WEDNESDAY
Peter grounds his argument, yet again, in the example of Christ. He is supporting his teaching that Christians are to continue doing good even if it results in suffering.
1 Peter 3:18-22 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.
Big picture: This text grounds the believers’ willingness to suffer persecution in the death of Christ, and also in the power of his resurrection. He intends to encourage his readers that suffering and death are not the end of the story. Resurrection and victory follow death and defeat in the Christian life, just as it was with Christ.
Christ was perfectly righteous, yet he suffered according to the will of God. His suffering was God’s will to redeem his people. Perfect righteousness doesn’t mean we will be exempt from suffering, as the prosperity gospel implies. Even Jesus suffered. Jesus did this that we might be brought to God. In the sphere of his flesh, he was put to death, but in the sphere of the spirit, he was made alive.
Again, the Christian life is to be patterned after Christ. He is our cornerstone; he is the pattern we trace our lives after. This is what Dallas Willard calls, “the secret to the easy yoke and the light burden of Christ,” that is, living the way Jesus lived. Following the paradigm of Jesus is not some add-on to the Christian faith for the super “holy” people. It is beholden upon every Christian. Jesus must be the primary influence for how we live.
I’ve heard Christians today say things like, “Meekness and humility don’t work. We’ve tried that and Christianity is still losing influence and power in our society. We need to fight fire with fire.” This is flat-out wrong, according to Scripture. No matter how severe the persecution gets, we are to continue doing good and even bless those who persecute us.
Verses 19-22 are probably the most difficult verses to interpret in the New Testament. Many options have been proposed. So I’ll try to give you the cliff notes version.
The “put to death and made alive in spirit” in v. 18 likely refers to Christ’s death and resurrection. The “he went” in v. 19 is likely referring to his ascension. Note the three key aspects of the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
Verse 20 raises questions like, “Where did Christ go? Who are the imprisoned spirits? What did he say to them?” Some versions of the Apostle’s Creed suggest Jesus went to hell and preached to the spirits in prison there. That interpretation has largely fallen out of favor. Much of this text is based on the book of 1 Enoch, which is frankly bizarre and seeks to add context to the strange passages of Genesis 6. This text was popular in the first century and Peter’s audience was likely familiar with it.
Taking into account the connection with 1 Peter, the spirits he preached to would be evil, demonic spirits. In his resurrection and ascension, Jesus proclaimed victory and power over them, thus their condemnation.
Peter then references the Noah account. Interestingly, these regions of Asia Minor that he is writing to is the same area in which Noah’s ark was thought to have landed. Therefore, the Noah flood account was well known in this region. Both Noah and Enoch, according to the traditions his audience was familiar with, preached a message of righteousness and repentance. It was a message of condemnation to those who didn’t listen. Jobes summarizes the meaning of this passage well.
“Peter wishes to connect the sins of angelic beings in the ancient past, the victorious proclamation of the risen Christ, and the lives of Christian believers "now." He uses the flood as a type of God's catastrophic judgment, which happened only after God's restrained patience, and he poses the survival of Noah from that divine judgment as a type of Christian salvation, which involves the tamed waters of baptism. His point is that just as there were only a few saved from the flood, they were nevertheless and certainly saved. Therefore, despite their small numbers the Christians of Asia Minor are not lost to God's concern in the mass of pagan humanity, and God saves the righteous in spite of their small number (cf. Gen. 18:22-32). Moreover, though the pagans of Noah's time spurned his warning to repent, God's patience did not imply God's indifference. Just as the rain eventually began to fall for forty days and forty nights, the final judgment of God will also overtake scoffing unbelievers in the future. The God who saved Noah is the same God who will save Christian believers. These points were meant to be words of encouragement to the Christians of Asia Minor who, like Noah, were being derided and maligned by their society because of their faith.”
- Karen H. Jobes. 1 Peter (p. 247).
In verse 21 Peter links typologically the Noahic flood to baptism. Typology refers to the Old Testament foreshadowing of New Testament realities. Roman coins have been excavated in this region that depict Noah on one side of the coin and the emperor on the other. This indicates there was a strong Noahic tradition in this region, even in the culture outside of Judaism and Christianity. So this is an attempt to connect with the culture, yet again.
Noah’s flood represented judgment and salvation for eight people. The water that brought judgment also was the means of saving Noah and his family. At first reading it may seem as if Peter is teaching that baptism is effective for salvation. However, it must be noted that Peter is careful to make the distinction between the water that saved Noah and his family from the water of baptism. He makes this distinction by saying that we are saved “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” and “it’s not a removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience.” Both point to the spiritual reality that baptism represents repentance and new life in Christ.
He then ends with a declaration of Christ’s elevation to the place of power and authority over all of creation, “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
Reflection
Those last few verses are strange and we can get lost in them, but don’t miss the main point Peter is making—pattern your life after Christ. On the other side of suffering in the flesh is life in the spirit, just as on the other end of Jesus’ death was resurrection and ascension. Commit yourself to following the way of Jesus wholly, even if it leads to suffering, because you also have the hope of resurrection in Christ.