Reference: Spirits in Prison
Fausets
1Pe 3:18-19. The argument is, Be not afraid (1Pe 3:14,17) of suffering for well doing even unto death, for death in the flesh leads to life in the spirit as in Christ's case, who was put to death in the flesh but quickened in spirit (i.e. in virtue of His divine nature: Ro 1:3-4; 1Co 15:45; 2Co 13:4) in which (as distinguished from in person) He went in the person of Noah (compare 1Pe 1:11 "a preacher of righteousness" (2Pe 2:5; He went not locally but as Eph 2:17, "He came and preached peace," namely, by His ministers) and preached unto the spirits in prison, namely, the antediluvian unbelievers; their bodies seemed free, but their spirits were in prison (Ps 141:9) and they like "prisoners shut up in the prison" just as the fallen are judicially regarded as in chains of darkness, though for a time at large on the earth (2Pe 2:4; Isa 24:18,22-23; 61:1; Ge 7:11, referred to in Isa 24:18). "His Spirit" long "strove" with them, but ceased to do so because even the seed of the godly Seth proved "flesh" and quenched the Spirit (Ge 6:3).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Yahweh said - My spirit shall not rule in man to times age - abiding, for that, he also, is flesh, - Yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.
In the six hundredth year, the year of the life of Noah. in the second month on the seventeenth day of the month on this day, were burst open all the fountains of the great roaring deep, and the windows of the heavens, were set open.
Keep me out of the clutches of the trap they have set for me, and the snares of the workers of iniquity.
So shall it be - He that fleeth from the sound of the terror! shall fall into the pit, And I he that getteth up out of the midst of the pit, shall be captured in the snare, - For, the windows on high, have opened, And shaken are the foundations of earth.
So shall it be - He that fleeth from the sound of the terror! shall fall into the pit, And I he that getteth up out of the midst of the pit, shall be captured in the snare, - For, the windows on high, have opened, And shaken are the foundations of earth.
And they shall be swept together in a crowd, fettered for a pit, And shall be lowered into a dungeon, - And, after many days, shall they be punished. Then shall blush the silvery moon, Then turn pale the glowing sun, - Because Yahweh of hosts hath become king In Mount Zion And in Jerusalem, And before his Elders in glory,
The spirit of My Lord Yahweh, is upon me, - Because Yahweh Hath anointed me to tell good tidings to the oppressed, lath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, To proclaim To captives, liberty, To them who are bound, the opening of the prison;
Concerning his Son, - who came to be of the seed of David, according to flesh, Who was distinguished as the Son of God - by power, according to a Holy Spirit, through means of a resurrection of the dead, - Jesus Christ our Lord;
And, coming, he announced the glad-message - of peace, unto you, the far off, and peace, unto them that were nigh;
Searching into what particular, or what manner, of season the Spirit of Christ which was in them was pointing to, when witnessing beforehand as to - The sufferings, for Christ, and the glories, after these, -
Nevertheless, even if ye should suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye ! Their fear, however, do not fear, neither be troubled;
For it is, better, as well-doers, if it should please the pleasure of God, to be suffering, than, as evil-doers: Because, Christ also, once for all, concerning sins, died, - Just in behalf of unjust, - in order that he might introduce us unto God; being put to death, indeed, in flesh, but made alive in spirit, - read more. In which, even unto the spirits in prison, he went and proclaimed, -
For - if, God, spared not, messengers, when they sinned, but, to pits of gloom, consigning them, in the lowest hades, delivered them up to be kept, unto judgment, - And, an ancient world, spared not, but, with seven others, preserved, Noah, a proclaimer, of righteousness, a flood, upon a world of ungodly persons, letting loose, -