Did Jesus Go To Hell Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday? Part 3

So did Christ, after His resurrection go and proclaim a triumphant message in Hell, according to 1 Peter 3:18-20?   There appears to be a couple options.  Let me chart them for you:

Option A		Option B
1. The spirits are unsaved humans that lived during Noah’s day (because of “. . . proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared . . ..”)		1. The spirits are the fallen angels who were cast into hell to await the final judgment because 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)
2. They (the unsaved human spirits) are now in prison – undergoing judgment.		2. 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).
Other supporting evidence:		3. 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)
a. Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness” (2 Pet. 2:5),  where “herald” represents Greek κῆρυξ “preacher,” which corresponds to the noun κηρύσσω, “proclaim,” in 1 Pet. 3:19.
b. 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.		4. Some interpreters limit these spirits to the  “sons of God” in Gen. 6:2–4 assuming they are angels who sinned by cohabiting with human women.  How does this relate contextually?  This occurred “when God's patience waited in the days of Noah” (1 Pet. 3:20)
c. 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.

“This passage is one of the most difficult to interpret in the Bible, there being more than 90 variations of interpretation attempted by Christian scholars since the second century.”^[1]  Both of the two options that I present contain problems.  Option A seems to hold more contextual integrity whereas Option B explains better the notion that in reality Christ did go, in chronological certainty, from His resurrection to the imprisoned spirits (“but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison”).  My solution is a combination of both Options.  Could it be that Christ indeed went into Hades to preach to imprisoned spirits under damnation; and specifically to those who rejected the message of Noah?  In such case both the punishment for sin and the triumphal victory of Christ would be proclaimed by our risen Lord.  Maybe? 

Next Blog:  What about 1 Peter 4:4-6?

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^[1] Believer's Study Bible. 1997 (electronic ed.) (1 Pe 3:18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.