For to this end was the Gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.
Significantly, the dead mentioned here "were dead at the time of Peter's writing, but were not dead when the gospel was preached to them."[10] Fancy theories built upon ignorance of what this verse says and envisioning all kinds of campaigns to preach the gospel to the hosts of the dead, with the postulation of a glorious second chance for all who were disobedient in life - such notions are not merely preposterous; they are contradictory to many plain teachings of the New Testament.