"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 O.T. idiom also. See Sept. Gen 23:3,4,6,8. Deut 18:11; 28:26. Jer 7:33; 9:22; 19:7. Exek 37:9. See notes on Matt 22:31. I Cor 15:35.

2. Without the Article (nekroi) it denotes the persons who were once alive but who are now alive no longer: i.e. dead persons as distinct from dead bodies. Cp Deut 14:1. Judg 4:22. Lam 3:6. And see notes on Matt 22:32. Acts 26:23. I Cor 15:12,13,15,16. Heb 13:20, &c.

3. With a Preposition, but without the Article, which may be latent in the Preposition (ek nekron), it denotes out from among the dead people. See notes on Mark 9:9,10. Luke 16:30,31. Acts 10:41. Rom 6:13; 10:7,9; 11:15. I Cor 15:12-20. Heb 11:19.

4. With a Preposition, and with the Article; e.g. 'ek ton nekron, it denotes emphatically out from among the dead bodies, or corpses. Cp Eph 5:14. Col 1:18; 2:12.

5. The bearing of this on I Pet 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. (Ap 121.4) to them while they were alive; and this is confirmed by the Gr. Particle, men (=although) in the next clause, which is ignored both by the A.V. and R.V. 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 (*), yet they might live [again, in resurrection], according to [the will of] God, as regards [the] spirit"; i.e. in spiritual bodies, spoken of in I Cor 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 I Pet 1:12,25. The hope of glory was thus set over against their sufferings (I Pet 1:11; 4:13).

NOTES

(*) That this is the meaning may be seen from the use of kata (Ap 104. x2). Rom 8:27; 15:5. I Cor 12:8; 15:32; II Cor 11:17. Gal 1:4,11. Eph 1:5,9,11,19; 2:2. Col 2:8. I Pet 4:14,19. I John 5:14.