In the previous blog we saw that Peter says about Christ that He proclaimed His victory to the spirits in prison. One often reads here that He has announced His triumph to the dead who are now in the hereafter, but that is not the idea. The Lord went to Tartarus to proclaim the victory over death to spiritual beings from the days of Noah, who are kept there until the day of judgment.
But Peter says in another place that the gospel has been preached to the dead. What does he mean by that?
1 Peter 4
5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 For to this end were the dead also preached, that they might be judged in the flesh according to men, but live in the spirit according to God.
dead who have lived
Verse 5 gives the context in which the statement in verse 6, that the gospel was preached to the dead, stands. The gospel was preached to the dead, namely when they were alive, but they are now dead. Everyone will be judged, including those who have died in the meantime. God will raise them up for that occasion (Rev. 20:5, 11-12).
Peter wrote about Christ a few verses earlier:
1 Peter 3
18 (…) He who was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
made alive in the spirit
This section speaks about the suffering that the Lord experienced (1 Peter 3:18) and that can also be ours if we live in faith (1 Peter 3:14; 4:1). The ultimate consequence is that we are judged by people in the flesh (are put to death), but God will make us alive in the spirit.
This is also how it went with the Lord. He was condemned to death and put to death in the flesh, but God raised Him up and on the third day He was made alive in spirit.