Answer # 4

The key to understanding, this verse is in knowing the identity of the "dead" spoken of by Peter. At the time Peter wrote this epistle (ca. A.D. 67 to 69), multiple thousands of Christians had already been living according to the way of life that was preached by the apostles. In the span of time since the apostles' preaching began, some Christians had lived out their lives, died and were awaiting the promised resurrection. Many had suffered martyrdom at the hands of pagan civil leaders or unscrupulous religionists.

So when did these "dead" have the Gospel preached to them?

Notice that the word preached is in the past tense. Those spoken of as dead obviously had the Gospel preached to them while they were yet alive.

The Bible clearly shows that "the dead know not any thing" and "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave" (Eccl. 9:5, 10). The dead cannot receive any communication whatsoever. The preaching is for the living, not the dead.

The word dead in I Peter 4:6 may also refer to the spiritually dead. Jesus mentions such people in Luke 9:60. Paul explains further in Ephesians 2:1, saying that such people are "dead in trespasses and sins." Some who exist physically are dead spiritually because they have rejected the Gospel of the Kingdom.

The Church of God, through its apostles, has been commissioned to preach the Gospel as a witness to the world (Matt. 24; 14).

The spiritually dead do not heed that message and remain both in ignorance and in sin. They choose to live and be judged by the standards men devise, rather than to "live according to God in the spirit."

These individuals will ultimately, be given an opportunity to receive salvation.