1 Peter 4:6 BSB — MannaFest

1 Peter 4:6

That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

KJV

For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

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Commentary

5 voices

Irenaeus

Against Heresies (Book IV, Chapter 33), Section 1 (202)

...all the prophets announced His two advents: the one, indeed, in which He became a man subject to stripes, and knowing what it is to bear infirmity, and sat upon the foal of an ass, and was a stone rejected by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek; while He gathered from the ends of the earth into His Father's fold the children who were scattered abroad, and remembered His own dead ones who had formerly fallen asleep, and came down to them that He might deliver them...

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

Clement of Alexandria

From the Latin Translation of Cassiodorus (215)

"Who shall give account," he says, "to Him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead." These are trained through previous judgments. Therefore he adds, "For this cause was the Gospel preached also to the dead"-to us, namely, who were at one time unbelievers. "That they might be judged according to men," he says, "in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." Because, that is, they have fallen away from faith; whilst they are still in the flesh they are judged according to preceding judgments, that they might repent.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

For to this end was the gospel preached - Ever since it was given to Adam. To them that are now dead - In their several generations. That they might be judged - That though they were judged.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Some understand this difficult place thus: For this cause was the gospel preached to all the faithful of old, who are now dead in Christ, that thereby they might be taught and encouraged to bear the unrighteous judgments and persecutions which the rage of men put upon them in the flesh, but might live in the Spirit unto God.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

"Dead" must be taken in the same literal sense as in 1Pe 4:5, which refutes the explanation "dead" in sins. Moreover, the absence of the Greek article does not necessarily restrict the sense of "dead" to particular dead persons, for there is no Greek article in 1Pe 4:5 also, where "the dead" is universal in meaning.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

17 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
εἰς	eis	To	G1519 →
τοῦτο	touto	this [end]	G3778 →
γὰρ	gar	indeed	G1063 →
καὶ	kai	even	G2532 →
νεκροῖς	nekrois	to [the] dead	G3498 →
εὐηγγελίσθη,	euēngelisthē	it was evangelised,	G2097 →
ἵνα	ina	so that	G2443 →
κριθῶσιν	krithōsin	they may be judged	G2919 →
μὲν	men	indeed	G3303 →
κατὰ	kata	according to	G2596 →
ἀνθρώπους	anthrōpous	men	G444 →
σαρκί,	sarki	in [the] flesh,	G4561 →
ζῶσιν	zōsin	they may live	G2198 →
δὲ	de	however	G1161 →
κατὰ	kata	according to	G2596 →
θεὸν	theon	God	G2316 →
πνεύματι.¶	pneumati	in [the] spirit.	G4151 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Romans 8:2
For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
leads to
- Romans 6:14
  For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
- 2 Corinthians 3:17
  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- Romans 6:18
  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
- 2 Corinthians 3:6
  And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
- Romans 8:10–11
  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Through
1 Peter 3:19
in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison
leads to
- Isaiah 61:1
  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty…
- Isaiah 42:7
  to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.
- Isaiah 49:9
  to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill.

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Peter's Denial — the restored sufferer — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

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Continue: 1 Peter 4 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About 1 Peter

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About 1 Peter