1 Peter 3:8-22

Good evening! Tonight, we are looking at 1 Peter 3, we are going to pick up in verse 8, and then we will finish the chapter. A few weeks ago, Jacob preached through verses 13-22, so we will only lightly touch on those. Jacob did a good job, that will be more of a refresher.

To start, let’s read the whole passage and then work through it.

1 Peter 3:8–22 ESV

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. 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.

So, we’ve just been looking at relationships. How wives and husbands should interact with one another. We talked about how creation order mandates things, but how sin has perverted many things, in particular, the relationship between a husband and a wife.

As we look at verse 8, we see Peter transitioning from relationships between Husband and wife to relationships in the body of the church.

Question:

Why would he not start with the relationships in the church? After all he is writing to the churches, right?

Why start with Husband and Wife?

**WAIT FOR ANSWERS**

Because the relationship between a married couple will drive almost all other relationships.

If Jessica and I are not on the same page, if we are in the middle of a disagreement, it colors how I interact with everyone else.

I’ll give you an example. VBS last week. There was a lot going on, and VBS is a long week for everyone involved. She and I had a bit of a disagreement on Tuesday, because I was an inconsiderate jerk. But, it’s VBS and the show stops for no one, so we just dealt with it until we could talk it through that evening afterwards.

More than once that evening, one of the adult leaders asked me if I was feeling ok, or if everything was ok.

At the end of the night, after VBS was over that evening, one of our closest friends asked what was up in a way that only close friends can, and I told them, vaguely, that I had frustrated my wife. This friend responded with, “Go home and fix it!”

I thought I was hiding the fact that my wife and I were not on the same page, but everyone could see it.

We talked through it, we worked it out, and I am a better man for the words of my wife who reminded me that I can be an idiot. She didn’t say it like that, but that is what it boils down to.

And you know what? The rest of the week went great, because Jessica and I were on the same page.

That relationship feeds the others. So Peter deals with that first. Then, he looks congregationally. Look at verses 8 and 9:

1 Peter 3:8–9 ESV

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

Once we have that primary (human) relationship aligned under God’s designs, we can work on our relationships to one another.

What are the hallmarks of that congregational relationship here:

**WAIT FOR ANSWERS**

Unity...

sympathy...

brotherly love ....

tender heart ....

humility ....

bless don’t curse...

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One thing I think we miss sometimes is we confuse a few of these. We confuse unity with unanimity, and they are not the same. We do not have to be unanimous in everything, but we should be unified. Our “unity of mind” helps us move forward, even when we don’t always agree on everything. Our goal remains united.

Sympathy is a weird one these days. People don’t want to be pitied, and they think that is what sympathy is. Today, there is this push for empathy.

And the problem is, we have replaced sympathy, which is a desire to comfort and respond with sensitivity toward a need. Empathy is the idea of experiencing something along with a person, putting yourself in their shoes to feel exactly what they are feeling.

The problem is, empathy means you are suffering alongside of someone, but you are not actually helping them work through whatever the situation is.

Sympathy has a goal of being sensitive to the need, but moving the person toward healing.

Now, historically, empathy and sympathy went hand in hand. You started by empathizing and moved toward helping the person heal (sympathy). Empathy today looks much different, and there is a push to let people wallow in their grief for as long as they want.

That is not the biblical model.

Incidentally, when we see “tender heart” here, that is the idea of empathy and sympathy working together.

Brotherly love is pretty self-explanatory, but if you need a class on that, see Larry Harrell.

Humble mind, again, is the opposite of pride.

Then we see that we are to break the cycle of violence.

You know, my kids struggle with this one.

Chloe will push Tyler. Tyler will get mad and hit her. She will then return the favor. And on and on and on it goes.

We tell them all the time that someone has to stop the cycle or it will never get better. Someone has to bite the bullet and be the one that does not retaliate.

Peter tells the churches here: Do not retaliate, but bless those who do you evil and revile you. He reminds the churches that this is the mission. To bless those who hate you and spitefully use you.

Notice the line “that you may obtain a blessing.”

We often get confused by this, because we think, oh, well, if I bless them, I get blessed. If I give a tithe, God will multiply my bank account.

That sort of thinking. We give to get in return.

That is not what this text means, that is not what this text is saying. That is not how this life, the Christian walk, is supposed to be carried out.

There are many areas in Scripture that bear that out.

What Peter is saying here is that, if we want to receive God’s blessings, we need to act in a way that pleases Him. Not for a reward, but because He has called us to walk that way.

In fact, one commentary sums up the section (verses 8-12) like this:

1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary (Revised Edition) ii. Return Blessing When Evil Is Done to You (3:9–12)

‘Finally, all of you, be like-minded, loving towards one another, compassionate and humble [v. 8], not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary blessing, for you have been called to such a righteous life in order that by this righteous living you may obtain God’s blessing on your life [v. 9]. For in the Psalms God promises blessings to those who live righteously’ (vv. 10–12).

You see, Peter is making the argument that Scripture supports blessings for those who live righteously. That is what he is getting at. That is why he quotes Ps. 34:12-16

Psalm 34:12–16 ESV

12 What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Notice that it doesn’t read exactly the same. Most likely, Peter is quoting from the LXX (Septuagint). He is quite possibly also quoting it from memory, and therefore paraphrasing a bit.

Look what this text does to further Peter’s argument here:

There is a negative aspect: we are to turn away from evil.

There is a positive aspect: we are to do good, to seek peace. To pursue peace.

The message is clear. If we are to love life and see good days, we have action to partake in. We have to turn away from evil, do good, and pursue peace.

Because God simply will not bless those who seek verbal vengeance. (ESV Commentary)

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous…His ears are open to their prayer.”

God is watching and listening. God is ready to act. That is comforting.

But, there is a warning here.

“The face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

When God’s face is against something, that is bad, okay? One commentary says this:

Hebrews–Revelation Response

There is no more fearful thought than that the God of heaven and earth is “against” someone. You do not want God for an enemy! This is a powerful incentive to avoid the doing of “evil” (v. 12); an even more stimulating reason to “do good” (v. 11) is the enjoyment of God’s manifest presence and the grace he supplies to those who humbly submit to his instruction and guidance (cf. James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5).

Now, we move on, and as I said, we will briefly touch on these next few verses.

We see that Peter does continue the thought about doing good in verse 13:

Who will harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

Normally, that would be no one. But in a fallen world, we understand that those who love evil will do harm to those who love good.

That is where Peter takes this argument, into the injustice of being persecuted for doing good.

See, again, we have to remember the context of this book. Peter is writing to the churches who are starting to feel the strain of persecution.

So, even trying zealously to do good things is being met with evil.

But Peter exhorts the churches here in verses 14-17 that we should share the Gospel in spite of adversity, and that we should be above reproach, we should glorify God with our actions and words, and then this reminder:

1 Peter 3:17 ESV

17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

We serve at the mercy of God’s will. Perhaps His will is for you to suffer, even doing good. But what advantage would that suffering be if you were doing evil. You would just be getting what you rightly deserve. But if you do good and you are persecuted, then you are blessed. You are made more like Christ.

1 Peter 2:20–24 ESV

20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

You see how Peter is working his argument. He basically is saying the same thing in chapter 3 that he did in chapter 2, but since he explained it there, he just sums up again here.

And we see in verse 18 and following the same idea he gives in chapter 2 about Christ’s suffering.

We should not be surprised when we have to suffer. And if we are called to suffer, we should rejoice because Christ also suffered, and we are made more like Him when we suffer for Him.

Now Jacob did, in my opinion, a very good job of dealing with a very interesting and tough few verses. I want to just make a blanket statement regarding verse 19 and following.

The bottom line for this is that we don’t truly know what Peter had in mind when he wrote these verses. We can speculate, and many people have.

What we need to do is figure out why he uses this idea of prisoners, and disobedience, and Noah, and what that has to do with persecution.

What I think we miss in trying to figure some of that out is that Peter is clearly talking about some sort of demonic or evil spirits, which would have been taken by a first century audience to be more powerful than themselves.

And Jesus preached to them, or proclaimed to them. Representing His authority over them.

You see, for the church:

Hebrews–Revelation Comment

They might be called to endure the worst that anti-Christian prejudice could inflict. But even then they could be assured that their pagan opponents, and, more important, the spiritual powers of evil that stood behind them and directed them, were not outside Christ’s control: they were already defeated, awaiting final punishment. Christ had openly triumphed over them. Here is real comfort and strength for a persecuted church which took very seriously the reality and power of spiritual forces.

We also want to remember the baptism issue, because there is again a bit of ambiguity in language from the first century to now. Peter is making a typological application, using the idea of the spirits in prison (most likely the Nephalim from Genesis 6) and the fact that only 8 people were saves during the flood (showing the small numbers of Christians surrounded by larger groups of pagans who were persecuting them).

Hebrews–Revelation Comment

To simplify, we should probably understand it in this way: “which (water) now also saves you, (who) are the antitype (of Noah and his family)—(that is) baptism.” In other words, the experience of Noah and his family in the flood is the type of which Peter’s audience and their baptism is the antitype (antitypon). France is especially helpful here:

The essential principle of New Testament typology is that God works according to a regular pattern, so that what he has done in the past, as recorded in the Old Testament, can be expected to find its counterpart in his work in the decisive period of the New Testament. Thus persons, events and institutions of the Old Testament, which in themselves need have no forward reference, are cited as ‘types’, models of corresponding persons, events and institutions in the life of Christ and the Christian church. On this principle, then, … Peter takes the salvation of Noah in the flood as a model of the Christian’s salvation through baptism.

Peter immediately qualifies the sense in which baptism saves us: it is not by the physical action itself, in which dirt is removed from the body. In other words, the physical action of baptism has no intrinsic saving power. There is no mechanical relationship between being immersed in water and being forgiven. The only sense in which baptism saves, says Peter, is insofar as it provides the occasion for an “appeal to God for a good conscience.”

So the person being baptized pledges their life to God in good faith, appealing to God on the basis of Christ’s death and resurrection, so that we might be considered part of the victory won by Christ’s resurrection. The death and resurrection of Christ are what does the work of cleansing and forgiving. The water is a link to that victory where we are buried (like Christ) and raised again (like Christ).

And we see the certainty and power of God in Christ celebrated in the doxological ending of the chapter where Peter sees the ascension of the Savior to the right hand of God, and He is ruler over all angels, authorities, and powers.

Jesus Christ has power of the spirits. Over the powers of this world. They are subject to Him.

If we must suffer for Him, know that it is limited by Him to what He decided, and know that He cares for you and has already won the ultimate victory. Christ is victorious. We can rest in His victory, even in the midst of persecution, because He is Christ almighty, the victor!

Let’s pray.