1 Peter3:22

Translation

who is at the right hand of THEOS,

having gone into heaven, having angels and authorities and powers

been made subject to Him. (See comment below.)

Paraphrase

who is seated in the position of co-regency with THE CREATOR AND OWNER OF THE UNIVERSE, and to whom all regular angels, all angels with higher levels of authority, such as arch angels, and all angels with additional or specialized powers such as Cherubim and Seraphim, have been made subject.

Footnotes

1

There is probably a word omitted from this clause which can easily be assumed to be the word “seated”. “Who is seated at the right hand of God.”

2

Phrases like this one point to all the spiritual entities and their organization according to levels of authority and special assignments, even though we don’t know as much about them as we would like. Because we don’t know everything about them, they are referred by Paul and Peter with the vagueness seen here. However, the entire Bible is in agreement that such entities include only angels and demons (I include Satan among the demons), not other gods or demi-gods. People like Michael Heiser, who interpret this statement to mean other gods, are not doing so by allowing the Bible to interpret itself, but are interpreting the Bible through the lenses of pagan religions and pulling into the Bible the entire worldview of those religions, something which was strictly prohibited by the true God, the Creator of the world.

A REBUTTAL OF MICHAEL HEISER’S INTERPRETATION OF THIS PASSAGE

Here is what Heiser says on pages 336-338 about I Peter 3:14-22. He (Peter) “assumes that the great flood of Genesis 6-8, especially the sons of God event in Genesis 6:1-4, typified or foreshadowed the gospel and the resurrection.” In the next paragraph Heiser assumes that the imprisoned spirits mentioned by Peter are the same in every way as the ones described in 1 Enoch. He also assumes that Peter had something from 1 Enoch on his mind when he penned what is for us, I Peter chapter 3. Heiser also assumes Jesus was the second Enoch (having done what the book of 1 Enoch said Enoch did). He concludes that I Peter 3 has the “supernatural view of Genesis 6:1-4 at its core.”

REBUTTAL

For Michael Heiser, everything has to do with the Nephilim of Genesis 6:1-4. In his mind the flood was not a big enough event to stand on its own, it always had to refer to something even bigger – the Nephilim!

It is not necessary to interpret the imprisoned spirits mentioned in this passage as a reference to the Nephilim; seeing it as a reference to the spirits of humans before the flood works fine. Just because something sounds similar to what is found in pagan, extra-biblical literature, does not mean that we need to reshape the Bible to fit the literature of pagan religions. We should never do so if it requires that we compromise things that the Bible has said elsewhere, as is the case here. However, Heiser is trying to force on the Bible a worldview that is not the one the Bible presents, therefore, he must twist every passage to fit his worldview.

Notice that Heiser once again goes to his favorite source to help him interpret this passage, that source is 1 Enoch. Whenever Michael Heiser is forced to choose between the Bible and one of the books of Enoch, He always chooses the books of Enoch. But, if you feel you have to quote from one of the books of Enoch to support your case, you don’t have a case; when you have finished quoting from the books of Enoch, you still don’t have a case.