Going to Hell for All the Right Reasons

He also died as the righteous one for unrighteous ones. This is a statement of vicarious, substitutionary atonement. A songwriter penned these words: "I should have been crucified, I should have suffered and died. I should have hung on the cross in disgrace, but Jesus, God’s Son took my place." He suffered as the righteous for the unrighteous in order to bring us to God—that is, to reconcile us. As the late great Clarence Jordan, Greek scholar, says in his Cabbage Patch version of 2 Corinthians 5:19, "God was in Christ ‘hugging’ the world back to Himself." Yes, He did it to bring us unto God.

Next Peter says, "He has been put to death in the flesh." What made Jesus’ death eligible? The incarnation! Dr. Gardner C. Taylor once said, "Before Christ came to earth, Christ couldn’t die. This is the pre-existent Christ—the Christ before Bethlehem. But when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us [John 1:14], Christ became death eligible, and He could be put to death in the flesh."

Next the text asserts, "But he was quickened by the Spirit." What does "quickened by the Spirit" mean? His dead body is quickened and made alive by the Spirit at the resurrection on Sunday morning. Christ took care of ensuring that His spirit was committed to His Father: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). The Spirit of God raised Him up on Sunday morning. He was raised alive by the Spirit, by which He went and preached to the spirits in prison. Jesus did not go to the spirits in prison with a cross; but He went there with a scepter to declare that He was the victorious Lord.

First Peter 3:20 says, "Eight in all were saved through water." However, this is not regenerational baptism. In Pauline theology, baptism is dying, being buried, and resurrected. Baptism, like a kite, is a symbol that points beyond itself. Peter explains: "Not the kind of baptism that washes your skin, but the kind that gives you a clean conscience." One is at peace with God. Verse 21 refers to the water which symbolizes "baptism that saves." When the fallen angels disobeyed and followed Satan, they fell to the earth and were consigned to this prison referred to in the text as hell.

In the antediluvian age, Noah preached for 120 years, and the people didn’t obey his message and did not enter the ark. After 120 years of preaching, only Noah and his family entered the ark. Eight persons survived the flood. Why did God wait 120 years before He sent the flood? Peter addresses this question in 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some of us understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Verse 22 provides a purpose for this entire passage: all of this takes place as a result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who ascended, and now everything is subject to Him: angels, authorities and powers.