Spirits in prison
The spirits in prison is a recurrent but minor subject in the writings of Christianity. The concept has its origins in Platonism, and it is introduced in the Phædrus with the idea that the soul is imprisoned within the body.
In Plato's Phædrus, Socrates likens the soul of the body to be as imprisoned as an oyster is bound to its shell during the discourse on metempsychosis with Phaedrus.
The subject takes its starting point from chapter 3 of the First Epistle of Peter:
19 εν ω και τοις εν φυλακη πνευμασιν πορευθεις εκηρυξεν 20 απειθησασιν ποτε οτε απεξεδεχετο η του θεου μακροθυμια εν ημεραις νωε κατασκευαζομενης κιβωτου εις ην ολιγοι τουτ εστιν οκτω ψυχαι διεσωθησαν δι υδατος[2]19 By which also he (Christ) went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once 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.[3][4]
However, the Greek word ψυχαι (psyche), used in 1 Peter 3:20, may also be translated as "person" and not as "soul".[5] The latter represents both the inner self and its status after corporal death, whereas in this verse it is used as a synonym of the Jewish word nephesh, in a holistic sense and without any metaphysical dualism. The word psyche is applied by St. Peter uniquely to humans and not for animals.[6]
The Harrowing of Hell
In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell (Latin: Descensus Christi ad Inferos; Ancient Greek: Ἡ εἰς ᾍδου κάθοδος τοῦ Χριστοῦ – "the descent of Christ into Hell" or "Hades")[a] is the period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection. In triumphant descent, Christ brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world.[1]
Wayne Grudem (1988)[full citation needed] identifies five commonly held views on the interpretation of this verse:
• "View 1: When Noah was building the ark, Christ 'in spirit' was in Noah preaching repentance and righteousness through him to unbelievers who were on the earth then but are now 'spirits in prison' (people in Hell)."[9] • "View 2: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in Hell, offering them a second chance of salvation."[10] • "View 3: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in Hell, proclaiming to them that he had triumphed over them and their condemnation was final."[11] • "View 4: After Christ died, he proclaimed release to people who had repented just before they died in the flood, and led them out of their imprisonment (in Purgatory) into Heaven." • "View 5: After Christ died (or: after he rose but before he ascended into Heaven), he travelled to Hell and proclaimed triumph over the fallen angels who had sinned by marrying human women before the flood."[12]
- • "View 1: When Noah was building the ark, Christ 'in spirit' was in Noah preaching repentance and righteousness through him to unbelievers who were on the earth then but are now 'spirits in prison' (people in Hell)."
- • "View 2: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in Hell, offering them a second chance of salvation."
- • "View 3: After Christ died, he went and preached to people in Hell, proclaiming to them that he had triumphed over them and their condemnation was final."
- • "View 4: After Christ died, he proclaimed release to people who had repented just before they died in the flood, and led them out of their imprisonment (in Purgatory) into Heaven."
- • "View 5: After Christ died (or: after he rose but before he ascended into Heaven), he travelled to Hell and proclaimed triumph over the fallen angels who had sinned by marrying human women before the flood."
These views revolve around the identity of the spirits in prison, the time in which the preaching took place, and the content of the preaching:[13]
View 1. Augustinian interpretation
This is also found in Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica (3,52,2). A variant of this view is the view of the Rev. Archibald Currie (1871) that Christ through Noah preached to "the spirits in prison", meaning the eight persons interned in the Ark as in a place of protection.[14]
View 2. Harrowing of Hell
The Anglican Edward Hayes Plumptre, Dean of Wells, in The Spirits in Prison starting from the verse in Peter argued for revival in the belief in the harrowing of Hell and the spirit of Christ preaching to the souls of the dead in Hades while his body was in the grave.[15]
View 3. Proclaiming triumph
This is a variant of the harrowing of Hell idea, except that Christ only proclaims triumph.[16]
View 4. Release from purgatory
This view originates with Robert Bellarmine (1586) and has been followed by some Catholic Church commentators in relation to a belief in Purgatory.[17]
View 5. The spirits in prison are angels
- Jesus proclaimed triumph over the fallen angels
Support for the understanding that the spirits in prison are angelic beings and not people is thought[by whom?] to be confirmed by II Peter 2:4–5 and Jude 6, which refer to rebellious angels punished by God with imprisonment. Just like I Pet. 3, II Pet. 2 also refers to the time of Noah's flood, including the number of people saved in the ark. However, the text in 2 Peter uses a different word for the location of the angels than I Peter does. in 2 Peter 2, the word used is tartaroo, otherwise known as Tartarus. In I Peter 3:19, the word is phylake (which can also be anglicised as Phylace), meaning prison.[citation needed]
- Angels and the Book of Enoch
Friedrich Spitta (1890),[18][19] Joachim Jeremias and others suggested that Peter was making a first reference to Enochic traditions, such as found again in the Second Epistle of Peter chapter 2 and the Epistle of Jude. Stanley E. Porter considers that the broad influence of this interpretation today is due to the support of Edward Selwyn (1946).