1 Peter 4:6 .... the gospel preached also to them that are dead

1Pe 4:6    For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Curious phrase, I defer to John Gill and Calvin.

1 Peter 4:6

For, for this cause was the Gospel preached also,.... Not for what goes before, because Christ was ready to judge quick and dead; and because wicked men must give an account to him, and therefore the Gospel is preached to them also, that they may be left without excuse; 

but for what follows, and which does not so much design the reason of the preaching of it, as the event consequential upon it. 

By the Gospel is meant the good news of the incarnation, sufferings, and death of Christ, and salvation by him: and includes all the doctrines of grace, as of pardon, righteousness, and eternal life; 

and by its being "preached" is meant the publishing of it openly, freely, and boldly, with faithfulness and consistence: the persons to whom it was preached are

to them that are dead; not in a figurative sense, dead in trespasses and sins; though this is the case of all mankind, and of God's elect, in a state of nature, whether Jews or Gentiles; 

and the Gospel is preached to such, as it is ordered to be preached to all nations, to every creature, and is the means of quickening dead sinners; and this follows upon it, that such as receive it are judged and condemned by men, and live spiritually here, according to the will of God, and an eternal life hereafter; 

but the word "dead" is used in the same sense as in the preceding verse, where it manifestly signifies such who had been alive, but were now dead in a natural sense, whom Christ would judge as well as those that will be found alive when he comes; 

wherefore the Gospel has been preached also to them that are already dead, as well as to those who are now alive. 

And by these are meant, not the dead, whose souls are in hell, for to them, there, the Gospel never was, nor never will be preached, 

nor they saved, as Origen, and his followers, have vainly thought: 

nor the deceased patriarchs, before the coming of Christ, whose souls, by the Papists, are said to be in "Limbus", whither Christ, they say, went upon his death, and preached to them, and delivered them; 

but these never were in any such place, but in peace and rest; 

nor did Christ, in his human soul, descend thither, but went to paradise:

nor the dead in general, before the apostle's writing of this epistle; for though the Gospel had been preached from the beginning, from the fall of Adam, to certain persons, and at certain periods of time, yet not to all the individuals of mankind who were then dead, especially in the Gentile world; 

nor the Old Testament saints in general, who were now dead, though they had the Gospel preached to them in types and figures, in promises and prophesies; 

nor the men in the times of Noah, to whom the Gospel was preached by him, and who, some of them, as supposed, though they were judged and punished in their bodies in the view of men, being drowned in the waters of the flood, yet repenting and believing, upon Noah's preaching to them, they live in their spirits in eternal life, according to the free mercy and grace of God; but though the Gospel was preached to them, yet they remained disobedient to it, even all of them, but Noah's family, for anything that appears; 

and are styled the world of the ungodly, and are now spirits in the prison of hell, and therefore cannot be said to live according to God in the Spirit: 

but such are intended, to whom the Gospel had been preached, and to whom it had been effectual unto salvation; who had received it in the love of it, had sincerely professed it, and had suffered for it even death itself; such are designed who had suffered in the flesh, or were dead in their bodies, 1Pe 4:1 who either were dead in the Lord, or especially had suffered death for his sake, as Stephen and others: 

and this, with what follows, is mentioned with a general view to encourage the saints to patient suffering for Christ; to fortify them against the ill opinion and judgment the world have formed of them; and to assure them, that Christ will judge his people, both quick and dead, and avenge their cause, since the Gospel has been preached to one as well as to another, and attended with the same power: the effect and consequence of which is,

that they might be judged according to men in the flesh; meaning, either that such persons that receive and profess the Gospel, and suffer for it, are judged according to the judgment of men that are in the flesh, in an unregenerate estate, that is, carnal men, to be a strange and unaccountable sort of people, as in 1Pe 4:4 to receive such a strange set of notions, so strenuously to contend for them, and so constantly to abide by them, and to debar themselves of so many pleasures of life, and expose themselves to so much reproach and shame, to such dangers, and even to death itself: 

while they are judged to be by these men enthusiasts, madmen and fools; and at other times to be knaves and villains, hypocrites and deceivers; 

and this is the common effect of the Gospel being preached and coming with power to any; 

see 1Co 4:3

or the sense is, that such persons, according to men, or in their apprehensions, are judged of God, or have the judgments of God inflicted on them in their flesh, in their bodies, for some sins of theirs; 

and therefore they suffer what they do in the flesh, vengeance pursuing them; being ignorant that when they are judged, as they reckon it, they are only chastened by the Lord in a fatherly way, that they might not be eternally condemned with the world, 1Co 11:32

or else to complete the sense, for all may be taken into it, these persons, who were formerly alive, but now dead, and had embraced and professed the Gospel preached to them, were judged and condemned, and put to death in the flesh, according to the will of wicked men, and which was all that they were capable of;

but though this was their case, though they were thus judged, censured, and condemned, yet

live according to God in the Spirit; while they were here on earth, the Gospel preached to them had such an effect upon them, 

as to cause them to live spiritually, to live by faith on Christ, to live a life of holiness from him, and communion with him, and to live according to the will of God, in righteousness and true holiness; 

and now, though dead in their bodies, they live in their spirits or souls an eternal life of comfort, peace, pleasure, and happiness with God, according to his eternal purpose, unchangeable covenant, promise, grace, and love.

Note that the Apostles' Creed eludes tot his in "He Descended Into Hell" in it's text.

This can easily be misunderstood.

I reprint this position I found at:

http://www.grace-pca.net/he-descended-into-hell

He Descended Into Hell

Have you ever wondered what this little four-word phrase really means? Last Lord's Day, after the morning worship service, I was inundated with questions regarding a comment I had made during my sermon, namely, that when Christ breathed His last, His spirit was received into the hands of His heavenly Father in paradise. (Luke 23:43, 46) When Christ died His body went into the grave and His suffering was over. This teaching, however, raises questions concerning the article "he descended into hell" set down within the Apostles' Creed, a historic creed that our congregation confesses often. In fact, some choose not to recite this phrase and various traditions have omitted it altogether. So what are we to think about this somewhat mysterious and enigmatic creedal statement? 

The phrase descendit ad inferna [tr. descended into hell] has been a part of most readings of the Apostles' Creed since the mid-fourth century. Indeed, these words occurred in the synods of Sirmium (359), Nice (359) and Constantinople (360) and from there spread into most renderings of the Creed. Nevertheless, since the early centuries of the church, various interpretations of this phrase have been held. 

The Roman Catholic position was solidified at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) where they determined that "he descended into hell" meant that after Christ died His body went into the grave and His soul into hell. He did not, however, enter hell in order to undergo more suffering. Rather, Christ descended into hell as a victorious Savior and King, heralding His truth, proclaiming victory, subduing the devil and his minions, and freeing Old Covenant believers, not from suffering, but from a state of limbo where the beatific vision and glory of God had been withheld from them. Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church held that Christ liberated all those who were dwelling in purgatory and for whom, up until His death, was no access to heaven. The Eastern or Greek Orthodox Church possessed a similar position, espousing that Christ, in His spirit, descended into hell to rescue the Old Covenant people of God, along with the thief on the cross, and usher them into paradise. Of course, most poor interpretations of this little four-word phrase were based on a faulty understanding of passages such as Acts 2:27, Ephesians 4:9, and I Peter 3:18-20. 

The interpretations of "he descended into Hell" by the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church were rejected by the Protestant Reformers. Nevertheless, within Reformed circles, there remained diverse opinions over what the phrase actually did mean. Martin Luther (1483-1546) stressed that the matter was not clear. Even so, his followers interpreted it to mean that Christ, both body and soul, went into hell and subdued it, and shattered the power of the devil. In addition, Christ's proclamation of victory over death and hell was not evangelistic but legal. Christ had won, and the evil realm of Satan was doomed to everlasting judgment. 

Some Reformers took the phrase "he descended into hell" to encompass the entire state of Christ's humiliation, from birth to death. Others, such as Martin Bucer and Theodore Beza (Calvin's successor), viewed this phrase as simply a further description of Christ's burial, that is, that His body descended into "Hades" or the lower parts of the earth, and had nothing to do with an actual descent into the place of torment. Still others, such men as Peter Martyr Vermigili, Ulrich Zwingli, Heinrich Bullinger and William Perkins, believed the article to mean that Christ's death and the power of His redemption was felt not just among the living but also among the lower regions, namely, among the dead. As you see, each of these positions leaves room for great mystery. 

The final position that I would like to mention is the position which I believe to be the most accurate of all the Protestant positions. It is, incidentally, the position of John Calvin (1509-1564) and Zacharius Ursinus (1534-1583; co-author of the Heidelberg Catechism, 1562). Included in Calvin's magisterial summation of the doctrine of the Protestant Reformation entitled "The Institutes of the Christian Religion,"is a section on the phrase "descended into hell." From the outset, he clearly states that we should not remove this important phrase. Indeed, Calvin begins by saying that "we ought not to omit [from the creed] his descent into hell, a matter of no small moment in bringing about redemption ... a place must be given to it, as it contains the useful and not-to-be-despised mystery of a most important matter." (Institutes II.XVI.8) Seeing that Calvin did not want to discard the phrase, as some were inclined to do, we must ask the following question: What did he believe the controversial phrase to mean? 

Calvin believed the phrase "he descended into hell" expressed mainly the spiritual suffering that took place as Christ bore the sins of the elect and was the recipient of God's judgment and wrath in their stead. Calvin states: 

If Christ had died only a bodily death, it would have been ineffectual. No – it was expedient at the same time for him to undergo the severity of God's vengeance, to appease his wrath and satisfy his just judgment. For this reason, he must also grapple hand to hand with the armies of hell and the dread of everlasting death. A little while ago we referred to the prophets statement that ‘the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him,' ‘he was wounded for our transgressions' by the Father, ‘he was bruised for our infirmities' (Isa. 53:5). By these words he means that Christ was put in place of evildoers as surety and pledge – submitting himself even as the accused – to bear and suffer all the punishments that they ought to have sustained. (Institutes II.XVI.10) 

If, as Calvin states, the phrase at hand refers mainly to Christ's spiritual suffering and agony as a righteous sin / wrath-bearer, why then is it placed after the phrase "and he was buried," and not before? Calvin responds: 

Those who – on the ground that it is absurd to put after his burial what preceded it – say that the order is reversed in this way are making a very trifling and ridiculous objection. The point is that the Creed sets forth what Christ suffered in the sight of men, and then appositely speaks of that invisible and incomprehensible judgment which he underwent in the sight of God in order that we might know not only that Christ's body was given as the price of our redemption, but that he paid a greater and more excellent price in suffering in his soul the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man." (II.XVI.10) 

According to Calvin, then, the phrase "he descended into hell" is a summary statement referring to all of Christ's redemptive sufferings, in particular, the fact that Christ went through a literal hell when He was alienated from His Father because our sin was laid upon Him. Indeed, Jesus "descended into hell" when He was made sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21) and was, as a result, alienated from the love and fellowship of His Father, receiving from God the punishment that our sins deserve. (Isaiah 53; Mark 15:34) Christ "descended into hell" and truly experienced separation from God. Why? So that His elect would never have to. This is the greatest news known to mankind! 

The Heidelberg Catechism (1562) expresses this same truth in Q/A #44: 

Question: Why does the Creed add, "He descended into hell? 

Answer: To assure me in times of personal crisis and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, especially on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell. 

Members and regular attenders of Grace Presbyterian Church, when we confess together the words of the historic Apostles' Creed, let us think upon the "unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul" that Christ suffered in our stead. As we do, may our hearts swell with love for God and devotion to His holy Word, always keeping at the forefront of our minds the price that was paid to secure our redemption. For "you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish or spot." (I Peter 1:18, 19)