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†. 1Pet 3:18-20 . .Why, even Christ died once for all time concerning sins, a
righteous person for unrighteous ones, that he might lead you to God, he
being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit. (Note the
language. He wasn't made alive as a spirit, but rather; in the spirit.)
. . . In this state also he went his way and preached to the spirits in prison,
who had once been disobedient when the patience of God was waiting in
Noah's days, while the ark was being constructed, in which a few people,
that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.
One popular theory regarding the "spirits in prison" is that they were
renegade angels that somehow mated with women to produce a curious
species of hominids called Nephilim.
That theory seems to me the least tenable since Jesus Christ died to ransom
his fellow men from the wrath of God rather than angels; so preaching to
them would be a waste of time and resources. And anyway, according to
Matt 25:41 the fate of fallen angels is set in concrete so preaching to them
would be futile.
It's far more likely that the spirits in prison are the remains of antediluvians
who drowned in the Flood. That being the case, then Christ would have
preached to them not after they were dead, but while the ark was under
construction; viz: the spirit state in which Christ preached to the people in
Noah's day would have been the one identified below.
†. Gen 6:3 . . After that Jehovah said: My spirit shall not act toward man
indefinitely
Jehovah's spirit of course doesn't act towards men via close encounters of a
third kind; but rather through holy men; e.g. Abel (Luke 11:50-51), Enoch
(Jude 1:14), and Noah. (2Pet 2:5)
According to the word-for-word Greek version of 1Pet 1:11 in the Kingdom
Interlinear, Christ's spirit state was active all through the Old Testament. In
point of fact, in every major English translation of 1Pet 1:10-12, the spirit of
Christ was active in all the prophets.
It seems very logical to me that Jehovah's spirit as per Gen 6:3, and Christ's
spirit state as per 1Pet 3:18 are speaking of the same spirit. It's not too
difficult to understand why the Watchtower Society would not want that to
be true.
OBJECTION: Christ had not yet been put to death in the flesh back in Noah's
day while the ark was under construction.
RESPONSE: Christ was existing in a spirit state way, way back in time prior
to the creation of the cosmos with all of its forms of life, matter, and energy.
He didn't have to die to get like that.
†. John 1:1-3 . . In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was a god. This one was in the beginning with God. All
things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one
thing came into existence.
I wonder sometimes if John Q and Jane Doe Jehovah's Witness have ever
questioned why the Word of John 1:1-3 is called that name. Well; it's not too
hard to figure out.
†. John 1:18 . . No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god
who is in the bosom position with the Father is the one that has explained
him.
†. John 5:37 . . Also, the Father who sent me has himself borne witness
about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his figure.
The inaccessible behind the curtain has never communicated with humans
directly: not once. Humans have been in touch with the inaccessible
indirectly via the Word ever since the garden of Eden.
†. Gen 3:8 . . Later they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the
garden about the breezy part of the day, and the man and his wife went into
hiding from the face of Jehovah God in between the trees of the garden.
The Hebrew word for "voice" is somewhat ambiguous. It can not only
indicate a vocal sound, but lots of other kinds of noises too; e.g. horns,
crackling, snapping, cackling, bleating, tweeting, roaring, whooshing,
hissing, barking, thudding, whistling, and booming, et al. But if the sound
they heard was vocal, then it wasn't the inaccessible Being's voice, it was
the Word's
In a nutshell; the Word of John 1:1-3 not only speaks for the inaccessible
behind the curtain, but also speaks as the inaccessible; so much so that
oftentimes you can't tell them apart. Ancient rabbis, baffled by this
mysterious voice whose name is apparently the same as his master's; call it
Metatron in sacred Jewish literature.
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