1 Peter 4:6

For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead. The conjunction "for" seems to link this verse closely to 1 Peter 4:5 , while the καί ("also" or "even") gives an emphasis to" them that are dead" ( καὶ νεκροῖς ). We naturally refer these last words to the καὶ νεκρούς of the preceding verse. The apostle seems to be meeting an objection. The Thessalonian Christians feared lest believers who fell asleep before the second advent should lose something of the blessedness of those who should be alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. On the other hand, some of St. Peter's readers may, perhaps, have thought that those who had passed away before the gospel times could not be justly judged in the same way as those who then were living. The two classes, the living and the dead, were separated by a great difference: the living had heard the gospel, the dead had not; the living had opportunities and privileges which had not been granted to the dead. But, St. Peter says, the gospel was preached also to the dead; they too heard the glad tidings of salvation ( καὶ νεκροῖς εὐηγγελίσθη ). Some have thought that the word " dead " is used metaphorically for the dead in trespasses and sins. But it seems scarcely possible to give the word a literal sense in 1 Peter 4:5 and a metaphorical sense in 1 Peter 4:6 . Some understand the apostle as meaning that the gospel had been preached to those who then were dead, before their death; but it seems unnatural to assign different times to the verb and the substantive. The aorist εὐηγγελίσθη directs our thoughts to some definite occasion. The absence of the article ( καὶ νεκροῖς ) should also be noticed; the words assert that the gospel was preached to dead persons—to some that were (lead. These considerations lead us to connect the passage with 1 Peter 3:19 , 1 Peter 3:20 . There St. Peter tells us that Christ himself went and preached in the spirit "to the spirits in prison;" then the gospel was preached, the good news of salvation was announced, to some that were dead. The article is absent both here and in 1 Peter 3:5 ( ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς ). All men, quick and dead alike, must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; so St. Peter may not have intended to limit the area of the Lord's preaching in Hades here, as he had done in 1 Peter 3:1-22 . There he mentioned one section only of the departed; partly because the Deluge furnished a conspicuous example of men who suffered for evil-doing, partly because he regarded it as a striking type of Christian baptism. Here, perhaps, he asserts the general fact—the gospel was preached to the dead; perhaps to all the vast population of the underworld, who had passed away before the gospel times. Like the men of Tyre and Sidon, of Sodom and Gomorrah, they had not seen the works or heard the words of Christ during their life on the earth; now they heard from the Lord himself what he had done for the salvation of mankind. Therefore God was ready to judge the quick and the dead, for to both was the gospel preached. That they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. The gospel was preached to the dead for this end ( εἰς τοῦτο ), that they might be judged indeed ( ἵνκριθῶσι μέν ), but nevertheless live ( ζῶσι δέ ). The last clause expresses the end and purpose of the preaching; the former clause, though grammatically dependent upon the conjunction ἵνα , states a necessity antecedent to the preaching (comp. Romans 6:17 , "God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart;" and Romans 8:10 , "If Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness." The meaning seems to be—the gospel was preached to the dead, that, though they were judged, yet they might live. They had suffered the judgment of death, the punishment of human sin. Christ had been put to death in the flesh ( 1 Peter 3:18 ) for the sins of others; the dead had suffered death in the flesh for their own sins. They had died before the manifestation of the Son of God, before the great work of atonement wrought by his death; but that atonement was retrospective—he "taketh away the sin of the world; " its saving influences extended even to the realm of the dead. The gospel was preached to the dead, that, though they were judged according to men (that is, after the fashion of men, as all men are judged), yet they might live in the spirit. The verb κριθῶσι , "might he judged," is aorist, as describing a single fact; the verb ζῶσι , "might live," is present, as describing a continual state. According to God. God is Spirit; and as they that worship him must worship in spirit, so they who believe in him shall live in spirit. The future life is a spiritual life; the resurrection-bodies of the saints will be spiritual bodies, for" flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." But κατὰ θεόν may also mean "according to the will of God" (as in Romans 8:27 ), according to his gracious purpose, and in that life which he giveth to his chosen, that eternal life which lieth in the knowledge of God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent.