Friday, March 11, 2022

Andrew Perry (Christadelphian) on 1 Peter 3:19

For those who may wonder how groups that believe in some form of "soul sleep/death" understand 1 Pet 3:19 and the preaching of Christ, the following comes from Andrew Perry (PhD, Durham), a Christadelphian, in his Before He was Born:

 

. . . in the days of Noah. Christ was preached in those days by Noah, while the ark was being constructed (1 Peter 3:19). He was preached to those who were disobedient, identified in Genesis 6 as the sons of God (Gen 6:2-3). Peter describes these men as ‘spirits’ because of their possession of the spirit of God (cf. 1 Tim 4:1; 1 John 4:1). To these spirits, now in the prison of death (cf. 1 Pet 4:6) in Peter’s day, ‘Christ’ preached the Gospel. (Andrew Perry, Before He Was Born: Combating Arguments for the Pre-existence of Christ [7th ed. [4th revision]; Staffordshire, U.K.: Willow Publications, 2022], 131 n. 1)