That’s why the good news was preached even to people who are now dead. Even though they were judged in their bodies for what they did while they lived on earth, they were told the good news so that they could live in the spirit the way God wants.
When I heard this, I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I’m God’s servant, just like you and your brothers and sisters who hold firmly to what Jesus taught. Worship God! The Spirit of prophecy tells the truth about Jesus.”
Christ also suffered once for sins. Someone who did right suffered for those who did wrong, in order to bring you to God. Jesus was put to death in the body, but he was made alive in the Spirit.
These were the spirits of those who had disobeyed long before, when God was being patient while Noah built the ark. Only a few people, eight in all, were saved from the flood in the ark.