Sermon notes December 1st, 2024
1 Peter 3:13-22
We finished last week at v.12. He was quoting Psalm 34:12-16. Let’s start by looking there:
Psalm 34:12-16___New King James Version
12 Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
a. Peter states in 1 Peter 3:9, “Knowing that you were called to this [blessing others], that you may inherit a blessing.” He then quotes verses 12–16a of this Psalm to reinforce his teaching that we should not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but that we should rather bless.
b. The blessing is the favor of the Lord; His eyes are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry (Ps. 34:15).
1 Peter 3:13
13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?
a. Peter resumes his argument with a question: “And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?” The answer implied is “No one.”And yet the history of the martyrs seems to prove that enemies of the gospel do harm faithful disciples.
There are at least two possible explanations of this paradox:
1. Generally speaking, those who follow a path of righteousness are not harmed. A policy of nonresistance disarms the opposition. There may be exceptions, but as a rule, the one who is eager for the right is protected from harm by his very goodness.
2. The worst that the foe can do to a Christian does not give eternal harm. The enemy can injure your body, but he cannot damage his soul.
During World War II a Christian boy of twelve refused to join a certain movement in Europe. “Don’t you know that we have power to kill you?” they said.
a. “Don’t you know,” he replied quietly, “that I have power to die for Christ!” He had the conviction that no one was able to harm him.
1 Peter 3:14-15 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.”
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
a. To reverence the Lord means to make Him the supremacy of our lives. All we do and say should be in His will, for His pleasure, and for His glory. The Lordship of Christ should dominate every area of our lives—our possessions, our occupation, our library, our marriage, our spare time—nothing can be excluded.
b. The verse is also applicable to everyday life. People often ask us questions which quite naturally open the door to speak to them about the Lord. We should be ready to tell them what great things the Lord has done for us. This witnessing should be done in either case with gentleness and reverence.
c. There should be no trace of harshness, bitterness, or flippancy when we speak of our Savior and Lord.
16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
a. If a Christian must suffer, which might sometimes be God’s will for him, it should be for doing good. But he should not bring suffering or complaining tohimself for his own misdeeds.
b. There is no virtue in that except for repentance and doing your time as doing it for the Lord.
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,
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
a. Verses 19 and 20 constitute one of the most puzzling and intriguing texts in the NT. It has been made the pretext for such unbiblical doctrines as purgatory,on the one hand, and universal salvation on the other. However, among evangelical Christians, there are two commonly accepted interpretations.
b. According to the first, Christ went to Hades in spirit between His death and resurrection and proclaimed the triumph of His mighty work on the cross.
c. There is disagreement among proponents of this view as to whether the spirits in prison were believers, unbelievers, or both. But there is a general agreement that the Lord Jesus did not preach the gospel to them. That would involve the doctrine of a second chance which is nowhere taught in the Bible.
d. Those who hold this view often link this passage with Ephesians 4:9 where the Lord is described as descending “into the lower parts of the earth.” They cite this as added proof that He went to Hades in the disembodied state and heralded His victory at Calvary. They also cite the words of the Apostles’ Creed—“descended into hell.” Let’s look at it…
Ephesians 4:7-10___New King James Version
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore He says:
“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
We’re going to use scripture to interpret scripture, first let’s look at Lazarus and the rich man and this place called Paradice:
Luke 16:19-31___New King James’s Version
19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sump-tu-ously every day.
20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,
21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 So it was that the beggar died, andwas carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and you are tormented.
26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
a. The rich man his soul, or conscious self, went to Hades. Hades is the Greek for the OT word Sheol, the state of departed spirits. In the OT period, it was spoken of as the abode of both saved and unsaved. Here it is spoken of as the abode of the unsaved, because we read that the rich man was in torments.
b. Verse 23 dis-proves the idea of “soul sleep,” the theory that the soul is not conscious between death and resurrection. It proves that there is conscious existence beyond the grave. In fact, we are struck by the extent of knowledge which the rich man had. He … saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom or on his lap. He was even able to communicate with Abraham. Calling him Father Abraham.
c. He begged for mercy, pleading that Lazarus might bring a drop of water and cool his tongue. There is, of course, a question as to how a disembodied soul can experience thirst and anguish from flame. We can only conclude that the language is figurative, but that does not mean that the suffering was not real.
d. Believers before Christ went to a place called "paradise" (often referred to as "Abraham's bosom") because while they were not able to enter heaven itself until after Jesus' sacrifice. Why? They could not enter heaven because their sins were just covered by the blood of animals. They were still considered righteous because they believed and received a place of comfort and rest in the afterlife.
e. They were awaiting the full redemption that would come through Christ's death and resurrection; essentially, their salvation was "pending" until Jesus opened the way to heaven for all believers.
f. The book of Matthew shares just a little about “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised”, they were walking around Jerusalem.
Matthew 27:51-54___New King James Version
51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,
52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
a. Here’s another quick example that the Saints were below:
1 Samuel 28:13-15___New King James Version
13 And the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?”
And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.”
14 So he said to her, “What is his form?”
And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.” And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down.
15 Now Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”And Saul answered, “I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore, I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do.”
The second application is that Peter is describing what happened in the days of Noah. It was the spirit of Christ who preached through Noah to the unbelieving generation before the flood.
a. They were not disembodied spirits at that time but living men and women who rejected the warnings of Noah and were destroyed by the flood. So now they are spirits in the prison of Hades.
b. This second view best fits the context and has the least difficulties connected with it. Let us examine the passage phrase by phrase.
c. before the flood He went and preached. As already mentioned, it was Christ who preached, but he preached through Noah. In 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is described as a “preacher of righteousness.” It is the same root word used here of Christ’s preaching.
d. To the spirits now in prison. These were the people to whom Noah preached—living men and women who heard the warning of an impending flood and the promise of salvation in the ark. They rejected the message and were drowned in the deluge. They are some of the now disembodied spirits in prison, awaiting the final judgment.
c. So, the verse may be amplified as follows: “by whom (the Holy Spirit) He (Christ) went and preached (through Noah) to the spirits which are now in prison (Hades).”
d. But what right do we have to assume that the spirits in prison were the living men in Noah’s day? The answer is found in the following verse.
1 Peter 3:20
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.
a. Here the spirits in prison are unmistakably identified. Who were they? Those who formerly were disobedient.
b. When were they disobedient? When once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared. What was the final outcome? Only a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
c. It is well to pause here and remind ourselves of the general flow of thought in this Letter which was written against a general background of persecution. The Christians to whom Peter wrote were suffering because of their life and testimony. Perhaps they wondered why, if the Christian faith was right, should they be suffering rather than reigning?
d. If Christianity was the true faith, why were there so few Christians?
e. To answer the first question, Peter points to the Lord Jesus. Christ suffered for righteousness’ sake, even to the extent of being put to death.
f. But God raised Him from the dead and glorified Him in heaven (see v. 22). The pathway to glory led through the valley of suffering.
g. Next Peter refers to Noah. For 120 years this faithful preacher warned that God was going to destroy the world with water. His thanks were scorn and rejection.
h. But God vindicated him by saving him and his family through the flood.
i. Then there is the problem, “If we are right, why are there so few of us?” Peter answers: “There was a time when only eight people in the world were right and all the rest were wrong!” Characteristically in the world’s history the majority has not been right. True believers are usually a small remnant, so one’s faith should not falter because of the small number of the saved. There were only eight believers in Noah’s day; there are millions today.
j. At the end of verse 20, we read that a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. It is not that they were saved by water; they were saved through the water.
k. Water was not the savior, but the judgment through which God brought them safely.
The ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The flood of water depicts the judgment of God. The ark was the only way of salvation. When the flood came, only those who were inside were saved; all those on the outside perished. So, Christ is the only way of salvation; those who are in Christ are as saved as God Himself can make them. Those on the outside could not be more lost.
1 Peter 3:21-22
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,
The verse cannot mean that we are saved by ritual baptism in water for the following reasons:
a. That would make water the savior, instead of the Lord Jesus. But He said, “I am the way” (John 14:6).
b. It would imply that Christ died in vain. If people can be saved by water, then why did the Lord Jesus have to die?
c. It simply doesn’t work. Many who have been baptized have proved by their subsequent lives that they were never truly born again.
d. Neither can this verse mean that we are saved by faith plus baptism.
e. If baptism is necessary for salvation, it is strange that the Lord did not personally baptize anyone. John 4:1-2states that Jesus did not do the actual baptizing of His followers; this was done by His disciples.
f. The Apostle Paul thanked God that he baptized very few of the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:14–16). This would be strange thanksgiving for an evangelist, if baptism were essential for salvation! The fact that Paul did baptize some shows that he taught believer’s baptism, but the fact that he baptized only a few,shows that he did not consider it a requirement for salvation.
g. two or three verses that seem to teach that baptism is necessary for salvation.
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.
a. This was the lesson both for Peter’s original readers and also for us. We should not be upset if we experience opposition and even persecution for doing good, for we do not deserve better treatment than our Savior had when He was on earth. We should comfort ourselves with the promise that if we suffer with Him, we shall be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17). Furthermore, the sufferings now are not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits us (Rom. 8:18). The afflictions are light and momentary; the glory is eternal and weighty beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17).
