1st Peter 4:1-6
Now this little passage, set for today, is one of the most difficult in all of Holy Scripture we have looked at, so here goes. The writer is helping his reader with that important piece of thought which later entered into the Apostles Creed, “He descended into hell”, an article of faith, and which the Church worldwide still professes.
This deals with the difficult concept of what happens after death. For some branches of the Christian faith the word, purgatory resolves the issue, but not ours. Christ was sinless therefore he didn’t (couldn’t) go to the place of condemnation which is how we view hell: rather he went in to the next life (the place the Jews termed sheol) and there preached Good News to those good people who resided in that shadow place but were righteous and deserving of grace.
Those who have rejected the way of life which is sin (verse 3) may be judged by their former friends but that doesn’t matter – what matters is the judgement of Christ. For this reason those good people who had entered into the next life (sheol) were given the Good News that they might rise with Christ to new life in heaven.
Difficult, yes, I know, but if we skip every passage we struggle with then we might be missing a lot of our scriptures.
Now this little passage, set for today, is one of the most difficult in all of Holy Scripture we have looked at, so here goes. The writer is helping his reader with that important piece of thought which later entered into the Apostles Creed, “He descended into hell”, an article of faith, and which the Church worldwide still professes.
This deals with the difficult concept of what happens after death. For some branches of the Christian faith the word, purgatory resolves the issue, but not ours. Christ was sinless therefore he didn’t (couldn’t) go to the place of condemnation which is how we view hell: rather he went in to the next life (the place the Jews termed sheol) and there preached Good News to those good people who resided in that shadow place but were righteous and deserving of grace.
Those who have rejected the way of life which is sin (verse 3) may be judged by their former friends but that doesn’t matter – what matters is the judgement of Christ. For this reason those good people who had entered into the next life (sheol) were given the Good News that they might rise with Christ to new life in heaven.
Difficult, yes, I know, but if we skip every passage we struggle with then we might be missing a lot of our scriptures.