1 Peter 4:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Such men live for Christ alone, as Paul says: "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God" (Gal 2:20).

Therefore, they say, those who thus died for Christ judge themselves in the flesh with respect to their former careless and dissipated life. They live in the spirit, that is, a life according to the example of Christ.

For condemnation of their former conduct makes them more cheerful and more attentive regarding the present. This is how they explain it.

One might approve such an explanation, but the saying is still not fully clarified. Since it was said above concerning those in Hades that "He preached to the spirits in prison" (1 Pet 3:19), the present saying must be referred there.

It is expressed as a reason, and should not be regarded as a new statement.

Therefore we say this. Since the apostle previously said, "to Him Who is ready to judge the living and the dead," one could object: where are the living judged, and where the dead?

He confirms this by what was said above: that He preached also to the spirits in prison, and that this preaching was in judgment, that is, unto condemnation.

Some, those conscious of having lived a good life, immediately united themselves to Goodness when It appeared there. But the evil were filled with shame by this, and received condemnation for themselves.

This is what "Judge of the dead" means.

Judge of the living: when the Lord came into this corruptible life, men found condemnation for themselves in His coming. Some, the good, zealously accepted His teaching. Others, the evil, refused the truth and closed their own eyes to it.

Therefore it is said: "For judgment," that is, for condemnation, "I came into this world" (Jn 9:39). Thus Christ is Judge of the living and the dead.

"That they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." "Having been judged in the flesh." The complete thought is this.

When the Lord visited those in Hades, some who had lived according to the flesh in this world were condemned. Others, who had lived spiritually, either rose together with the Lord, for "many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised" (Mt 27:52), or were quickened by good hope.

It also refers to others who at different times and in various ways received manifold recompense and fearful calamities from divine judgments.

These people underwent punishment not so much for ignorance of God, as for the wrongs they inflicted on one another.

To them, according to St. Peter, the great proclamation of salvation was preached. They had already been judged according to men in the flesh.

That is, through life in the flesh they had received punishment for offenses against one another. This was so that they might live according to God in the spirit.

That is, while in Hades, they received the proclamation of the knowledge of God, believing in the Savior Who descended into Hades to save the dead.

Therefore, to understand this passage of Holy Scripture, let us take it thus: for this reason the Gospel was preached also to the dead, who had been judged according to men in the flesh, that they might live according to God in the spirit.

Or perhaps Holy Scripture mystically calls "dead" those who bear in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus (2 Cor 4:10). To them the divine Gospel has truly been given because of their works.

For the Gospel establishes renunciation of fleshly life and confession of spiritual life.

They always die according to man, that is, to human life in the flesh and according to this age. Yet they live according to God by the spirit alone, like the divine Apostle (Gal 2:20; Gal 5:25) and his fellow workers.

They do not live their own life, but have only Christ living in them. Thus the dead for God's sake are judged in the flesh in this age.

They undergo many afflictions, torments, and hardships, and they bear persecutions and thousands of kinds of temptations with joy.

What do the words written in the Catholic Epistle of Peter mean: "That they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit"?

These words are spoken of the people of the time of the Flood, who remained in complete ignorance of God and were hardened in evil habits.

Now, those sins in which they sinned against one another, He forgave them by means of the trials, wars, raids, and varied events which occurred among them.

But the sins bound up with ignorance of Him and with impiety He did not forgive them. This was so that, through faith in Him when in His love for mankind He descended into the regions of Hades, the sin of impiety might be forgiven those who believed in Him.

Thus they would live according to God in the spirit, having, of course, been judged in the flesh, as it is said, for transgressions against men.

Compare the thought about forgiveness of sins against other people through purification by misfortunes in qu. dub. 189.

A more extensive interpretation of 1 Pet 4:6, which includes the ideas of qu. dub. I, 37, is found in Thal. 7: PG 90, 284B.

Yes, the Apostle answers. All the dead will be judged, including non-Christians, and even those who did not hear the preaching about Christ here on earth.

The proof is that the Gospel was preached even to the dead. That is, the Gospel concerning Christ as Redeemer, and concerning the work of redemption accomplished by Him, was proclaimed to them.

Where does the force of the proof lie? The expression “the Gospel was preached to the dead” plainly points to the teaching already set forth by the Apostle concerning the descent of Jesus Christ into Hades.

There He preached to those abiding there about the completion of the salvation of the whole human race, and therefore of their salvation also, by Christ the Savior (1 Pet 3:19-20).

The purpose was that those among them who were ready and able might believe and receive salvation. Those who were not ready and not able, not believing, would be subject to condemnation.

In that apostolic saying Christ is presented as preaching the Gospel only to those who lived in Noah’s days and reviled that righteous man and God.

Yet from them one may and must conclude that Christ’s preaching in Hades extended to all people who had died before Christ. Noah’s contemporaries are set forth only as an example; compare the note on 1 Pet 3:19-20.

So here, in this saying, all those to whom Christ preached the Gospel in Hades are apparently presented as an example.

That is, the Apostle apparently expresses the general thought that the Gospel concerning Christ will be preached to all who have died without faith in Christ and without knowledge of Him.

This will be like the way Christ Himself preached it to all who had died before His coming. How and when this will happen, the Apostle does not reveal.

Yet his thought appears to be precisely this. Sacred Scripture does not properly refer the decision of the lot of those who die outside Christianity to their death.

It refers it rather to the day of Christ’s last judgment (Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31, and elsewhere). It therefore appears to suppose that a change in their lot after death is possible.

This is possible only on the assumption that the Gospel is proclaimed to them, and that they either turn to Him or disbelieve it.

In this sense, the saying under consideration, in connection with the preceding one, may be paraphrased as follows.

Christ’s judgment will extend both to the living and to the dead, to all without exception. It will include those who heard Christ’s Gospel here on earth and those who did not hear it and did not know Christ.

The proof of this latter thought is that Christ Himself preached the Gospel in Hades to all who had died before His first coming.

It will also be preached to all who die before His second coming for the dread Last Judgment. Then all will give account to Him and receive recompense accordingly.

At this judgment those who revile you will also give account, even if they die before that time.

The Apostle expresses this thought about the preaching of the Gospel to all the dead from the first to the second coming in relation to Christ’s preaching at His descent to the spirits then in Hades.

What was the purpose of this preaching by Christ? It was that those to whom the Gospel was preached, having been judged according to men in the flesh, might live according to God in the spirit.

Those to whom Christ preached, according to the Apostle’s direct indication, were Noah’s contemporaries. They were judged according to men in the flesh.

That is, they were condemned to destruction by the Flood, as God’s punishment for their disobedience and impiety.

For this they were also subject to judgment in the soul, that is, to eternal death. But by Christ’s preaching the possibility was opened to them of escaping this judgment.

They could live according to God in the spirit, that is, receive salvation, or blessedness, in union with God, if they repented and believed in Him, through the Lord’s preaching, as Redeemer of the world.

The same will happen to those who die outside Christianity before the time of Christ’s second coming. The Gospel will likewise be preached to them, as it was to those who were in Hades before Christ’s first coming.

This may be indicated by the use of verbs in the future tense, “they will receive,” “they will live,” as in the Slavonic translation, instead of the past tense; compare Theophylact.

If such an interpretation may be accepted, then one cannot fail to see that the Apostle’s thought extends further than is needed to prove the preceding statement.

It is broader than the point that needed proof. From this also the somewhat veiled, or intentionally unclear, character of the whole saying becomes understandable.

But human justice extends only to the body. It can do nothing to the soul. Only God can destroy the soul (Mt 10:28).

But He also can save the soul from eternal destruction and grant it blessed life in communion with Him.

This is the mercy which the Lord Jesus, the merciful Judge, showed to the souls shut up in Hades when He Himself descended into Hades. He preached salvation to them and gave them life.

They were in spiritual death and were deprived of the feeling of the joy of communion with the Lord. The Lord Jesus stirred spiritual life within them by granting them the grace of communion with God.

The Lord Jesus always shows this same mercy to sinners descending into Hades. As Master of life and death, He has the keys of Hades and death (Rev 1:18).

With them He opens the door for the souls of sinners to come out of Hades through the prayers of the Church. But these prayers are effective only for souls that before death laid the beginnings of repentance.

Can something similar be said of Noah's contemporaries, who resisted his preaching of repentance throughout its whole duration? One must suppose that among them also there were some who did not remain stubborn and impenitent to the end.

They did not believe Noah's words when he threatened them with the punishment of drowning. But when the threats began to be fulfilled, and the waters of the Flood overtook them, they wavered in their stubbornness.

They lifted up a repentant cry to God. They were not saved from the Flood, and God's judgment punished them. Yet their humble disposition saved them from eternal destruction.

Christ's Gospel of salvation was received by them with faith in the Savior, joined to a repentant disposition. The beginning of this repentance had been laid by them before death.

They were condemned to death according to the flesh, but they came alive in the spirit according to the judgment of the merciful Judge.