1 Peter 3:18-22 - Christ Death and Victory
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[Intro]
Last couple weeks have been pretty chaotic, many unfortunate events have taken place, specifically in Ukraine. Really over the past few years, though, we can probably all think of many unfortunate things that has happened, whether just in our nation or across the world. I’m not trying to just brief over what’s going on in Ukraine and act like it’s not a big deal, it is a big deal, but I’m trying to point out that if you go back through history, tragedy is everywhere. There’s many bright moments as well, but the truth is mankind has been trying to destroy each other since sin entered the world. You don’t have to go too far in the Bible until you read about Cain killing Abel. And that’s because mankind is tainted with sin. When unfortunate events play out, it can be confusing and discouraging. Who knows what’s next, but ultimately our hope is in Christ and not our surroundings. Not that we don’t hurt for those hurt and mourn with those who mourn, but we press on knowing Christ has won victory over death.
Our belief in Christ and what he did will comfort us in any situation. Whether it’s devastating events happening in the world or hard times happening in our lives through persecution. What we talked about a few weeks ago was persecution and suffering through it with a clear conscience. Not giving in to sin in tough times of persecution, but standing strong in the faith. As we continue on in 1 Peter we’ll be going through 1 Peter 3:18-22 today. This passage focuses on Christ’s death and resurrection.
[Prayer]
[Body]
Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.
So he went and preached to the spirits in prison—those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.
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In the preceding verses we discussed suffering for doing good, basically Christians suffering persecution. And how as Christians, we are not to fear anything the world throws at us to try and falter our faith in God. We’ve claimed Christ as Lord of our lives and we ought to be able to explain our faith if the situation arises, and no matter what happens we focus on what is to come on our day of glorification because of what Christ did and our faith in Him. So now Peter transitions to focusing on Christ. Why? Well he’s continuing to encourage and these readers that Christ has won the war, assuring them the hope they have in Christ is all they need. Claiming Christ to be our role model to follow after. He’s painting a picture of how great an example Christ was and where He sits now. The outline of this passage is basically, This is the life He lived, this is what happened to Him because of the way He lived, this is how he overcame death, and this where He’s at now.
So here at the beginning we see the word “suffering”, as we read the rest of the sentence we know Peter is clearly thinking of the death of Christ. Commentators believe Peter used the word “suffering” instead of the word “died” to make a strong connection to the preceding text where he was talking about the Christians suffering. He wanted to be explicit that they are sharing in the suffering of Christ.
Now here we read the ultimate example of a role model. If you want to be a role model you must live out what you say you want others to do, in the extremes. Christ did what no one could or will ever do, which is live a perfect sinless life. He never sinned. So in terms of claiming everyone should follow God and turn away from Sin, he lived up to that extreme, he fulfilled the law. And then in terms of enduring suffering, he was put through the most extreme persecution, which is death and he was tortured before even being killed. And it wasn’t just any death, he died a brutal criminals death. That’s as much persecution as you can receive. And He did that not for himself, but for us. Completely selfless.
Now if Christ was not raised from the dead, that would mean he wasn’t who he said he was, and we wouldn’t have hope. But we know He did, he overcame death and was resurrected by the power of God through the Holy Spirit. He suffered and died and was raised to life by the Holy Spirit.
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Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith:
Christ was revealed in a human body
and vindicated by the Spirit.
He was seen by angels
and announced to the nations.
He was believed in throughout the world
and taken to heaven in glory.
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If we believe in that, if we believe what the Word of God says and that Christ did come fully man, fully God, lived a sinless life, died and was resurrected by the Spirit. Then we know that even though we will never live up to the standard that Christ set, which is living out a life of complete righteousness, we’ll still be seen as righteous because of our faith.
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.
Christ is the only way to the father and the only way to be seen as righteous. And when we die we will be raised up to live eternally with God by the Spirit. And this is the same Spirit that lives in us now.
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The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
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So we stand bold for Christ, share in the suffering, and because of our belief we also get to share in the victory over death when we pass from this earth by being given eternal life with God. We didn’t win the victory, but we get to share in it just by believing in Christ and what we He did, it’s a really good deal.
Now let’s go over 19-20. Many passages throughout scripture go under debate, and this is one of them, many scholars are uncertain for sure on what Peter is trying to say. There are many opinions on these two verses, but I’m just going to go over a couple popular ones, and they have a theme supported through the rest of scripture.
First: This refers to Christ’s preaching through Noah to those who lived while Noah was building the ark. So Christ would have been speaking by means of the Holy Spirit through Noah. The one’s in “prison” are not actually in prison or in hell, but rather the one’s who were not believers in God at the time of Noah, before the flood. They were trapped in sin. And the reason for this understanding is because there is a parallel here to persecution a Christian receives. Like Noah, we want others to come to God, Noah is warning of a flood coming, and the reason for the flood was God casting judgement on the world. We are also trying spread the Word because God is going to judge the world again one final time when Christ returns. And that time given before the flood, God was waiting patiently, just like he is waiting patiently now.
Considering it was a total of 8 people, Noah’s family, clearly many rejected the Word and probably persecuted Noah in the process. Likewise we will experience some of that rejection. And also as we go through life, once we put our faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in us and guides us.
Second: This is focused on Christ proclaiming his victory over evil angelic powers. Now the reasoning for this is the word “went” right at the beginning here, is used in the book of Acts and the book of John when referring to Christ’s ascension. It isn’t really ever used to say the Holy Spirit “went” to some person or place. So this is a counterargument to the first point, that argues the Holy Spirit “went” to Noah. Also, the preceding verse talks about Christ’s death and resurrection, and verse 22 talks about Christ ascending to his place in heaven. So saying He “went” somewhere would more align with where Christ went during his death and resurrection.
Also, “spirits” here is not typically used in scripture to refer to human spirits, but rather angels. And when the word “prison” is used in other scriptures regarding mankind, it only refers to human imprisonment on earth, not as a place of punishment for humans after death. The term “prison” we see here is also used in Revelation 20:7 when speaking of Satan’s confinement.
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When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison.
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So who would these evil angels be? Many believe them to be the ones referred to back in Genesis 6:1-4 where they are referred to as sons of God.
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Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”
In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.
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The descendents of were the Nephilim. And another reference to these angels is believed to be in Jude 6.
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And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment.
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So these spirits in 1 Peter some believe to be the fallen angels from Genesis that turned away from God and Christ is now declaring victory over them.
Like many verses that have multiple viewpoints, always consider how the understanding relates to other places in scripture. Assuring that we’re not creating theology out of one verse, but many that support each other.
I think both viewpoints hold truths and they do not contradict the gospel or how the Holy Spirit works in us now. So either view should give encouragement to us as believers.
Verse 21 describes the flood as a symbol of baptism. Just like the flood was God’s judgement on the world and wiping out all the sinful people. When we are baptised, it’s a symbol of putting to death our old selves, the life we had before believing in Christ, and being raised out of the water as starting a new life. However it’s key to remember two things, because some will look at this and say “Hey Peter says this baptism is what saves you now.”
First: Peter says the part that saves is not the removing of dirt, it’s not the physical part of it. It’s because of you’re decision to put your faith in Christ, your response to God.
Second: Peter says without the resurrection of Christ it would not be effective.
The physical part of baptism does not save you. You are saved by putting your faith in Christ as the one who was raised from the dead by God. Baptism is a symbol of you starting a new life with Him.
In closing with verse 22, let’s read that again:
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Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God, and all the angels and authorities and powers accept his authority.
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This is Jesus’ ascension into heaven after His resurrection. And we see in many scriptures that claim Jesus sits at the right hand of God. This is likely being referenced from Psalm 110:1. Which, by the way, Jesus himself quotes this psalm.
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The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies,
making them a footstool under your feet.”
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That first line can be a little confusing, but “my Lord” in Jewish traditions is understood to mean the messiah, which we know is Jesus. So the scripture means Jesus sit’s in the place of honor at God’s right hand. This Psalm influences many other scriptures in the new testament as well.
Also earlier we talked about the viewpoint of Christ declaring authority and victory over evil angelic powers, now we read as Christ enters heaven “all the angels and authorities and powers accept His authority.” Christ has authority over all and we live for Him above anything else.