What is meaning of the spirit in prison in 1 Peter 3:19?

When interpreted as fallen angels.

THE apostle Peter wrote about the resurrected Jesus Christ’s preaching to the “spirits in prison.” (1 Pet. 3:19) Were these “spirits” persons who had died? Or, were they spirit persons that had been put under some restraint?

To establish the identity of the “spirits in prison,” we must first consider the setting in which reference is made to them. We read: “Even Christ died once for all time concerning sins, a righteous person for unrighteous ones, that he might lead you to God, he being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit. In this state also he went his way and preached to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient when the patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days, while the ark was being constructed.”​—1 Pet. 3:18-20.

Since mention is made of Noah’s days, we must examine events of that time for clues as to the identity of the “spirits in prison.” With the exception of Noah and his family, the human society was disobedient to God. Could it have been that the resurrected Jesus Christ preached to the spirits of those disobedient people? No. Why not? Because the Bible clearly shows that all conscious existence ends at death. For example, in Ecclesiastes we are told: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.”​—Eccl. 9:5, 6.

Furthermore, there is no difference between the spirit or life force animating animals and that animating humans. Ecclesiastes 3:19 states: “There is an eventually as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit.”

Thus the Holy Scriptures rule out linking the “spirits in prison” with the people who perished during the global deluge. We must, therefore, look outside the human sphere for clues regarding the identity of these imprisoned spirits. The Bible book of Genesis enables us to do that. It tells us about what certain “sons of the true God” or angels did in the days of Noah. We read: “It came about that when men started to grow in numbers on the surface of the ground and daughters were born to them, then the sons of the true God began to notice the daughters of men, that they were good-looking; and they went taking wives for themselves, namely, all whom they chose. The Nephilim proved to be in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of the true God continued to have relations with the daughters of men and they bore sons to them, they were the mighty ones who were of old, the men of fame.”​—Gen. 6:1, 2, 4.

In taking up living as husbands with women, the angelic sons of God were acting contrary to the purpose for which they were created. They were also proving unfaithful to their assignment of service in the holy heavens. For this serious transgression they were punished. The Bible reports: “God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment.”​—2 Pet. 2:4.

The “spirits in prison” are, therefore, disobedient angels. When the global deluge began, they must have dematerialized the human bodies they had used. Jehovah God, however, did not permit them to regain the position they had abandoned in the heavens when coming to the earth. He put them under a restraint. As spirit persons they could not have been restrained in literal “pits” or with physical “bonds.” Nevertheless, they must have come under a form of confinement that was comparable to being put in pits and tied with bonds. The kind of imprisonment under which they came evidently prevented them from again materializing as men and living as husbands with women.​—Jude 6. Cited here.

This 'φυλακή(phylakē)' in 1 Peter 3:19 is also used in Revelation as 'captivity, prison'. In Rev. 20:7, Satan is described as being confined in a prison for a thousand years, and the word "prison". In Rev. 20:3, the place where Satan is confined is described as an "ἄβυσσος(abyssos)", but in verse 7 Satan is said to come out from "φυλακή(phylakē)". Although the wording is different, both refer to the same place. Revelation 9:1 says that the evil spirits trapped in the Abyss will come out, so it is clear that, in essence, the Abyss is another expression for the phylakē.

Some people often say that Christ visited the Abyss and Philarche within three days after his death because his spirit is immortal, but the original phrase "made quickened in the spirit" at 1 Peter3:18 is also used in 1 Corinthians 15:45, "zōopoieō", "the last Adam became a life-giving spirit", which shows that Christ did not suddenly become something after his death. It shows that He did not suddenly become a conscious ghost, but that He was active after His resurrection as a spirit being.

Preached to humans and fallen angels in Noah's time.

The only other place in the New Testament where the word 'spirit' is used to describe a person is in Heb. 12:23: "And you are drawing near to the church of those who are registered in heaven, to the God who judges all, to the spirit of those who are already made perfect and in heaven, who have been saved." This is only used in If there is a spirit of the righteous, there is also a spirit of the unrighteous, which is interpreted as being locked up in the 'prison' where those who have behaved unmercifully towards their neighbour, where the same Greek word "phylakē" is used in Matthew 18:30.

Also, as mentioned in the heading above, the spirits of the dead are not conscious, so it is not possible to interpret Jesus, who was supposed to be in a three-day death sleep, as a spirit, going to Sheol, where the spirits of the dead are. Therefore, a possible interpretation is that Jesus, as Michael in the time of Noah, preached in the past to the 'spirits' who are now trapped in Sheol.

Whether the entities of these now-captive spirit persons are fallen angels or humans from the time of Noah, it can also be read that Jesus, Michael, directly evangelised and ministered to them in the past. It is easy to understand that Christ as a spirit person has always ministered to mankind from the past, as Ephesians 2:17 says: 'Christ (who is in heaven) came and preached the good news of peace'. Noah is also described as a 'preacher of righteousness' in 1 Peter 2:5, so it can be assumed that Michael worked in collaboration with Noah in protecting him and proclaiming the sound of judgement to mankind at a dangerous time when the Nephilim were rampant.

And as a result, eight people were saved as 'souls', whereas the disobedient could be interpreted as being 'held captive' as 'spirits' from the time of their destruction to the present. In Enoch 22, there are four receptacles in which the spirits of the dead are stored, and they are described as if they were conscious, but this is clearly a figurative expression, and it is not made clear who is literally conscious and who is saved and on what basis, so the interpretation that the spirits of the dead are conscious and saved by hearing a sound message is not reasonable. 

Therefore, a theoretical candidate interpretation is that Michael in Noah's time proclaimed warnings of judgement to the human and fallen angelic spirit beings who are now captive but were active at the time.

Declaring to the spirit with or without consciousness after the resurrection?

Even though the spirit souls are not conscious, Jesus himself, who after his resurrection as a spirit person is entitled as the 'Word of God', may have visited the spiritual realm and made some proclamation to the unconscious spirits of the dead. Since the Bible uses many anthropomorphic expressions, there is a case for interpreting this as a proclamation of some sort of remedial treatment to the unconscious spirit souls.

First of all, this captivity is translated as 'prison', which is used in the original word filakeh in Matthew 5:25 and 18:30 for a place of captivity for ruthless and merciless people who slander and curse their companions and abuse them with unmerciful behaviour. So the Bible teaches that there is a 'prison' where humans are held captive. It would therefore be possible to infer that there is a filakeh where unconscious spirits are housed.

God created matter by releasing the word into nothingness, 'Let there be light'. It is possible that Christ Himself also exerted a spiritual influence by visiting the realm of Hades by word and declaring that redemption was accomplished. For example, in Matthew 17, Jesus converses with Moses and Elijah, who are supposed to be dead and asleep, and from Revelation 6:9, Jesus asks the martyred spirits to wait for his resurrection. Therefore, Jesus, who spoke and created light against nothingness from Genesis, also proclaimed the gospel to the souls of those who perished in the time of Noah in the unconscious realm of the spiritual world that humans cannot imagine, and those who are judged to have extenuating circumstances may be given the opportunity to be resurrected in the future millennial reign. 

Or, in 1 Corinthians 15:45, "Jesus, the last Adam, became a life-giving spirit", so the extenuating spirits who will be resurrected in the future and will benefit from Christ's redemption are temporarily brought to life, ➡their consciousness is temporarily awakened and they know hope, and then they return to the unconscious state of death until the Son of Man awakens them.  Some interpretations suggest that although there is no consciousness after Jesus' death, the Holy Spirit, clad in the form of a dove, ministered to the spirits of the perished people of Noah's time in Sheol. This verse is said to be quite difficult to interpret and interpretations are divided. If irregular events are taking place, this is how it is interpreted.

To quote Wikipedia, in the Gospel of Peter, the cross follows Jesus Christ coming out of the tomb, supported (presumably) by two angels. It seems to describe the cross answering 'yes' to the voice from heaven, "Have you preached to those who are sleeping (in the underworld)?". Since it says sleeping people, it still seems to tell us that there are cases where the spirit is awakened, although the default is still unconscious; it is thought that the resurrected Jesus at Sheol on the third day preached to them. But this gospel of Peter is not reliable because it is full of strange things like "My power, why have you forsaken me?" and " He did not partake of the sucking wine, because he already felt no pain, etc." and other strange aspects are written in it, and it has been tampered with. It is a letter with a strong Gnosticism, which assumes that Jesus was not incarnate and accomplished his redemption as a spirit man, and the fact that this case is not depicted in the Gospel summarised by Mark, Peter's secretary, does not make it a good reference.

Firstly, the context suggests that Peter is conveying the hope of encouragement and judgement that even Christ, the righteous man, suffered for sinful mankind, so Christians will too, but just as the wicked perished in the flood and only eight were saved at the time, so those who inflict suffering on us now will face the same end. This could be thought of as. It doesn't make sense that Peter is talking about the Tribulation of Christians and then suddenly says that the people of Noah's time, who did whatever they wanted and underestimated the warning, will be saved. However, even though it is not up to human beings to decide whether the people of Noah's time should be forgiven or not, there can be a good chance that they will be resurrected in the future. I leave it to everyone to decide whether this last headline is a good or bad interpretation.