1 Peter 3:18 - 20 vs 19 especially. That is what was happening. That Jesus did go / descend / to the hell part of Abrahams' bosom to give the non-believers another chance to accept and Then to take the believers who were waiting for the death , burial and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ to take place. He took them back up with Him.
You believe that hell is in Abraham's chest? What does Abraham have to do with hell.
Sue, this passage says no such thing. Let's look at the passage.
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
(1 Pet. 3:18-20 KJV)
Look at the order of evens. Christ suffered for sin, then He was put to death, then He was quickened or made alive by the Spirit, then He went and preached, or more accurately, made a proclamation. So, when He preached, He was alive, it was after He was resurrected. This passage is not saying that Christ, as some disembodied being went down to hell and preached to dead people. The passage doesn't use the word euaggelion which is usually translated gospel. It uses another word that means to make aproclamation or to herald something. So what did Jesus proclaim? Peter tells us.
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. (1 Pet. 3:22 NKJ)
These are the spirits in prison. It's the demons that are being held for judgment.
This is why I talk about presuppositions so much. Because you believe that some part of dead people lives on. It affects the way you look at and interpret passages of Scripture. This belief leads to the idea that some part of Jesus was alive, when the Scriptures say He was dead, and that this part went to some place where the supposed living parts of other dead people were and He preached to them and lead them away. This idea causes one to conflate Paradise, a garden, with Abraham's bosom, a man chest. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Abraham didn't have a garden on his chest. When a doctrine leads to conclusions that don't make sense we really should begin to question that doctrine. When we have to start believing bazaar things in order to hold a doctrine it's probably not correct doctrine.
Hades is the grave. That can be seen clearly from the passage of Lazarus and the Rich Man.
22 "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried.
23 "
And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
(Lk. 16:22-23 NKJ)
The passage says that the Rich Man was buried. Then it says "and being in Hades". So, the Rich Man being buried, and being in Hades is the same thing. He was buried in a grave. Hades is the grave. Hades has nothing to do with Abraham's chest.
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son1,
who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (Jn. 1:18 NKJ)
23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. (Jn. 13:23 NKJ)
Jesus is in the bosom of the Father. John leaned on Jesus' bosom. What are these? John was leaning on Jesus' chest. To be in someones bosom means to be close to them. It's an intimate relationship. Jesus in the Father's bosom shows an intimate relationship between Jesus and the Father. John on Jesus' bosom indicates a intimate relationship.
5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid
into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. (Gen. 16:5 KJV)
Hagar was in Abraham's bosom and she conceived. Being in Abraham's bosom meant being in an intimate relationship with Abraham. Thus Lazarus, who is likely a portrayal of Jesus, is in an intimate relationship with Abraham. Abraham is embracing his long promised seed.
Abraham's bosom has absolutely nothing to do with hell.
