Re: POREUQEIS EKHRUXEN APEIQHSASIN in 1Peter3:19~20

From: Paul S. Dixon (dixonps@juno.com)
Date: Sun Jan 11 1998 - 12:35:57 EST


On Sun, 11 Jan 1998 21:45:38 +0800 Steven Cox
<scox@ns1.chinaonline.com.cn.net> writes:
> Hi Jonathan
> You got me. The dative case of PNEUMASIN is subject to
> EKHRUXEN "preach to" not POREUQEIS "go to" right?
> (or wrong?) In this kind kind of partciple structure
> of a verb of motion (here POREUMAI) I thought we
> have a Go-and-do pairing of motion-and-action where
> the action verb governs case?? Anyway...
>
> The question is really fixed on whether APEIQHSASIN
> is solely related to PNEUMASIN, or whether any time
> relation can be made with EKHRUXEN?
>
> ie. yes we know that APEIQHSASIN POTE OTE.. references
> the days of Noah, but the book of Enoch indicates that the
> actual chaining of Semjaza and the other 200 bad angels
> was before Noah's birth, not in Noah's days at all, so the
> question arises - is this the same naughtiness that got
> them locked up in the first place or is it their reaction
> to Christ's preaching - and all 3 verbs POREUQEIS EKHRUXEN
> APEIQHSASIN are POTE OTE Noah's day.
>
> Also in the other four uses of APEIQEW in 1Peter it
> is used in the John3:36 of refusing to believe Christ,
> not general disobedience, so....
>
> Does this verse tell us:
> (a) Christ went-and-preached to spirits who had
> previously in Noah's day (sic) been disobedient
> (and we don't know whether they listened or not)
> (b) Christ went-and-preached to spirits-in-prison
> who then refused to believe POTE OTE in Noah's day.

Greetings from the gorgeous white country of Portland, Oregon. We had a
terrific snow/ice storm last night, power is out, roads virtually
impassable,
and church services cancelled. So, I get to jump into this stimulating
and
interesting passage (fortunately, our house still has power).

I am reminded of our recent discussion in Mt 28:19 where a strong
argument
(at least, I thought so; and, so apparently most of the translations) was
made for taking the aorist participle as an attendant circumstance. I
find the parallel between the two passages striking: POREUQENTES OUN
MAQHTEUSATE
(Mt 28:19) with POREUQEIS EKHRUXEN (1 Pet 3:19). Remember, according to
Wallace, there are five structural clues for the attendant circumstance:
tense of participle is aorist, tense of main verb is aorist, mood of main
verb is imperative or indicative, participle precedes the main verb,
frequent in narrative (p 759).

Hence, the aorist participle should be taken coordinately with the main
verb. The antecedent action, then, is not because of the aorist tense of
the participle, but because of the logic of the action itself. He had to
go before he preached.

The thesis, however, that the going and preaching of v. 19 followed the
resurrection of Christ is suspect. There is no necessary temporal
progression from v. 18 to v. 19. The connection may simply be given by
EN hWi which relates back to the immediately preceding PNEUMATI. Christ
went and preached to the spirits who had disobeyed and who are now in
prison. But, when did Christ do that?

This is answered by the following verse which should be taken
epexegetically,
hOTE APEXEDECETO hH TOU QEOU MAKROQUMIA ...KIBWTOU, "when the patience of
God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the
ark." That is, Christ in the Spirit preached to the men (who are now
spirits confined to prison) in the days of Noah. He did it in and
through Noah's proclamation.

This interpretation suggests, of course, that the uninspired punctuation
of both the UBS and Nestle's text be changed so the comma be not after
EKHRUXEN, but after POTE. The hOTE clause, then, explains and gives the
timing of the preceding POREUQEIS EKHRUXEN.

Another benefit to this interpretation is it removes the rather bizarre
view seeing Christ descending into this prison after His death and
resurrection to preach to these disobedient souls. One can certainly see
why and how the "second chance" teaching surfaced. Furthermore, it does
not contribute to the possible erroneous view in Eph 4 which sees Christ
descending into Hell.

To sum up: Christ, in the Spirit, went and preached to the spirits now
in prison who had formerly disobeyed. He did so when God's patience kept
waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark.

Hey, this is a fascinating passage.

Paul Dixon



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