in whomThis phrase refers to Jesus Christ, emphasizing His divine nature and authority. The context of
1 Peter 3:18-22 highlights Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, underscoring His victory over sin and death. The phrase "in whom" connects to the preceding verse, which speaks of Christ being made alive in the spirit, indicating His spiritual authority and power.
He also went
This suggests a deliberate action taken by Christ. The concept of "going" implies movement from one place to another, which in this context is understood as a spiritual journey. This action is often interpreted as occurring between Christ's death and resurrection, a time when He was active in the spiritual realm.
and preached
The term "preached" here is often understood as proclaiming or announcing. It is not necessarily evangelistic in the sense of offering salvation, but rather a declaration of victory and authority. This proclamation is seen as a fulfillment of Christ's triumph over evil, aligning withColossians 2:15, which speaks of Christ disarming the powers and authorities.
to the spirits
The "spirits" are generally interpreted as beings in the spiritual realm. There is debate over whether these spirits are human souls or fallen angels. The context and language suggest these are not the souls of the righteous, but rather those who are in a state of confinement, possibly referring to the "sons of God" mentioned inGenesis 6:1-4.
in prison
The "prison" is understood as a place of confinement in the spiritual realm. This is not a physical location but a state of being for these spirits. The concept of a spiritual prison aligns with Jewish traditions and other biblical references, such asJude 1:6, which speaks of angels kept in eternal chains. This phrase emphasizes the authority of Christ over all spiritual realms, including those in rebellion against God.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
Jesus ChristThe central figure in this passage, who, after His crucifixion, is described as having gone to preach to the "spirits in prison."
2.
Spirits in PrisonThis phrase is often interpreted to refer to the disobedient spirits or souls who were in a state of confinement or waiting, possibly those who lived during the time of Noah.
3.
Noah's TimeThe context of the passage suggests a connection to the time of Noah, a period characterized by widespread disobedience and the subsequent judgment of the flood.
4.
The ResurrectionThe broader context of
1 Peter 3 speaks to the resurrection of Jesus, which is pivotal to understanding His authority and power over all spiritual realms.
5.
The FloodAn event that serves as a backdrop for understanding the disobedience of the spirits and the subsequent judgment, highlighting God's righteousness and justice.
Teaching Points
Christ's Victory Over Sin and DeathJesus' proclamation to the spirits signifies His victory over sin and death, affirming His authority over all creation, both seen and unseen.
The Reality of Spiritual RealmsThis passage reminds believers of the existence of spiritual realms and the ongoing spiritual battle, encouraging vigilance and faithfulness.
God's Righteous JudgmentThe reference to Noah's time underscores God's righteous judgment against sin, serving as a warning and a call to repentance.
Hope in Christ's ResurrectionBelievers can find hope in the resurrection of Christ, which assures us of our future resurrection and eternal life with Him.
Proclamation of the GospelJust as Christ proclaimed victory, believers are called to proclaim the gospel, sharing the hope and truth of salvation with others.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of 1 Peter 3:19?
2.How does 1 Peter 3:19 encourage us to share the Gospel boldly?
3.What does "preached to the spirits in prison" reveal about Jesus' authority?
4.How can understanding 1 Peter 3:19 deepen our faith in Christ's victory?
5.How does 1 Peter 3:19 connect with Ephesians 4:8-10 about Christ's descent?
6.How can we apply the message of 1 Peter 3:19 in daily life?
7.What does "He went and preached to the spirits in prison" mean in 1 Peter 3:19?
8.Who are the "spirits in prison" mentioned in 1 Peter 3:19?
9.How does 1 Peter 3:19 relate to the concept of hell?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from 1 Peter 3?
11.In 1 Peter 3:19, what evidence supports the claim that Jesus actually preached to “spirits in prison,” and who were these spirits?
12.Who are the spirits in prison mentioned in scripture?
13.Where was Jesus during the three days after His death?
14.Is there a second chance for salvation?What Does 1 Peter 3:19 Mean
In whomPeter has just said that Jesus “was put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).
• “In whom” points back to the Holy Spirit—He is the sphere and power in which the risen Christ now acts.
• The Spirit is both the Agent of Christ’s resurrection (Romans 8:11) and the One through whom Christ bears witness (John 15:26).
• The same Spirit who inspired Noah to preach (1 Peter 1:11) now empowers the risen Lord to speak across the unseen realm.
• This keeps the flow of thought: suffering → death → resurrection → triumphant proclamation.
He also wentThe word “went” shows deliberate movement after His death.
•Ephesians 4:9–10 notes that “He descended to the lower parts of the earth” before ascending in victory.
•Acts 2:31 affirms that Christ “was not abandoned to Hades,” implying He did indeed enter that realm.
•Luke 23:43 records Jesus promising the repentant thief, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise,” yet Christ’s spirit also moved beyond Paradise to make this declaration of triumph.
• The journey is real, not metaphorical; the risen Lord actively crossed the boundary between the visible and invisible worlds.
and preached“Preached” here means a royal proclamation, not an offer of salvation.
•Colossians 2:15 describes Christ who “disarmed the powers and authorities” and “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them.”
•Hebrews 2:14 says He destroyed “the one who has the power of death—that is, the devil.”
• The message was victory: sin is atoned, death is defeated, and every rebellious spirit is now on notice.
• No second chance for salvation is implied; rather, the integrity of God’s judgment and Christ’s conquest is announced.
to the spiritsThese “spirits” are not deceased humans but fallen angels who rebelled in Noah’s day.
•2 Peter 2:4 reminds us that “God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of darkness.”
• Jude 6 says they are “kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.”
•Genesis 6:1-4 records that unique rebellion; those angels are distinct from demons now roaming free.
• Calling them “spirits” (rather than “souls”) matches common biblical language for angelic beings (Hebrews 1:14).
in prisonTheir confinement is a real place of restraint within the unseen realm.
•Revelation 9:1-2 depicts an “abyss” that is locked yet can be opened at God’s timing.
•Luke 8:31 shows demons begging Jesus “not to command them to go into the abyss,” acknowledging it as their jail.
• The prison’s existence underscores God’s sovereign control over all spiritual beings.
• Christ’s visit does not release them; it certifies their doom and His lordship.
summary1 Peter 3:19 records an event between Good Friday and Easter morning: through the Spirit, the risen Christ journeyed into the abyss and proclaimed His decisive victory to the incarcerated fallen angels of Noah’s era. Far from offering them salvation, He declared that their rebellion was eternally judged and that He is Lord over life, death, and every realm. The verse therefore magnifies Jesus’ absolute triumph and assures believers that no hostile power—seen or unseen—can overturn His finished work.
(19)
By which.--If "by the Spirit" had been right in the former verse, this translation might have stood here, though the word is literally
in; for "in" is often used to mean "in the power of," "on the strength of:"
e.g.,Romans 8:15. But as that former rendering is untenable, we must here keep strictly to
in which--
i.e.,in spirit. This might mean either of two things: (1) "spiritually speaking," "so far as thought and sympathy goes," as, for instance,
1Corinthians 5:3,
Colossians 2:5; or else (2) "in spirit," as opposed to "in the body"--
i.e.,"out of the body" (
2Corinthians 12:2; comp.
Revelation 1:10), as a disembodied spirit. We adopt the latter rendering without hesitation, for reasons which will be clearer in the next Note.
He went and preached unto the spirits in prison.--There are two main ways of interpreting this mysterious passage. (1) The spirits are understood as beingnow in prison, in consequence of having rejected His preaching to them while they were still on earth. According to this interpretation--which has the support of such names as Pearson, Hammond, Barrow, and Leighton (though he afterwards modified his opinion). among ourselves, besides divers great theologians of other countries, including St. Thomas Aquinas on the one hand and Beza on the other--it was "in spirit,"i.e.,mystically speaking, our Lord Himself who, in and through the person of Noah, preached repentance to the old world. Thus the passage is altogether dissociated from the doctrine of the descent into hell; and the sense (though not the Greek) would be better expressed by writing,He had gone and preached unto the spirits (now) in prison. In this case, however, it is difficult to see the purpose of the digression, or what could have brought the subject into St. Peter's mind. (2) The second interpretation--which is that of (practically) all the Fathers, and of Calvin, Luther (finally), Bellarmine, Bengel, and of most modern scholars--refers the passage to what our Lord did while His body was dead. This is the most natural construction to put upon the words "in which also" (i.e.,in spirit). It thus gives point to the saying that He was "quickened in spirit," which would otherwise be left very meaningless. The "spirits" here will thus correspond with "in spirit" there. It is the only way to assign any intelligible meaning to the words "He went and" to suppose that He "went" straight from His quickening in spirit--i.e.,from His death. It is far the most natural thing to suppose that the spiritswere in prison at the time when Christ went and preached to them. We take it, then, to mean that, directly Christ's human spirit was disengaged from the body, He gave proof of the new powers of purely spiritual action thus acquired by going off to the place, or state, in which other disembodied spirits were (who would have been incapable of receiving direct impressions from Him had He not Himself been in the purely spiritual condition), and conveyed to them certain tidings: He "preached" unto them. What was the substance of this preaching we are not here told, the word itself (which is not the same as,e.g.,in1Peter 1:25) only means to publish or proclaim like a crier or herald; and as the spirits are said to have been disobedient and in prison, some have thought that Christ went to proclaim to them the certainty of their damnation! The notion has but to be mentioned to be rejected with horror; but it may be pointed out also that in1Peter 4:6, which refers back to this passage, it is distinctly called a "gospel;" and it would be too grim to call that a gospel which (in Calvin's words) "made it more clear and patent to them that they were shut out from all salvation!" He broughtgood tidings, therefore, of some kind to the "prison" and the spirits in it. And this "prison" must not be understood (with Bp. Browne,Articles,p. 95) as merely "a place of safe keeping," where good spirits might be as well as bad, though etymologically this is imaginable. The word occurs thirty-eight times in the New Testament in the undoubted sense of a "prison," and not once in that of a place of protection, though twice (Revelation 18:2) it is used in the derived sense of "a cage." . . .
Verse 19. -
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; rather,
in which (
εν ω΅ι). The Lord was no longer in the flesh; the component parts of his human nature were separated by death; his flesh lay in the grave. As he had gone about doing good in the flesh, so now he went in the spirit - in his holy human spirit.
He went. The Greek word (
πορευθείς) occurs again in ver. 22, "who is
gone into heaven." It must have the same meaning in both places; in ver. 22 it asserts a change of locality; it must do the like here. There it is used of the ascent into heaven; it can scarcely mean here that, without any such change of place, Christ preached, not in his own Person, but through Noah or the apostles. Compare St. Paul's words in
Ephesians 4:9 (the Epistle which seems to have been so much in St. Peter's thoughts), "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?"
And preached (
ἐκήρυξεν). It is the word constantly used of the Lord from the time when "Jesus began to preach (
κηρύσσειν), and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (
Matthew 4:17). Then, himself in our human flesh, he preached to men living in the flesh - to a few of his own age and country. Now the range of his preaching was extended; himself in the spirit, he preached to spirits: "
Πνεύματι πνεύμασι; spiritu, spiritibus." says Bengel; "
congruens sermo." He preached
also to the spirits; not only once to living men, but now also to spirits, even to them. The
καί calls for attention; it implies a new and additional fact; it emphasizes the substantive (
καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασιν). The preaching and the condition of the hearers are mentioned together; they were spirits when they heard the preaching. It seems impossible to understand these words of preaching through Noah or the apostles to men who passed afterwards into the state of disembodied spirits. And he preached in the spirit. The words seem to limit the preaching to the time when the Lord's soul was left in Hades (
Acts 2:27). Huther, indeed, says that "
as both expressions (
θανατωθείς and
ζωσοποιηθείς) apply to Christ in his entire Person, consisting of body and soul, what follows must not be conceived as an activity which he exercised in his spirit only, and whilst separated from his body." But does
θανατωθείς apply to body and
soul? Men "are not able to kill the soul." And is it true, as Huther continues, that the first words of this verse are not opposed to the view that Christ preached in his glorified body, "inasmuch as in
this body the Lord is no longer
ἐν σαρκί, but entirely
ἐνπνεύματι? Indeed, we are taught that "
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; "and that that which "
is sown a natural body is raised a spiritual body" (
σῶμα πνευματικόν); but Christ himself said of his resurrection-body, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (
Luke 24:39). He preached to "the spirits
in prison (
ἐν φυλακῇ)." (For
φυλακή, comp.
Revelation 20:7;
Matthew 5:25, etc.). It cannot mean the whole realm of the dead, but only that part of Hades in which the souls of the ungodly are reserved unto the day of judgment. Bengel says, "In carcere puniuntur sontes: in
custodia servantur, dum experiantur quid facturus sit judex?" But it seems doubtful whether this distinction between
φυλακή and
δεσμωτήριον can be pressed; in
Revelation 20:7φυλακή is used of the prison of Satan, though, indeed, that prison is not the
ἄβυσσος into which he will be cast at the last.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
inἐν(en)Preposition
Strong's 1722:In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.whichᾧ(hō)Personal / Relative Pronoun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3739:Who, which, what, that.He also wentπορευθεὶς(poreutheis)Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4198:To travel, journey, go, die.[and] preachedἐκήρυξεν(ekēryxen)Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2784:To proclaim, herald, preach. Of uncertain affinity; to herald, especially divine truth.to theτοῖς(tois)Article - Dative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.spiritsπνεύμασιν(pneumasin)Noun - Dative Neuter Plural
Strong's 4151:Wind, breath, spirit.inἐν(en)Preposition
Strong's 1722:In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.prisonφυλακῇ(phylakē)Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5438:From phulasso; a guarding or, the act, the person; figuratively, the place, the condition, or, the time, literally or figuratively.
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NT Letters: 1 Peter 3:19 In which he also went and preached (1 Pet. 1P iP i Pet) 
