Overview
The spirits in prison is a recurrent minor subject in the writings of Christianity.
Greek philosophy
In the Phædrus, Socrates likens the soul of the body to be as imprisoned as an oyster is bound to its shell Joachim Jeremias and others suggested that Peter was making a first reference to Enochic traditions, such as found again in the Second Epistle of Peter chapter 2 and the Epistle of Jude. Stanley E. Porter considers that the broad influence of this interpretation today is due to the support of Edward Selwyn (1946).
Human souls
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