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.
For - reason for 1 Peter 4:5, "judge the dead."
Gospel preached also to ... dead - as well as to them now living, and to them that shall be found alive at the Judge's coming. "Dead" must be taken in the literal sense, as 1 Peter 4:5, which refutes the explanation "dead" in sins. Moreover, the absence of the article does not restrict "dead" to particular dead persons, for there is no article in 1 Peter 4:5 also, where "the dead" is universal in meaning. The sense seems, Peter, representing the attitude of the Church in every age expecting Christ at any moment, says, The Judge is ready to judge the quick and dead-the dead, I say, for they, too, in their lifetime, had the Gospel preached to them, that so they may be judged at last as those living now (and those who shall be alive when Christ comes), namely, 'men in the flesh,' and that they may, having escaped condemnation by embracing the Gospel so preached, live unto God in the spirit (though death has passed over their flesh: Luke 20:38), thus being made like Christ in death and in life (note, 1 Peter 3:18).
He says, "live," not 'made alive;' for they are supposed to have been already "quickened together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5). This is parallel to 1 Peter 3:19: cf. note. The Gospel, substantially, was "preached" to the Old Testament Church; though not so fully as to us. It is no objection that the Gospel was not preached to all that shall be found dead at Christ's coming. For Peter is plainly referring only to those within reach of the Gospel, or who might have known God through His ministers in Old and New Testament times. Peter, like Paul (1 Thessalonians 4:15), argues that those found living at Christ's coming shall have no advantage above the dead who shall then be raised, since the latter live unto, or according to,' God, already in His purpose. Alford is wrong, 'that they might be judged according to men as regards the flesh' - i:e., be in the state of the completed sentence on sin, which is death after the flesh. For "judged" cannot have a different meaning here from "judge" in 1 Peter 4:5. "Live according to God" means, 'live a life such as God lives'-divine: contrasted with "according to men in the flesh" - i:e., such as men live in the flesh.