Did Jesus preach the gospel in Hell?

[NathanH83]

Is this right?

Before Jesus came, back then they had forgiveness of sins through animals sacrifices. Those who sinned, and had no animal sacrifice for forgiveness, died and went to Hell. But Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and those righteous went to heaven.

But once Jesus came, he made the ultimate sacrifice for all. And then he preached the gospel to people in Hell, saved them, and brought them to Heaven.

"by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water."
-1 Peter 3:18

"For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."
-1 Peter 4:6

 

[Odë:hgöd]

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But Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and those righteous went to heaven.

Nobody went to Heaven before Jesus came on the scene.

● John 3:13 . . No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-- the Son of Man.

"by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water." -1 Peter 3:18

There is sufficient textual evidence to prove that Jesus, in the spirit, preached to the spirits in prison. However, there is insufficient textual evidence to prove that he saved any of them.
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[Josiah]

Salvation has ALWAYS been Sola Gratia - Solus Christus - Sola Fide. The only difference, before Easter, believers had faith in a future event and after Easter, it's in a past event.

Yes, Jesus preached to those in prison. WHY? We aren't told. WHAT? We aren't told. But there's NOTHING in the text that remotely indicates that anyone "in prison" therefore moved to heaven.




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[NathanH83]

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Nobody went to Heaven before Jesus came on the scene.

● John 3:13 . . No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man.





There is sufficient textual evidence to prove that Jesus, in the spirit, preached to the spirits in prison. However, there is insufficient textual evidence to prove that he saved any of them.
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It says he preached the gospel to them. Gospel means good news. What was the good news he had for them?

 

[NathanH83]

Salvation has ALWAYS been Sola Gratia - Solus Christus - Sola Fide. The only difference, before Easter, believers had faith in a future event and after Easter, it's in a past event.

Yes, Jesus preached to those in prison. WHY? We aren't told. WHAT? We aren't told. But there's NOTHING in the text that remotely indicates that anyone "in prison" therefore moved to heaven.




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Then what was the good news he had for them? Ephesians said that he “took captivity captive.”

 

[Josiah]

There is only one verse that mentions Jesus' visit to "prison" (Hell). It's 1 Peter 3:19, " he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison."

That's it. That's all.


Some honesty would require we admit...

1. It doesn't say WHAT He proclaimed (nothing there about "Gospel", nothing about weather reports or news from Galilee, etc.).

2. It doesn't say WHY He proclaimed something there.

3. It doesn't say WHAT (if anything) resulted from whatever He proclaimed there.


Now people can THEORIZE that He preached the glories of a vegetarian diet and as a result, lamb sales plummeted but that's pure spectulation. And one could THEORIZE that He gave them instructions on how to make an air conditioner and the result was a decrease in suffering, but that would be pure speculation. As would be anything else people might THEORIZE about His message and its results.





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[NathanH83]

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Nobody went to Heaven before Jesus came on the scene.

“And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.”
-2 Kings 2:1 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=2 Kings 2:1&version=NASB

 

[Odë:hgöd]

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"And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to
heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal." -2 Kings 2:1 -

The Hebrew word translated "heaven" in that verse primarily means sky; the
atmosphere and the celestial void; viz: what you see when you look up. For
example Gen 15:5 where God challenged Abraham to count the stars

That same word makes its appearance in the first verse of the first book of the
Bible at Gen 1:1, which says:

" In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

I'm pretty sure that when Jesus said in John 3:13 that no one has ever gone into
heaven except the one who came from heaven-- the Son of Man; he wasn't talking
about the sky or the celestial void, rather, the abode of God.

It says he preached the gospel to them. Gospel means good news. What was the
good news he had for them?

FYI: There was no gospel as we know it back in the days of Noah-- and besides,
Christ's message back then contained no good news; only bad; viz: the end of
God's patience plus a deluge meant to kill everybody except Noah and his family.

It's unfortunate that the language and grammar of 1Pet 3:18-20 isn't more
precise because the preaching that Christ did as a spirit didn't take place in the
netherworld during the three days and three nights prior to his resurrection. His
spirit preached to them back then, while the ark was under construction, when the
antediluvians were still alive prior to their deaths in the Flood and their subsequent
imprisonment; and Christ's spirit didn't do the preaching himself in person, rather,
his spirit inspired Noah to do it for him (2Pet 2:5). In other words: the "my Spirit"
of Gen 6:3 is the spirit of Christ spoken of in 1Pet 3:18-20.
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[Odë:hgöd]

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Ephesians said that he "took captivity captive".

Eph 4:8 is similar to Luke 4:18-19 where is says:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news
to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of
sight for the blind; to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's
favor."

There's a subtle difference between the two passages. Ephesians speaks of
imprisonment whereas Luke's passage speaks of those imprisoned.

Captivity back in that day usually referred to people conquered by a foreign power.
For example; the people of Poland were conquered by Germany during WW2 and
thus held in captivity to a system of government unlike any they might choose
themselves. In other words, Poland lost its sovereignty and the freedom to choose
its own destiny; i.e. the Polish people were held prisoner by an oppressive power
beyond their control until they were liberated by the Allies.

Captivity could apply to most anything that thwarts, hampers and/or takes away
people's liberty; for example Eph 4:8 is taken from the 68th Psalm which--
practically the whole thing --speaks of the Jews' ultimate liberation from foreign
interference, and of peace, prosperity, and God's kindly patronage throughout the
land of Israel.

Jesus is portrayed in the New Testament as both a liberator and a conqueror. The
gifts that he distributes among his followers today are only a sampling of the
benefits that he will ultimately distribute in the future. For example:

Luke's passage is taken from the 61st chapter of Isaiah where the prophecy is
relative to the copious amounts of peace and prosperity that people can expect to
enjoy in the messianic kingdom. Jesus quoted just a little of the entire prophecy
that begins actually somewhere around Isa 59:16 and runs pretty much to the end
of the book because he didn't fulfill all of it when he was here the first time. Next
time he's here, it will all be fulfilled.

FYI: There's a movement out and about called Christian Universalism (a.k.a.
Universal Reconciliation). It's premise is that nobody is going to suffer in Hell
forever-- all will ultimately be saved and go to Heaven. Its supporters scour the
Bible searching for passages that appear to support their premise. As a result,
they've catalogued quite a few Bible passages, but they don't know how to piece
them together with the rest of the Bible and make it all click.

● 2Tim 2:15 . . Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does
not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Some folks construe rightly dividing the truth as instructions to keep the Old
Testament completely separate from the New. But that's not even close to what
Paul is instructing.

He was a blue collar tradesman: Paul fabricated portable shelters for a living (Acts
18:3). The Greek word for "rightly dividing" is orthotomeo (or-thot-om-eh'-o) which
means: to make a straight cut-- as opposed to a crooked cut --or a cut that misses
the line and yields a piece of material that's either too long, too short, or the wrong
contour; thus resulting in a tent whose pieces won't join properly when it comes
time to sew them together. The results? A distorted tent and a black mark for the
craftsman.

The intent of 2Tim 2:15 is not to severe the Bible in half and treat each as a
separate book; but to be accurate in the whole's interpretations and applications so
that it all fits together perfectly from first to last, like a well made armoire instead
of a hastily constructed rabbit hutch.

Well; Universalism has built itself a fine rabbit hutch, as far as hutches go; but hutches
aren't the kind of thing to decorate your home.
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