The Righteous for the Unrighteous (Feb 18, 2024) 1 Peter 3.18-22

1 Peter is often a neglected book in the Second Testament. It does not seem to have the same oomph of Paul’s letters because it is shorter than most of them and it is lumped into a category known as the “General Epistles.” This is a shame because there is much good that can be gleaned from this little book. It is not so much focused on doctrine as it is focused on hope. Hope that comes from knowing God through Jesus Christ. Hope that comes in the face of suffering for one’s faith in Jesus Christ and in the new religion that was causing some consternation in the empire. We learn in the first chapters that this letter was written to communities who were suffering under persecution in their local cities and towns and while it was difficult, there was not yet anything systematic or widespread as would come later. Usually, the persecution came in the form of slander, shunning and hostility to the zealots of a new religion that were going against the very fabric of Roman society and culture. When the Christians were persecuted, it was often because they were the scapegoats for something bad that had happened in the surrounding area that could be blamed on someone when there was not real answer. It was a situation that happened in the ancient near East and it is a situation that happens even to this day.

The author of 1 Peter says in the letter that the recipients are to be faithful to Christ even when they are rejected, reminding them that Jesus too was rejected. He tells slaves that they are to obey their masters and to show a good spirit, a passage that was used in later centuries to keep slaves in America in “their proper place”. The section before today’s text is one that is calling upon wives to be a good witness in their household for, they might bring their husbands to Christ through their conduct. There is also an admonition to husbands to take care of their families and to love them as Christ loves the church. Finally, there is a section that speaks of suffering, how to handle that suffering and reminds us of what lays ahead at the end.

Let me first say that the suffering 1 Peter is addressing is not what we would consider suffering. It is not the “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” type of suffering that is found in life. It is not the suffering of cancer or other health issues, financial problems, or the issues that plague our everyday lives. No, the suffering that is addressed here is suffering for being a Christian. As I stated before, this would be the slander and hostility of being something different. Now in the Roman Empire it was okay to not worship certain gods as long as one gave reverence to the Emperor and to Roma, the patron goddess of Rome. But if one did not do that, then, as said before, there were consequences.

And suffering would come. But Peter tells them that it is better to suffer for doing good (i.e. standing up for what is right) rather than suffering for doing evil. For what is the point of complaining if suffering for doing evil? There, one understands that this is going to happen. But suffering for good is something that should not happen. Peter then explains what is happening here.

He states that “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…”[1]This message is that the righteous one died on the cross for us, the unrighteous. This is the message of atonement and while there is no argument for how this was accomplished, the message is that Christ died to bring us, make us at one, with God and that it was once for all. This means that this sacrifice would never again need to take place.

This sacrifice is often seen as a payment of a debt we owe to God for the sins that we have committed. There is a debt that can only be paid by Christ, the righteous one. But in the time of 1 Peter, it was thought that the human condition, or problem, was not a debt owed to God, but that sin allowed the agents of evil to have power over us. In the death of Jesus, it seemed that those powers, at least on Friday and Saturday, captured Jesus. Death and evil seemed to win the day. Then on Easter it became clear in the resurrection that Christ won and that those who believe in him have a new life free from the bondage to evil and death.

Again, Christ died for the unrighteous ones. Catherine Gonzalez states that “… we are unrighteous, he was righteous. He died for the unrighteous, and only those who know themselves to be unrighteous can benefit from his death.”[2]This can lead to some problems. See, the church often thinks of itself as the haven of righteousness. Here the righteous, made so by Christ, gather together and try to bring in the unrighteous. The problem is that though we are made righteous by Christ, we are still unrighteous because we are still sinners. When we forget this, we are outside the bounds of the work of Christ. Redemption means that there needs to be repentance and forgiveness. Those who believe themselves righteous often believe that they need neither of those things. They are the righteous after all. What need do they have of repentance now? To ask that question is all one needs to know about the need for repentance.

But now there is the tricky issue of suffering. If Christ suffered once for all, then why is there still suffering in the ones who follow him? This suffering of the Church is showing that we suffer as Christ did. Though our suffering does not lead to the redemption of humanity as Christ’s did, it can bring others to redemption in Christ because of what they see of those in the Church.

This suffering was to bring us to God. A metaphor that is given is of the sheep returning to the shepherd. Jesus came to us in human from to act as that shepherd and to lead us back to God.

Christ was “…put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…”[3]This is not a denial of the physical resurrection. Oftentimes “flesh” refers to this mortal life in scripture. In his death Christ “shuffled off this mortal coil” and was raised to new life in the spirit. But as Paul states “This perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53)[4]

This is all in verse 18. It is a brief statement of the entire Gospel, the good news. Christ the righteous died for the unrighteous to bring us to God. It is in the spirit that Christ was raised and to the spirit we now turn.

Verses 19 and 20 are two of the most difficult verses to explain in the Second Testament, if not the most difficult. We find here that Christ, in the spirit, made a proclamation to the spirits in prison. Who are these spirits and what is the message that is proclaimed to them? In a nutshell, we do not know. Some commentators say that it was those who mocked Noah during his building of the ark. Others believe that it was the angels who fell into evil and led the people to sin leading to the reason that God wiped them off the face of the earth. Whoever they are, Christ made a proclamation to them. This proclamation could be the Gospel, but the word used here is not the word for Gospel in Greek. Rather the proclamation is believed to be one of victory of Christ over the power of sin and death. It would be akin to Christ saying, “You thought that you won. I am here to tell you that the victory is mine! I died righteous for the unrighteous, the shepherd laying his life down for the sheep. Therefore, I will be raised and there is nothing that you can do to stop this. The grave has no hold over me and will not have a hold over those who follow God.”

Because of Christ’s death, again, we are made righteous, and we are saved from the judgement of God. The ark with its eight persons aboard is a symbol of safety amidst God’s judgement. And this prefigures baptism. Gonzales says it like this, “Baptism implies dying to the old life and rising to the new life in Christ. For believers, baptism is like the flood that destroyed the sinful creation and at the same time lifts us out of the flood into the ark that begins a new life. Our old life is drowned in the flood. Our new life is in the ark.”[5] In baptism we claim that the old life is condemned, and a new life begun. But still, we are sometimes in the power of the old life. None of us is completely out of its power until we die. As we walk in our faith with Christ, the old life gets weaker as the new life gets stronger. Luther stated that we are justified sinners: justified by grace but still sinners in need of forgiveness. In fact, baptism can be seen as an assent by us to be judged by God through the Holy Spirit so that we may root out the sin that constantly hounds us.

Finally, Peter states that Christ “…has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.”[6]All things are made to be under the authority of Christ. This includes the evil powers, angels, and authorities that are still in our world. They may still roam and try to corrupt humanity, but their power is no longer complete. They have been defeated by the one who was raised and now sits at the right hand of God. Christ won the victory and those of us in the Church share in that victory. We may see only part of that victory in this life, but we will see it fully in the next.

We suffer today by people mocking our faith and calling us names. And our response is to get all huffy and respond in kind. There are those today who are calling for Christians to “fight back and give as good as we get.” Did Christ suffer so that he could get back at those who tormented him and killed him? No, Christ suffered to make the unrighteous righteous and to bring them back to God. And with this he brought new life to us so that we may suffer in good hope, not get back at those who mock us. We have been made righteous and baptized to be one with God. The one who rules over all things makes us so. As we begin this Lenten season, may we continue to contemplate what Jesus did for us and continue to give thanks for our baptism. Glory to God alone. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2] González, Catherine Gunsalus. 1 & 2 Peter and Jude. Ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. Print. Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. [3] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [4] González, Catherine Gunsalus. 1 & 2 Peter and Jude. Ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. Print. Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. [5] González, Catherine Gunsalus. 1 & 2 Peter and Jude. Ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. Print. Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. [6] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.