1 Peter 3:18-22 Four Words Before 1 Peter 4 October 7, 2018pm www.newhopefwbc.com 1285 Ne w Hope R oad Joelton, TN 37080 6 1 5. 7 4 6. 6 4 0 3 READ Mark 3:18-22 I d like you to do me a favor this evening and write down four words. I think if you do, you will be able to follow along much more easily this evening. While you re grabbing a pen/pencil and paper or bracketing Mark 3:18-22 to put these four words off to the side in your Bible, let me give a little bit of a disclaimer about the passage that we are going to look at this evening. 1. It s difficult. Even aside from the content, the order of the translated words are a little more difficult to follow. That s not to say that its a cypher or anything; it s just a lot to fit together. Some passages of Scripture are so easy to comprehend that that just a cursory reading over them will grant you the main idea of the text. This is not one of those passages of Scripture. 2. It s debated vehemently. A lot of people have a lot of different ideas about what this passage of Scripture means, and many of them are ready to die on the hill of their being right. I once told a girl that I went to high school with during a Bible class debate that I Corey M. Minter Page 1 of 11
thought when she got to Heaven that she was going to debate with Jesus over what a certain passage of Scripture said. Just a casual reading of several trusted commentaries this week has produced no fewer than 20 different interpretations of this text. (And as kindly as I can say it I do not enjoy debating good, well-meaning Christians over this passage; so if you disagree with something I say, please do not expect me to jump at the bait afterwards). 3. It s solitary. One of the most difficult aspects about this passage is that Peter brings up a few things that really are not expounded on anywhere else in Scripture. That does not mean that it is less important, but one of the main ways that we interpret Scripture is on the back of other Scripture. So it just makes it very hard to make a firm positive, stance on these verses when there is none other to compare to. 4. It s deep. This really is not a passage of Scripture that I would preach on a Sunday morning because it can get really involved, even though I am going to keep it on my level tonight (which is not very deep). You really do have to think through this passage, and it involves a lot of chewing on throughout a setting before some of it really starts to sink in. All that being said, are you ready for the four words? They have really helped me direct my thinking concerning 1 Peter 3:18-22. Died. Descended. Resurrected. Ascended. For the most part, that outline is the basics of Gospel story. Jesus died, descended, resurrected, ascended. With such a simple outline then, Corey M. Minter Page 2 of 11
what s the problem? How is this passage so difficult? Every October, I try to read a book about Martin Luther, the reformer who lived in the 16th century. Of this passage of Scripture, Luther said, [There is no more] obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means... I cannot understand and I cannot explain it and there has been no one who has explained it to me. 1 It is not the simplicity of the outline but some of the words and thoughts presented alongside that outline that makes this passage so difficult. It s also good to remind ourselves of the context of this passage before we just jump right in. Peter is not introducing new doctrine, here. Instead (albeit in a kind of confusing way), Peter is affirming that it is good to suffer for the right reasons 1 Peter 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. Widespread suffering and persecution were just getting started among the Christians at the hands of Rome, and you can imagine that they had their questions. If I am really doing the right thing by following Jesus, why is my land being taken? Why am I imprisoned? Why have my family members forsaken me? The very broad answer to these questions is that Jesus suffered. When you suffer for doing/believing right, then you are following in Christ s 1 David R. Helm, 1-2 Peter and Jude, (Crossway, 2008), p. 119 Corey M. Minter Page 3 of 11
footsteps. Also, Peter will end the chapter with a reminder that for the Christian, all suffering is temporary. Ultimate victory is imminent. With all that being said, let s read that first word 1. Died. Jesus died for our sins. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, The cross was the payment for all of our sins. There are three aspects about Christ s time on the cross that are important to note: Christ suffered once for our sins. Some early manuscripts read, Christ died once for our sins. The once is what I would like to draw your attention to. You can see the progression of atonement through Jesus s words from the cross where He speaks two key phrases: Tetelestai and Father, into your hands I commend My Spirit. When Jesus said Tetelestai, He was saying It is finished. There is nothing more to be done to pay for sins. Jesus suffered our Hell, our eternity of separation from God during those six hours that Friday. That will be an important point that we will come back to in just a minute. Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit. Aside from that being a beautiful picture of the Triune God, the point is. Christ died physically. Christians need to own that, believe that and not buy into any ridiculous swoon theory that Jesus did not actually physically die. He did. And yet, His Spirit was Corey M. Minter Page 4 of 11
commended to the Father. Within all of us is an undying, eternal spirit. Our bodies die. They waste away. Scripture says that our bodies sleep. However, the soul/spirit is eternally conscious. Scripture says that To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:8) Jesus suffered physical and spiritual separation from His Father on the cross. My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me? But upon His proclaiming tetelestai : it is finished, He was spiritually restored with the Father, with Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, What then happened to Jesus s Spirit that weekend? His body went into the tomb, but what about His Spirit that had been commended to God? Well, we do not know the timeline of everything here, but I submit two things: 1. Jesus was with the thief on the cross in Paradise. When the one repentant thief asked Christ to remember him when He came into His kingdom, do you remember what Jesus said to him? Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. Corey M. Minter Page 5 of 11
So we know that at some point that day, before the setting of the sun, after the thief died himself on his cross, the two were rejoined in paradise 2. But Peter, here, suggests that Jesus s Spirit went somewhere else, too. Be it simultaneously or at two separate occasions, we do not know, but at some point that weekend, before His Sunday resurrection. 1 Peter 3:19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 2. Descended. Jesus descended into prison to preach to disobedient spirits. Jesus preached. He proclaimed truth to imprisoned spirits. Where are they imprisoned? If this is the same prison that Revelation refers to (and I believe it is), it is a pit in the spiritual realm. Real specific huh? Why were these spirits imprisoned here? Because of their disobedience. 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. I would suggest that these are demons that during the time of the 120 years that it took Noah to build the ark did something so abhorrent to God that He bound them in this prison. What was it that they did? We do not know. The best answer that I read was that (with the doom of the flood impending), they tried to annihilate Noah and his family, and thereby, stop the promise of a Messiah. Corey M. Minter Page 6 of 11
Why did Jesus go to this prison? To preach. He did not go to suffer. He did not have to suffer one bit of eternal flame. The cross was the payment for our sin, the equivalent of our Hell. If Jesus had to go to suffer, then He lied when He said It is finished. He went to preach to these bound, disobedient spirits who millennia earlier had try to foil the plan of God to bring about salvation for man s soul. What did Jesus preach? We do not know exactly, but in my imagination, it was a very short sermon. You lose. Victory: that s what He preached. That brings us to our third word: resurrected. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 3. Resurrected. Jesus was made to live again so that we can live eternally. This verse is particularly tricky. At face value, you may come away with an idea that we are saved by getting baptized. Now, baptism is important. Do not let anyone ever tell you that it is not, but to say that we are saved by getting baptized, it flies in the face of Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is not writing that getting baptized saves you. Corey M. Minter Page 7 of 11
First, the word antitype. The ESV uses the word corresponds. Peter transitions the story of the flood into verse 21 by saying that the story of Noah and our salvation have similarities. Sadly, because Noah s story involves floodwaters and the ordinance of baptism involves water, some have assumed that is the link. That is not the similarity. The water in Noah s story was anything but a salvation. It was judgement. As eight souls (Noah and his family) were saved, so can we be saved from judgment. How? Not by baptism, but by what baptism symbolizes: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Davey writes it well: The [flood]water represented judgment and death, but to them it lifted up that ark and kept them safe so that they didn t drown. So, corresponding to that, when someone steps into the water of baptism, they are also surrounded by that which represents judgment. That water represents death and the grave. But you, the believer, are in the ark. That is, you are in Christ there s the analogy and baptism points ultimately to the resurrection of Christ. And because you have trusted by faith in Him, you also will not drown in the coming, final judgment of God. 2 2 http://www.wisdomonline.org/cgi-bin/media_player.cgi?id=5020 Corey M. Minter Page 8 of 11
That is why you may hear some preacher, when he is baptizing, say something like buried with Christ, raised in His likeness (or raised to walk in the newness of His life). Christ s resurrection is what gives us new life, not getting baptized. Baptism is the outward expression of an inward decision of faith in Christ. Christian, it is important. Do not expect to grow in your faith by one millimeter if you do not follow God s command of baptism. It is the first step of your new life in Christ. It is important because it symbolizes the most powerful event in all of history: Christ s bodily resurrection from death. Finally, our fourth word that really does not need too much explanation. 4. Ascended. Christ ascended into Heaven. 1 Peter 3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. For forty days after His resurrection, Jesus showed up unexpectedly to His followers a recorded ten times. I assume there are more, but those are the only recorded ones. In these moments, he ministered to the confused, the broken-hearted, the doubters the rejected and even a crowd of 500 all at once. The final appearance is recorded in a few places, but I would like to close tonight by reading it from Mark 16: 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. Corey M. Minter Page 9 of 11
20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. What is He doing at the right hand of His Father right now? The Bible tells us two things, aside from this 1 Peter 3 passage that He rules with all authority. 1. He is preparing a place for us. John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know. I heard an old preacher say one time that if God created all the natural world in just six days, imagine what He could do in thousands of years. 2. He is making intercession for us. Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God s elect? It is God who justifies. Corey M. Minter Page 10 of 11
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus Christ taking up for you. Corey M. Minter Page 11 of 11