in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison,

 (v) When we go beyond these two verses, further into the passage, we can add two more great truths to Peter's view of the work of Christ. In 1 Peter 3:19 he says that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison; and in 1 Peter 4:6 he says that the gospel was preached to them that are dead. As we shall go on to see, this most probably means that in the time between his death and his resurrection Jesus actually preached the gospel in the abode of the dead; that is to say, to those who in their lifetime had never had the opportunity to hear it. Here is a tremendous thought. It means that the work of Christ is infinite in its range. It means that no man who ever lived is outside the grace of God. 