1 Peter 3:19-20, "the spirits in prison"

But let us go back to the original theme and ask: what do these teachings have to do with suffering? How does this information help the reader who is suffering for doing good? Even if these interpretations have merit, the problem is that these interpretations only work outside of the context but do not fit the flow of Peter’s instructions on how to deal with suffering for doing good. So what is Peter teaching?

I think we have missed the focus of the text. We have become so consumed with the meaning of the spirits in prison and Jesus’ proclamation that we have missed how suffering fits into Peter’s point. Do you think Noah had a life of suffering? The scriptures declare him to be a preacher of righteousness. He lived in a day when the thoughts of humanity were continually wicked. Only eight people were saved from God’s judgment. Noah went around preaching to people to repent of their sins and warned them that it was going to rain so much that the earth would be flooded. It had never rained on the earth before. How much ridicule did Noah endure? How much mockery came his way year after year as he built an enormous boat to keep animals and people? Day after day, month after month, and year after year for 120 years, Noah and his family are building a large boat to save the world from a flood. Christ was preached through Noah to those who chose to be disobedient. I submit to you that this is the simplest way to understand the text. Jesus went and preached to those disobedient in the days of Noah through Noah himself and only eight believed. Peter used this language earlier in 1:10-12 where Christ spoke through the prophets about suffering and the subsequent glories.

1. 2nd chance of salvation: This interpretation, however, is in direct contradiction with other Scripture (cf. Luke 16:26; Heb. 9:27) and with the rest of 1 Peter and therefore must be rejected on biblical and theological grounds
   
   
2. The spirits are the fallen angels who were cast into hell to await the final judgment. Reasons supporting this view include:
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Some interpreters say that the “sons of God” in Gen. 6:2–4 are angels (see note on Gen. 6:1–2) who sinned by cohabiting with human women “when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah” (1 Pet. 3:20).
      
      
   2. Almost without exception in the NT, “spirits” (plural) refers to supernatural beings rather than people (e.g., Matt. 8:16; 10:1; Mark 1:27; 5:13; 6:7; Luke 4:36; 6:18; 7:21; 8:2; 10:20; 11:26; Acts 5:16; 8:7; 19:12, 13; 1 Tim. 4:1; 1 John 4:1; Rev. 16:13–14; cf. Heb. 1:7).
      
      
   3. The word “prison” is not used elsewhere in Scripture as a place of punishment after death for human beings, while it is used for Satan (Rev. 20:7) and other fallen angels (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). In this case the message that Christ proclaimed is almost certainly one of triumph, after having been “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18).
      
      
      
      
   4. “spirits” (Gk. pneumasin, plural) as referring to the unsaved (human spirits) of Noah’s day.
      
      
      
      
      
      1. Christ, “in the spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18), proclaimed the gospel “in the days of Noah” (v. 20) through Noah.
         
         
      2. The unbelievers who heard Christ’s preaching “did not obey … in the days of Noah” (v. 20) and are now suffering judgment (they are “spirits in prison,” v. 19).
         
         
      3. Several reasons support this view:
         
         
         
         
         
         1. Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5), where “herald” represents Greek kēryx, “preacher,” which corresponds to the noun kēryssō, “proclaim,” in 1 Pet. 3:19.
            
            
         2. Peter says the “Spirit of Christ” was speaking through the OT prophets (1:11); thus Christ could have been speaking through Noah as an OT prophet.
            
            
         3. The context indicates that Christ was preaching through Noah, who was in a persecuted minority, and God saved Noah, which is similar to the situation in Peter’s time: Christ is now preaching the gospel through Peter and his readers (v. 15) to a persecuted minority, and God will save them.