Jesus and the “Harrowing of Hell”: An Interpretation of 1 Peter 3:18-22

On the Saturday just before Easter, I spent much of the day studying 1 Peter 3:18-22. This study came while the Roman Catholic Church was still reeling over Pope Francis’ admission and subsequent retraction of his view that unbelievers do not go to “hell” when they die. This Catholic incident caused many Christian theologians, scholars, and bloggers to discuss the issue, and, particularly since it was close to Easter, the issue of the state of Jesus on the Saturday between his death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. There are different traditions which speculate on what Jesus was doing or not doing that Saturday. Was he simply dead in the tomb, both body and spirit? Or did his spirit leave his body at death and go elsewhere? If the latter, then where did it go and what did it do?

One particular and often popular theory is that Jesus’ spirit descended into either “hell” or the realm of the dead and made some form of proclamation to the beings there. There are many different formulations to this theory, largely dependent upon the identity of the beings in this otherworldly realm. While I do not feel the need to analyze the various and sundry scripture verses used as evidence to construct the main idea of this theory, I did want to tackle the key passage of this theory: 1 Peter 3:18-22. This passage is the lynchpin holding the tradition of Jesus’ “Harrowing of Hell” together. All the other verses mentioned in this tradition are either used as evidence to buttress or elucidate the central interpretation of this passage.

Let me start off by saying that if this passage has been sorely misinterpreted (and it has) it’s only because this is a very difficult passage, one of the most difficult in the New Testament. Why is this so? Basically, in order to make his point, Peter delves into some pretty deep theology and is, perhaps, using some extra-biblical apocalyptic mythology to make that point.

The first thing that needs to be mentioned about this passage is its context within the overall purpose of Peter’s letter. The recipients are Christians living in Asia Minor (1:1) who are suffering under serious persecution (1:6; 2:4, 7, 11, 19; 3:13-14, 17; 4:4, 12-19; 5:10). Peter is attempting to encourage them on the one hand and give them wisdom on how to avoid persecution on the other (2:11-20; 3:1-13; 4:2).

In order to encourage, he likens them to stones being built into a holy house or temple (2:4-5). This is significant because the imagery of believers as a temple is common metaphor in the New Testament for the corporate nature of Christ, and the idea that all believers are summed up in Christ so that what can be said of him can be said of them. Allow me to quote myself:

“We have the voluminous references to people being “in Christ” throughout the New Testament (Romans 8:2, 39; 12:5; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30; 15:18, 22; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:4; 3:28; 6:15; Ephesians 1:3, 10, 12, 20). Indeed, the followers of Jesus - the Church itself - are frequently called the “body of Christ” (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 3:6; 5:23; Colossians 1:18, 24). Not only that, Christian believers as a group are referred to as a Temple (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21). To put this altogether: believers are in Christ, they are the body of Christ, they are a Temple, Jesus is a Temple, and believers are a part of that Temple body.”

The corporate nature of Christ and the Church is a fundamental concept of theology and runs all the way through the New Testament, being based upon several ancient Hebrew concepts.

In the context of 1 Peter then, not only is Christ is our example (2:21-25; 3:18; 4:1), but, because we are incorporated into Christ, we share in his sufferings (4:13-14). Therefore, if the sufferings of Christ (1:11; 2:7, 21-24; 4:1; 5:1) lead to his glory (1:11, 21; 3:22; 4:13; 5:1, 4, 10) then our sufferings will also lead to glory in Christ (1:7-8; 2:5, 9-10; 4:13-14; 5:1, 4, 6, 10). Thus, the sufferings the recipients of the letter are currently experiencing will lead to glory in Christ.

Obviously, I’ve given a very brief summary, skipping over a lot of important detail that is a part of Peter’s argument. Yet, it is within this context that we have our particular passage.

“For Christ also suffered for the sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison” (v. 18-19).

In verse 18, Peter describes the sufferings of Jesus unto death and THEN immediately his resurrection: made alive in the spirit. It was the power of the spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 1:4; 8:11). Peter then follows this with “in which also” (en hōi kai), meaning in the spirit. This sequence makes clear that whatever is happening is happening after Jesus’ resurrection but by the power of the same spirit that raised him from the dead. This means that whatever proclamation Christ is making he did so after his resurrection and not between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

If these two verses tell us what this passage is not saying, then what actually is it saying? Who or what are these spirits? They were once disobedient in the time before Noah (v. 20). Peter then uses Jesus’ proclamation to them to reference the story of Noah’s salvation (v. 20) as a metaphor for baptism (v. 21) which symbolizes the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (v. 21; see also Romans 6:3-7). Once again, we have the language of participation in Christ. Baptism symbolizes a believer’s participation in Christ, specifically participation in his death and resurrection.

Peter immediately follows this second reference to Jesus’ resurrection identifying him as one “who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities had been subjected to him” (v. 22).

I believe verse 22 is the key verse in helping us understand the meaning of this passage.

One of the central beliefs of Christianity is that God enthroned Jesus as King of the world, following his death and resurrection. Essentially, Jesus is currently ruling this world, sitting at the right hand of God (Mark 14:62; Matthew 22:44; 25:33-34; 26:64; Daniel 7:13; Acts 2:33; 7:55-56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; Revelation 3:21; Psalm 110). Having been made king over the world, all power and authority has been given to him (Matthew 28:18) and all powers and authorities have been subjected to him (Ephesians 1:20-22; Philippians 2:8-11; 1 Corinthians 15:24; Colossians 1:13; 2:10, 15; Jude 1:25; Revelation 2:26-27; 12:10; Matthew 9:8; 21:23; Mark 3:15; John 5:27; 17:2; Psalm 110).

This is what Peter is saying in verse 22. Following is death and resurrection, God enthroned Jesus as King and ruler of the world and then gave him power and authority over all other power and authority on earth. Ephesians 1:20-22 is another clear and compact example of this teaching.

Now what are these powers and authorities? Here we get into some very deep and complicated theology. Other than the Hebrew conception of corporate influence (of which this is closely related), there is probably nothing theologically deeper than the biblical conception of power relations which was more readily understood in the ancient world but which seems completely foreign to the contemporary post-Enlightenment worldview.

Notice how Peter refers to the subjugation of “angels and authorities” in verse 22. He does so because “angels” (aggelos) were considered a form of power alongside numerous others identified by such terms as archai, archontes, thronos, kyriotes, kyrios, dynameis, and exousia among others. Walter Wink has done immense work in analyzing the power terms of the Bible and they help us understand the interaction between the “spiritual” and the physical. Since a significant part of the book I am currently writing is an application of Wink’s theory of biblical power relations to ministry - specifically the church - allow me to quote myself.

“Wink proposes that ‘“principalities and powers” are the inner and outer aspects of any given manifestation of power. As the inner aspect they are the spirituality of institutions, the “within” of corporate structures and systems, the inner essence of outer organizations of power. As the outer aspect they are political systems, appointed officials, the “chair” of an organization, laws.’ He arrives at this conclusion by surveying and analyzing the whole range of New Testament usage of the language of Power with corroborating support from the contemporaneous literature. He concludes that the Biblical writers employed interchangeable terms of Power which can refer either to the visible or invisible aspects of any given manifestation of Power, or even both together, as the context required. The language employed indicates that, in the Biblical view, the Powers are both visible and invisible, both earthly and heavenly, both spiritual and institutional. Wink notes the following:

‘The clearest statement of this is Col. 1:16 which should have been made the standard for all discussions of the Powers: “For in him [the Son] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones (thronoi) or dominions (kyriotētes) or principalities (archai) or authorities (exousia) – all things were created through him and for him.” The parallelism of the Greek, ably rendered here by the RSV, indicates that these Powers are themselves both earthly and heavenly, visible and invisible.’

                “In this view, the Biblical thought is that there is a spirituality behind (or within) physical manifestations of power. Behind every ruler, behind every nation, behind every administrator, institution, church, and pastor, there is a spirituality at work. The Powers possess simultaneously both an outer, physical manifestation and an inner spiritual essence, or gestalt corporate culture, or collective personality. The spiritual Powers, specifically, then are not to be understood as separate ‘heavenly entities’ but as ‘the inner aspect of material or tangible manifestations of power’. … Every business, corporation, club, organization, school, government, denomination, and church has this combination of both outer and inner, visible and invisible, physical and spiritual. The Powers are both spiritual and institutional.

“Importantly, these Powers are not fundamentally bad but the good creation of a good God. However, all of them have fallen into corruption, having turned towards idolatry, becoming more or less evil in intent. It is when a Power turns towards idolatry, placing its own will above that of God’s, however consciously or unconsciously, that the Power becomes demonic. Thus, ‘demons’ are the psychic spiritual powers emanated by organizations, institutions, individuals or sub-aspects of individuals whose energies are bent on overpowering others in a radical rejection of and idolatrous estrangement from God.”

                This is why Peter includes angels, along with authorities and powers, as having been subjected to Christ at his enthronement following is death and resurrection. Angels, like demons, are the inner spirituality of a given manifestation of power. If all power in heaven and on earth, spiritual and physical, has been given to Jesus and all power has been subjected to him, then, naturally, angels have been subjected to him.

Now let’s go back to verse 19 of 1 Peter 3. What are these “spirits” in prison to whom Christ made some proclamation after his death and resurrection? Verse 22 suggests we should understand these spirits as referring to the inner manifestations of particular powers. These would have been powers that became disobedient, fell into corruption, turned towards idolatry, and became evil in intent.

What the proclamation entailed is somewhat uncertain. The context suggests it probably consisted of a declaration of Jesus’ victory on the cross and the disarmament of the powers. You can see this very idea in Colossians 2:9-15. In this passage, Paul speaks about the incorporation of believers in Christ in which they participate in his death and resurrection – symbolized in baptism (vv. 10-11) – and how the forgiveness of sins defeated the rulers and authorities. In doing so, Paul says that Christ “made a public display of them, having triumphed over them” (v. 15). I think the proclamation, like the public display and triumph, is a way of Christ’s victory over the corrupt, disobedient spiritual powers.

But these particular spiritual powers were in “prison” when Christ’s proclaimed his victory over the powers. What Peter means by “prison” (phulake) is a bit ambiguous. The word can mean “prison”, “guard”, “post”, or “hold”. Revelation refers to spiritual powers being in prison. In this apocalyptic and symbolic work, the prison (phulake) in 20:7 refers to the “abyss” where the Satan is bound. In the Gospel of Luke’s account of the Gerasene demonic (8:26-38; cf. Matthew 8:28-34 and Mark 5:1-20), the demons beg Jesus not to send them to the abyss when he exorcises them from the man (v. 31). A request Jesus grants. However, in Revelation 18:2, after the fall of “Babylon”, the place becomes a phulake for demons and unclean spirits. Again, this could mean prison or post. But if Peter is referring to these same spirits in 2 Peter 2:4 when he refers to angels being cast into “pits of darkness” (seirois zophou) and “consigned to Tartarus” (tararōsas) then perhaps prison is meant (see also Jude 1:6 and Enoch 20:2). This seems probable. These would then be disobedient spiritual powers during the events recorded in Genesis 6 that were somehow spiritually imprisoned. Of course, the Genesis account does not explicitly mention powers. The idea of disobedient angels imprisoned before the time of Noah comes from the non-canonical Book of Enoch (18:14-16). This is a mythological and apocalyptic book that gives a fictional and symbolic account of spiritual powers. It seems that Peter was speaking of a forgotten tradition using a literary reference in order to refer to Christ’s subjugation of the Powers. Why do so?

I believe that Peter, like Paul in Colossians 2:9-15, is attempting to connect the believers participation in Christ’s death and resurrection, symbolized in baptism (v. 21), with the subjugation of the powers that followed that death and resurrection. From 2 Peter 2:5, we know that Peter likes to use the story of Noah as an example. In verses 20-21 of our present passage, Peter speaks of Noah’s family being “brought safely through the water” and then says this corresponds with how baptism saves through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, having understood this passage this way, we can put Peter’s argument this way:

“You are suffering under persecution. But because you are believers participating in Christ, specifically through his death and resurrection, symbolized in baptism, then you share in his sufferings and he shares in yours. Jesus’ sufferings unto death led to his resurrection to glory. So shall your sufferings in Christ. Jesus’ resurrection into glory enthroned him and subjugated the powers of the world to him, including the ancient powers of the world. And just as in ancient times God saved Noah’s family from judgment through the waters, so God shall save you through the water of baptism which symbolizes participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which leads to glory and victory. So follow the example of Jesus Christ, being obedient to God’s will (1:2, 14, 22: 2:14-15, 20; 3:6, 17) which leads to a good conscience (2:19; 3:16, 21), not disobedient which leads to judgment (2:8; 3:1, 20; 4:17), so you patiently bear under unjust persecution and find favor with God (2:19-20).”

                I think this interpretation makes sense of this very difficult passage.