I'm sure 1 Peter 3:18-20 jumped out at you as your read through the chapter. I know in my margins I have written "verse 19???." Bible scholars have posed several different interpretations of this passage and if you have time I would encourage you to look into them. For the time being, we are going to look only at 1 Peter to see what we can discover about those verses.
Before starting I want to mention that there is a typo in your text. If you look up verse 18 in the NIV you will notice that where it says, "but made alive by the Spirit" the word Spirit is capitalized. It is also interesting to note that if you read the same verse in the NASB you will find it says "but made alive in the spirit" and the word spirit is lowercase there. As if these verses weren't confusing enough right? :)
ASSIGNMENT:
1. Read 1 Peter 3:18-20.
- WHO did the preaching?
- WHERE did he go?
- TO WHOM did he preach? HOW did Peter describe them?
- WHEN was the preaching done? (There may be more than one possibility)
- WHAT was preached?
2. Read 1 Peter 4:5-6 and compare the similarities and differences in the two passages.
- WHO is "they" in verse 5?
- WHAT was preached?
- TO WHOM was it preached?
- WHEN? (before or after they died?)
- WHY was it preached?
