Look to Jesus for the Right Response to Suffering--1 Peter 3:18-22 (1 Peter Series)

            Our neighbors to the east over in Missouri live in what’s called “The Show-Me State.” The idea behind that nickname is that Missourians are not gullible people – if you want to make a point to them, you’ll have to prove it; you’ll have to “Show Me” that what you’re saying is true.

            We all have at least a little bit of that Missouri attitude in us, don’t we? When a claim sounds too good to be true or it’s different than what we expected, we say, “You’re going to have to show me. You’re going to have to prove it!”

            In the previous passage of 1 Peter, the apostle has just called us to continue to do good even to those who have done evil to us. He said that we should even view such times as opportunities to share the Gospel. Now, Peter may have sensed that even though his readers lived in what is now Turkey, they were really Missourians at heart. He knew that the call to do good even to those who do us evil is a tough pill for all of us to swallow. So in our passage for today, he’s going to point us once again to the example of Christ to show us that God truly does honor those who do good despite suffering for it.

1. Jesus was willing to suffer for doing good (v. 18)

            In verse 18, Peter reminds us that Jesus was willing to suffer for doing good. We should be very thankful that he was willing to do so, because his suffering has resulted in our salvation! [READ v. 18]

            Notice how Peter makes it a point to emphasize that when Jesus suffered for our sins, it was the righteous one suffering in behalf of all of us unrighteous people. Jesus had never done a single thing wrong! Remember that back in 2:22, Peter had written of Jesus, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

            You’ll recall that after Jesus called Peter to become his disciple, Peter lived with Jesus night and day virtually every day for the next three years, and yet Peter says, “It’s true! He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” Now, my wife and kids live with me night and day, and I can tell you that they won’t have to wait three years to spot me doing something sinful! During that amount of time, my sinfulness will be obvious, yet Peter was able to say of Jesus, “He was a righteous man.” He did not deserve a sentence of death in the least, yet he was willing to accept it and endure it that he might bring us to God. He did it for our well-being! He did it for you and for me.

           

But let us focus again on how Jesus is our example. In the next part of this passage, Peter will reveal how Jesus set an example for proclaiming an offer of forgiveness even to those who were doing evil.

2. Jesus was willing to proclaim good news to those who were doing evil (vv. 19-21)

            As we come into the next part of this passage, we encounter some statements that have proven to be some of the most difficult statements to interpret in all of Scripture. Let me read verses 19 and 20, then I’ll explain a bit of the difficulty and describe for you the two most likely interpretations of these statements [READ vv. 19-20].

            The difficulty of interpreting these verses comes in attempting to answer some basic questions about them. Who are “the spirits in prison,” and what connection do they have to the days of Noah? What did Jesus proclaim to them, and when did he do it? Let me ever-so-briefly lay out for you the two most likely interpretations of this passage.

#1—Between his crucifixion and his resurrection, Jesus spoke to demons who are confined in Hell to announce their ultimate doom.

            Some of you have perhaps worshiped before in a church tradition that frequently recited some of the ancient creeds of the Christian faith. One of those creeds says of Jesus that he “descended into Hell.” If you’ve ever heard that before and you wondered where that statement came from, it comes from this interpretation of this passage, as well as a small handful of other verses.

            Some people believe that this is the best interpretation primarily for three reasons. First, the statement in verse 18 that Jesus was “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” could seem to refer to a time when his flesh was still dead. Obviously, that was only true in the short time between his death and his resurrection, and so those who take this interpretation say that the proclamation must’ve happened during that time.

            Second, the word “spirits” is often used in the New Testament to refer to demons. Furthermore, when Peter is clearly referring to human beings in verse 20, he uses a different word – the word that is translated in the ESV as “persons.”

            Third, the word “prison” is used in the Book of Revelation to describe a place where demons are apparently being kept under arrest – so to speak – until the end times.

This is one possible interpretation. The second is…

#2—Jesus inspired Noah to proclaim an offer of forgiveness to the sinful people of his day while he was building the ark.

            What is the support for this interpretation? First, there’s a possible translation of v. 20 that would place the timing of the proclamation squarely within the days when Noah was building the ark. The word “because” at the beginning of v. 20 could also be translated “when,” which would make this passage read, “he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, when they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah.”

            Second, Jewish tradition outside of the Bible states that as Noah was building the ark, he called others to repent and join him inside of it. Now, in 2 Peter 2:5, Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness,” which indicates that Peter may have had those stories about Noah in mind as he writes about him.

            Third, the picture of Jesus inspiring Noah to proclaim hope and forgiveness fits much better with the previous passage, because that’s precisely what Peter called us to do in vv. 16-17.

            All in all, I think this second interpretation is best. This means, then, that Peter is calling us to reflect on Christ’s willingness to proclaim an offer of forgiveness even to wicked people. Even after God had announced to Noah that judgment was on the way—that it was going to wipe out mankind—even still he apparently moved Noah to call people to repentance and offer them room on the ark. God desires for us to proclaim the Gospel far and wide, even to people whom we think may not deserve it, because no one lies beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness—if they will only accept it.

            Recently, I read a biography of one of the Army chaplains who served in Nuremberg, Germany after World War II as captured Nazi war criminals were being tried for war crimes.¹ Many people don’t realize this, but the United States provided chaplains to minister not only to our own soldiers who were stationed there, but also to the Nazis who were on trial for war crimes. This book recounts how several of these Nazi officers repented of their sins and asked God for forgiveness. The man who wrote this biography had some of his theology a bit mixed up, but the story does remind us how all people can find forgiveness through Christ. If Jesus led Noah to preach forgiveness even to the people who mocked him for his faith, then the Lord would want us to do the same thing.

            Now notice that in verse 21, this mention of Noah and his family being brought safely through water brought the subject of baptism to Peter’s mind. I believe he may have thought of baptism because of the possibility that some people in his audience were shying away from being baptized in order to minimize the opposition they were facing. Remember that most of the people in the churches that first received this letter were apparently from a Jewish background. For their Jewish friends and family, baptism would have been the clear declaration that these believers were leaving behind Judaism to embrace Christianity.

            Some of these believers, then, may have been dragging their feet on baptism. But Peter has something important to say about this step of obedience [READ v. 21]. Let’s clarify what Peter is telling us when he says “baptism…saves you.” Is he saying that being baptized is what brings us forgiveness of sins and a home in heaven? Would Peter say, then, that we will not go to heaven unless we are baptized?

            In the context, Peter doesn’t seem to have the thought of going to heaven in mind at all. Recall that when we studied James 2, I told you that when we see words like “saves” or “saved” in the Bible, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Saved from what?” The word “saved” simply means “delivered from danger,” so we have to allow the immediate context of the passage to tell us what the danger is in that case.

            In this passage, the danger that Peter has in mind is losing out on the blessings that we will receive if we respond properly when evil is done to us. If we respond in a sinful way in those moments, we could lose the blessing of living at peace with the people around us, we will lose the reward in heaven that comes from suffering for righteousness sake, and we will lose out on the opportunity to have a bold witness for Christ. Now if those don’t sound like things that we really don’t want to miss out on, then we need to reassess what we cherish and value in our hearts.

            The act of baptism puts us in the right frame of mind to receive the blessings that come from responding properly to suffering. When you choose to be baptized, you are making a public declaration that you are a follower of Christ, come what may! You are declaring that your confidence is in him, and that you want to obey all that he commands his followers to do. And notice that just like with all of the spiritual benefits and blessings that we have, the benefits of baptism are based on what Jesus has accomplished, not on anything that we accomplish. Notice that Peter says that baptism saves us from these dangers “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” All of the glory goes to him, whether we’re talking about baptism or anything else. It is his power that accomplishes good in our lives, whether we’re talking about the good of becoming a child of God or growing in maturity as children of God. It all comes through his resurrection power.

Christ’s destiny after his resurrection also reminds us of the honor that we stand to receive for responding to suffering and evil in a godly way.

3. Jesus was honored for His willingness to suffer (v. 22)

            In verse 22, Peter writes of Jesus [READ v. 22]. The fact that Jesus is at the right hand of God means that he is in a position of great honor and authority. We may sometimes talk about a person being “my right hand man,” and this means that we highly value that person; we trust them and rely upon them greatly. So Jesus is in a position of great honor and glory ruling at the right hand of God.

            We can see this honor as well from the end of the verse. Angels, authorities, powers – these are all terms that refer to various ranks of angelic beings, and Peter says that Jesus has been placed in authority over them all. That has always been true of Jesus as God, but now it is also true of him as the God-man. Through his life and death and resurrection as a man, Jesus has now restored humanity to an honored and exalted position among all created things.

            Just as Jesus was honored for his willingness to do good despite suffering evil, we too will be honored if we choose to have the same response. The story of Jesus teaches us this important lesson, that choosing to do good in the face of injustice will bring us glory and honor down the road. Yes, we may experience injustice from other people right now. We can’t control how other people might treat us, but we can control how we choose to respond, and if we will choose to respond with continued obedience to God, we will inherit blessing and honor – perhaps even the blessing of peaceful living with others right now, but certainly the honor of eternal reward from our God when we get to heaven.

Notes:

1. The book is “Mission at Nuremberg,” by Tim Townsend.