jdj55611@ihuxk.UUCP (07/08/83)
A recent series of articles dealt with the hereafter and the condition of man on leaving this life. This all started with Dr. Eby and his near-death experience where he visited a place described as `a holding tank where he would be taught how to be a king and a priest.' I submitted an article which suggested that there is such a place between earth and heaven where those that did not have a chance to hear the gospel receive the opportunity to accept or reject it. I received several comments on the subject as to the applicability of the scriptural references I used; mainly 1 Peter 3 and 4. To get a better understanding of the original meaning of the verses, I am including an excerpt from the `Interpreters Bible' which I have found to be an excellent reference. I'll quote from the sections on 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6 found in Vol. 12, page 132,7: "19. `In which he went and preached to the spirits in prison': `In which,' i.e., in the spirit as distinguished from the flesh, his human life. But what is meant by preaching `to the spirits in prison?' This passage is one of the darkest in the N.T., and exegetes have differed about the interpretation of every word. Two attempts to avoid the most natural meaning of the words must first be put aside. (a) We must reject Rendel Harris' brilliant cutting of the Gordian knot. He suggests that by textual error (hapolography), the word `Enoch' has fallen out after `in which also,'i.e., what Peter wrote was EN*KAIEN*X ( where * is omega ), `in which [spirit] Enoch also went and preached to the spirits in prison.' The reference woild then be to the apocryphal story that Enoch made a proclamation of doom to imprisoned angels (Enoch 6:4 ff.). There is no MS ( manuscript ) evidence for the theory; the introduction of Enoch interrupts the course of the argument; and it is hard to harmonize Harris' theory with 4:6. But both Moffatt and Goodspeed accept Harris' conjecture. (b) Nor can we accept Selwyn's view that Christ, in the course of his passion and resurrection, `made proclamation' to the powers of evil. `What St. Peter and St. Paul assert of these powers of evil, as their divine Master had asserted it before them, is that in Christ's death their end was sealed' (First Epistle of Peter, p. 360). This `mythological' view as expounded bu Selwyn can be carried through only if we wrest the meaning of the Greek words in a most unnatural way. The simplest meaning is that our Lord descended between his passion and resurrection, to preach to certain spirits imprisoned in Hades. (Hades, or Sheol, was no longer regarded as the abode of pithless shades, but partly as a place of punishment and partly as a intermediate state.) But who were the imprisoned spirits? Just possibly the fallen angels of Gen 6:1-4. Much more probably Peter meant the spirits of the rebellious generation who perished in tne Flood (Gen 6:12 ff.). How did this tradition of a ministry of Jesus in Hades originate? In Acts 2:27 Peter applies to Jesus the words of PS. 16:10, `Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.' This seeds to indicate that the early church was thinking of what happened to Jesus between his death and resurrection. Moreover, Jesus had applied to his own ministry the great words of Isa. 61:1, where the Lord's servent is `sent to proclaim liberty to the captives' (Luke 4:17-18). Bearing these two passages in mind, we may do a bit of guessing. Two questions must often exercised the mind of the earliest Christians: (a) Where was Christ's spirit in the interval between his death and resurrection? (b) What was to be the fate of those who had died before the gospel was preached? An answer is supplied in 3:19 and 4:6 (`This is why the gospel was preached even to the dead'). Christ went down `in the spirit,' says Peter, into Hades, between his death and resurrection, in order to offer salvation to sinners who had died without hearing the gospel and getting a chance to repent. The tradition of Christ's descent into Hades and of the harrowing of hell soon became part of the church's theology (cf. the Apostles Creed, `He descended into hell'). Thus also in the apocryphal Gospel According to St. Peter (ca A.D. 130), among the wonders attending the Crucifixion we read the question, `Hast thou preached to those who have fallen asleep?' To which the answer was heard from the Cross, `Yes.' And in the Middle Ages the harrowing of hell was a common theme in popular poetry and theology; cf the lines of Spenser's hymn: Most glorious Lord of life, that on this day Didst make thy triumph over death and sin, And having harrowed Hell, didst bring away Captivity thence captive, us to win. If we ask what value this tradition has for us today, the answer is that whereever men are, Christ has power to save." Let me now skip to the commentary on 4:6: "6. Cf. 3:19, with which this passage must be taken. In 3:19 the idea of our Lord preaching to the dead was applied to a particular class, viz, the wicked contemporaries of Noah. Here it is generalized, `The dead' are those who died before Christ came, but who heard the gospel in the abode of the dead. `That though judged in the fleas like men, they might live in the spirit like God:' We find the same contrast between flesh and spirit as in 3:18. The dead have already suffered some judgement in their life on earth. Now they have the gospel preached to them in Hades in order that they may have the chance of full and final salvation, i.e., life with God and as God lives..." As cited above, the commentary discounts the idea that Christs preaching is a simple proclamation. Since I do not read Greek I rely on several sources to provide additional insight. The Interpreters Bible provides a help in understanding the Bible and is one of the few fairly unbiased presentations around. The basic statement is: If is gospel is truly for all men, it seems that all should have a chance to hear it. J. D. Jensen ihuxk!jdj55611 BTL Naperville IL #