-Introduction- The sensibility of the spirit of a person, whether in the context of religious or secular way of life, depends on how the mind has been reared. Proper education, exercises, training and constant update to accurate information provide a person more leverage to react properly when faced with difficult problems and situations in life. These also enhance the interactivity of one’s social relation to others. One example of which is that a person with good intellectual background could respond more spontaneously and correctly to humor than those without. The method of carefully choosing words appropriately enough to maintain good rapport when speaking is never lost. These, coupled with all good intentions, would easily make a better person, with enjoyable and happy life. God is not against people gaining wisdom. In fact, some of His great messengers were allowed to get proper and good education that precedes their commissioning. Examples of which were Moses and the apostle Paul. He even instructed through His messenger that parents should rear up their children with proper training early in life (Proverbs 22:6). According to the bible, acquiring correct knowledge is priceless (Proverbs 20:15-15). And this has been also the perception of many people in these times. By this, aside from the view that to lose one’s mind is to lose dignity, we could easily imagine why many people are trying hard to nurture their mind and do almost everything to protect it. Inasmuch as it is the mind’s corporal mechanism, whatever the state of man’s brain the same is true with the mind. Though the incorporeal aspect of a man is not limited to the conscious mind, this is the driving force within, and therefore the core spirit of man. The mind consists of sub-conscious and conscious abilities. The former, through the nervous system, controls other organ functions and from it, one interfaces with his senses and instinctively derives his reactions and emotions. These make up the life sustaining system. The latter is the mind in active state. It allows a person to make thoughts, decisions, anticipation, will, reasoning, analysis, etc. It is capable of learning, understanding, memorizing, personality development, and it adopts values and beliefs through experience and indoctrination. This also makes him awake and aware of his distinction, relatively center perception, and separate being from other matter. The brain is being fuelled primarily with blood pre-aerated by the lungs through breathing. A significant loss of this oxygenated blood causes some of the worst pathological cases in neurology and cerebral medicine for when it damages the irreparable tissues of the brain a subsequent directly proportional disorder to the mental condition of a person will be inevitable. Some may be in an unconscious state for a period of time and if every brain function ceased to work all memory would be lost and unfortunately that constitutes brain death. The bible is not silent regarding the state of a person when he dies. And the scientific observation on the mind of the dead correctly corresponds to what has been written for a long time. -Biblical presentation-
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; there is no longer any reward for them, because all memory of them is lost.
There is no way the dead can be conscious. The dead know nothing because their brain stopped working and their spirit is gone. James clearly defined for us the meaning of dead. James 2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead...
Consequently, the body —which includes the brain, of course— will decompose and will return to dust as it is also explicitly written. Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Furthermore, Ecclesiastes clearly tells us that the spirit of the dead will return to God after departing the body. The Lord Jesus, cognizant of this scriptural truth, entrusted His spirit to God before He died on the cross. By saying and fulfilling this in Him -John 19:28- further attests to the validity of the statement of the man of God –that was Ecclesiastes, the “son of David” a namesake to one of Jesus’ titles. Luke 23:46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT." Having said this, He breathed His last.
“He breathed His last” means He died -John 19:33-. The cessation of breath is the easiest indication that would positively identify a body already in a brain dead or terminal state. However, Christ’s supplication before this was that His spirit would be in the safekeeping of God. Thus, although had been dead for three days, His memory remained intact and the consciosness that was in Him was restored back by the Father through quickening of His spirit -1 Peter 3:18- Now we know that the spirits of the dead do not go anywhere but up to the safekeeping of God, the One who gave it, so they can never be in prison in that stage. But is there a mention in the bible that a man’s spirit is in prison, and in what stage? Mt 26:41 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
What does temptation mean? James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
But what does this all mean? Paul has explained this further. Romans 7:23 But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body.
These verses explained to us that a person’s willing spirit or approving mind is under forceful restraint by the body. It is the flesh or sin that places their spirits in prison and this happens while they are living. Maybe, it was the apostles alone that are under the bounds of the body’s frail nature against sin. Was it really only them? Let us ask what the scripture has to say. Galatians 3:22 But Scripture has shown that all mankind are the prisoners of sin …
The clear answer is: No. All men, not in corporal but in “the spirit” sense, are prisoners. This is the reason why the Lord Jesus during His lifetime on earth indoctrinated the disciples for the purpose of edifying their spirit. 1 Peter 3:18-19 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
Since James clarified that the dead has no spirit, and in Job it says: Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
The term “spirits” pertains to the minds that need preaching and still capable of understanding, therefore the "man" is alive and not dead. And the term “prison” according to Paul is the one that withholds the mind. Peter said what overcomes a man is what imprisons him and that is the lusts of the flesh –sin (2 Peter 2:18, 19). This makes the whole world “spirits in prison” for all have sinned (Romans 3:23). 1 Peter 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles--when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.
Peter was speaking particularly of people living the Gentile will, way of mind or spirit. 1 Peter 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged * according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
Aside from being imprisoned, although yet still alive then, they were already considered "dead" as well. And from being "dead", they might live “in the spirit” —in accordance to the will of God if they obey the gospel that was preached to them. It was by sin that they were —in the context of “the spirit”— enslaved, in bondage, imprisoned, in darkness, and killed (Romans 7:14, 23). Paul, setting himself as example, said “sin sprang to life and I died” (Romans 7:9) “For sin, finding occasion by the commandment, misled me and by it killed me.” (Romans 7:11). Because “sin, when it is finished, bring forth death” (James 1:15). But why do some professing prophets in the later days taught that Jesus literally preached to the dead? The only logical explanation is that they were wrong. They thought that Peter was speaking in literal sense they overlooked the prepositional term “in the spirit”. They jump to conclusion without considering other passages like that of John, James, Ecclesiastes, Job, and Psalms. They even connect this to the parable of Jesus, failing to contemplate in their selves the meaning of the word “parable”. In the days of the apostles there were also people deceived by false teachers. False teachers who “made a lie their refuge and falsehood their hiding place” (Isaiah 28:14-15). False teachings, being brought forth by these preachers, are the greatest deterrent to the truth. These were meant to keep their prey “slaves” of sinful practices. But, according to Isaiah, Christ will set them free. Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted *, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, Jesus quoted this from Isaiah to state the purpose of His commissioning and from it Peter derived his statement that Jesus by the “Spirit of the Lord” “he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;” –or the captives. Obviously, Christ was not sent by God to preach to the dead or the corpse. All the enumerated tasks given to Him are for the living. It is very illogical to preach to the dead for they have no spirit or conscious mind; even memory. They can no longer remember much less repent. Psalm 6:4, 5 Come back, ADONAI, and rescue me! Save me for the sake of your grace; for in death, no one remembers you; in Sh'ol, who will praise you?
The rhetorical question is “In Sh’ol who will praise God?” The answer is clear --there is not. Because, according to the bible Psalm 115:17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord, nor any of those descending into the silence [of death].
Again, we could easily understand that the purpose of the gospel was to nurture the spirits of men while they are living and not when they are already dead. To show how disobedient this sin-imprisoned world the apostle sited the event that happened to it in the past during the great flood. He said, referring to mankind, they: 1 Peter 3:20 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared; in it, a few--that is, eight people--were saved through water.
Because of intolerable disobedience they consumed the patience of God who waited for them to heed His call and consequently only eight people were saved inside the ark built by Noah. In like figure, he said, people in his time also had hope for salvation if they had been obedient and gone through baptism that the apostles administered. 1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
A man should be baptized in order to be saved. However, Jesus clearly stated the prerequisite to it. Mark 16:15, 16 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
One should first understand and believe the words of God written in the scriptures. Otherwise, he shall be damned. Why? Because it is the power of God for the salvation of men (Romans 1:16), it is the truth (John 17:17), and the truth will set everyone, who accepts it, free (John 8:32). Now, it is also clear to us that Christ and the apostles never indoctrinated the dead or the corpse because it is biblically incongruent. The belief that “the dead is aware and awake” is the foundation of the practices of those who do witchcraft and the likes. It is detestable in the sight of God to seek to speak to the dead much less do ceremonies for them. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 No one among you is to make his son or daughter pass through the fire, practice divination, tell fortunes, interpret omens, practice sorcery, cast spells, consult a medium or a familiar spirit, or inquire of the dead. Everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you because of these detestable things.
This was the grave fault of Saul, the king of Israel, after God disowned him (1 Samuel 28:6); he sought for a medium (1 Samuel 28:7) to speak to a divined Samuel after the death of the prophet. He was given—not by God—a Samuel with different (a divined) spirit, one that did not come down from above but came from below (1 Samuel 28:8, 11), a false vision (Jeremiah 14:14). This led Saul to further distress and ensures his eventual death. Why? Because this was forewarned by God against those people who believe and practice such things; through Moses He said, “they shall surely be put to death” (Leviticus 20:27); Jeremiah says, “they are liars” (Jeremiah 14:14); Isaiah said, “there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:19-20); “they are evil doers and they provoke God to anger” (2Chron 33:6); and the worst, Paul said “they will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21). Paul said “the truth is in Jesus… be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:21, 23). And Jesus, gave us the solution so we might live not with our “spirit in prison” but as freemen. He said the word of God is truth and if we keep it, that’s what will set us free. The scripture is telling us, without uncertain terms, that “the dead know nothing”. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
That is the reason why God forbids the rituals for the dead; it is false to do any ceremonies for them, because they no longer have a reward or portion in anything people do under the sun. So, this is the truth. Those people doing and saying anything contrary to it is living with their spirit a prisoner of wrong belief and practices —a work of the flesh, unless changed, according to God, they’ll be ready to face eternal damnation (Galatians 5:19-21, Revelation 22:15). John 4:23-24: But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Since we are commanded to be “renewed in the spirit of the mind” we must leave behind false belief and accept the truth. Forasmuch as only those with pure faith the Father is seeking to worship Him. Truly, the sensibility of the spirit of a person depends on how the mind was reared. This enhances not only the interactivity of one’s relation to others, but most especially to God. -Doxology- I thank the Father --the only true God; because He gave us the verses used in this presentation to illuminate the truth that the livings are the ones who have their “spirits in prison” and not the dead. As for those with minds still imprisoned by the false belief that “the dead are aware and awake”, I am praying to Him that you may see the light, through the passages presented, so that everyone may be freed from practices based on such erroneous teaching. And for everyone, I pray to Him that you find the true path—the one and true church acknowledge by Christ that teaches biblical truths that will lead us all to salvation—so that we could be one with each other in serving God. To Him, through the Lord Jesus Christ, let all be the glory. Amen.
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