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Commentary and Notes

0:0 ^{^}Written by an amanuensis from Italy to Pauline assemblies in Asia minor, ca. AD 63-64.

3:19² ^{^}Or “to the spirits in prison.” These were the spirits, the sons of E̕lōhi̱m who had tried to corrupt the human race by cohabiting with women. Their object was to corrupt the seed of men, and prevent the Mĕssiah from being born of a woman, per the prophecy in Gen. 3:15. At the time of the flood, they were confined in a divine dungeon until the day of judgment.

3:19¹ ^{^}πορευθεὶς: participle, aorist, passive. Friberg: depart. Or “having departed;” the sense is that of departing from life, and going through death, and rising again.

3:19³ ^{^}The prejudicial translation “preached” is an interpretation. It was not the gospel that was preached, but victory that was proclaimed. The Greek word simply means proclaimed or announced. We have to gather from the context what was proclaimed or announced. Peter is teaching on the subject of the suffering of the righteous, and the victory achieved through it. The faithful suffer like Nōaḥ suffered the destruction of the world, and especially from the vexation of the sons of E̕lōhim who tried to overcome all mankind. He suffered in obedience to Yăhwēh, symbolically being buried by the water, and then coming through it victorious. What is proclaimed concerning the fallen evil spirits (and to them) is a warning to any other spirits that might rebel in similar fashion that judgment awaits them, because the Sŏn of Man overcame them by rising from the dead. Peter teaches on this grand drama so that we may have an assured hope in our sufferings of victory, even though it seems as if death and dying are surrounding us.

Through the Spĭrit, Yĕshūa̒ proclaims victory to all the evil principalities as a warning to them that if they overstep the limits of evil permitted to them, then they will be the more severely judged, because they have been defeated by the resurrection of the Sŏn.

It is taught by Catholic interpreters and many Protestants that Christ descended into Hell or Tartarus and preached to the departed spirits of the dead the gospel. The doctrine is called the, “the harrowing of hell.” This doctrine is a false doctrine because it denies death. The soul of the dead person exists in an unconscious state, and knowns nothing until reunited with the body at the resurrection. This state is regarded as sleep from the divine point of view. And final death, which is the final destruction is termed the second death, in which the soul is also destroyed along with the body. Therefore, there were no departed spirits that could listen to a message from Christ. Furthermore, he himself was asleep in death until the resurrection.

1 Peter 3:21¹ ^{^}The ESV mistranslates, “Baptism, which now corresponds to this, now saves you...” If we simply drop out the appositive then the text says, “Baptism...now saves you.” But this version is impossible and all the others like it, which is nearly every version in existence. They all imply that water baptism saves. The word ἀντίτυπον means “anti-typically,” or in plain English “figuratively.” Friberg classes the word as an adverb. Often adjectives act as adverbs, i.e. the late man, or the man came late. The words “a washing” may also be “an immersion,” or “a baptism.” This is not water baptism at all, but like Yĕshūa̒’s words, “And an immersion I have to be immersed with” (Luke 12:50). Here he refers to his death using the term βάπτισμα. The same non-literal sense is in 1 Peter 3:21, “a washing,” which can only be seen in English by using an indefinite article. The confusion can be seen by rendering Luke 12:50 without the article, “Now I have baptism to be baptized with.” Without the article it appears much more to be water baptism. But with the indefinite article and the context, it clearly is not, just like in 1 Peter 3:21.

Why this indefinite use of baptism, i.e. a baptism is not seen by translators is that they have not been translating. They have been copying from the mistranslations of the past. And the sources of these were influenced by Rome and Luther. Their doctrine was that water baptism does save. So, of course, they wanted the text to say just that.