For Those Who Need Examples

1 Peter 3:18-22

Jesus Suffered for Righteousness

However his suffering had a great purpose

Once for all

If we don’t have priests - we don’t have the mass - and if we don’t have the mass we don’t have Jesus

The just for the unjust

To bring us to God

Romans 5:1

His suffering was also very effective because he rose from the dead!

Put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit

Our redemption is grounded in the sacrificial death of Christ but the effectual operation in human experience requires his resurrection

This denotes Christ in his risen glorified state - his activity is now freed from the limitations of the flesh

His suffering also proved that he was the victor

1. He went and preached in Hades

2. He preached through Noah

3. This describes the proclamation of victory. Just as Jesus was vindicated through his resurrection we as Christians will be vindicated as well

Noah - a preacher of righteousness

His suffering makes it possible for us to leave behind the world of evil

Brought safely through the water by the ark

The water was a phenomenon of judgement. In it the wicked perished. It was God’s judgement.

However, God spared Noah and his family. He patiently waited for 120 years before the flood came. The wicked laughed an ridiculed Noah until it was too late.

Noah and his family left behind the world of iniquity. As they departed from the Ark they knew that God had saved them from being drowned by an ocean of corruption.

Corresponding to that:

Baptism now saves you

It denotes the believer’s passage from the old lief to the new.

The waters of baptism have no more saving power than the flood waters in Noah’s day

Baptism is an act of obedience that bears witness to the inner union of faith with Christ the savior.

The rite without the inner reality is useless