Christ Preaching to the Spirits in Prison [pp. 636-650]

CHRIST PREACHING TO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON.
the flesh. but live according to God in the spirit" (whatsoever
this may mean).
Such is the obvious scope and connection of thought in the
entire passage, although we are yet in the dark as to the nature
and effect of the preaching here spoken of. Let us now take
up the leading clauses more in detail.
That Christ's being put to death in the flesh refers to his
bodily death on the cross all are agreed; but as to what is
meant by his being quickened (made alive) in the spirit is not
so clear. Some suppose that the Holy Spirit is intended.
Others the Divine nature of Christ. But neither of these
views can be correct, for the Greek words ap'd, flesh, and
7tl'v/uarz, spirit, being both in the dative without the preposition, are in tile same construction, and must be used in contrast with each other as they are also in chap. iv. 6. (Comp.
also 1 Cor. v. 5.) If " the flesh" refers to the body, "the spirit"
must refer to the soul in both these passages. Besides, the
Divine nature of Christ could not be quickened, i. e., made alive
from the dead. And if we render the latter clause by "the
spirit," the former must be rendered by "'the flesh." Christ "took
unto himself a true body and a reasonable soul," and in dying
it was this soul (tivv,u/a, "spirit ") that he commended to his
Father, and of which it is said " lie gave up the ghost" 7rvev,u.
In becoming our surety he was made subject to death in his
whole humanity, just as men are. When his body died, his
human spirit passed temporarily into the same unconsciousness
into which human spirits pass, i. e., fully under the power of
death. Nothing less than this would have been the full atonement required for our sins. How soon our spirits awake to consciousness after leaving the body we know not; but we are here
informed that Christ's spirit was quickened or awakened to
consciousness and activity immediately after death. This
quickening may have been effected" by" the Holy Spirit or by
his divine nature, but this the words do not affirm., All that
they mean is, he was made alive in the spirit, though put to
death in the flesh.
It was'; in" (Greek iy) this same spirit that he "went and
preached "(7ropEvD2E; g'pv6E). The word "went" is a participle in the same tense with "having been put to death,"
(SavarcSezs;), and "having been quickened" (coo7ZroznS&}s); so,
638
[Oct.