<p>4:6 <i>For to this end was the gospel preached to those now dead- </i>The dead are those in :5; those who died and will be resurrected to judgment. Several times Peter appeals to the example of those who had gone before and were now dead; Noah, Lot, Abraham, Sarah, the prophets. They were all judged by men as foolish because they refused to act as they did, or slandered them.</p><p><i>That they might be judged according to men in the flesh- </i>The context is of the men of :3 judging the believers who refused to sin along with them. They judged them by slandering them and trying to get them in trouble with the law- for doing the very things they themselves were doing. This happened to the believers of old time.</p><p><i>But live according to God in the spirit- </i>They were judged as good as dead by their contemporaries, who were angry that they refused to sin along with them. But they were spiritually alive to God. And Peter wishes his slandered brethren to realize they were simply going through the experience of so many.</p>