To view today’s message from 1 Peter 3:18-22, please click on this link: “Suffering for Good May Bring Us New Opportunities to Minister” Part 1
1 Peter 3:18-22
First Christian Church, Owensville, IN
July 12, 2020
Bart W. Newton, Preaching Minister
(Abbreviations for Bible translations that may be quoted: ESV = English Standard Version; NLT = New Living Translation; CSB = Christian Standard Bible; GW = God’s Word; Amplified Bible = AMP; KJV = King James Version; New King James Version = NKJV; The Message = MSG; KNT = Kingdom New Testament)
1 Peter 3:18-22:
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. (ESV)
Review of verses 16-18: The benefits of maintaining a good conscience while suffering according to God’s will:
• It might convict your persecutors that they are wrong to ridicule your Christian lifestyle (v. 16).
• It follows Jesus’ example (vv. 17- 18)
• It assists Jesus in bringing others to God (v. 18).
• Today’s passage is known to be one of the most difficult passages in the NT to translate from Greek to English and interpret.
• That said, it is easy to see some basic truths. It contains most of the basic components of the Good News, either directly or implied: the death, burial, resurrection, ascension of Jesus, including His current rule from heaven.
• One fascinating aspect of this passage is that it also tells us what Jesus’ spirit was up to while His body was in the tomb for three days.
• It also tells us part of the role baptism plays in the salvation experience of the repentant believer.
• Today we’re going to focus on verses 18-20 to find out what Jesus was up to between His death and His resurrection. Next Sunday, we’ll look at verses 20-22 and how baptism relates not just to the salvation experience, but ministry as well.
• So let’s begin trying to understand these words so we can better allow them to shape our lives and Christian witness.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,…
• Paul echoes this in 2 Corinthians 5:21: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (NLT)
• And the writer of Hebrews emphasizes the sufficiency of Jesus’ one-time self-sacrifice for the world’s sins: Hebrews 9:26b-28: But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.
27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. (NLT)
• Now with the last phrase of verse 18, the passage begins to get a bit challenging.
• Many godly people wiser and more knowledgeable than me have various opinions and conclusions regarding the proper interpretation of this passage.
• Rather than sharing the various possibilities, I’m going to share the one I think Peter is trying to communicate.
• Last part of verse 18 tells us that Jesus was…
... put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
• 18c, GW: His body was put to death, but he was brought to life through his spirit.
• It appears that Jesus’ physical body died but His spirit continued to live on. (Soul and spirit do not die.)
• So it seems that Jesus resumed the spiritual nature He had before He took on His human body. (Reese, p. 87):
19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,…
• “went’ = change in locality, just like Jesus went to heaven after His resurrection.
• Without His physical body, Jesus was enabled to perform activity in the spiritual realm.
• Where did Jesus go?
• He went from Paradise to that part of Hades in which the souls of the ungodly are held until Judgment Day.
• Remember Jesus’s words to the repentant thief on the cross: Luke 23:42-43: 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (ESV)
• Hades is not Hell. It is the place where the souls go after death to await Judgment Day.
• Hades appears to be made up of two parts—Paradise—the abode of the righteous—and the place where the souls of the ungodly go to await condemnation on the Day of Judgment.
• Remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus that Jesus told?
• Luke 16:22-26: 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ (ESV)
• In Acts 2, On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached that Jesus went to Hades in fulfillment of prophecy of Psalm 16:8-11:
• Acts 2:29-31: 29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. (ESV)
• While He was there, what did He do?
• “proclaimed” = heralding, announcing. It’s not the word for evangelizing such as gospel preaching.
• 19, GW: In it he also went to proclaim his victory to the spirits kept in prison.
• It seems that Christ made a proclamation of His victory over sin, death, and the powers of evil. Maybe He was making known to them His sovereignty over all things.
• To whom was He proclaiming in Hades?
… to the spirits in prison…
• “spirits” = human beings who have left their bodies while in the intermediate state.
• The spirits of evil people who had physically died and were awaiting the final judgment. That’s why they were there:
20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared,…
• Jesus probably proclaimed to more than to just those who were evil in the days of Noah leading up to God’s judgment on evil by way of the Great Flood. God’s Word translation captures this idea:
• 20a, GW: They are like those who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah when God waited patiently while Noah built the ship.
• What was their disobedience like?
• Genesis 6:5: The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (ESV)
• But how did Noah live and what did he do?
• Hebrews 11:7: By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. (ESV)
…in which a few, that is, eight persons,..were brought safely through the water…
• Few (8). Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives.
• 2 Peter 2:5: And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. (NLT)
• Out of all the world’s population at that time, only eight were saved! Today only a few live faithfully and are willing to suffer for it compared to the rest of the population. Jesus said it would be so:
• Matthew 7:13-14: 13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (NLT)
• Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. (NLT)
• The unbelievers at the time of the Flood perished though those saved had to suffer persecution at the hands of the unbelievers.
…when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared,…
• God’s patience has a limit, but He is patient.
• 2 Peter 3:9: The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.(ESV)
• God’s patience put Noah in a position that required patience. And it’s the same for you and me! We are to participate in God’s patience so that perhaps some will turn to Jesus:
• 2 Timothy 2:24-26: 24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (ESV)
…were brought safely through water.
• The very water that destroyed the unrighteous was the very water that carried Noah and his family to a newly cleansed world! This sets us up for next week’s study of verses 20-22.
Let’s spend some time reflecting on what God’s Word has shown us, using the acronym SPECKS:
• Sin to confess?
• Prayer, promise or praise to hold onto?
• E xample to follow?
• Command to obey?
• Knowledge to retain?
• Share the passage with whom?