From: CWestf5155 (CWestf5155@aol.com)
Date: Fri Dec 05 1997 - 10:32:21 EST
Dear Rick,
In a message dated 97-12-05 09:03:25 EST, Ben Crick writes:
> But to business. I came across this just now:
>
> "NOTE 1, p 379. ~1 Peter III. 18-22, AND THE JEWISH LITERATURE.
> "The idea that the key to the obscure passage in the third chapter of
> First Peter is to be sought in the non-canonical Jewish books, is by
> no means new. Among others, Daniel Heinsius, as we gather from
> Rosenmueller's /Scholia/, looked to the Book of Enoch for the explanation
> of the paragraph, and understood the punishment of angels to be the
> thing referred to. In adopting this line of interpretation Baur was
> followed by Volkmar, Ewald, and others. More recently the same idea
> has been revived by Friedrich Spitta, who gives it also a new form.
>
> "He takes the /preaching/ to be one of /judgment/, and the 'spirits in
> prison' to be fallen angels. But whereas Baur supposed the preaching
> to have occured after Christ's death, Spitta understands it to have
> taken place before the incarnation. He agrees, therefore, with those
> who regard the Subject [sc. of EKHRUXEN] who is in view as the pre-
> incarnate Logos; and he elaborates his interpretation with much
> acuteness, bringing it into relation with other statements in the two
> Petrine Epistles, making large use of the many passages in the
> pseudepigraphic books which speak of the punishment of angels, and
> directing attention to others which assign to Enoch characteristics
> elsewhere given to Messiah. See his /Christi Predigt an die Geister/."
>
I should have included this information on the last posting, but William
Dalton did an extensive study and survey of the literature on I Peter
3:18-4:6: *Christ's Proclamation to the Spirits*. He published it in 1965,
but then revised it recently, but I don't have the new edition on hand.
I can't find Harris' article in his bibliography, but perhaps Dalton includes
it in the later edition.
Dalton agrees with Baur (in Ben's post above) and suggests suggests that *Made
proclamation to the spirits in prison* refers to the ascension of Christ*,
(brought to life in the spirit is His resurrection, and *in which He went* is
His ascension). * Made proclamation to the spirits in prison * refers to
Christ's proclamation of victory over hostile angelic powers on the occasion
of His ascension--like Paul's subjection of the powers and principalities.
I think the answer lies in sorting out the differences between the theme, the
subject and the actor, with the emphasis on the theme. Of course, much of the
divergence in interpretation is also based upon different views on the theme.
Cindy Westfall
PhD Student Roehampton
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