Historical source transcription

"Dead" and "The Dead"

The word nekros (Noun and Adjective) has different meanings, according as it is used in different connections:-

1. With the Article ( hoi nekroi ) it denotes dead bodies, or corpses or carcasses in the grave, apart from the personality they once had. This is the Old Testament idiom also. See Septuagint Genesis 23: 3, 4, 6, 8. Deuteronomy 18: 11; 28: 26. Jeremiah 7: 33; 9: 22; 19: 7. Ezekiel 37: 9. See notes on Matthew 22: 31. 1 Corinthians 15: 35. 2. Without the Article ( nekroi ) it denotes the persons who were once alive, but who are now alive no longer: that is dead persons as distinct from dead bodies. Compare Deuteronomy 14: 1. Judges 4: 22. Lamentations 3: 6. And see notes on Matthew 22: 32. Acts 26: 23. 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 12, 13, 15, 16. Hebrews 13: 20, etc. 3. With a Preposition, but without the Article, which may be latent in the Preposition ( ek nekron ), it denotes out from among dead people. See notes on Mark 9: 9, 10. Luke 16: 30, 31. John 20: 9. Acts 10: 41. Romans 6: 13; 10: 7, 9; 11: 15. 1 Corinthians 15: 12-20. Hebrews 11: 19. 4. With a Preposition, and with the Article; for example 'ek ton nekron, it denotes emphatically out from among the dead bodies, or corpses. Compare Ephesians 5: 14. Colossians 1: 18; 2: 12. 5. The bearing of this on 1 Peter 4: 6 will be better seen if we note that we have nekroi (See No. 2 above), meaning people who were then dead, but who had had the Gospel preached. (Appendix 121. 4) to them while they were alive; and this is confirmed by the Greek Particle, men ( = although) in the next clause, which is ignored both by the Authorized Version and Revised Version. The verse reads thus: " For to this end to those who are (now) dead was the Gospel preached, that though they might be judged in the flesh, according to [the will of] men 1 , yet they might live [again, in resurrection], according to [the will of] God, as regards [the] spirit "; that is in spiritual bodies, spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15: 44, 45.

To this end - to give those to whom the apostle wrote this hope - the Gospel was preached to them, as described in 1 Peter 1: 12, 25. The hope of glory was thus set over against their sufferings ( 1 Peter 1: 11; 4: 13 ).

NOTE 1 That this is the meaning may be seen from the use of kata (Appendix 104. x. 2). Romans 8: 27; 15: 5. 1 Corinthians 12: 8; 15: 32; 2 Corinthians 11: 17. Galatians 1: 4, 11. Ephesians 1: 5, 9, 11, 19; 2: 2. Colossians 2: 8. 1 Peter 4: 14, 19. 1 John 5: 14.