disobedient in the days of Noah? The men who were contemporary with him. Hence “spirits” and “men” are in this case equivalent. What was the condition of those men at the time of Peter’s writing? They were dead and in their graves, and gone to nothing. Hence “prison” is interchangeable with grave, of which we have illustration in Isaiah 24:2; Zech. 9:11, 12. The grave is certainly a prison of the most effective description; there is no escape from it, and dead men wasted to nothing in it, may, with a retrospective glance at their having once lived, be well described as “spirits.” When were these disobedient men preached to by the Spirit? The answer is, “in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.” The Spirit preached through Noah, who is styled “a preacher in righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5.) This was “the spirit of Christ which was in the prophets” (1 Peter 1:2), and in Noah amongst the rest. The anointing spirit of which Jesus of Nazareth was the complete embodiment was common to all the servants, messengers and prophets of ancient times. Hence, the Spirit which quickened Jesus in his resurrection, and developed a saving name through him, was the same power, influence, or agency that operated through Noah in proclaiming a salvation which Peter says was a figure of that to be achieved through Christ (2 Peter 3:21). If it be asked why Peter should suddenly diverge from Christ to Noah, the context would suggest that he did so to show the parallel between the two dispensations, thus: There was preaching in Noah’s time, and preaching in the apostles’ time; disobedience in both; salvation in both; by water in both.
If you contend that Peter means that Christ in a disembodied state went to hell during the three days he was in the grave, and preached the gospel to the immortal souls of those who were drowned at the flood, you involve yourself in strange difficulties. Christ did not go himself, observe; he wept by the spirit, and preached, &c. Why, “by the spirit?” Did he inspire some devil in hell to preach the gospel? and why was the preaching confined to the souls drowned at the deluge, when, according to the theory in question, hell had received countless millions of souls since the flood, all as wicked, and all as much in need of the supposed privilege? But in truth, these difficulties are perfectly gratuitous. There is no hell, no disembodied state, no immortal souls. These are myths of paganism.
. Vol. 29: The Christadelphian: Volume 29. 2001 (electronic ed.) (340–341). Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association.