Words --- Preaching to the dead

Read 1 Peter 3:18 through 4:6, and remember that there are no chapter and verse divisions in the original letter.

Many commentators would treat chapter 3 and 4 separately, but look at the similarities:

* 3:18 "having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;" and 4:6 "though they are judged in the flesh as men [they died], they may live in the spirit,"

* 3:19 "in which [in the spirit] also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, and 4:6 "For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead,"

If every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, in heaven and on earth and under the earth [in Hades] (Philip. 2:10). How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? (Rom. 10:14) For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. (1 Peter 4:6) As Jesus says, "I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." (Rev. 1:18)

Yes, we can take the verse "It is appointed man once to die, and then comes the judgment," (Heb. 9:27) to mean that we are not reincarnated over and over until we get it right. But in context, this verse is making the point that Jesus had to die only once for the sins of many. It does not mean that no one has a choice after death. Jesus can make exceptions to the rule. Just ask Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead.

And the argument that "preaching to the dead" is giving people a second chance is mostly not true. God is giving everyone a first chance to know the truth and make a choice, unblinded by the deceptions of the world. And who are we to demand that God not give people second chances? He does it every day.

So, why did Peter use the example of those who had died in the flood?

* He used that example to show us that God is not so unjust when potentially innocent people are killed with the guilty, that they will have no chance of salvation, but that "the gospel has ... been preached even to those who are dead."

* And he used that example to show us that like the flood, we are saved by God through baptism's symbolic death, not that baptism in and of itself saves us. After all, Noah was not saved by the waters of the flood, he was saved by God in spite of the water which killed everything else in the world. That is the purpose of baptism, to put to death the things of the world.