1 Peter 4:6

1 Peter 4:6 ‘For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.'

‘For the gospel has for this purpose' -‘This'-refers back to the previous verse and probably refers to the final judgment which is mentioned. The gospel has been preached because there is coming. final reckoning with God and God desires that all would be given. chance to repent (2 Peter 3:9).

‘been preached even to those who are dead' -The ‘dead' mentioned in the previous verse applies to those who are physically dead. And in view of the last statement in the verse, ‘may live in the spirit according to the will of God', the dead applies to those who had previously heard the gospel and obeyed it when alive, but were presently dead. 1. Obeying the gospel doesn't keep you from dying, and neither does it keep you from dying at the hands of persecutors. 2. Often the opponents of Christianity will scoff at the faithfulness and sacrifices made by Christians, because all such hard work doesn't keep the Christian from growing old, contracting diseases or eventually dying. To ignorant individuals, this is taken as proof that God doesn't exist or that Christianity isn't the “way” to God.

‘they are judged in the flesh as men' -A couple of ideas can be taken from this statement: 1. Even Christians suffer the judgment that comes upon all flesh, i.e. physical death. 2. The expression ‘judged in the flesh as men', can also be translated, ‘according to the way men are judged'. 3. Some see this expression as referring to the human judgments given in 1 Peter 4:5. Men are judged based on their response to the gospel (while in the flesh), by both men and God. ‘Men upon seeing their response condemn and penalize them will vilification, abuse, and reviling, even to the point of possibly putting some of them to death. Both men and God render. judgment on what Christians do….' (Hamilton pp. 221-222) ‘While they lived they too were subjected to the evil speaking which Peter's readers were then suffering; and they, although judged and condemned by ‘men in the flesh' because of their faithfulness and fidelity to the cause lived according to God in the spirit…'(Woods p. 110)

‘they may live in the spirit according to the will of God' -‘spirit'-‘Since spirit is without the definite article in the Greek text, it could be translated “in the spiritual realm”…'(Grudem p. 171). 1. These Christians may have been worried about Christians who had died (1 Thessalonians 4:13). And we are assured that Christians who die, are none the less living and are enjoying the blessings in the spiritual realm (Luke 16:25). 2. What men do to Christians and what men falsely say about Christians, has no impact in relation to how God lives them. Men cannot touch the soul (Matthew 10:28).

Point to Note:

One view of these passages has been that this verse means that the gospel was preached to people after they died, giving them. “second chance” to repent and believe the gospel. ‘But such. meaning does not fit the context: what kind of warning would it be to say that God is ready to judge people for wickedness (v.5) and then add that it really does not matter much what they do in this life for there will be. second chance for them to be saved after they die? Moreover, it could hardly encourage Peter's persecuted readers to persevere as Christians in the hard path of obedience if the easy road to debauchery could all be renounced and forgiven after they died.' (Grudem p. 172) In addition, many other passages would contradict such. concept (Luke 16:26; Hebrews 9:26; Matthew 25:10).