12. Victory in Jesus
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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.
12. Victory in Jesus (1 Peter 3:18-22)
12. Victory in Jesus (1 Peter 3:18-22)
The Apostle Peter, writing about the Apostle Paul’s letters, admits that in 2 Peter 3:16
16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
We could probably say, “Yeah, Peter, tell us about it. What’s up with this passage, though?” I think we’re in pretty good company with Martin Luther, who said about today’s text, “This is a strange text and certainly a more obscure passage than any other passage in the New Testament. I still do not know for sure what the apostle meant” (Pelikan 1967: 113).
Our denomination’s Confession of Faith in its first chapter dealing with Scripture tells us:
“The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.” (WCF 1.9)
So how we work with the text today must be governed by that principle.
The overall theme of 1 Peter is that Christians must withstand persecution and persevere in their faith. That much is clear in this passage. But what’s with baptism, the ark, Noah, and spirits in prison? And does this text say that baptism saves us? (Heiser, 336)
Bernard of Clairvaux said, “what is difficult to understand ought to be for Christians delightful to inquire into.” And as Augustine wrote long before, “Just as there are shallows where a lamb may wade, so there are depths in the Scripture where an elephant may swim.” [Cited in Packer, Quest for Godliness, 99] (op cit Rayburn).
So, let’s humbly wade into the text today. I’m sure we will soon reach the point where our feet don’t touch bottom.
Two questions arise from this morning’s text:
Do you see Jesus’s victory?
Have you joined Jesus in his victory?
I. Do You See Jesus’ Victory?
I. Do You See Jesus’ Victory?
Peter’s thinking here in verses 18-22 is connected with verse 17: 1 Peter 3:17
17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
Why is it better to suffer for doing good, rather than evil? Because Jesus has already pioneered that trail marked with righteous suffering — and it was the trail to his vindication and glory, His victory (see Sanchez, 131).
Peter takes us from Jesus’ death in verse 18 and brings us all the way to Jesus’ exaltation in verse 22.
Peter encourages those believers he is addressing, believers who are under the threat of persecution and indeed, are being persecuted, to not give up hope. They are to hold on to the hope they have in Jesus and also, as we have seen here in our series on 1 Peter, they are being held by Jesus to receive that hope. He reminds them that they are not alone in their suffering: they are to remember Jesus.
I want us to notice three things:
The example of Christ’s sufferings and death
The encouragement of His resurrection
The encouragement of His exaltation
Let’s look at
The example of Christ’s suffering and death
The example of Christ’s suffering and death
1 Peter 3:18
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,
Though we, too, might suffer and even die for our faith, We may look to Jesus, Who has already walked that path of righteous suffering and Who has faced death Himself.
Jesus's suffering and death is an example for us: 1 Peter 2:21
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.
But His suffering and death is much more than an example for us: they were unique and unrepeatable. 1 Peter 3:18
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,
He is our Saviour because His once and for all suffering and death , that Righteous One suffering and dying in the place of the unrighteous, satisfied the wrath of God for His own, taking their place, suffering the shame and just penalty due for their sins. By this act, He brought us to God, no longer as rebels. He reconciled us to the Father by His blood. His death for us opened the way to God for us.
Next, let’s notice
The encouragement of His resurrection
The encouragement of His resurrection
We are told that He was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” His suffering and death was not the last word; neither is our righteous suffering and death the last word. Though we were “in the flesh,” we are now made alive in Christ “in the spirit.”
What Peter is saying here is that Jesus, who was born in the flesh as we are, though without sin, died in the flesh, the natural body. He was buried, “but,” then He was raised from the dead, raised “in the spirit,” that is, made alive in the realm of the Spirit with an incorruptible, spiritual body. Jesus’s resurrection, which is the first fruits of the great resurrection to come for us, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, is one with a body that is “imperishable, undefiled, …unfading, that great inheritance to come in the new heavens and new earth.
Yes, Peter tells us, we will suffer, and yes, we will die. But we will also live again, for as Jesus was raised from the dead, so shall we be. Death is definitely not the last word. That is what we look for.
Jesus’ path took him from righteous suffering, and death, and then resurrection.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
next, let’s notice
The encouragement of His exaltation
The encouragement of His exaltation
Jesus triumphed in this victory over sin and death, but also as Paul tells us in Ephesians 6: 12, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
In His resurrection, Jesus proclaimed His victory and their defeat! Peter tells us about this in verses 19 and 20:
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.
Who are they? The letters of 2 Peter and Jude helps us out a bit here:
Jude 6
6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
These imprisoned spirits are fallen angels who disobeyed God in the days of Noah, referred to in Genesis 6, and are now part of the demonic realm. In His resurrection, Jesus proclaimed His victory over them and the whole of the demonic realm. We can take comfort in the fact that Jesus has defeated them, and all things are put under His feet Ephesians 1:22
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
And not only that, He is not just resurrected, but He is exalted. 1 Peter 3:22
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
God’s plan of salvation and kingdom rule had not been derailed by Jesus’s sufferings and death—in fact, it was right on schedule. The crucifixion actually meant victory over every demonic force opposed to God. This victory declaration is why 1 Peter 3:14–22 ends with Jesus risen from the dead and set at the right hand of God—above all angels, authorities and powers.
So, putting all this together: Peter tells us that it is better to suffer for doing good rather than to do evil., because God will vindicate those who endure righteous suffering, just as He vindicated His beloved Son through suffering. If God is for us, who can be against us? No one — because even the demonic realm is under Jesus’ authority.
We have the example of his sufferings and death
We have the encouragement of His resurrection
We have the encouragement of His exaltation
In the midst of our suffering for righteousness’ sake, we can take heart that God is at work to sustain us in our suffering and to bring us through that suffering to Himself, to the vindication and glory that Christ suffered in order to offer it to us.
Our second question today is
II. Have you Joined Jesus in His Victory?
II. Have you Joined Jesus in His Victory?
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,
There is a lot of division in the Christian world that exists over interpretation of this verse.
Some believe that baptism, by the action itself, brings us salvation, or is the means by which salvation comes. Others believe that it is necessary to be baptized to be saved.
What is Peter, and the Holy Spirit speaking through Him here in Scripture, telling us?
Let’s begin some matters of interpretation of Scripture.
Types and Antitypes
Types and Antitypes
The word the ESV translates “corresponds to” is the word “antitype.” An antitype is that thing that is prefigured by or corresponds to the type.
A “type” is a person or thing or event or practice that foreshadows some reality still to come; in other words, it’s what some call an embodied prophecy.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, for example, regards Israel’s passing through the waters of the Red Sea as a type of baptism. Peter here in 1 Peter 3 sees the waters of the flood in the same way, as a type or foreshadowing of baptism.
Typology is founded on the conviction that the same God who is at work in all eras of history and is working out the same purposes in all that history, has left his fingerprints, as it were, all over that history.
There is a continuity of action and meaning because there is one God and one salvation from the beginning of history to its end. Because he knew what was to come, he filled prior history with anticipations of later historical fulfillment.
Think of the OT offices of prophet, priest, and king. They were important in their own right and necessary for the people of God, but they were also embodied prophesies of the coming one who would be the prophet, the priest, and the king, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Romans 5:14, Paul tells us that Adam was a type of Christ.. Paul is saying that in some way, Adam foreshadowed or echoed something about Jesus. In Adam’s case, that something was how his act, his sin, had an effect on all humanity. Like Adam, Jesus did something that would have an impact on all humanity — his obedience, his death and resurrection.
We have types and antiptypes here, but we also have what is called a metonymy here
The Metonymy of “baptism”
The Metonymy of “baptism”
A metonymy is where one thing is represented by something that is closely related to it. If I say, “the Lodge said…” then I have used a metonymy. The Lodge can’t say anything. It is a building. When I use “the Lodge” in that way it is is a way to refer to the prime minister or one of his associates. Or if I use the old adage that, “the pen is mightier than the sword.” I have used two metonymies. The word “pen” refers to ideas and the word “sword” refers to physical force. Notice how “pen” and “sword” serve as representatives for things they are closely related to.
This is how baptism is often discussed in the New Testament. It’s not that doing a water ritual is what makes you and God reconciled. It is faith alone in Christ alone which makes you and God to be reconciled. But the word “baptism” is used to represent the event of someone becoming a believer (God and a person being reconciled).
Any time the Bible says baptism saves, it is using the term “baptism” as a metonymy. Baptism doesn’t really save anymore than the building known as the “the Lodge” talks. It is a stand-in for trusting Christ.
Allow me to illustrate this further.
If someone is tempted to cheat on their wife and I say, “you should be faithful because you put a ring on her finger.” Notice that it is not the “ring” that makes them married (some married people don’t wear wedding rings and other people who are not married wear rings on their fingers). What I am doing is using the word “ring” as a metonymy. I’m using it to refer to what actually made them married (vows, the pronouncement of the minister, consummation, etc.).
The Bible will often use the concept of “baptism” like I use the word “ring.” Baptism doesn’t save you, but it is a way to refer to what actually does save you (the grace of God in Christ through faith). In the same way the Bible says that a woman is “saved” through childbearing (1 Tim 2:15), Does this mean that a woman must have a physical child in order to be saved? Should we ignore everything the Bible says about being saved by faith and Christ and say, “but the Bible says childbearing saves?” No, we should realize that “childbearing,” like baptism, is a metonymy for a bigger reality; it is a metonymy for being a godly woman.
The Declarations of Baptism
The Declarations of Baptism
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,
Baptism is “an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
The word most often translated “appeal” (eperōtēma) in verse 21 is best understood as “pledge” here.
Likewise the word “conscience” (suneidēsis) does not refer to the inner voice of right and wrong in this text. Rather, the word refers to the disposition of one’s loyalties.
Baptism, then, is not what produces salvation. It “saves” in that it reflects a heart decision: a pledge or declaration of loyalty to the risen Savior.
In effect, baptism in New Testament theology is a loyalty oath, a public declaration of who is on the Lord’s side in the cosmic war between good and evil. At baptism, we make a pledge, or we take a pledge on behalf of our covenant children. We take an oath of allegiance to Jesus as our King. We acknowledge Him as King of our lives. We owe our loyalty to Him once and for all at baptism.
But in baptism, it is also a declaration by God to us! It is a sign of God’s faithfulness to us. The Lord instituted baptism for our benefit. By this means of grace, the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirits that we belong to the triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Spirit assures us of the LORD’s promise to Abraham, “I will be your God and you shall be My people” (Gen. 17:7).
Baptism, like circumcision in the OT, is God’s sign and pledge of faithfulness to us as opposed to our sign and pledge of faithfulness to Him. It is true that our baptism serves as our confession before men. However, the emphasis must never be placed on our action, our pledge of faithfulness, our commitment. Baptism, as a sign of the gospel, is God’s movement to us rather than our movement to Him.
But in addition to that, baptism, when it is in true faith and trust in Christ, it is also an “in-your-face” reminder to the defeated fallen angels. Every baptism is a reiteration of their doom in the wake of the gospel and the kingdom of God. Early Christians understood the typology of this passage. Early baptismal formulas included a renunciation of Satan and his angels for this very reason. Baptism was—and still is—spiritual warfare.
Whose side are you on?
Whose side are you on?
The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible Delivered unto Satan
Just as Moses demanded “Who is on the LORD’s side?” (Exod 32:26 ESV) in the wake of the golden calf debacle, so the question is put to every person today. There is salvation in no other name—the name of Jesus, who was and is the Name, the presence of Yahweh, who tabernacled on earth (John 1:14) in flesh for the salvation of the nations.
Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved; confess Him as your Saviour and Lord. Receive that mark of your pledge of allegiance to Him, your loyalty to Him and His cause, but also His sign to you of His covenant mercies and promises, by which you cannot make or maintain this oath in the first place!
Choose you this day whom you will serve!
12. Victory in Jesus (1 Peter 3:18-22)
12. Victory in Jesus (1 Peter 3:18-22)