Preaching to Righteous in Center of Earth
Mistranslation of 1 Peter 3:20
The bible translations below all refer to the Messiah (Jesus) preaching to imprisoned spirits who were disobedient. This however is a mistranslation because it should have read that Jesus preached to those who were “obedient” not “disobedient” as these translations below incorrectly state.
1 Peter 3:18-20 (CJB)
18 For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit;
19 and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits,
20 to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water.
1 Peter 3:18-20 (NASB)
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,
20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
1 Peter 3:18-21 (NIV)
18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison
20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,
21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also–not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
All of the modern translations above of I Peter 3:20 speak of those who were disobedient as being the target of the preaching of Jesus. When this letter was written by the Apostle Peter it was copied out in Greek so it could be passed around to various churches. Possibly those who copied it misunderstood and wondered why Jesus would preach to someone who is obedient thinking that only the disobedient need the gospel. Being unaware of the fact that Jesus preached to the “obedient” spirits in captivity within the place of comfort, those who copied out the Peter’s letter may have mistranslated the word to “disobedient” rather than “obedient” into the original Greek.
In light of the fact that it would do no good to preach to the disobedient people who are suffering in hell the only people who could receive salvation were the righteous OT people like Noah and his family and other righteous people (including Abraham and all those like him) who died in faith prior to the sacrifice of Jesus which made a way for them to be saved. It was to this group of “obedient” people that Jesus preached the gospel to so that they were saved and then led forth out of custody when they followed Jesus in a procession into heaven as the first fruits of those to be saved right after the atoning work of Jesus was completed.
Therefore, the proper translation of “1 Peter 3:20” should have been “obedient” rather than “disobedient” because this refers to the righteous “obedient” OT people who died in faith prior to the sacrifice of Jesus made for the sins of all humanity.
Preaching to Human Spirits in Captivity
1 Peter 3:18-20 (CJB)-M
18 For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit;
19 and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the human spirits in custody,
20 to those who were obedient long ago, in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water.
In verse 20 above it originally used the word “disobedient” rather than “obedient” but it does not make sense in this context. In fact, the “obedient” refers to the eight-people alive on planet earth when the flood came who were counted as being worthy of being saved from destruction.
1 Peter 3:19 (CJB)-M
19 and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the human spirits in custody,
In verse 19 speaks of Jesus who make a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits but a better expression would be spirits “in custody” since that word can also be used to refer to someone being under the custody of their parents or who are under parental care. These human spirits in Abraham’s bosom were not imprisoned in the sense of being a criminal held in prison for crimes. The place of comfort was only a holding place for those righteous Old Testament people who died prior to the sacrifice of Jesus. There was no other place for the spirits of departed righteous people to go because a way to heaven had not yet been made available until the sacrifice of Jesus was completed. Therefore the expression “in custody” might be more appropriate expression since the OT righteous were held there only until the right time rather than being imprisoned like a criminal for crimes.
There is no other interpretation that makes any sense at all except the fact that Jesus went to the place of Abraham’s bosom (located in the center of the earth) and there proclaimed the gospel to the OT righteous people who had died prior to the time of the sacrifice of Jesus.
Luke 16:26 (NIV2011)
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
There was a wicked rich man on the torment side of the chasm in hell and he wanted someone to cool his tongue in the flames of hell but Abraham said there was a great chasm fixed between the place of comfort and the place of torment. The righteous OT men were on the comfort side of the chasm (called Abraham’s bosom) and the wicked were on the torment side of the chasm in a place called hell.
See the lesson “Abraham’s Bosom” for more details.
Noah and his family (a total of eight persons) were the only people who were considered righteous during the time of the worldwide flood. Out of the entire world population in that day only those eight-people (after they died) landed in the place of comfort that came to be known as Abraham’s bosom. All of the rest of the entire population of earth (who all perished in the flood) ended up in the torment side of the chasm in the place called hell! The reason why the entire world population was destroyed (except eight people) was because they were all wicked in God’s sight! It is only fitting that these wicked people end up in the torment side of the chasm in hell.
Genesis 6:12-13 (NASB)
12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
It would not make sense that God would destroy the entire world population (save eight) and then allow these wicked people to enter into a place of comfort. No, these evil people were destroyed for their wickedness and corruption and violence so they all ended up in the eternal torment side of the chasm called hell!
Out of the entire world population of that day only Noah and his family were spared because God said they were righteous in his sight. Therefore, only these eight-people ended up in that place of comfort while all the rest of the world population of that time went to hell.
1 Peter 3:18-20 (CJB)-M
18 For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit;
19 and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the human spirits in custody,
20 to those who were obedient long ago, in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water.
With this in mind it makes sense that verse 20 was incorrectly translated in the original language as “disobedient” rather than “obedient” as it should have been translated. It should read that Jesus went and made a proclamation to the human spirits in custody to those who were obedient long ago in the days of Noah. These eight-people were among those who were part of the righteous dead who died prior to the sacrifice of Jesus. They represent those who are righteous because only these eight-people were spared out of the entire world population of that day. They represent the group of the righteous just as the name of the place is represented by Abraham who was righteous because of his faith. Noah and his family also had faith to build the ark and save themselves. The place of comfort is a place of faith represented by Noah and Abraham and all of those who had faith and died as being “righteous” prior to the sacrifice of Jesus.
It would not make any sense for Jesus to go to the center of the earth and proclaim a message of salvation to anyone except those found worthy to be in the place of comfort (later referred to as Abraham’s bosom). Yes, Abraham died much later than Noah did but nevertheless the place of comfort in the center of the earth was no doubt named in honor of Abraham because he had a testimony of being made righteous his faith. This is the same quality of every Old Testament person who was fortunate enough to find themselves in the place of comfort after they died. It is not surprising that the place of comfort was later referred to as Abraham’s bosom because it is a place of people who died with a testimony of having faith in God.
It was to these people held captive (in custody) within this waiting place that Jesus proclaimed the gospel message of salvation by faith. It would be utter nonsense to imagine that Jesus would have gone to the torment side of the chasm and proclaim the gospel to those who landed in hell because of their disobedience. Once a human spirit is in hell there is no way they can get out because that torment is eternal. They have to make the decision to stay out of hell only when they are still alive on earth. Preaching to people in hell would useless and a big waste of time because none of them can be saved once they enter that eternal place of torment.
Luke 16:27-31 (NASB)
27 “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—
28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
30 “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’
31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'”
The rich man who lived wickedly on earth ended up on the torment side of the chasm and he begged Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers so they would not come to this place of torment. Abraham said that they had Moses and the prophets meaning the five books written by Moses (the Jewish Pentateuch) and all of the prophets of the Jewish Tanakh. These books are enough to warn them of what is coming ahead for those who live wickedly on earth.
The fact remains that those who land on the torment side of the chasm cannot escape for all eternity. There is no way out for them and therefore it would be vain and useless for Jesus to go and preach to such people who were cast into hell for being wicked.
No, the only people who are worthy of hearing the salvation message are those who landed in the place of comfort referred to as Abraham’s bosom.
1 Peter 3:18-20 (CJB)-M
18 For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit;
19 and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the human spirits in custody,
20 to those who were obedient long ago, in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water.
This makes more sense now when the proper word is used in verse 20 as “obedient” because Jesus proclaimed the gospel to the spirits held in custody within Abraham’s bosom. These good and obedient people were then born again and believed in Jesus and received his sacrifice by faith and they all followed Jesus out of captivity and into heaven in a procession behind Jesus as he led them into heaven.
The place of comfort has stood empty now for over 2,000 years because all of the inhabitants held in custody in that place were transferred into heaven. The reason they were previously held captive was that there was no other means of salvation made available until Jesus came to earth and offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of all humanity. He then preached this gospel to those righteous Old Testament saints and they got saved and followed Jesus into heaven.
It would do no good at all to preach to anyone on the torment side of the chasm because all such people are eternally damned and there is no reversing their fate. They cannot get saved and they cannot escape their torments. If people could be saved in hell, then all of them would immediately accept salvation just to get out of torment but this is not possible. They can only make that decision for eternal life while they are yet alive on earth. Once they are physically dead, they can never make the choice for salvation anymore. Therefore, it would be a complete waste of time to preach the salvation message to such people.
The place of comfort was not a place of punishment but rather it was only a holding place for the righteous Old Testament Saints until the time that the sacrifice of Jesus was made complete. Out of all the human spirits in the center of the earth, only those found in Abraham’s bosom had the gospel preached to them and only that group got saved and entered into heaven as the first-fruits of those saved together with Jesus.
Again, see the lesson called “Abraham’s Bosom” for more details on how this fits together with the overall principles seen in the scriptures about Jesus preaching to the righteous “obedient” people who died in faith prior to the time of Jesus coming to earth to complete his sacrifice for all humanity.
Below are these same scriptures as translated for my 7K-Bible:
1 Peter 3:18-20 (7KB)
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation [of the gospel to the righteous Old Testament human spirits held in custody in the center of the earth within the holding place of Abraham’s bosom].
20 to these righteous men (who like Noah) were [obedient] long ago just as when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built to save those who were considered righteous (in it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water),