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.
Ver. 6. For for this cause] See Trapp on " 1Pe 3:19 "
That they might be judged] Either by God chastising them,1 Corinthians 11:32, or by themselves, 1 Corinthians 11:31. The gospel melts the hearts of God's elect with voluntary grief for sin, it makes them condemn themselves in the flesh.
But live according to God] The Father of spirits, with whom the spirits of just men departed are made perfect,Hebrews 12:23. Eusebius and Austin make mention of certain Arabians, who said that the soul dies with the body, and revives not again till the resurrection of the body. This old heresy is now, among many others, dug out of the grave, and held by certain sectarians among us.