This is a very difficult verse, although the Greek text is deceptively simple, and a literal translation of it is rather easy to make (compare Revised Standard Version). To translate it meaningfully, however, requires a rather thorough examination of the possible interpretations and of the various ways of expressing these meanings in a clear and understandable way. One other difficulty is the possibility of the translator allowing his own theological presuppositions to influence his understanding and translation of the passage, especially if such presuppositions contradict the conclusions arrived at after a careful analysis.
In verse 5, the writer has mentioned the judgment that awaits both the living and the dead. This present verse takes two ideas in the previous verse, namely, judgment and the dead, and incorporates them into a rather complex theological statement. The close connection between the two verses must necessarily require that the interpretation of verse 6 should be dependent in many ways to our understanding of verse 5.
The Good News was preached does not have an explicit subject; possible subjects are Christian evangelists or preachers, or Christ himself. Favoring the former is that in many places in the New Testament, when the passive form of “preach” is used, it is Christ who is the content and not the agent; in other words, it is Christ who is preached, and not Christ doing the preaching (compare Acts 5.42; Gal 1.16). But against it is the aorist tense of the verb, indicating that the preaching happened at a particular time and place in the past; if Christian preachers were meant, it would have been more natural to expect the present tense, that is, “is preached” or “is being preached.” Favoring the latter (that is, Christ doing the preaching) is the fact that it is the more natural interpretation, especially if one connects this verse with 3.19, 20, and if one understands Christ to be the judge referred to in verse 5. The choice depends not only on these factors, but also on how one understands the rest of the verse.
It is not easy to ascertain what the dead refers to, and the history of the interpretation of this verse bears out the difficulties. The various interpretations can be summarized as follows:
(1) The dead refers to the spiritually dead (compare Eph 2.1). This, however, would require giving another meaning to the same expression in verse 5, whereas it is more natural to expect the same meaning. Furthermore, the aorist tense of was preached argues against this interpretation.
(2) The dead in general, that is, the people who are dead. Again the aorist tense of the verb argues against this.
(3) The Old Testament saints, that is, the people in the Old Testament who trusted in God; the Good News was preached to them in Hades, which enabled them to put their trust in Christ. This would also necessitate understanding the dead in verse 5 differently from verse 6.
(4) People who are dead, but who had the opportunity to hear the Good News while they were alive. This would require taking Christian missionaries as the implied agent of “was preached.”
(5) Members of the Christian communities to whom Peter was writing, who have since died, but who were alive when they heard and believed the Good News. A close parallel then would be (1 Thessalonians especially 4.13-18), where Paul deals with a problem worrying the Thessalonian Christians, namely, what happens to those Christians who have died before Christ comes again. Favoring this interpretation is its relevance to the situation of the Christians at that time who perhaps were worried about the plight of the members of their fellowship who have died. Furthermore, they were perhaps being put to task by their pagan neighbors regarding the value of their faith, since they too, like other people, die, and even more violently. But arguing against this position is, once again, the change of meaning for the dead. Here, it would mean “the Christian dead.” Furthermore, this would require taking Christian missionaries as the implicit agent of “was preached.”
(6) All the dead before the coming of Christ. This would connect this verse with 3.19, 20. The dead heard the Gospel when it was preached to the “spirits”; these include both the righteous and the unrighteous. This would not require a change of meaning for the dead. Furthermore, it is connected with a theme which is already mentioned in the letter. And finally, it would require taking Christ as the agent of “preached.” All in all, then, this 6th interpretation seems closest to what the writer meant.
The next half of the verse contains three antitheses which can be seen more clearly in a literal translation (compare Revised Standard Version).
judged – they might live
in the flesh – in the spirit
like men – like God
Since judged is in contrast to live, it is best perhaps to understand judged here differently from that in verse 5 where it refers clearly to the last judgment. Two other interpretations seem possible. (1) “Judgment” here refers to the experience of people while alive, such as the experience of persecution and difficulties (compare Jerusalem Bible “in their life on earth, they had been through the judgment that comes to all humanity”). This would require taking “in the flesh” as the sphere in which they were judged, hence, “while they were alive on earth.” But this does not do justice to the antithetical relationship between judged and live. (2) “Judgment” here may refer to the experience of death which is common to all peoples, death itself being considered a form of judgment, especially of sin (compare Rom 5.12; 6.23). “In the flesh” then would refer to their condition as people, that is, their physical existence, in contrast to their spiritual existence. A way of expressing the meaning would be: “though they have died, as all people must die” (compare Barclay “although in this human life they had received the judgment of death which all receive…”). This would do justice to the antithetical relationships which have already been mentioned.
Although they are dead physically, yet they may in their spiritual existence live as God lives. For in their spiritual existence, see 3.18. The word for live is different from that used in verse 2; there it refers to normal, day to day living, but here it refers to real life, eternal life, a life that is a gift from God and which results from a right relationship with him.
As God lives is literally “according to God,” which could mean (1) live in the presence of God, (2) live according to the will of God (for example, New International Version, Barclay “live as God wants them to live”), or (3) live like God. The third interpretation would at least do justice to the antithesis, which is literally “according to man”—“according to God.” Whereas they die as all people die, so they live as God lives. And the life that they now possess is described as a life similar to the very life of God himself, which is a theological way of confessing that this life from God is beyond the capacity of mere mortals to describe.
In view of the wide range of differences of interpretation involved in verse 6, there are obviously a number of alternative ways of rendering this passage, most of which have been suggested by the various paraphrases which have been given of the different interpretations. In addition, however, there are some lexical problems, as well as syntactic relations, which need to be considered purely in terms of the problems of restructuring in other languages.
The transitional pronoun That probably refers to the entire content of verse 5, and it may be made somewhat more specific in some languages as “it was for that purpose” or “so that people would know that.”
The passive expression the Good News was preached also to the dead may be made active with Christ as the agent in the form “Christ preached the Good News to the dead” or “… told those who were dead about the Good News.”
If in their physical existence is interpreted as “while they were alive,” then to those who had been judged in their physical existence as everyone is judged may be rendered as “to those whom God had judged while they were alive even as he judges everyone.”
The expression it was preached to them is an echo of the earlier statement the Good News was preached also to the dead. Accordingly, one may translate it was preached to them as “the Good News was preached to them” or “Christ preached the Good News to them.”
The phrase in their spiritual existence is a very difficult phrase to translate adequately so that it will be fully meaningful to the reader. It is possible to translate in their spiritual existence as “in their lives as led by God’s Spirit” or possibly “as they live as spirits.” The choice of one or another of these renderings depends upon the exegesis of the passage as a whole.
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .