1 Peter 4:6

For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead.—This version is misleading, and seems indeed to be one of those rare cases where the original has been expanded by the translators for doctrinal ends. The Greek is simply, For for this end was the gospel preached to the dead also, or, still more literally, to dead men also. No one with an un-preoccupied mind could doubt, taking this clause by itself, that the persons to whom this preaching was made were dead at the time of being preached to. If this is the case, then, pretty obviously, St. Peter is carrying us back to his teaching of 1Peter 3:19, and is explaining further the purpose of Christ’s descent into hell.

That they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.—In order to obtain a clear notion of this hard saying, it will be necessary once more to survey the course of the whole passage. “It is better,” the Apostle said, “to suffer in well-doing than in evil-doing.” They must take their choice, that is, which kind of suffering they would have. It was not indeed certain that in case they chose to do well they would suffer for it; and if they did, there was the history of Christ to encourage them. But in case they chose to be evil-doers, it was certain that they would suffer. “And you had better,” he says, “suffer in well-doing than in evil-doing.” He then gives an instance of persons who suffered in evil-doing—the fleshly Antediluvians, whom God cut short in their crimes by the Flood, and to whom Christ went to preach in their prison-house. He then exhorts his readers—some of whom had, for one reason or another, been allowing themselves to fall into antinomian ways—not to live any longer to the flesh, not to make true the slanders of the heathen, who tried to make out that the Christians were as bad livers as themselves; for such evil-doers were doomed to speedy suffering; those heathens would soon be called to account by Him who was ready to judge quick and dead alike; “for,” he adds, “the object of that preaching to the dead also was that they may be judged according to men in flesh, but may live according to God in spirit.” (1) The first question is, What does the Apostle mean to substantiate by this last verse, “for for this cause?” Not the fact that Christ will judge the dead as well as the quick, for that would have no practical bearing upon the readers. Not the fact that Christ was now ready for judgment; for although He will certainly not come until the dead as well as the quick are in a position to be judged, yet we should then have expected something more like, “The reason why the dead were preached to was that the judgment might no longer be put off;” instead of which, the whole point, of the verse is the particular destiny in reserve for those dead, which destiny was the intention and result of Christ’s preaching the gospel to them. It must, therefore, be a further reason for warning the Christians not to live lives of evil-doing like the contemporaries of Noah or their own heathen contemporaries. If it be necessary to attach the word “for” to any particular words, we may perhaps attach it to the words “they shall give account;” and 1Peter 4:6 would hint at the kind of account they would have to give, as “giving account” implies the settlement which follows. (2) But if 1Peter 4:6 clenches the warning to the Christians not to become antinomian, then we must understand the destiny of these dead to whom Christ preached to be not the brightest, after all. This brings us to consider what is meant by their being “judged in flesh” (i.e., as in 1Peter 4:1, so far as flesh is concerned). In the previous verse, Christ is said to be quite ready to “judge” quick and dead. The context makes us feel that St. Peter is not picturing to himself that scene as one of calm forensic investigation, with “opened books” or the like. His idea of this judgment is rather of a “judgment” such as took place in the days of Noe, a great crisis (the Greek word for “judgment”) or world-wide catastrophe, which, of course, cannot harm the just, but only the unjust. He shows the same conception of the Judgment, and illustrates it by Noe’s Flood, in 2Peter 2:5-9; 2Peter 3:6-7. Now “judgment” is a neutral word, which, in Scripture, takes its colour from the surroundings, so that it sometimes is a thing to be longed for (e.g., Psalm 43:1; Psalm 72:2; Hebrews 10:30); at other times a thing to be dreaded, as here. Though we do not limit the “quick and dead” here to mean the wicked quick, and dead, yet they are evidently uppermost in St. Peter’s mind, so that there is scarcely any conscious change in the meaning of the word “judged” when we pass from 1Peter 4:5 to 1Peter 4:6. It there means certainly a judicial punishment, or even judicial destruction. While the word often denotes a condemnation (as in English we say “to sentence”)—for example, in John 16:1-2; 2Thessalonians 2:12; Revelation 19:2—it seems to have the further notion of a judicial death in 1Corinthians 11:31-32 : “Had we been in the habit of discerning ourselves, we should not have been subject to these repeated judgments (weakness, sickness, death—1Corinthians 11:30); but now these judgments are a discipline from our Lord, to save us from being condemned with the world.” And that judicial destruction to the flesh is what St. Peter means. he proves by contrasting “but may live in spirit” rather than “be saved” or “justified.” (3) It is next to be considered what date we are to fix for this judgment of the flesh. Was it previous to Christ’s preaching the gospel to them in hell, or was it to be subsequent? Taking the former line, we should be able to paraphrase, “His object was, that though in flesh they had been judged, having been judicially destroyed by the Flood, they yet might live hereafter in spirit.” But, besides other difficulties, it is far more than doubtful whether it is Greek to infuse a past sense into the subjunctive mood here used: i.e., to render this, “it was preached in order that they might have been judged.” Had we the words by themselves, and no preconceived theology to hinder us, we should undoubtedly translate, “To this end was the gospel preached to dead men too: viz., in order that they may be judged indeed according to men so far as they are flesh, but may live according to God so far as they are spirit.” The judgment spoken of would not be their death beneath the waves of Noe, but something still future; and this view would be confirmed by reading what St. Peter says of them, and of the angels who (in all probability) sinned with them, in the passages of the Second Epistle above referred to. How, then, will they be hereafter condemned to a judicial destruction of the flesh, but a merciful preservation of the spirit? The answer, though it seems inevitable to the present writer, must be given with trembling, and in deference to the judgment of the Church, the collective Christian consciousness, whenever that shall be expressed upon the point. A close parallel may be found in 1Corinthians 5:5. There St. Paul judges to deliver to Satan (is he the warder of the “prison” where such spirits are confined?) a person who has foully sinned in the flesh, “for annihilation of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” That in that place it does not mean a temporal judgment upon the bodily life (such as was passed upon the Antediluvians or the profaners of the Eucharist at Corinth) is clear, from the fact that excommunication was not attended with temporal death. That it does not mean voluntary self-mortification of the flesh in this world seems clear (among other considerations) by comparison of our present passage, for the opportunity for self-mortification in the flesh was long past for the spirits to whom Christ preached. Now why, in these two cases, do the writers take pains to point the antithesis between “flesh” and “spirit,” if, after all, the flesh is to share the mercy shown to the spirit? The antithesis becomes a false one. Why did not St. Paul say, “To deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that he may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus?” and St. Peter, “For this cause was the gospel preached to the dead also, that though judged indeed in flesh, they might, after all, live according to God?” And what is the point of this dread warning, if in the end these Antediluvians attain to the same bliss, “both in body and soul,” as other men? There is a whole set of passages which seems to teach that resurrection—i.e., the permanent restitution of life to the body—is a gift which does not belong to all. To those who eat Christ’s flesh. He promises, “I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). St. Paul suffers the loss of all things, “if by any means he may attain to the resurrection of the dead” (Philippians 3:11; comp. 2Corinthians 5:3-4). Our Lord bids the Apostles “fear Him [it is doubtful whether he means God, or Satan, who acts by God’s permission] who is able to destroy both soul [He does not say ‘spirit’] and body in hell.” So it would be the simplest explanation of our present text if we might believe that these Antediluvians were to be deprived of resurrection of the flesh which they had so foully corrupted, but in God’s mercy, through accepting the gospel preached to them by Christ after their death, were to be allowed a purely spiritual existence. They would thus be sentenced “according to men,” i.e., from a human point of view: they would be unable to take their place again among the glorified human species in a human life; but still they would be alive “according to God,” from God’s point of view—a divine life, but “in the spirit” only. It was a gospel that Christ preached to them, for without it they would not have come to “live according to God” at all. Yet, on the other hand, it was a warning to the Christians. When it says “the gospel was preached to the dead also,” it implies a similar preaching to others, viz., to the heathen who were to “give account,” and that the result of the preaching would be the same. Those heathen who through ignorance lived corrupt lives all around, might possibly, in the intermediate state, hope to receive a gospel which would enable a bare half of their humanity to live according to God hereafter. It could not avert the destruction of their flesh. What, then, could be the hope of a Christian, one who had heard and embraced the gospel in this life, and had then surrendered himself to the same corruptions as the Gentiles?

Benson Commentary

1 Peter 4:6. For for this cause — Or to this end; was the gospel preached — Ever since it was intimated to Adam, in the promise made to him after the fall, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head; to them that are dead — Who have died in their several generations, and especially to our forefathers, the descendants of Abraham, and the other patriarchs, by Moses and the prophets; that they might be judged according to men in the flesh — Or, that though they were judged in the flesh according to the manner of men, with rash, unrighteous judgment, were condemned as evil- doers, and some of them put to death, they might live according to God — Agreeably to his word and will; in the spirit — In their soul, renewed after the divine image, as his devoted servants and witnesses in the midst of their persecutors, and so be prepared to live with him in a future world.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-6 The strongest and best arguments against sin, are taken from the sufferings of Christ. He died to destroy sin; and though he cheerfully submitted to the worst sufferings, yet he never gave way to the least sin. Temptations could not prevail, were it not for man's own corruption; but true Christians make the will of God, not their own lust or desires, the rule of their lives and actions. And true conversion makes a marvellous change in the heart and life. It alters the mind, judgment, affections, and conversation. When a man is truly converted, it is very grievous to him to think how the time past of his life has been spent. One sin draws on another. Six sins are here mentioned which have dependence one upon another. It is a Christian's duty, not only to keep from gross wickedness, but also from things that lead to sin, or appear evil. The gospel had been preached to those since dead, who by the proud and carnal judgment of wicked men were condemned as evil-doers, some even suffering death. But being quickened to Divine life by the Holy Spirit, they lived to God as his devoted servants. Let not believers care, though the world scorns and reproaches them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For, for this cause - The expression, "For, for this cause," refers to an end to be reached, or an object to be gained, or a reason why anything referred to is done. The end or reason why the thing referred to here, to wit, that "the gospel was preached to the dead," was done, is stated in the subsequent part of the verse to have been "that they might be judged," etc. It was with reference to this, or in order that this might be, that the gospel was preached to them.

Was the gospel preached also to them that are dead - Many, as Doddridge, Whitby, and others, understand this of those who are spiritually dead, that is, the Gentiles, and suppose that the object for which this was done was that "they might be brought to such a state of life as their carnal neighbors would look upon as a kind of condemnation and death" - Doddridge. Others have supposed that it refers to those who had suffered martyrdom in the cause of Christianity; others, that it refers to the sinners of the old world (Saurin), expressing a hope that some of them might be saved; and others, that it means that the Saviour went down and preached to those who are dead, in accordance with one of the interpretations given of 1 Peter 3:19. It seems to me that the most natural and obvious interpretation is to refer it to those who were then dead, to whom the gospel had been preached when living, and who had become true Christians. This is the interpretation proposed by Wetstein, Rosenmuller, Bloomfield, and others. In support of this it may be said:

(1) that this is the natural and obvious meaning of the word dead, which should be understood literally, unless there is some good reason in the connection for departing from the common meaning of the word.

(2) the apostle had just used the word in that sense in the previous verse.

(3) this will suit the connection, and accord with the design of the apostle. He was addressing those who were suffering persecution. It was natural, in such a connection, to refer to those who had died in the faith, and to show, for their encouragement, that though they had been put to death, yet they still lived to God. He therefore says, that the design in publishing the gospel to them was, that though they might be judged by people in the usual manner, and put to death, yet that in respect to their higher and nobler nature, the spirit, they might live unto God. It was not uncommon nor unnatural for the apostles, in writing to those who were suffering persecution, to refer to those who had been removed by death, and to make their condition and example an argument for fidelity and perseverance. Compare 1 Thessalonians 4:13; Revelation 14:13.

That they might be judged according to men in the flesh - That is, so far as people are concerned, (κατὰ ἀνθρώπους kata anthrōpous,) or in respect to the treatment which they received from people in the flesh, they were judged and condemned; in respect to God, and the treatment which they received from him, (κατὰ Θεὸν kata Theon,) they would live in spirit. People judged them severely, and put them to death for their religion; God gave them life, and saved them. By the one they were condemned in the flesh - so far as pain, and sorrow, and death could be inflicted on the body; by the other they were made to live in spirit - to be his, to live with him. The word "judged" here, I suppose, therefore, to refer to a sentence passed on them for their religion, consigning them to death for it. There is a particle in the original - μὲν men, "indeed" - which has not been retained in the common translation, but which is quite important to the sense: "that they might indeed be judged in the flesh, but live," etc. The direct object or design of preaching the gospel to them was not that they might be condemned and put to death by man, but this was indeed or in fact one of the results in the way to a higher object.

But live according to God - In respect to God, or so far as he was concerned. By him they would not be condemned. By him they would be made to live - to have the true life. The gospel was preached to them in order that so far as God was concerned, so far as their relation to him was concerned, so far as he would deal with them, they might live. The word live here seems to refer to the whole life that was the consequence of their being brought under the power of the gospel:

(a) that they might have spiritual life imparted to them;

(b) that they might live a life of holiness in this world;

(c) that they might live hereafter in the world to come.

In one respect, and so far as people were concerned, their embracing the gospel was followed by death; in another respect, and so far as God was concerned, it was followed by life. The value and permanence of the latter, as contrasted with the former, seems to have been the thought in the mind of the apostle in encouraging those to whom he wrote to exercise patience in their trials, and to show fidelity in the service of their master.

In the spirit - In their souls, as contrasted with their body. In respect to that - to the flesh - they were put to death; in respect to their souls - their higher natures - they were made truly to live. The argument, then, in this verse is, that in the trials which we endure on account of religion, we should remember the example of those who have suffered for it, and should remember why the gospel was preached to them. It was in a subordinate sense, indeed, that they might glorify God by a martyr's death; but in a higher sense, that in this world and the next they might truly live. The flesh might suffer in consequence of their embracing the gospel that was preached to them, but the soul would live. Animated by their example, we should be willing to suffer in the flesh, if we may for ever live with God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. For—giving the reason for 1Pe 4:5, "judge the dead."

gospel preached also to … dead—as well as to them now living, and to them that shall be found alive at the coming of the Judge. "Dead" must be taken in the same literal sense as in 1Pe 4:5, which refutes the explanation "dead" in sins. Moreover, the absence of the Greek article does not necessarily restrict the sense of "dead" to particular dead persons, for there is no Greek article in 1Pe 4:5 also, where "the dead" is universal in meaning. The sense seems to be, Peter, as representing the true attitude of the Church in every age, expecting Christ at any moment, says, The Judge is ready to judge the quick and dead—the dead, I say, for they, too, in their lifetime, have had the Gospel preached to them, that so they might be judged at last in the same way as those living now (and those who shall be so when Christ shall come), namely, "men in the flesh," and that they might, having escaped condemnation by embracing the Gospel so preached, live unto God in the spirit (though death has passed over their flesh), Lu 20:38, thus being made like Christ in death and in life (see on [2621]1Pe 3:18). He says, "live," not "made alive" or quickened; for they are supposed to have been already "quickened together with Christ" (Eph 2:5). This verse is parallel to 1Pe 3:18; compare Note, see on [2622]1Pe 3:18. The Gospel, substantially, was "preached" to the Old Testament Church; though not so fully as to the New Testament Church. It is no valid objection that the Gospel has not been preached to all that shall be found dead at Christ's coming. For Peter is plainly referring only to those within reach of the Gospel, or who might have known God through His ministers in Old and New Testament times. Peter, like Paul, argues that those found living at Christ's coming shall have no advantage above the dead who shall then be raised, inasmuch as the latter live unto, or "according to," God, even already in His purpose. Alford's explanation is wrong, "that they might be judged according to men as regards the flesh," that is, be in the state of the completed sentence on sin, which is death after the flesh. For "judged" cannot have a different meaning in this verse from what "judge" bears in 1Pe 4:5. "Live according to God" means, live a life with God, such as God lives, divine; as contrasted with "according to men in the flesh," that is, a life such as men live in the flesh.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To them that are dead; either:

1. Spiritually dead, i.e. dead in sin, viz. then when the gospel was preached to them; or:

2. Naturally dead, viz. when the apostle wrote this Epistle. The verb are not being in the Greek, the words may be understood either way, by supplying were, according to the former exposition, or are, according to the latter, which our translators favour. See the like, Ruth 1:8.

That they might be judged according to men in the flesh: either:

1. That they might be judged or condemned in the flesh, i.e. that their old man and carnal conversation, according to men walking in their carnal lusts, might be destroyed and abolished; and then, to be judged in the flesh, is of the same import as to suffer in the flesh, 1 Peter 4:1; to be dead to sin, Romans 6:2: or:

2. That they might be judged or condemned in the flesh, according to men, and so far as they could reach, not only by censures, reproaches, and evil speeches, but even death itself, as it had fallen out already to Stephen, James, &c.

But live according to God in the spirit; that they might live a spiritual life in their souls according to the will of God, and an eternal life with him. To live in the spirit, to the will of God, to

walk in newness of life, & c., are phrases of a like import in the language of the apostles. According to the latter exposition of the former clause, the apostle seems in the whole to remove the scandal of these Christians, being reproached and condemned by unbelievers for their strictness in religion, and nonconformity to the world, by telling them, that their condition was not singular, but so it had fared with others before them, (though now dead), to whom the gospel was preached, with the same event as to the judgment of worldly men who censured and condemned them, and yet with the same hope of fruit and benefit, viz. that though they were condemned by men in the flesh, or as to their outward man, yet as to their souls, (meant here by spirits), they might live a holy, spiritual life, a life to God in this world, ending in a life with him in the other.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For, for this cause was the Gospel preached also,.... Not for what goes before, because Christ was ready to judge quick and dead; and because wicked men must give an account to him, and therefore the Gospel is preached to them also, that they may be left without excuse; but for what follows, and which does not so much design the reason of the preaching of it, as the event consequential upon it. By the Gospel is meant the good news of the incarnation, sufferings, and death of Christ, and salvation by him: and includes all the doctrines of grace, as of pardon, righteousness, and eternal life; and by its being "preached" is meant the publishing of it openly, freely, and boldly, with faithfulness and consistence: the persons to whom it was preached are

to them that are dead; not in a figurative sense, dead in trespasses and sins; though this is the case of all mankind, and of God's elect, in a state of nature, whether Jews or Gentiles; and the Gospel is preached to such, as it is ordered to be preached to all nations, to every creature, and is the means of quickening dead sinners; and this follows upon it, that such as receive it are judged and condemned by men, and live spiritually here, according to the will of God, and an eternal life hereafter; but the word "dead" is used in the same sense as in the preceding verse, where it manifestly signifies such who had been alive, but were now dead in a natural sense, whom Christ would judge as well as those that will be found alive when he comes; wherefore the Gospel has been preached also to them that are already dead, as well as to those who are now alive. And by these are meant, not the dead, whose souls are in hell, for to them, there, the Gospel never was, nor never will be preached, nor they saved, as Origen, and his followers, have vainly thought: nor the deceased patriarchs, before the coming of Christ, whose souls, by the Papists, are said to be in "Limbus", whither Christ, they say, went upon his death, and preached to them, and delivered them; but these never were in any such place, but in peace and rest; nor did Christ, in his human soul, descend thither, but went to paradise: nor the dead in general, before the apostle's writing of this epistle; for though the Gospel had been preached from the beginning, from the fall of Adam, to certain persons, and at certain periods of time, yet not to all the individuals of mankind who were then dead, especially in the Gentile world; nor the Old Testament saints in general, who were now dead, though they had the Gospel preached to them in types and figures, in promises and prophesies; nor the men in the times of Noah, to whom the Gospel was preached by him, and who, some of them, as supposed, though they were judged and punished in their bodies in the view of men, being drowned in the waters of the flood, yet repenting and believing, upon Noah's preaching to them, they live in their spirits in eternal life, according to the free mercy and grace of God; but though the Gospel was preached to them, yet they remained disobedient to it, even all of them, but Noah's family, for anything that appears; and are styled the world of the ungodly, and are now spirits in the prison of hell, and therefore cannot be said to live according to God in the Spirit: but such are intended, to whom the Gospel had been preached, and to whom it had been effectual unto salvation; who had received it in the love of it, had sincerely professed it, and had suffered for it even death itself; such are designed who had suffered in the flesh, or were dead in their bodies, 1 Peter 4:1 who either were dead in the Lord, or especially had suffered death for his sake, as Stephen and others: and this, with what follows, is mentioned with a general view to encourage the saints to patient suffering for Christ; to fortify them against the ill opinion and judgment the world have formed of them; and to assure them, that Christ will judge his people, both quick and dead, and avenge their cause, since the Gospel has been preached to one as well as to another, and attended with the same power: the effect and consequence of which is,

that they might be judged according to men in the flesh; meaning, either that such persons that receive and profess the Gospel, and suffer for it, are judged according to the judgment of men that are in the flesh, in an unregenerate estate, that is, carnal men, to be a strange and unaccountable sort of people, as in 1 Peter 4:4 to receive such a strange set of notions, so strenuously to contend for them, and so constantly to abide by them, and to debar themselves of so many pleasures of life, and expose themselves to so much reproach and shame, to such dangers, and even to death itself: while they are judged to be by these men enthusiasts, madmen and fools; and at other times to be knaves and villains, hypocrites and deceivers; and this is the common effect of the Gospel being preached and coming with power to any; see 1 Corinthians 4:3 or the sense is, that such persons, according to men, or in their apprehensions, are judged of God, or have the judgments of God inflicted on them in their flesh, in their bodies, for some sins of theirs; and therefore they suffer what they do in the flesh, vengeance pursuing them; being ignorant that when they are judged, as they reckon it, they are only chastened by the Lord in a fatherly way, that they might not be eternally condemned with the world, 1 Corinthians 11:32 or else to complete the sense, for all may be taken into it, these persons, who were formerly alive, but now dead, and had embraced and professed the Gospel preached to them, were judged and condemned, and put to death in the flesh, according to the will of wicked men, and which was all that they were capable of;

but though this was their case, though they were thus judged, censured, and condemned, yet

live according to God in the Spirit; while they were here on earth, the Gospel preached to them had such an effect upon them, as to cause them to live spiritually, to live by faith on Christ, to live a life of holiness from him, and communion with him, and to live according to the will of God, in righteousness and true holiness; and now, though dead in their bodies, they live in their spirits or souls an eternal life of comfort, peace, pleasure, and happiness with God, according to his eternal purpose, unchangeable covenant, promise, grace, and love.

Geneva Study Bible

{4} For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

(4) A digression because he made mention of the last general judgement. He prevents an objection, that, seeing Christ came very lately, they may seem to be excusable who died before. But this the apostle denies: for (faith he) this same gospel was preached to them also (for he speaks to the Jews) and that to the same end that I now preach it to you, that is, that the flesh being abolished and put away (that is to say, that wicked and disobedient corruption which reigns in men) they should suffer themselves to be governed by the virtue of the Spirit of God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Peter 4:6. This verse, which has been explained in very diverse ways,[240] is meant, as the ΓΆΡ following upon ΕἸς ΤΟῦΤΟ shows, to give the ground or the explanation of a statement going before. The question is: Which statement is it? The sound of the words serves to suggest that in ΝΕΚΡΟῖς we have a resumption of the ΝΕΚΡΟΎς immediately preceding, and that what is said in this verse is to be regarded as the ground of the thought that judgment will he pronounced, not only upon the living, but upon the dead also. This assumption seems to be corroborated by the καί before ΝΕΚΡΟῖς. The fact—to which Peter appeals—on which this thought is based is expressed in ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛΊΣΘΗ. But it is precisely this idea, that the gospel was preached to the dead,—to all the dead,—which has induced the interpreters to deviate from the explanation lying most naturally to hand. It is entirely unjustifiable, with Zezschwitz (thus Alethaeus already, and Starkius in Wolf), to connect the verse with 1 Peter 4:1-2, regard 1 Peter 4:3-5 as a digression, and understand under ΝΕΚΡΟῖς the Christians who are already dead when the day of judgment arrives, γάρ certainly must refer back to 1 Peter 4:5; according to Schott, it applies to the whole homogeneous statement of 1 Peter 4:5; according to Bengel, to Τῷ ἙΤΟΊΜΩς ἜΧΟΝΤΙ; in their opinion, likewise, ΝΕΚΡΟῖς is to be understood of Christians already dead. This determination of the expression, however, is arbitrary, as no mention is made in 1 Peter 4:5 of the Christians.[241] It lies more to hand to take the νεκροῖς as meaning the evil-speakers mentioned in 1 Peter 4:5. On this interpretation, the apostle tells the Christians who were being evil spoken of not to forget that those calumniators who died before the judgment would not on that account escape punishment. Still, it is difficult to see why the apostle should give such special prominence to this,—more especially with the further remark, that the gospel was preached unto them, ἵνα … ζῶσι κ.τ.λ. Wiesinger justly remarks: “that the author should so expressly accept the assumption of their death, does not well agree with the ἑτοίμως ἔχειν, and not with the subsequent πάντων δὲ τὸ τέλος ἤγγικε.”

Hofmann, whilst correctly recognising that by νεκροῖς the apostle here does not denote Christians only, or unbelievers only, gives a closer definition of the term by applying it to those of the dead to whom, during their life time, the gospel had been preached. At the same time, however, he assumes that the thought here expressed “serves to confirm or explain the whole statement that the slanderers; without exception, whether living or dead, must render account to the Lord.” But, on the one hand, the apostle in no way alludes to the limitation of the idea here too supposed; and, on the other, it is incorrect to understand by ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς, 1 Peter 4:5, the calumniators only. If all arbitrariness is to be avoided, then νεκροῖς must here be taken in the same wide sense as νεκρούς in 1 Peter 4:5. Any limitation of the general idea is without justification,—indicated, as such is, neither by the want of the article before νεκροῖς,[242] nor by the circumstance that the slanderers are the subject in 1 Peter 4:5. Accordingly, it cannot be denied that the apostle gives expression to the thought that the gospel has been preached to all, who are dead, at the time when the last judgment arrives. With the view of chap. 1 Peter 3:19-20, which is in harmony with the words, this thought need occasion no stumbling. In that passage, it is true, the ἘΚΉΡΥΞΕΝ applies only to the spirits of those who perished in the flood. But they alone are mentioned there not because the ΚΉΡΥΓΜΑ was addressed exclusively to them, but because the apostle recognised in the deluge the type of baptism.[243] Accordingly, though there be a close connection of thought internally between what is here said and chap. 1 Peter 3:19-20, it is nevertheless erroneous, with Steiger, König, Güder, Wiesinger, Weiss, p. 228 f., to take εὐηγγελίσθη as applying only to those there named.

ΕὐΗΓΓΕΛΊΣΘΗ is put here impersonally: “the gospel was proclaimed:” neither ὁ Χριστός nor Ἡ ΔΙΔΑΧῊ ΤΟῦ ΧΡΙΣΤΟῦ (Bengel, Grotius, Pott, etc.), nor anything similar, is to be supplied.

[240] Lorinus enumerates twelve different interpretations; nor does that complete the number. Many commentators are uncertain, and confess that they do not understand the true meaning of the verse; thus also Luther, who even thinks it possible that the text has been corrupted. Reiche, too, is inclined to regard the passage as a gloss added by a later hand.

[241] It is evidently still farther fetched to understand νεκροῖς as meaning the believers of the O. T., as is done by several of the earlier commentators—Bullinger, Aretius, etc.

[242] The phrases: ἐγείρειν, ἐγείρεσθαι, ἀναστῆναι ἐκ νεκρῶν (see Winer, p. 117 [E. T. 153]), go to prove that the expression νεκροί, when applied to all the dead, has not necessarily the article prefixed to it. Elsewhere, too, νεκροί has no article; cf. Luke 16:30; Acts 10:42; Romans 14:9.

[243] Erroneous is the opinion of several commentators (Pott, Jachmann, König, Grimm in theol. Studien und Kritiken, 1835), that these only are named by way of example, because they were specially ungodly.

εἰς τοῦτο … ἵνα (comp. chap. 1 Peter 3:9; John 18:37, and other passages) points to the design of the fact stated in εὐηγγελίσθη; on this the chief accent of the sentence lies. The apostle bases the thought, that the Lord stands ready to judge the dead also, not alone on the circumstance that the gospel has been preached to them too, but that it has been preached for the purpose which he states in what follows. This purpose is expressed in the sentence consisting of two members: ἵνα κριθῶσιν μὲν κατὰ ἀνθρώπους σαρκι, ζῶσιν δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν πνεύματι. According to the grammatical structure, κριθῶσιν and ζῶσιν are co-ordinate with each other, and both are equally dependent on ἵνα. In sense ἵνα applies, however, only to ζῶσιν, inasmuch as the first member must be regarded as a parenthesis. The construction here is similar to that which is frequently to be found in classical writers in clauses connected by μὲν … δέ (see Matthiae, ausf. griech. Gr. 2d ed. p. 1262). This conjunction, as Hartung (Lehre v. d. Partikl., Part II. p. 406) remarks, discloses the contrast. The aorist κριθῶσιν shows the judgment to be one which, at the commencement of the last judgment, is by their very death executed upon those who are then dead, and this quite independently of whether the gospel was preached to them before or after death. It is accordingly erroneous to understand this judgment (κριθῶσιν) to mean the judgment of repentance (Gerhard), or that of the flood (de Wette); it is the judgment of death, as nearly all expositors have rightly acknowledged. Hofmann, with only an appearance of rightness, asserts that the expression of the apostle can be appropriately applied only to those who did not suffer this judgment of death till after the gospel had been preached to them. The apostle could express himself thus as regards those also with whom this was not the case, all the more readily that they were not set free from the condition of death immediately on hearing the gospel preached, nor then even, when they had received it in faith. Accordingly, the interpretation is: “in order that they, after the flesh, indeed, judged by death, may live according to the spirit” (Wiesinger). The antithesis σαρκὶ … πνεύματι is here in the same sense as in chap. 1 Peter 3:18. Güder’s opinion, that σάρξ here denotes the sinful bias which the dead possess, is unwarranted; nowhere in Scripture is σάρξ attributed to the already departed.

κατὰ ἀνθρώπους means neither: “by men,” nor: “according to the judgment of men;” but: “according to the manner of men, as is peculiar to them.”

The second member: ζῶσι δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν πνεύματι, corresponds as to form entirely with the first clause, only that here the verb is present, because it mentions the future condition aimed at. ζῆν is antithetical to κριθῆναι, and denotes the eternal life which in the judgment is awarded to those who in faith have received the gospel. It is more nearly defined by κατὰ Θεόν, which (corresponding to the κατὰ ἀνθρώπους) can only mean, “according to the manner of God, as corresponds with the character of God.”[244]

This final clause states the purpose which this ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛΊΖΕΣΘΑΙ should serve; whether, and in how far, the object is attained is not said.

[244] Hofmann interprets κατὰ Θεόν incorrectly by: “because of God,” to which he adds the more precise definition: “since it is God who gives this life, so that it is therefore constituted accordingly.”—Jachmann’s view is very singular; he holds that κατὰ Θεόν means “with reference to their divine part;” nor, he thinks, should this occasion surprise, for, as the sensuous nature of man is in biblical language personified by ὁ ἄνθρωπος, so too his invisible, divine nature might be personified by ὁ Θεός.

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Peter 4:6. The judgment is imminent because all necessary preliminaries have been accomplished. There is no ground for the objection “perhaps the culprits have not heard the Gospel”. As regards the living, there is a brotherhood in the world witnessing for Christ in their lives and the missionaries have done their part. As regards the dead Christ descended into Hades to preach there and so was followed by His Apostles. And the object of this was that though the dead have been judged as all men are in respect of the flesh they might yet live as God lives in respect of the spirit.—εἰς τοῦτο, with a view to the final judgment or = ἵνα, κ.τ.λ.—νεκροῖς, to dead men generally, but probably as distinct from the rebel spirits who were presumably immortal and could only be imprisoned. Oecumenius rightly condemns the view, which adds in trespasses and sins or takes dead in a figurative sense, despite the authority of e.g., Augustine (Ep., 164, §§ 1–18).—εὐηγγελίσθη, the Gospel was preached, the impersonal passive leaves the way open for the development of this belief according to which not Christ only but also the Apostles preached to the dead. Hermas, Sim., ix. 16.5–16.7; Cl. Al. Strom., vi. 645 f. So was provision made for those who died between the descent of Christ and the evangelisation of their own countries.—ἵνα, κ.τ.λ., that though they had been judged in respect of flesh as men are judged they might live in respect of spirit as God lives. The parallel between the dead and Christ is exact (see 1 Peter 3:20). Death is the judgment or sentence passed on all men (Sir 14:17 = Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:19). Even Christians, who have died spiritually and ethically (Romans 8:10), can only hope wistfully to escape it (2 Corinthians 5:2 ff.). But it is preliminary to the Last Judgment (Hebrews 9:27), at which believers, who are quickened spiritually, cannot be condemned to the second death (Revelation 20:6).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead] The thought that Christ was ready to judge the great company of the dead, as well as those who were living when the Gospel was preached by His messengers, leads the Apostle back to the truth which had been partially uttered when he had spoken of the work of Christ in preaching to “the spirits in prison.” The question might be asked, How were the dead to be judged by their acceptance or rejection of the Gospel when they had passed away without any opportunity of hearing it? He finds the answer in the fact that to them also the Gospel-message had been brought. Those who were disobedient in the days of Noah are now seen by him as representatives of mankind at large. Of some of these his Lord Himself had taught him that if they had seen the wonderful works which attested His ministry and mission, “they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matthew 11:21). Was it not a natural inference from those words, confirmed by what had been revealed to him as to the descent into Hades, that that opportunity had been given?

that they might be judged according to men in the flesh] The contrast between “flesh” and “spirit” stands parallel to that in chap. 1 Peter 3:18. The “dead” had the Gospel preached to them that they might be judged by a judgment, which was remedial as well as penal, in that lower sensuous nature in which they had sinned. They were judged “according to men,” or better, after the manner of men, by the laws by which all men are judged according to their works, but the purpose of that judgment, like that of the judgments that come upon men in this life, was to rescue them from a final condemnation. The whole passage presents a striking parallelism to St Paul’s “delivering men to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:5), to his words “when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:32). Following what we have learnt to call the ideas of analogy and continuity, the Apostle teaches that death does not change altogether the nature and the purpose of the Divine Judgments, and that purpose is that they “according to God,” in a manner determined by His will and wisdom, should live, in the highest sense of life (John 17:3), in that element of their nature which was capable of knowing God and therefore of eternal life. Such seems the simple natural interpretation of the words. It is not to be wondered at, perhaps, that the same dogmatic prepossessions which led men to explain away the true meaning of Christ’s preaching to “the spirits in prison,” should have biassed them here also, and that the same school of interpreters should have taken the “dead” as meaning “dead in trespasses and sins,” and referred the “preaching of the Gospel” to the work of the Apostles, and the “judgment according to men” to their sufferings on earth.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Peter 4:6. Γὰρ, for) The particle connects ready and is at hand, 1 Peter 4:5; 1 Peter 4:7. The Judge is ready; for now that the Gospel is preached, nothing but the end remains.—καὶ νεκροῖς, even to the dead) Peter calls those dead who lived through the whole period of the New Testament, from the time that the Gospel was preached by the apostles after the ascension of Christ, especially concerning Christ the Judge, Acts 10:42, and those whom the Judge, who is at any moment about to come, will find dead, and will restore to life, 1 Peter 4:5. The Gospel is preached also to the living; but he mentions the dead, because the saying, that they might be judged, etc., is especially accomplished in death. And from this very thing it is plain that the preaching of the Gospel which is meant, is before that death, and not subsequent to it. When the body is put off in death, the condition of the soul is altogether fixed, either for evil or for good. The Gospel is preached to no one after death. Christ Himself preached to those who had formerly lived, ch. 1 Peter 3:20. In the New Testament there is preaching in abundance to those who are alive. The Lord sees respecting those to whom that preaching does not come in their life.—εὐηγγελίσθη) He, that is, Christ, was declared in the Gospel. While they were alive, He caused Himself to be preached to them by the Gospel. The Gospel is always preached at the present day: but Peter speaks in past time, for [i.e. having respect to] the time of judgment[in relation to which the preaching will have been past]; which, as we have said, he sees as it were close at hand.—ἴνα, that) The end and efficacy of the Gospel is, that men may be made like Christ in death and in life, ch. 1 Peter 3:18. The way of salvation through Christ is both secured and made known to all: they who have believed are saved, and ought to be objects of imitation, not of reproach, to others; they who have not believed, nay, have even used reproaches, are justly punished.—κριθῶσι ζῶσι, might be judged: might live) They who receive the Gospel become like the death of Christ through repentance; and successively through (by means of) all adversities, even until the death of the body. That death is called a judgment, with reference to the old man; and to this judgment, distinguishing evil things from good, the faithful themselves readily subscribe: nor will they be liable to the dreadful universal judgment: 1 Peter 4:5; 1 Peter 4:17-18; 1 Corinthians 11:32. But the same also live with Christ: and they are said to live, not to be made alive; because they have been made alive already together with Christ: ch. 1 Peter 3:18, compared with Ephesians 2:5. Respecting this judgment and life, comp. 1 Peter 4:1-3; for the faithful, while they are engaged in the flesh, already receive the beginning of these things.—κατὰ ἀνθρώπους) as far as relates to men; for they are exempted from human affairs.—κατὰ Θεὸν) as far as relates to God; for they live to God.—πνεύματι, in spirit) See ch. 1 Peter 3:18, note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 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 ver. 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 ver. 5 and a metaphorical sense in ver. 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, 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 ver. 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. 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 (we may not presume to dogmatize in a matter so mysterious, about which so little is revealed) 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 (comp. 1 Corinthians 5:5, "To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus"). 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. 1 Peter 4:6