Christ Ascending and Descending
Ephesians 4:8-10
8 “Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on high
He led captivity
captive,
and gave gifts
unto men.” The speaker is God, the author of
Scripture, and the place
is the Psalm 68:18. That
psalm is a psalm of triumph, where the placing of the ark
on
in its deepest sense
is Messianic, celebrating the victory of Christ. The substance rather
than the words of the
passage are given, for the second person (“thou hast ascended,”)
is changed into the
third; and whereas in the psalm it is said, “gave gifts to men,” as
modified by the
apostle it is said, “received gifts for men.” As in a literal triumph, the
chiefs of the enemy’s
army are led captive, so the powers of
darkness were led
captive by Christ
(captivity, αἰχμαλωσία - aichmalosia – captivity *– and denotes
prisoners); and as on occasion of a triumph the spoils of the enemy are made
over
to the conqueror,
who again gives them away among the soldiers and people,
so gifts were given to Christ
after His triumph to be given by Him to His Church.
We must not force the analogy too far: the point is simply this — as a
conqueror
at a triumph gets gifts
to distribute, so Christ, on His resurrection and ascension,
got the Holy Spirit
to bestow on His Church (compare ch.1:22
*the abstract noun in contrast to No. 1, αἰχμαλωάτος - aichmaloatos - captive -
the
concrete, is found in Revelation 13:10; Ephesians 4:8, where
"He led captivity
captive" (margin "a multitude of captives") seems to
be an allusion to the triumphal
procession by which a victory was celebrated, the "captives" taken forming part of
the
procession. See Judges 5:12
- “Awake, awake, Deborah: awake,
awake, utter
a song:
arise Barak, and lead thy captivity captive,
thou son of Abinoam.”
The quotation is from Psalms 68:18,
“Thou hast ascended on high,
thou has
led captivity captive: thou has received gifts for men; yea for the
rebellious
also, that the Lord thy God might dwell among
them.” and probably is a forceful
expression for Christ's victory, through His death, over the hostile
powers of darkness.
An alternative suggestion is that at His ascension Christ transferred the redeemed
Old Testament saints from Sheol to His own
presence in glory.
Concrete nouns are physical things that can be seen,
touched, heard, etc.;
abstract nouns are nonphysical ideas that cannot be perceived
through the senses.
The same Lord who went about
every day doing good upon earth, is now doing
good every day in the fullness of
spiritual blessings which He is dispensing from
the throne of His
ascension-glory.
Even the unworthy may be recipients of these gifts. “Yea, for the rebellious also”
(Psalm 68:18). They were for men, as the apostle asserts; for rebels, as the psalmist
asserts. It is not
usual for conquerors to divide their spoils among rebels, yet our
conquering Lord gives gifts even to those who put Him to
death. The ministry is
still the Lord’s gift to A WICKED WORLD, for He is still
the Source of the inward
life of the Church and of its authority.
9 ("Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also
descended first into the
lower parts of the
earth?" Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also
descended first” The ascent implied a previous descent; that is, the ascent of
the
Son of God — of one who was Himself in heaven, who was in the bosom of
the
Father (compare John 3:13 - “And no man
hath ascended up to heaven, but He
that
came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”),
implied that He had come down from heaven, a striking
proof
of His interest in and love for the children
of men. And the descent was
not merely to the ordinary
condition of humanity, but to a
more than ordinarily
degraded condition, not merely to
the surface of the earth, but into the lower
parts of the
earth? This has sometimes
been interpreted of Hades. If the
expression denotes more than Christ’s humble condition, it
probably means the
grave. This was the climax of Christ’s humiliation; to be removed out of men’s
sight, as too offensive for them to
look on - to be hidden
away in the depths of
the
earth, in the grave, was indeed supremely humbling. (Here is the One
who
carried out the designs of the Creator, hidden in a
hole in the earth! CY - 2019)
At the Paleoamerican Odyssey,
October 17-19, 2013,
Dr. Miguel Caparrós, PhD - Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle -
Department of Prehistory -
of the Solutrean Hypothesis (that of
European lithic technology being
brought by humans to the
“I have done excavation in
very simple.
If you were to take these tools (
them to
no one would know the difference. They are identical, particularly as shown
by Dennis Stanford. They are fantastic.”
(Dr.
M. Caparrós, personal communication,
Compare
Genesis 23:1-21 (As an amateur archaeologist, I have dug in caves -
Are her
bones still there? Compare ibid. ch. 25:8-10. Is
Abraham’s bones still
there? To make
a long story short:
The
place
of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, (ch.
35:29) Jacob,
Sarah,
Rebecca, and Leah. (chps.
49-50) Are all their bones still there?
According to Jewish mystical
tradition, it's also the entrance to the Garden
of
The object
is to show that, in bestowing gifts on men, Christ did not merely bring
into play His inherent bountifulness as the Son of God, but acted as Mediator,
by
right of special purchase, through
His work of humiliation on earth; and
thus to lead us to think
the more highly both of the Giver and of His gifts.
The first stages of Christian life in the individual and in the
historic Church are marked by low ideas of the person and work
of Christ, producing estrangement from Him, fear, and weakness.
10 “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far
above all heavens,
that He might fill all things.)"
He that descended is the same also that ascended
up
far above all heavens. When Christ came to earth and took upon
Himself our
form, it was no holiday
visit to earth! “He was taken from prison and from
judgment” (Isaiah
53:8) Yet even there He triumphed over
all His enemies, and
now He is exalted “far above all heavens.” This last expression is very remarkable,
especially in the view of what modem
astronomy teaches on the extent of the heavens.
(See Fantastic
Trip on You Tube. CY - 2019) (the Big Dipper - millions of
galaxies
looking through the cup? CY
- 2024) It is a marvelous testimony to the
glory of the risen Lord. Still higher is the testimony to His glory in the purpose
for which
He has gone on high —“that He might fill all things.” There was a
proportion between the descent and the ascent. His descent was deep — into
the lower
parts of earth; but His ascent
was more glorious than His descent had
been humbling. The Hebrew idea of various heavens is brought in; the
ascent
was not
merely to the third heaven, but far above all heavens. That He
might fill
all things. A
very sublime view of the purpose for which Christ reigns
on
high. The specific idea with which the apostle
started — to give gifts to men —
is swallowed up for the
moment by a view far grander and more comprehensive,
“to fill all things.” Jesus has gone on high to pour
His glory and excellence over
every
creature in the universe who is the subject of grace, to be THE LIGHT OF
THE WORLD THE ONE SOURCE OF ALL GOOD! As in the solar system it
is from one sun that all
the supplies of light and heat come, all the colors that
beautify earth, sea, and sky, all the
influences that ripen the grain and
mature the fruit,
all the chemical power that transforms and new-creates;
so
the ascended Jesus is the Sun of the universe; all
healing, all life, all
blessing
are FROM HIM! It is quite in the manner of the apostle, when
He
introduces the mention
of Christ, to be carried, in the contemplation of His
person, far above
the immediate occasion, and extol THE INFINITE
PERFECTION
AND GLORY that distinguish Him.
3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ:
4
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in
love:
5
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will,
6 To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath
made us
accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His grace;
8
Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to
His good pleasure which He hath purposed in
Himself:
10 That in the
dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven, and
which are on earth; even in Him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of His glory, who
first trusted in
Christ.” (Ephesians
1:3-12)
11 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat
upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He
doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His
head were many
crowns; and He had a name written, that no man
knew, but He
Himself.
13 And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in
blood: and His name is
called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword,
that with it He should
smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a
rod of iron: and He
treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath
of Almighty
God.
16 And he Hath on his vesture and on His thigh a
name written, KING
OF KINGS,
AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16)
I Peter 3:18-20
18 “For Christ also hath
once suffered” - rather, because Christ also once
suffered.
Two of the oldest manuscripts read “died;” but “suffered” corresponds
best with the previous
verse. The connection is — It must be better to
suffer for
well-doing, because Christ Himself, the ALL-INNOCENT ONE, thus suffered,
and they who so
suffer are made most like unto Him. The apostle refers us again to
that transcendent
Example which was ever before his eyes (compare the close
parallel in Hebrews
9:26-28). Christ suffered once for all (ἅπαξ – hapax
- once);
so the sufferings of
the Christian are soon over “but for a
moment” (II Corinthians
4:17) - “for sins,” - (περί - peri – for; concerning sins; on account of
sins),
He, Himself sinless (“undefiled,
separate from sinners” - Hebrews 7:26)
suffered concerning the sins of others. The
preposition περί is constantly used
in connection with
the sin offering in the Septuagint
(see Leviticus 6:25, Σφάξουσι
τὰ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας – Spaxousi ta peritaes
amartias the sin
offering
shall be killed - -compare Ibid. 5:8-11; also Hebrews 10:6,8,18, 26) - “the just
for the unjust,” - literally, just for unjust. There is no article. The apostle began
to speak of the
death of Christ, both here and in ch.2 as an example; in both places
he seems to be led
on by an instinctive feeling that it
is scarcely seemly for the
Christian to mention that stupendous event
without dwelling on its deeper
and more mysterious meaning. The preposition used in this clause (ὑπέρ –
huper – for the sake of ) does not necessarily convey the idea of vicarious
suffering,) as ἁντί - anti - instead for - (Matthew
20:28; Mark 10:45; compare also
I Timothy 2:6) does; it means simply “in behalf of,” leaving the character of the
relation
undetermined; here the context implies the particular relation of substitution
(compare Romans
5:6; Peter’s description of our Lord as “the Just,” in Acts
3:14) – “that He might bring us to God,” - The Vatican and other manuscripts
read “you.” Peter opens out one of the deeper aspects of the death of Christ.
The veil that hid the Holiest was then rent in twain, and believers
were invited and
encouraged to draw
near into the immediate presence of God. The verb used here
is προσάγειν – prosagein – he might bring - the
corresponding substantive
(προσαγωγή - prosagogae - access) occurs in Ephesians 2:18; 3:12; also in
Romans 5:2. In those places it is rendered “access” — we have access
to the Father
through our Lord Jesus Christ -“being put to death
in the flesh,
but quickened by the
Spirit:” The Greek words are, Θανατωθεὶς μὲν σαρκὶ
ζωοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι – Thanatotheis men sarki zoopoiaetheis
de pneumati - being put to death in the flesh
but quickened by the spirit –
the article τῷ - to - inserted before πνεύματι in the received text being without
authority. We
observe the absence of any article or preposition, and the
exact
balance and correspondence of the two clauses. The two datives must be taken in
the same sense; it is
impossible to regard one as the dative of the sphere, and
the other as the
dative of the instrument; both are evidently datives of “the
sphere to which a
general predicate is to be limited; they limit the extent of the
participles (compare I
Corinthians 7:35; Colossians 2:5). Thus the literal translation
is, “Being put
to death in flesh, but quickened in spirit.” For the
antithesis of
“flesh” and “spirit,” common in the New Testament, compare Romans 1:3-4,
“Made of
the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the
Son of God with power according to the Spirit
of holiness;” and I Timothy
3:16, “Manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit;” see especially the close
parallel in ch.4:6,
“That
they might be judged according to men in the flesh,
but live according to God in the spirit.” It seems to follow, from the
opposition
of flesh and spirit,
and from a comparison of the passages quoted
above, that by
πνεῦμα – pneuma – spirit - in this verse we are to understand, not God
the Holy Ghost, but
the holy human spirit of Christ. In His
flesh He was put
to death, but
in His spirit He was quickened. When the Lord had
said,
“Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46);
when He
bowed His head, and
gave up the spirit; — then that spirit passed into a new
life. Christ, being delivered from the burden of
that suffering flesh which He had
graciously taken for
our salvation, was quickened in His holy human spirit —
quickened to new
energies, new and blessed activities. So it shall be with those
who suffer for
well-doing; they may even be put to death in the flesh, but “if we
die with Him, we shall also live with Him”(II Timothy 2:11). It is
far better (πολλῷ μᾶλλον κρεῖσσον – pollo mallon kreisson
– much
rather
better) to depart and to be with Christ – Philippians
1:23), to
be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:8).
They that are Christ’s shall, like their Master, be quickened in the
spirit; they
pass at once into the
new life of
may be, we cannot
tell, they will be employed in blessed work for Christ, being
made like unto Him
not only in some degree during their earthly life,
but also in the intermediate state of rest and hope.
19 “By which also He went
and preached unto the spirits in prison;” -
rather, (εν ω΅- en ho - in which). 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 (Acts 10:38),
so now He went in the spirit — in his holy human spirit. He went. The Greek
word
(πορευθείς – poreutheis – went; being gone) occurs again in v. 22,
“who is gone into
heaven.” It must
have the same meaning in both places; in
v. 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 Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:9 (the Epistle which seems to have
been so
much in 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 –
ekaeruxen – He preached; He
proclaimed). It is the word constantly used of the
Lord from the time when “Jesus began to preach (κηρύσσειν – kaerussein –
preach;
proclaim), 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
–
Pneumati –
Spirit
– (last word in v. 18) - πνεύμασι – pneumasi – spirits
– (this verse).
He preached also to the spirits; not only once to living men, but now
also to spirits,
even to them. The καὶ - kai – and - calls for attention; it implies a new and
additional fact; it emphasizes the substantive (καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασιν – kai tois
pneumasin – and the spirits). 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 – thanatotheis – being
put to death - and
ζωσοποιηθείς – zosopoinaetheis – quickened; being made live) 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.” (Luke
12:4-5). 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 - en
sarki – in the flesh – but entirely ἐν πνεύματι – en pneumati – in the
spirit”? Indeed, we are taught that “flesh and
blood cannot inherit THE
natural body is raised
a spiritual body” (σῶμα πνευματικόν – soma
pneumatikon – spiritual body – Ibid. v. 44); 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 -
en phulakae – prison;
guard house; jail).” (For φυλακῇ, compare Revelation
20:7; Matthew 5:25). 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. It seems
doubtful whether this distinction between φυλακῇ and
δεσμωτήριον – desmotaerion – a place of bonds – Matthew 11:2 - can be
pressed; in Rev.
20:7 fulakh> is used of the prison of Satan, though, indeed,
that prison is not the
ἄβυσσος – abussos –bottom;
bottomless pit – INTO
WHICH HE WILL BE CAST AT LAST!
20 “Which sometime were
disobedient, when once” - Omit the word “once”
(ἅπαξ - hapax), which is without authority - “the longsuffering of God waited
in the days of Noah, while
the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is,
eight souls were saved by
water.” Wherein; literally, into which; they were
saved by entering into
it. The last words may mean, “they were carried
safely
through the
water,” or, “they were saved by water;” that is, the water bore up
the ark (Genesis
7:17-18). The argument of v. 21 makes the second
interpretation
the more probable. The verse now
before us limits the area of the Lord’s preaching
without it we might have supposed that he preached to the whole multitude of the
dead, or at least to
all the ungodly dead whose spirits were in prison. Why
does Peter specify the
generation that was swept away by the Flood?
Did they need the preaching of the Christ more than other sinful souls?
or
was there any special
reason why that grace should be vouchsafed to them
rather than to others?
The fact must have been revealed to the apostle; but
evidently we are in
the presence of a mystery into which we can see only a
little way. Those
antediluvians were a conspicuous instance of men who
suffered for evil
doing (see v. 17); as Christ is the transcendent Example
of one who suffered
for well-doing. It is better to suffer with Him than with
them: they are in
prison. His chosen are with Him in
cannot rest in the
contemplation of the Lord’s death as an example; he
must pass on to the
deeper, the more mysterious aspects of that most
stupendous of events.
The Lord suffered concerning sins, for the sake of
unrighteous men; not
only did He die for them, He did not rest from His holy
work even while His
sacred body lay in the grave; He went and preached to
some whose sins had been most notorious, and most signally
punished. The
judgment had been
one of unexampled awfulness; eight souls only were
saved in the ark, many
thousands perished. It may be that Peter
mentions the
fewness of the saved to indicate one reason for this gracious
visit. It seems that
the awful destruction of the Deluge had made a deep
impression upon his
mind; he mentions it twice in his Second Epistle (2:5;
3:6); he saw in it a solemn anticipation of the last tremendous
judgment.
Doubtless he remembered well how the Lord, in His great prophetic
discourse upon the
the coming of the Son
of man (Matthew 24:37-39); those words seem
to give a special
character to the Deluge, separating it from other lesser
judgments, and
investing it with a peculiar awfulness. It may be that the
apostle’s thoughts
had dwelt much upon the many mysterious problems
(such as the great destruction of infant life)
connected with it; and that a
special revelation
was vouchsafed to him to clear up some of his
difficulties. These spirits, in prison at the time of the descent into Hades,
had aforetime been
disobedient. The Greek word (ἀπειθήσασι - apeithaesasi –
disobedient; ones being stubborn) means literally “disbelieving;” but here, as in
ch.2:7 and elsewhere, it stands for that
willful unbelief which sets itself in
direct opposition to the will of God. They were guilty of unbelief, and of the
disobedience which results from unbelief. Noah was a “preacher
of righteousness”
(II Peter 2:5, where the Greek word is κῆρυξ – kaerux
– preacher; hearld) the
substantive
corresponding with the verb ἐκήρυξεν – ekaeruxen – he proclaims;
he heralds (v.19); the vast structure of the ark was a standing warning as it rose
slowly before their
eyes. The long-suffering of God waited all those hundred and
twenty years (Genesis
6:3), as now the Lord is “long-suffering
to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance”
(II Peter 3:9). But they heeded
neither the preaching of Noah nor the long-suffering
of God; and at last “the Flood came, and took them all away. So shall
also
the coming of the Son of man be.” Eight only were saved then; they doubtless
suffered for well-doing; they
had to endure much scorn and derision, perhaps
persecution. But they
were not disobedient. “By faith
Noah, being warned
of God of things not seen as yet, moved with
fear, prepared an ark to the
saving of his house” (Hebrews 11:7). The eight were
brought safe through
(διεσώθησαν – diesothaesan – were saved); they were saved through the
water; the water bore
them up, possibly rescued them from persecution. But the rest
perished; the
destruction of life was tremendous; we know not how many thousands
perished: they
suffered for evil-doing. But the degrees of guilt must have varied
greatly from open
profanity and hostility to silent doubt; while there were many
children and very
young persons; and it may be that many repented at the
last moment. It is
better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing; but
even suffering for
evil-doing is sometimes blessed to the salvation of the
soul; and it may be
that some of these, having been “judged
according to
men in the flesh,” now “live
according to God in the spirit” (ch. 4:6).
For it is impossible to believe that the Lord’s preaching was a “concio
damnatoria.” The Lord spoke sternly sometimes in the days of His flesh, but
it was the warning
voice of love; even that sternest denunciation of the
concentrated guilt and hypocrisy of the Pharisees ended in a piteous wail of
loving sorrow. It cannot
be that the most merciful Savior would have
visited souls
irretrievably lost merely to upbraid them and to enhance their
misery. He had just
suffered for sins, the Just
for the unjust: is it not
possible that one of
the effects of that suffering might have been “to bring
unto God” some souls
who once had been alienated from God by wicked
works, but had not
wholly hardened their hearts; who, like the men of
and
enjoy, who had not been
once enlightened and made partakers of the
heavenly gift and
the powers of the world to come? (Matthew 11:21-24;
Hebrews 6:4-5)
Is it not possible that in those words, “which sometime were
disobedient,” there may be a hint that that disobedience of theirs was not the
“eternal sin” which, according to the reading
of the two most ancient manuscripts
in Mark 3:29, is the
awful lot of those who have never forgiveness? The Lord
preached to the spirits in prison; that word (ἐκήρυξεν – ekaeruxen –
he preached; he proclaims; he heralds) is commonly used of the heralds of
salvation, and Peter
himself, in the next chapter, tells us that “the gospel
was preached (εὐηγγελίσθη – euaeggelisthae – gospel preached ) to
them that are dead.” The gospel is the GOOD TIDINGS OF
SALVATION THROUGH THE CROSS OF CHRIST! The Lord had
just
died upon the cross: is it not possible that, in
the moment of victory, He
announced the saving
power of the cross to some who had greatly sinned;
as at the time of
His resurrection “many bodies
of the saints who slept
arose”? (Matthew
27:52) There is one more question which
forces itself
upon us — What was the
result of this preaching? Did the spirits in prison
listen to the Savior’s
voice? Were they delivered from that prison where they
had been so long
confined? Here Scripture is almost silent; yet we read the
words of hope in
ch.4:6, “For this cause was the
gospel preached also to
them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the
flesh, but live
according to God in the spirit.” The good news was
announced to them
that they might live; then may we not dare to hope that
some at least listened
to that gracious preaching, and were saved even out
of that prison by the
power of the Savior’s cross? May we not venture to
believe, with the
author of the ‘ Christian Year,’ that even in that dreary
scene the Savior’s eye
reached the thronging band of souls, and that His
cross and Passion, His
agony and bloody sweat, might (we know not how
or in what measure)
“set the shadowy realms from sin and sorrow free?” It
seems desirable to add
a brief summary of the history of opinion on this
controversial passage. The early Greek Fathers appear to have held,
with one consent, that
Peter is here speaking of that descent into Hades
of which he had
spoken in his first great sermon (Acts 2:31). Justin
Martyr, in his’ Dialogue with Trypho’ (sect.
72), accuses the Jews of
having erased from the
prophecies of Jeremiah the following words: “The
Lord God of
Israel remembered his dead who slept in the land of the tomb,
and descended to them to preach to them the good news of his
salvation.”
Irenseus quotes the
same passage, attributing it in one place to Isaiah, in
another to
Jeremiah, and adds that the Lord’s purpose was to deliver them
and to save them (extrahere eos et salvare cos). Tertullian says that
the
Lord descended into the lower parts of the earth, to make the
patriarchs
partakers of Himself
(compotes sui; ‘De Anima,’ c. 55). Clement of
had preached the Name
of the Son of God and had fallen asleep, preached
by His power and
faith to those who had fallen asleep before them”
(‘Strom.,’ 2:9). “And then,” Bishop Pearson,
from whose notes on the
Creed these quotations are taken, continues, “Clement supplies that
authority with a
reason of his own, that as the apostles were to imitate
Christ while they lived, so did they also imitate Him after death, and
therefore preached
to the souls in Hades, as Christ did before them.” The
earliest writers do
not seem to have thought that any change in the
condition of the
dead was produced by Christ’s descent into Hades. The
Lord announced the gospel to the dead; the departed saints rejoiced to
hear
the glad tidings, as
now the angels rejoice over each repentant sinner.
Origen, in his second
homily on I Kings, taught that the Lord, descending
into Hades, brought
the souls of the holy dead, the patriarchs and prophets,
out of Hades into
had led the way;
but now, through his grace and power, the blessed dead
who die in the Lord
enter at once into the rest of
heaven, but an
intermediate place of rest, far better than that from which
the saints of the old
covenant were delivered. In this view Origen was
followed by many of
the later Fathers. But Peter says nothing of any
preaching to
departed saints. Christ “went and preached,” he says, “unto
the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient.” Hence Jerome,
Ambrose, Augustine, and others were led to suppose that the Lord not
only raised the holy
dead to a higher state of blessedness, but preached also
to the disobedient,
and that some of these believed, and were by His grace
delivered from
“prison.” Some few, as Cyril of Alexandria, held that the
Lord spoiled the house of the strong man armed and released all his
captives.
This Augustine reckoned as a heresy. But in his epistle to Euodius (Ep. 99 and
164) Augustine, much exercised (as he says, “vehementissime
commotus”) by
the difficulties of
the question, propounded the interpretation which
became general in the
Aquinas, De Lyra, and
later by Beza,
“The spirits in prison,” he says, “are the unbelieving who lived in the
days
of Noah, whose
spirits, i.e. souls, had
been shut up in the flesh and in the
darkness of
ignorance, as in a prison [comp. ‘ Paradise Lost,’ 11:723].
Christ preached to them, not in the flesh, inasmuch as he was not yet
incarnate, but in
the spirit, i.e. according
to his Divine nature (secundum
divinitatem).” But this interpretation
does not satisfy Peter’s words.
The hypothesis that Christ preached through the instrumentality of Noah
does not adequately
represent the participle πορευθείς – poreutheis –
went; being
gone - the word φυλακῇ (prison) cannot be taken metaphorically
of the flesh in
which the soul is confined. If, with Beza, we understand it as meaning
“who are now in prison,” we escape one difficulty, but another is
introduced; for
it is surely forced
and unnatural to make
the time of the verb and that of the dative
clause different. The words ἐν φυλακῇ (in prison) must describe the
condition
of the spirits at the time of the Savior’s preaching. Some
commentators, as Socinus
and Grotius, refer
Peter’s words to the preaching of Christ through the
apostles. These
writers understand φυλακῇ of the prison of the body, or
the prison of sin;
and explain Peter as meaning that Christ preached
through the
apostles to the Jews who were under the yoke of the Law, and
to the Gentiles who
lay under the power of the devil; and they regard the
disobedient in the
time of Noah as a sample of sinners in any age. But this
interpretation is altogether arbitrary, and cannot be reconciled with the
apostle’s words.
Other views are — that our Lord descended into hell to
triumph over Satan
(on which see Pearson on the Creed, art. 5.); that his
preaching was a concio damnatoria — an announcement of condemnation,
not of salvation
(which is disproved by ch. 4:6); that the spirits in
prison were holy souls
waiting for Christ, the prison being (according to
Calvin) “specula, sire ipse excubandi actus;” that they were heathens, who
lived according to
their light, but in idolatry.