1 Peter 3:19

[cc.slim]

Here I was polishing armor and sharpening his tools thinking I only have now to share and I read this verse. Like it excited me, so I ask. Am I thinking right that when I leave my body I will have the same opportunity to share as Jesus? The fact of knowing we still can walk another through Christ to salvation is super cool and I can't help but feel how this verse could be used before one dies or for those wondering. Aka like during a funeral for a known lost soul that may still be reached?

 

[ewoksrule]

You only have now to share. This is an often misunderstood verse. It is also used heavily (and twisted) by the LDS church to promote some heretical doctrines.

Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (19) in which he went and 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, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20)

There are 2 popular explanations to this verse. Neither of them allow for a 2nd chance after death.

Here is a comment on this by John Piper:
With regard to 1 Peter 3:19, I take these words to mean that Christ, through the voice of Noah, went and preached to that generation, whose spirits are now “in prison,” that is, in hell. In other words, Peter does not say that Christ preached to them while they were in prison. He says he preached to them once, during the days of Noah, and now they are in prison.

Also the Holman Concise bible commentary says this about the passage:
Christ’s experience in 3:19–20 took place at a time after Christ was made alive in the realm of the Spirit. The “spirits in prison” refer to supernatural beings or wicked angels who opposed the work of God (see Gen. 6:1–4; 2 Pet. 2:4–5; Jude 6). Preaching to them was not an offer of an additional chance for repentance but an announcement of doom.

 

[Abba San]

That is a difficult passage with numerous understandings as to meaning - but in all those meanings, people having a second chance at salvation is NOT one of them. Sorry. All the more need for a sense of urgency in reaching family and friends.

 

[ewoksrule]

Man, now you made me hurt my brain. I was researching this and found a section in Calvin's Institutes on Christ's Decent into Hell.

http://www.reformed.org/master/index.html?mainframe=/documents/Christ_in_hell/index.html

 

[Christowned]

A Pastor's understanding of the verse....

I devoted myself to study of God's Word and ministry 40+ years ago. That doesn't mean I am claiming I am correct in my understanding. I am just sharing what has been the common understanding of this verse as shared by the hundreds of other ministers I have discussed it with from various denominations and non-denominational churchs over the years. The common understanding, and the one I agree with, is that the Old Testament people who died were put in a holding place waiting for the judgement day. When Jesus rose from the dead He took the keys of this place and preached the Gospel to them because they had died before He had come. He set those who believed Him free. It was a one time thing that only He could do and He did it so they could be saved by Him since He and the Gospel had not yet been revealed when they died. That was amazingly graceful and fair of God!Since then our opportunity to believe and be saved is only during our life on earth because He and the Gospel has already been revealed. I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression they could wait until after they died to decide to believe the Gospel.

 

[Abba San]

Thanks, Christowned. I'm not sure I'd agree that your understanding is the "common" understanding - but your conclusion is absolutely correct: "I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression they could wait until after they died to decide to believe the Gospel."

 

[Lloren]

"I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression they could wait until after they died to decide to believe the Gospel."

Yes!

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment

 

[EDAC]

The most common application I've seen of this verse is with regards to people who have never heard the scripture; some people state that those who have never heard the gospel are preached to after their death, and they then receive a chance to accept the gospel. However, scripture doesn't really support this statement (it requires creative interpretation of several ambiguous scripture verses and is contradicted by more straightforward verses such as Hebrews 9:27).

That said, post-death evangelism would generally agree that if a person hears the gospel, rejects it, and dies, then they don't get another chance.

I tend to look at the situation through the lens of Romans 2:14-16:

(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.