Posted by Khew Chee Keong (202.166.126.225) on March 07, 2003 at 19:48:05:
Hi, Elder Yong. Read through 1 Peter chapter 3 during my QT and have a question to seek your opinion.
In 1 Peter 3:18-20, it mentioned that Jesus is resurrected both in body and in Spirit and that "By which als he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.." like that of Noah's time those people who disobey God.
Herein lies my question:
1) What does Spirit of prison means? I have heard sermons and the 'qi2 dao2 ben3' of Bible mentioned Jesus went to Hell and preached to the dead whose spirits are imprisoned. Is this linked to why Catholic believe in praying for the dead. But how can it be??
Those who died w/o accepting the Gospel couldn't have been saved and even if Old Testament, during Noah's time, the people are really beyond hope that God's wrath is on them. They can't be saved either as the Bible mentioned in Genesis 6:11-12 that "The world is corrupted before God and the earth was filled with violence, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth"
There seems to be no meaning in preaching. If not, what could possibly be the meaning of this context of the verse?
Here are my views:
I thought that the spirit here refers to the work of Holy Spirit in those times of Apostles and believers who was imprisoned then and spread the Gospel to the prisoners over there. And the heart of the prisoners are somewhat similar to the heart of the people during Noah's time. i.e. they did a lot of evil, landed in prison and they rejected God. It is a 'xing2 rong2' rather than literally Jesus went to Hell and preach to the dead. (It brings out personally to me an impact of the necessity of spreading the Gospel.)
Do correct me if i am wrong.
Looking forward to your replies. Thks and Take Care.
God Bless,
zhiqiang