The Descent Into Hell

This doctrine of the descent into Hades, as we must now call it, is based on two phrases in our present passage. It says that Jesus went and preached to the spirits who are in prison ( 1 Peter 3:19 ); and it speaks of the gospel being preached to the dead ( 1 Peter 4:6 ). In regard to this doctrine there have always been differing attitudes amongst thinkers.

(i) There are those who wish to eliminate it altogether. There is the attitude of elimination. Some wish to eliminate it altogether and attempt to do so along two lines.

(a) Peter says that in the Spirit Christ preached to the spirits in prison, who were disobedient in the time when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, when the ark was being built. It is argued that what this means is that it was in the time of Noah himself that Christ did this preaching; that in the Spirit long ages before this he made his appeal to the wicked men of Noah's day. This would completely do away with the idea of the descent into Hades. Many great scholars have accepted that view; but we do not think it is the view which comes naturally from Peter's words.

(b) If we look at Moffatt's translation, we find something quite different. He translates: "In the flesh he (Christ) was put to death, but he came to life in the Spirit. It was in the Spirit that Enoch also went and preached to the imprisoned spirits who had disobeyed at the time when God's patience held out during the construction of the ark in the days of Noah." How does Moffatt arrive at this translation?

The name of Enoch does not appear in any Greek manuscript. But in the consideration of the text of any Greek author, scholars sometimes use a process called emendation. They think that there is something wrong with the text as it stands, that some scribe has perhaps copied it wrongly; and they, therefore, suggest that some word should be changed or added. In this passage Rendel Harris suggested that the word Enoch was missed out in the copying of Peter's writing and should be put back in.

(Although it involves the use of Greek some readers may be

interested to see how Rendel Harris arrived at this famous

emendation. In the top line in italic print, we have set down

the Greek of the passage in English lettering and beneath each

Greek word its English translation:

thanatotheis ( Greek #2289 ) men ( Greek #3303 ) sarki ( Greek #4561 )

having been put to death in the flesh

zoopoietheis ( Greek #2227 ) de ( Greek #1161 ) pneumati ( Greek #4151 )

having been raised to life in the Spirit

en ( Greek #1722 ) ho ( Greek #3588 ) kai ( Greek #2532 ) tois ( Greek #3588 )

in which also to the

en ( Greek #1722 ) phulake ( Greek #5438 ) pneumasi ( Greek #4151 )

in prison spirits

poreutheis ( Greek #4198 ) ekeruxen ( Greek #2784 )

having gone he preached.

(Men ( Greek #3303 ) and de ( Greek #1161 ) are what are called particles;

they are not translated but merely mark the contrast between

sarki, Greek #4561 , and pneumati, Greek #4151 ). It was Rendel Harris'

suggestion that between kai ( Greek #2532 ) and tois ( Greek #3588 ) the

word Enoch ( Greek #1802 ) had dropped out. His explanation was that,

since most manuscript copying was done to dictation, scribes were

very liable to miss words which followed each other, if they

sounded very similar. In this passage:

en ( Greek #1722 ) ho ( Greek #3588 ) kai ( Greek #2532 ) and Enoch ( Greek #1802 )

sound very much alike, and Rendel Harris thought it very likely

that Enoch ( Greek #1802 ) had been mistakenly omitted for that reason).

What reason is there for bringing Enoch ( Greek #1802 ) into this passage at all? He has always been a fascinating and mysterious person. "And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him" ( Genesis 5:24 ). In between the Old and New Testaments many legends sprang up about Enoch and famous and important books were written under his name. One of the legends was that Enoch, though a man, acted as "God's envoy" to the angels who sinned by coming to earth and lustfully seducing mortal women ( Genesis 6:2 ). In the Book of Enoch it is said that he was sent down from heaven to announce to these angels their final doom (Enoch 12: 1) and that he proclaimed that for them, because of their sin, there was neither peace nor forgiveness ever (Enoch 12 and 13).

So then, according to Jewish legend, Enoch did go to Hades and preach doom to the fallen angels. And Rendel Harris thought that this passage referred, not to Jesus, but to Enoch, and Moffatt so far agreed with him as to put Enoch into his translation. That is an extremely interesting and ingenious suggestion but without doubt it must be rejected. There is no evidence for it at all; and it is not natural to bring in Enoch, for the whole picture is of the work of Christ.