The New Testament names four brothers of Jesus and indicates that he had at least two sisters (whose names do not appear in Scripture). "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? (Matthew 13:55-56).

Paul spent a night in Jail at Philippi (Acts 16:23-40). The apostle Paul was arrested by Roman soldiers in about A.D. 57 and whisked away from a mob of Jews who were trying to beat Paul to death (Acts 21:30-33). He remained in Roman custody for two years in Palestine (Acts 24:27). In addition, the apostle spent two years in Rome under house arrest (Acts 28:30). The biblical record may indicate a second imprisonment of Paul (2 Timothy). Secular history records that this second imprisonment in Rome concluded with Paul's execution in A.D. 68. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia says that Paul was a prisoner for five years.

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 1996.

God is not directly responsible for the tragedies that befell Job, including his poor health; God did not cause Job to suffer or to be sick. It is true, though, that God did not prevent Job from suffering or becoming ill.

The Book of Job provides a behind-the-scenes view of the viciousness with which Satan pursues humans and wants to harm them (physically and spiritually). Before Satan tempted the first pair in the Garden of Eden to disobey God, there was no sickness or death. After Adam and Eve sinned, they were thrust from God's Garden and the Tree of Life (Genesis 3). Though mankind today does not suffer the guilt of Adam and Eve's sin (Ezekiel 18:20), all humanity suffers the consequences of Adam and Eve's sin (i.e., disease and death, 1 Corinthians 15:22). Disease, death and tragedy are in the world today because of man's sin, which Satan encouraged. Satan is still described as man's most fearsome enemy: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

The instrument through whom God's saving message was preached was Noah, during the 120 years of the Ark's preparation and before the universal flood, according to 1 Peter 3:18-20. Jesus essentially went to the antediluvians with his message while they were yet alive, through the agency of Noah the preacher (2 Peter 2:5). Both 1 Peter 3:19 and 1 Peter 4:6 refer to persons who were dead when Peter wrote, but who were alive when they were told God's Word. The sense is that at judgment there will be no excuse, as the living and the dead were made aware of God's Word. Not elsewhere in either testament of the Bible, and consequently, not in 1 Peter either does Scripture teach that a person can opt to be saved after death. There is no second chance for departed souls to be saved!