Dealing With Life’s Difficulties Series

#12 Understand the Death and Triumph of Christ, 1 Peter 3:18-22

(1 Peter 3:18-22 NIV)  For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, {19} through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison {20} who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, {21} and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, {22} who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

This is a great passage on the salvation wrought by the death of Jesus Christ.  In the clearest of terms it tells us why Christ died and what the death of Christ does for man. In fact, this verse explains the death of Christ so clearly that it leaves the hearer without excuse if he fails to understand why Christ died. Because of its clarity every believer should study the verse in all of its depth and memorize it.

Handling the Tough Texts

(1) Recognize that we are in good company when we find some texts or truths hard to handle. The prophets had difficulty understanding the things revealed to them (see 1 Peter 1:10-12). During our Lord’s earthly ministry, the disciples failed to grasp the meaning of our Lord’s words (Mark 9:32; Luke 18:34). Peter finds Paul’s writings difficult to grasp at times (2 Peter 4:14-16). Why should we expect to understand all things pertaining to an infinite God, especially in this life (see 1 Corinthians 13:9-13; 1 John 3:2).

(2) Do not feel compelled to have a satisfactory explanation for every text in the Bible or a solution to every biblical problem. Tough texts humble us, reminding us that God is infinite and beyond our ability to understand or put in a box (see 1 Corinthians 13:9-12). It is good for us to be mystified by Scripture so that we realize we do not have it all under control.

(3) Problem passages should not be the basis for new and novel doctrines or interpretations. Never accept a doctrine based solely on a problem text. Any truth vital to our understanding will be taught clearly, emphatically, and repeatedly. The cults often use difficult texts to establish bizarre doctrines which have no support elsewhere in Scripture.

(4) Be suspect of interpretations of difficult texts which do not have broad acceptance throughout the history of the church (2 Peter 1:20-21).

(5) We should not be overly dogmatic about the conclusions we reach concerning a problem passage. We should hold these interpretations and applications more tentatively and not make them a test of spirituality or orthodoxy.

(6) Avoid becoming obsessed with the gnats of the text and thus miss the camels. The mysterious elements of Scripture can sometimes become an obsession to the neglect of the main teaching of the text. Often the main thrust or message of a problem text is clear, even if some of the particulars are uncertain. We should not lose sight of the message, even if we do not understand the minute details of the text. Seek to determine the main flow of argument and to discern the main point. In our text, the message is clear, even if the minutia is not.

(7) In seeking to interpret difficult texts, determine if there are any parallel texts similar in teaching, and interpret the more obscure text in light of those which are clearer.

(8) Determine the issues, the interpretive options, and then choose the interpretation that best fits the context, the argument of the entire book, and biblical theology.

Although this passage is one of the most difficult in the New Testament, it begins with something which anyone can understand.  The point that Peter is making is that, even if the Christian is compelled to suffer unjustly for his faith, he is only walking the way that his Lord and Saviour has already walked.  The suffering Christian must always remember that he has a suffering Lord.  In the narrow compass of these two verses Peter has the greatest and the deepest things to say about the work of Christ.

(i)  He lays it down that the work of Christ was unique and never need be repeated.  Christ died once and for all for sins.  The New Testament says this same thing often.  When Christ died, he died once and for all (Romans 6:10).  The priestly sacrifices in the Temple have to be repeated daily but Christ made the perfect sacrifice once and for all when he offered himself up (Hebrews 7:27).  Christ was once and for all offered to bear the sin of many (Hebrews 9:28).  We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once and for all (Hebrews 10:10).  The New Testament is completely sure that on the Cross something happened which never needs to happen again and that in that happening sin is finally defeated.  On the Cross God dealt with man's sin in a way which is adequate for all sin, for all men, for all time.

(ii)  He lays it down that that sacrifice was for sin.  Christ died once and for all for sins.  This again is frequently said in the New Testament.  Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3).  Christ gave himself for our sins (Galatians 1:4).  The function of the High Priest, and Jesus Christ is the perfect High Priest, is to offer sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 5:1, 3).  He is the expiation for our sins (1 John 2:2).

The Greek for for sins is either huper or peri hamartion.  It so happens that in the Greek version of the Old Testament the regular phrase for a sin-offering is peri hamartias (Hamartias is the singular of hamartion), as, for instance, in Leviticus 5:7 and 6:30.  That is to say, Peter is laying it down that the death of Christ is the sacrifice which atones for the sin of men.

We may put it this way.  Sin is that which interrupts the relationship which should exist between God and men.  The object of sacrifice is to restore that lost relationship.  The death of Christ upon the Cross, however we explain it, avails to restore the lost relationship between God and man. 

As Charles Wesley put it in verse: No condemnation now I dread: Jesus, and all in him, is mine! Alive in him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

It may be that we will never agree in our theories of what exactly happened on the Cross, for, indeed, as Charles Wesley said in that same hymn:  "'Tis mystery all!"  But on one thing we can agree-through what happened there we may enter into a new relationship with God.

(iii)  He lays it down that that sacrifice was vicarious.  Christ died once and for all for sins, the just for the unjust.  That the just should suffer for the unjust is an extraordinary thing.  At first sight it looks like injustice.  As Edwin H. Robertson put it:  "Only forgiveness without reason can match sin without excuse."  The suffering of Christ was for us; and the mystery is that he who deserved no suffering bore that suffering for us who deserved to suffer.  He sacrificed himself to restore our lost relationship with God.

(iv)  He lays it down that the work of Christ was to bring us to God.  Christ died once and for all for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.  The word for to bring is prosagein.  It has two vivid backgrounds.

(a)  It has a Jewish background.  It is used in the Old Testament of bringing to God those who are to be priests.  It is God's instruction:  "You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting" (Exodus 29:4).  The point is this-as the Jews saw it, only the priests had the right of close access to God.  In the Temple the layman might come so far; he could pass through the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Women, the Court of the Israelites-but there he must stop.  Into the Court of the Priests, into the nearer presence of God, he could not go; and of the priests, only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies.  But Jesus Christ brings us to God; he opens the way for all men to his nearer presence.

(b)  It has a Greek background.  In the New Testament the corresponding noun prosagoge is three times used.  Prosagein means to bring in; prosagoge means the right of access, the result of the bringing in.  Through Christ we have access to grace (Romans 5:2).  Through him we have access to God the Father (Ephesians 2:18).  Through him we have boldness and access and confidence to come to God (Ephesians 3:12).  In Greek this had a specialized meaning.  At the court of kings there was an official called the prosagogeus, the introducer, the giver of access, and it was his function to decide who should be admitted to the king's presence and who should be kept out.  He, as it were, held the keys of access.  It is Jesus Christ, through what he did, who gives men access to God.

(v)  When we go beyond these two verses, further into the passage, we can add two more great truths to Peter's view of the work of Christ.  In 3:19 he says that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison; and in 4:6 he says that the gospel was preached to them that are dead.  As we shall go on to see, this most probably means that in the time between his death and his resurrection Jesus actually preached the gospel in the abode of the dead; that is to say, to those who in their lifetime had never had the opportunity to hear it.  Here is a tremendous thought.  It means that the work of Christ is infinite in its range.  It means that no man who ever lived is outside the grace of God.

(vi)  Peter sees the work of Christ in terms of complete triumph.  He says that after his resurrection Jesus went into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and power having been made subject to him (3:22).  The meaning is that there is nothing in earth and heaven outside the empire of Christ.  To all men he brought the new relationship between man and God; in his death he even brought the good news to the dead; in his resurrection he conquered death; even the angelic and the demonic powers are subject to him; and he shares the very power and throne of God.  Christ the sufferer has become Christ the victor; Christ the crucified has become Christ the crowned.

1.  Christ died once for sins. It was for the sins of man that He died. Man is sinful; he is guilty before God, guilty...

· of disbelieving God. Just think how often people do not believe God, how often they do not take God and His Word seriously.

· of disobeying God. Just think how often people transgress and break the law of God.

· of cursing God. Just think how often people curse and blaspheme the name of God.

· of rebelling against God. Just think how often people choose to go their own way and do their own thing instead of doing what God says.

· of rejecting God. Just think how many people reject God.

This is sin—all of this and so much more. Man has transgressed the law of God, and when the law has been broken, the penalty has to be paid. Man has to be judged; he has to bear the punishment for his sins. What is the judgment and punishment? Death. Man has to die and he has to be separated from God forever. Why? Because God is perfect and only perfect beings can live in God’s presence. This is the reason man’s sin dooms him to death and eternal separation from God. But this is the glorious gospel; this is the declaration of this great verse: Jesus Christ died for our sins. He took the sin and guilt of man upon Himself and bore the judgment and punishment for man.

     Note the words “for sins” (peri hamartion). These words are the very words used in the Old Testament for the sin offering (Leviticus 5:7; Leviticus 6:30; cp. Romans 8:3; Hebrews 10:6, 8). The point is clear: Jesus Christ offered Himself for sin; He was the fulfillment of the sin-offering itself. This means a most wonderful thing: we can now become acceptable to God. We no longer have to stand before God guilty of sin, for Jesus Christ has died for our sin. If we trust His death to cover us, then sin and its guilt have been removed from us. In Christ we stand acceptable to God.

     Note one other fact: Christ died once for our sins. His death never has to be repeated; His death upon the cross satisfies God completely and covers the sins and death of men forever. How? This is the discussion of the next point.

     2.   Christ died vicariously; He was the just One dying for the unjust. What does this mean? It means two things.

a.  Jesus Christ was perfectly just or righteous. He was sinless: as Man He lived a sinless life. Therefore, He stood before God as the Perfect and Ideal Man. He was the ideal pattern of what every man should be. His righteousness was the ideal righteousness. This means a most wonderful thing:

Ž  It means that whatever Jesus Christ did could stand for and cover all men.

Ž  It means that His righteousness could stand as the ideal and perfect righteousness. His ideal righteousness could cover every person and make him acceptable to God.

Ž  It means that His death could stand as the ideal and perfect death. His ideal death could cover the death of every person and make him acceptable to God.

Ž  It means that Jesus Christ could become the ideal and perfect sin-offering for man. His ideal sin-offering could cover every man’s sin-offering and make him acceptable to God.

b.  Jesus Christ loves man; therefore, He gave His life for man. Man deserves to die and to be separated from God, for he is unjust and sinful. But Christ loves us; therefore He has become our substitute: borne our sin and judgment, condemnation and punishment. Therefore, we never have to die or be separated from God. If we surrender our lives to Christ—if we give ourselves over to Him and are baptized for remission of sins—His righteousness covers us and His death covers us. In Christ we become acceptable to God. But we must always remember why. It is because Christ died for us: the just One died for the unjust. He sacrificed and substituted His life for us.

                                    Note: this is the reason the death of Christ never has to be repeated. Christ never has to die again because He is the Perfect and Ideal Man. As the Ideal Man He has made the perfect sacrifice that satisfied the righteousness and justice of God. He has made the perfect sacrifice once-for-all.

     3.   Christ died to bring us to God. How? It is our sin that separates and alienates us from God. It is sin that makes us imperfect and unacceptable to God. But note the most wonderful truth:

Ž  When Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself, sin was removed from us. Therefore, we stand before God in the righteousness and sinlessness of Christ. In Christ we become acceptable to God.

Ž  When Jesus Christ took the guilt of our sin and died for us, our death penalty was paid. In Christ we no longer have to die or be separated from God.

     However, note the critical point: we are acceptable to God only in Christ. That is, we must cast ourselves—all that we are and have, our mind, body, and soul, our past, present, and future—upon Christ. We must believe with our whole heart that Jesus Christ has died for our sins. When we genuinely believe, God accepts us in Christ, covering us in His righteousness and death.

Note a terrible and tragic fact. Not everyone is in Christ. Not everyone believes in Christ and is baptized (immersed) for remission of sins. In fact, most people curse and reject Christ either by word or act. Few obey God and His Word; few trust Christ; few have given their lives to follow Christ fully and completely. Therefore, few people are covered by the death of Christ; few sins have been forgiven. Most people continue to bear their sins and the guilt of them.

(3:18-22) Jesus Christ, Victory; Triumph; Resurrection: there is the triumph of Christ. The triumph is seen in four glorious facts.

     1.   Jesus Christ was quickened, that is, made alive. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Most translators say that the words “the spirit” refer to Jesus’ spirit and not to the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ was put to death in the flesh, but He was quickened and made alive in the spirit. In either case the meaning is pretty much the same: right after Jesus Christ died in the flesh, His spirit passed into a new life, a life that could not be tempted to sin nor undergo trials and sufferings. Jesus Christ was transferred into heaven, into the spiritual and perfect world or dimension where He lives, in the glory and majesty of God forever.

The same quickening is experienced by every believer. The spirit of every true believer is quickened and made alive in Christ, made alive by God. And in that glorious day when it is time for the believer to depart this world and go on to live with God, God shall transfer the believer’s spirit into heaven. Immediately—quicker than the eye can blink—the believer’s spirit will be transferred into heaven, into the perfect and eternal world and dimension of being. The believer’s spirit shall be perfected forever; it shall never again be subject to the trials and temptations of this corruptible world. The believer’s spirit shall be perfected to live in the glory and majesty of God forever.

2.                Jesus Christ victoriously proclaimed His triumph (1 Peter 3:19-20). He proclaimed the victory of His death and resurrection to the spirits in prison and to the disobedient of Noah’s day.

What does this mean?  The following ideas are held by many…but whatever is believed must not be in conflict with the idea that there is NO second change after a person dies!

We have already said that we are here face to face with one of the most difficult passages, not only in Peter's letter, but in the whole New Testament; and, if we are to grasp what it means, we must follow Peter's own advice and gird up the loins of our mind to study it.

This passage has lodged in the creed in the phrase:  "He descended into hell."  We must first note that this phrase is very misleading.  The idea of the New Testament is not that Jesus descended into hell but that he descended into Hades.  Acts 2:27, as all the newer translations correctly show, should be translated not:  "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell," but, "Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades."  The difference is this.  Hell is the place of the punishment of the wicked; Hades was the place where all the dead went.

The Jews had a very shadowly conception of life beyond the grave.  They did not think in terms of heaven and of hell but of a shadowy world, where the spirits of men moved like grey ghosts in an everlasting twilight and where there was neither strength nor joy.  Such was Hades, into which the spirits of all men went after death.  Isaiah writes:  "For Sheol cannot thank thee, death cannot praise thee; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for thy faithfulness" (Isaiah 38:18).  The Psalmist wrote:  "In death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give thee praise?"  (Psalm 6:5).  "What profit is there in my death if I go down to the pit?  Will the dust praise thee?  Will it tell of thy faithfulness?"  (Psalm 30:9).  "Dost thou work wonders for the dead?  Do the shades rise up to praise thee?  Is thy steadfast love declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in Abaddon?  Are thy wonders known in the darkness, or thy saving help in the land of forgetfulness?"  (Psalm 88:10-12).  "The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence" (Psalm 115:17).  "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going" (Ecclesiastes 9:10).  The Jewish conception of the world after death was of this grey world of shadows and forgetfulness, in which men were separated from life and light and God.

As time went on, there emerged the idea of stages and divisions in this shadowland.  For some it was to last for ever; but for others it was a kind of prison-house in which they were held until the final judgment of God's wrath should blast them (Isaiah 24:21, 22; 2 Peter 2:4; Revelation 20:1-7).  So, then, it must first of all be remembered that this whole matter is to be thought of, not in terms of hell, as we understand the word but in terms of Christ's going to the dead in their shadowy world.

Probing the Problems in our Passage

The major thrust of Peter’s teaching can be traced in verses 17-18 and verse 22. The problems arise in verses 19-21. The following views sum up the more popular interpretations of this problem passage.

(1) Christ preached through Noah to the people of his day. This view was held by Augustine. Christ has always been actively involved in the world, even from ancient times (see Colossians 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 10:4). He is also vitally involved with the world and His church until He comes again (Matthew 28:20; Acts 9:1-9; 16:7). This view’s main problem is the expression “spirits now[1] in prison” which does not seem to be one that most naturally would be used and understood in reference to men. It is true, however, that “spirits” is used in Hebrews 12:23 in reference to those believers who have died.

(2) Between the time of our Lord’s death and His resurrection, He descended into the abode of the dead and preached to those who had formerly lived in Noah’s day but were now dead and in prison, spiritually.[2] Matthew 27:52-53 and Ephesians 4:9 are sometimes cited as support. There are several problems with this view. First, why is only this group of unbelieving dead selected and preached to and not all unbelievers? Second, why would the gospel be preached to a group of people who were warned of the coming judgment of God for 120 years and who rejected this warning (see Hebrews 11:7; 2 Peter 2:4-5)? It wasn’t as though these people were not warned. Peter tells us they were disobedient (3:20). Third, at least some of those who hold this view also believe these folks are given a “second chance,” but this seems contrary to other biblical teaching (see, for example, Hebrews 9:27).

(3) Between Christ’s death and resurrection, Christ descended into hell and proclaimed His victory to the demonic spirits, who cohabited with women in Noah’s day (see Genesis 6:1-8; 2 Peter 2:4-5, Jude 6; see also 1 Corinthians 15:28; Ephesians 1:18-23; Philippians 2:8-11; Colossians 2:8-15; 1 Peter 4:22). This view seems to square best with Genesis chapter 6, 2 Peter 2 and Jude 6. It appears most consistent with the terms “spirits in prison.” But what does this have to do with Peter’s theme of suffering?

(4) Enoch (not Christ) preached to those living in Noah’s day. This is the view of J. Cramer and J. Rendel Harris. It has no textual support, but only a textual emendation (a change of the text, without the existence of any such text) based upon certain presuppositions. It can hardly be taken seriously.

(5) “I don’t know what Peter means here.” Luther held this view. We can at least respect his honesty.

Peter’s very purpose is to stress how the triumph of Christ saves the believer, and he wants to stress the part that baptism (that is, the cleansing of the conscience) has in salvation. Therefore, Peter uses the saving of Noah and his family through the flooding waters as an illustration of his point.

If God raised up Christ from the dead then it means that Christ is who He claimed to be: the Savior of the world. Therefore, He is able to save us from our sins. He is able to cleanse us from all sin and to free our consciences. He is able to give us a clear and pure conscience.

Jesus Christ saves the believer from all angels, authorities, and powers (1 Peter 3:22). All beings of all dimensions and worlds are subject to Him. He has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God. He rules and reigns over all, subjecting all to His sovereign will and power.

This means a most wonderful thing. Believers need never fear anyone or anything. Christ Jesus the Lord is looking after them. He will provide, protect, and deliver through all the trials and temptations of life no matter how terrible and severe.