OVERVIEW: Since Christ suffered in the flesh, we who follow him must also turn away from the desires of the flesh and live in the Spirit of God. Christ was passible in his flesh (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA) but impassible in his divinity (SEVERUS). Christ did not die in his divinity (ATHANASIUS) but in his flesh (NICETA). The saints who submitted their bodies to martyrdom at the hands of violent persecutors abstained from sin as far as they could, right up to the end of their lives (BEDE). So must we now depart from the evil deeds of pagan life and not imitate those who have relapsed into debauchery (SEVERUS, THEOPHYLACT), who are surprised when we do not join them (SEVERUS, OECUMENIUS).
After his death on the cross Christ preached in hell in the same way as he had preached to those who were alive on earth (OECUMENIUS). Christ went to hell to preach the gospel to the dead because he wanted to give those who had already been judged in the flesh a chance to live in the Spirit. The Fathers did not believe that by doing this Christ gave everyone in hell the chance to go to heaven. On the contrary, he went to hell to liberate only those Gentiles who had died before his coming but whom he had chosen to belong to his people. Whether “the dead” in this passage means unbelievers (AUGUSTINE) dead in their transgressions (ANDREAS) or those who having sinned stand before final judgment (SEVERUS) was widely debated by the Fathers. That the gospel was preached “even to those dead” was variously interpreted to mean dead in sin (ISHO‘DAD) or in hell (HILARY OF ARLES, OECUMENIUS, THEOPHYLACT) or the Gentiles (ANDREAS) or to the worst of criminals (BEDE).
CHRIST DID NOT DIE IN HIS DIVINITY. ATHANASIUS: The apostle did not say that Christ died in his divinity but in his flesh, so as to emphasize that it was not his divine nature which suffered but his human one. The sufferings are those of the one to whom the body belongs. Since the flesh belonged to the Word, the sufferings of the flesh must be attributed to the Word as well. CATENA.1
I GAVE MY BACK TO LASHES. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: In order that Christ might be believed to be the Savior of all, according to their appropriation of his incarnation, he assumed the sufferings of his own flesh, as was foretold in Isaiah [50:6]: “I gave my back to lashes, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; I did not turn away my face from the disgrace of their spittings.” LETTERS 39.2
UNION OF TWO NATURES. SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH: By proclaiming that he would suffer and die in the flesh, Christ was indicating that he was passible in his flesh but impassible in his divinity. The ineffable union of the two natures did not cut him in two, for he remains one Lord, one Christ and one Son, one person and one hypostasis, that of the Word incarnate. By becoming man he became capable of suffering and death, but in the divine nature which he had from eternity he remained impassible and consubstantial with the Father and the Son. But insofar as he was consubstantial with us also, he was able to partake of our sufferings and did so willingly and in truth. CATENA.3
COMFORT TO SUFFERERS. BEDE: The apostle Peter gave this comfort to those of us who are bound by the chains of persecution. ON ACTS 12:7.4
ABSTAINING FROM SIN. BEDE: There can be no doubt that the saints who submitted their bodies to martyrdom at the hands of violent persecutors abstained from sin as far as they could, right up to the end of their lives. For who would have time to think about sinning if he were being crucified, stoned, thrown to the lions, burnt at the stake, buried alive with scorpions or whatever? Would such a person not be much more focused on obtaining an eternal crown of glory as soon as sufferings of that kind were over? Peter exhorts us all to have the same attitude. ON 1 PETER.5
FROM HIS WOUNDS FLOW SALVATION. NICETA OF REMESIANA: Christ did not suffer in his divinity but in his flesh. God can never suffer. Christ suffered in the flesh, as the apostle teaches, so that from his wounds might flow salvation to humanity. This was foretold by the prophet Isaiah:6 Christ suffered for our sins so that grace might be given to us. EXPLANATION OF THE CREED 5.7
WITNESS OF THE GOSPEL. HILARY OF ARLES: The will of God which we live by is the witness of the gospel, which kills any interest we may have in human glory. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.8
DEAD TO SIN. THEOPHYLACT: Compare this with what Paul wrote: “If we are dead with Christ, we shall also live with him”9 and “dead therefore to sin but alive to God.”10 COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.11
LIVING IN LICENTIOUSNESS. SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH: What Peter is saying is this: We must depart from the evil deeds of pagan life and not go back to our old ways nor imitate those who have relapsed into debauchery and drunkenness. CATENA.12
DOING WHAT THE GENTILES LIKE TO DO. THEOPHYLACT: This is ironic, as if Peter were saying: “Have you not had enough of the pleasures which you once indulged in? Or do you still hanker after the Gentile life which you used to live?” It is in connection with this that he notes the various types of debauchery. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.13
GENTILES ARE SURPRISED BY CHRISTIANS. SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH: These people are surprised and put off when they see us turning toward what is good rather than going along with them. And not only do they not seek the good, they fall away even into blasphemy. CATENA.14
THE SAME WILD PROFLIGACY. OECUMENIUS: Not only do the Gentiles wonder at the change in you, not only does it make them ashamed, but they also attack you for it, for the worship of God is an abomination to sinners. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.15
READY TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. AUGUSTINE: It does not necessarily follow that we should here understand those who have departed from the body. For it could be that by “the dead” Peter means unbelievers, those who are dead in soul. Therefore we are not obliged to believe that he refers to hell when he mentions the dead in the next verse. LETTERS 164.16
FINAL JUDGMENT. SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH: This will happen in the future, when everyone will have to be ready to give an account of himself, and no one will be able to stop him from doing so. For everything will be laid bare before God, who judges the righteous and the wicked. At that time he will judge and separate the ones from the others, as the Savior himself said: “He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”17 CATENA.18
DEAD IN THEIR TRANSGRESSIONS. ANDREAS: Some people say that the soul is living and the body dead, but it is impossible for a soul to come to judgment without its own body. Rather here Peter calls the righteous “living,” because they do the works of the life to come, and the unrighteous he calls “dead,” because they are dead in their transgressions and dead works. But the gospel has been preached to both the righteous and the unrighteous, even to those who are dead in their sins, so that they may judge themselves by casting their vote against themselves. CATENA.19
THAT THEY MIGHT LIVE IN THE SPIRIT. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Those who abandon their faith in this life are judged according to the above judgments, so that they might repent. This is why Peter adds “so that in the spirit they might live as God lives.” ADUMBRATIONS.20
EVEN TO THE DEAD. HILARY OF ARLES: The gospel is preached to the Gentiles who are dead in sin, but this may also refer to the fact that when the Lord was buried in the tomb he went to preach to those who live in hell. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.21
THE GENTILES. ANDREAS: Here Peter uses “dead” to refer to the Gentiles, who are dead because of their insurmountable sins and whom he wants to see turn to Christ. Such sinners, after they accept his commandments, judge themselves in the flesh according to their human understanding, by mortifying it in fasting, prostrations, tears and other forms of suffering. They do this in order that they may live in the spirit as God wants them to, being inspired by the word of the apostle Paul, who said: “If our outer man is being destroyed, our inner man is being renewed day by day.”22 CATENA.23
PREACHED TO THE WORST OF CRIMINALS. BEDE: So great is God’s concern, so great is his love, so great is his desire that we should be dead to the flesh but alive in the Spirit, that he even decided to preach the message of faith to those who had committed major crimes and who deserved to be put to death for their licentiousness, their lust, their violence, their gluttony, their drunkenness and their illicit worship of idols. ON 1 PETER.24
PREACHING IN HELL. OECUMENIUS: This means that those who are now attacking believers will have to give account of themselves to him who judges everyone, both living and dead, for the dead are also judged, as is clear from Christ’s descent into hell. For when he went there after his death on the cross he preached in the same way as he had preached to those who were alive on earth. Moreover, he did this not in word but in deed. And just as when he came into the world in order to justify those who were ready to acknowledge him and to condemn those who refused to do so, so he did exactly the same in hell. For he went to judge those who had lived according to the flesh, but those who had lived according to the Spirit, that is, who had lived an honest and spiritual life, he raised to glory and salvation. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.25
CHRIST PREACHED AFTER HIS DEATH. THEOPHYLACT: It was the habit of the Fathers to take this verse completely out of context. They therefore said that the word dead has two different meanings in Scripture, referring either to those who are dead in their sins and who never lived at all or to those who have been made conformable to the death of Christ, as Paul said: “The life that I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God.”26 But if they had paid the slightest attention to the context, they would have seen that here the “dead” are those who have been shut up in hell, to whom Christ went to preach after his death on the cross. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.27
“THE DEAD” ARE SINNERS. ISHO‘DAD OF MERV: Christ was preached to many who rose again at his resurrection, something which is attested in Matthew [27:52-53]. In this life sinners bear sufferings in the body by means of repentance, in order to gain a constant and blessed life in that spiritual citizenship. It seems that by the “dead” Peter means sinners and that by life in the Spirit he means repentance. COMMENTARIES.28