difficult verse 6 cannot be adequately dealt with here, but we may
note that introductory 'for' shows that it, too, contains a motive
urging to life, 'to the will of God,' and that no such motive appears in
it if it is taken to mean, as by some, that the gospel is preached after
death to the dead. Surely to say that 'the gospel was preached also (or,
even) to them that are dead' is not to say that it was preached to them
when dead.

Peter's letter is of late enough date to explain his looking back to a
generation now passed away, who had heard it in their lifetime. Nor does
one see how the meaning of 'in the flesh,' which belongs to the phrase
in the frequent instances of its occurrence in this context, can be
preserved in the clause 'that they might be judged according to men in
the flesh,' unless that means a judgment which takes place during the
earthly life.

We note, too, that the antithesis between being judged 'according to men
in the flesh,' and living 'according to God in the spirit' recalls that
in verse 2 between living in the flesh to the lusts of men and to the
will of God. It would appear, therefore, that the Apostle's meaning is
that the very aim of the preaching of the gospel to those who are gone
to meet the Judge was that they might by it be judged while here in the
flesh, in regard to the lower life 'according to men' (or, as verse 2
has it, 'to the lusts of men'), and, being so judged, and sin condemned
in their flesh, might live according to God in their spirits. That is
but to say in other words that the gospel is meant to search hearts, and
bring to light and condemn the lusts of the flesh, and to impart the new
life which is moulded after the will of God.

III. The reference to Christ as the judge suggests a final motive for a
life of suppression of the lower nature,--the near approach of the end
of all things. The distinct statement by our Lord in Acts i. 7 excludes
the knowledge of the time of the end from the revelation granted to the
Apostles, so that there need be no hesitation in upholding their
authority, and yet admitting their liability to mistake on that point.
But the force of the motive is independent of the proximity of the
judgment. Its certainty and the indefiniteness of the time when we each
shall have to pass into the other state of being are sufficient to
preserve for each of us the whole pressure of the solemn thought that
for us the end is at hand, and to enforce thereby Pet