(c) The context indicates that Christ was preaching through Noah, who was in a persecuted minority, and God saved Noah, which is similar to the situation in Peters time: Christ is now preaching the gospel through Peter and his readers (1 Peter 3:15) to a persecuted minority, and God will save them. This is notorious to every one even to themselves. Thus hope also could spring forth as it were to meet Him; as, indeed, it is the work of the Holy Ghost to exercise the faith and hope He has given. And this is exceedingly interesting, because if the prophet be compared, it will be seen to illustrate what has been remarked before the difference between the present accomplishment made good in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, and the future fulfilment of the prophecies. (i) There are those who wish to eliminate it altogether. to which. He is going to judge them in the next world. Women cannot hold public offices, or priesthoods, or gain triumphs; they have no public occupations. Our relationships with God can never be right, if our relationships with our fellow-men are wrong. "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." Prosagein ( G4317) means to bring in; prosagoge ( G4318) means the right of access, the result of the bringing in. Let us then bear in mind that we are a royal priesthood "to show forth," as it is said here, "the virtues of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light." 15 ! (iv) The only compelling argument is the argument of the Christian life. In the narrow compass of these two verses Peter has the greatest and the deepest things to say about the work of Christ. It is almost impossible for us to realize what life must have been for the wife who was brave enough to become a Christian. God has a right to use whom He pleases, according to His own sovereign will and wisdom; but the truth is, that if you have received a gift, you are not only at liberty but rather bound to use it in Christ's name. I mean, I was ready to tear him apart. unto Abraham, so before him. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ( 1 Corinthians 15:3). 1P iP i Pet). Men may be wooed into the Christian faith when they cannot be bullied into it. He that would love life, And see good days, Let him keep his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking guile: Let him turn away from evil and do right; Let him seek peace, and pursue it, For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And his ears are open to their prayer; But the face of the Lord is against those that do evil. (Psalms 40:1-17; Hebrews 10:1-39) Thus He goes in peaceful triumph into the presence of God, establishing our faith and hope in God, and not merely in Himself. It is a logos ( G3056) that the Christian must give, and a logos ( G3056) is a reasonable and intelligent statement of his position. In 1Pe 1:3, Peter says, "we are born anew to a living hope thru the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. His spirit, instead of being bound by those forces that lead to eternal condemnation, entered into fuller life. What a place for the Christian! ], John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible. They see Him doing so through Noah. There is given to the soul of him who thus rests on God's power keeping him a wholly different tone from that of the man who thinks of his own perseverance as a saint. Nor is it only that we find here the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, but the life that grace has given us is characterized by resurrection power. In the New Testament the corresponding noun prosagoge ( G4318) is three times used. (i) It must be reasonable. He is now fulfilling the Levitical types in the holiest of all. "if you suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts ( 1 Peter 3:14-15 ): Give a special place for God in your life. The issue and event of Christ's suffering, as to himself, were these, he was put to death in his human nature, but he was quickened and raised again by the Spirit. This passage has lodged in the creed in the phrase: "He descended into hell." Gods saving of Noah and his family by means of the ark illustrates the salvation of believers. It is granted that there is a sanctification in scripture which bears on practice. Pearls were loved most of all. But he triumphed over death. Pity is of the very essence of God and compassion of the very being of Jesus Christ; a pity so great that God sent his only Son to die for men, a compassion so intense that it took Christ to the Cross. A third group holds that Jesus proclaimed His victory on the cross to fallen angels. Such is Christianity. And then he asks, "And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? She that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and Marcus my son. We are thrown on mercy, as we ought to be; we look up in dependence on One who is incontestably above us, and withal infinitely near to us. And water now saves you, who were symbolically represented in Noah and his company, I mean the water of baptism; and baptism is not merely the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge to God of a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, because he went to heaven, after angels and authorities and power had been made subject to him. We have got used to the idea of millions of people becoming refugees." (vi) Peter sees the work of Christ in terms of complete triumph. and sat in darkness, and the shadow of death, and, as it were, at words are to be understood of Christ's going to preach, by his We can read of the thousands of casualties on the roads with no reaction within our hearts, forgetting that each means a broken body or a broken heart for someone. Others believe it happened during His ascension to heaven. It must be remembered that at this stage of the Church's history we are still dealing with adult baptism, the baptism of people who had come straight from heathenism into Christianity and who were taking upon themselves a new way of life. And we are all one, heirs together of the grace of God. Does this refer to Jesus' descent into hell, as in the Apostles' Creed? It only makes confusion in jumbling up law and gospel, to the detriment of both, and indeed to the destruction of all the beauty and force of truth. What he refers to is the loss of their title to be the people of God, which Israel sustained at the time of the Babylonish captivity. was, that he existed in his divine nature before he was He's referring, of course, to the cross. What was its content? When they were admitted to the synagogue at all, they were segregated from the men and hidden behind a screen. in the text from the disobedient spirits. The meaning is that there is nothing in earth and heaven outside the empire of Christ. read , in spirit, and one , in the Holy Spirit. 3. And "he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to his own soul, not discerning the Lord's body" ( 1 Corinthians 11:29 ). But if a wife became a Christian while her husband did not, she was taking a step which was unprecedented and which produced the acutest problems. The modern parallel is entering upon full membership of the Church. Up to that time membership of Christ, or to be in Christ, was not a fact, and consequently could not be testified to any soul, nor known to the most advanced believer. The old man being dead now buried in water and the new life that I now have, the life of the Spirit through Jesus Christ. (2) The Descent Into Hell ( 1 Peter 3:18 b-20;4:6 Continued). There speaks the prophetic voice to our modern condition. These were insisted on in the Old Testament, particularly in the psalms and the prophets. souls of Old Testament saints were, before the death of Christ; As Edwin H. Robertson put it: "Only forgiveness without reason can match sin without excuse." What is meant by prison here? Scripture: 1 Peter 3:1-6. . he does not do, and of the evil that he does, he has a dread of God, knowing that He must bring into judgment the good that he knew but did not, and the evil that he knew and did. "I'm running the show and I don't need you and I don't need anybody else. American Standard Version. Did they boast about their law, the apostle can say that Christianity the present blessed revelation of grace in Christ was in God's mind before the foundation of the world. The exhortation is not limited to slaves. (ii) The second attitude is limitation. Although this passage is one of the most difficult in the New Testament, it begins with something which anyone can understand. With Jesus victory over death, their condemnation was sealed. They will be the greatest people on the face of the earth, and all the Gentiles shall own it. (a) It has a Jewish background. (a) Peter says that in the Spirit Christ preached to the spirits in prison, who were disobedient in the time when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, when the ark was being built. By which Spirit, his own Divine energy and authority. No doubt as far as it goes it is all-important, nor could any one be a Christian without it. The question is not how far it is made good in the heart of the believer; for it really and equally embraces all believers. They were the worst of all sinners and yet they were given another chance of repentance; therefore, the worst of men still have a chance in Christ. whereas real service of the saints is as precious in its place as any speaking can be. The legal sacrifices were repeated from day to day, and from year to year; but the sacrifice of Christ, once offered, purgeth away sin, Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14. This is exactly what modern presbyters think they may and ought to do every day of their lives. Where? It is a great mistake to suppose that the blood there is used as a sign of the putting away of sin. This is the important difference here revealed. ] It is worth while to collect together the great New Testament passages about unity, in order to see how great a place it occupies in New Testament thought. Jesus came to open the prison to those that are bound, or to open up Hades to those people who were bound there, who died before Jesus died for our sins. And water now saves you, who were symbolically represented in Noah and his company, I mean the water of baptism; and baptism is not merely the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge to God of a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, because he went to heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been made subject to him. But it contains these three great truths--that Jesus Christ not only tasted death but drained the cup of death, that the triumph of Christ is universal and that there is no corner of the universe into which the grace of God has not reached. Now you may be baptized by sprinkling, by dunking, by full immersion, and still not be saved. that generation who was then in being; and who being disobedient, First he is surrounded by an evil world, but, besides, he has not lost in fact something nearer that is quite as bad as what is in the world. God required no more blood, no more death. What is it that Saul of Tarsus says as the effect of the light of God shining on his soul? Will the dust praise thee? Turn away from evil, do good. And you have become her children, if you do good, and if you do not become a prey to fluttering fears. "As each man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. The consequence is that when minds get disturbed, it may be, about their position, then all sorts of difficulties come in. Now the new nature in the believer never has any other thought or feeling; only in our case there is also the old nature which may, and which alas! this sense is also false, because, as before observed, not the (b) If Christ descended into Hades, it means that his triumph is universal. And when he ascended, he led the captives from their captivity" ( Ephesians 4:8-9 ). poreutheis. The real meaning may make the difficulty appear to be greater for a moment (as, I suppose, the truth often, if not always, does); but when received and understood, what has such strength of appeal to the conscience? Such as communion is condemning to the person who doesn't believe. (ii) Peter calls baptism the pledge of a good conscience to God ( 1 Peter 3:21). desiring his coming, and which he, by some gracious They think it strange when you do not rush to join them in the same flood of profligacy and they abuse you for not doing so. This is the reading also in the Complutensian Polyglot. Consequently that nation as a display of His government was a thing of the past. The purpose of the cross is to put away our sin, which had separated us from God. It never places all the responsibility on one side. Greet ye one another with a kiss of love. After this Peter not only branches out into the outward life, but takes particular note of the family and its relationships. Thirdly, it seems very strange, that Peter, speaking of the apostles, should immediately, as though forgetting himself, go back to the time of Noah. God has raised Him from the dead and given Him glory. That is the outward framework of the gift, which latter is suited no doubt to that ability; but the gift itself is the power of the Spirit according to the grace of Christ. Why did Peter mention Noah? And when He ascended out of hell, He brought with Him those who had been captive. He'll be gone and then I won't have anything. Christ was once and for all offered to bear the sin of many ( Hebrews 9:28). It is a mistake to construe it of one that knows not what took place in the lower parts of the earth. It is after the pattern, not of a subject with a sovereign, but of a child's dependence on a parent. Therefore it is observable there was the sprinkling of the book along with it. She must live in the conviction that the whole world is the Temple of God and that all life is lived in the presence of Christ. If you suffer for evil doing, you've got it coming. 851-52; Selwyn, p. 199; John S. Feinberg, "1 Peter 3:18-20, Ancient Mythology, and the Intermediate State," Westminster Theological Journal 48:2 (Fall 1986):303-36; and Wayne Grudem, "Christ Preaching through Noah: 1 Peter 3:19-20 in the Light of Dominant Themes in Jewish Literature," Trinity Journal 7NS:2 (Fall 1986):3-31.] Salem Media Group. In every business contract there was a definite question and answer which made the contract binding. To proclaim, herald, preach. might be saved, if they would; and, as others, to let them know "The phrase in the days of Noah may well be based on the Gospel tradition and on Jesus analogy between Noahs time and the time immediately preceding the end of the age (cf. Clearly, between the seal and its impression there is the closest possible correspondence. 1 Peter 3 - Submission and Suffering A. Submission in the home. With this object in view, there was entire propriety in directing them to the long-suffering and forbearance evinced by the Saviour, through Noah. (1) THE MARKS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE ( 1 Peter 3:8-12 ). In other words, Peter is not preaching something he didn't practice, but he did this very same thing himself. There is no difficulty that I see about it. On the Cross God dealt with man's sin in a way which is adequate for all sin, for all men, for all time. In 1 Peter 3:18-22 he cited Jesus resurrection and ascension into glory, the "missing links" in the previous record of Jesus experiences. Because of it, all who trust in Christ are brought to His Father. Supposing God only gave the believer according to his own thoughts (often meagre); supposing one believed in the power of the precious blood of Jesus ever so truly, and had nothing more than this our real portion by the Spirit, such an one, I maintain, would be a sorry Christian indeed. , by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, They saw not His form, but heard the sound of His voice. character be once mentioned of souls now in glory? And if you read it in Amplified, I think these guys were male chauvinists because they really jump onto this and amplify it almost to an extreme. They were redeemed then with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. We saw in a similarly characteristic way in the epistle of James the connection of his moral aim with teaching. For this reason, that very few were saved then, whilst. 3:1-2 Likewise, you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that, if there are any who refuse to believe the word, they may be won for Christ without a word because they have seen your pure and reverent behaviour. None eau find it in Scripture. The old English word was conversation, which doesn't mean verbal but it means your lifestyle. It was partly sight and partly faith; but when He went away, it was altogether faith, and nothing but faith. (i) He lays it down that the work of Christ was unique and never need be repeated. The prophets were constantly saying that the righteousness of God was near at, hand, and His salvation to be revealed. Thus He is in all things glorified through Jesus Christ, "to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever.". Hence there is no reason to fear that it will not flow to us. This is not the sanctification of the Spirit. Both flow from Christ and are in communion with Him who is now carrying on a priesthood according to the pattern of Aaron, but in His own person is a priest after the order of Melchisedec. He said, Boy, you really handled that well, you know. There is not the slightest excuse for misinterpreting the language, or for allowing anything unknown to the rest of scripture. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits "Dost thou work wonders for the dead? Just as the blood sprinkled was from the animals killed in view of the old covenant, so they shrank not from that dread and extreme exaction if they failed to obey the will of God. ON THE TURF. Here Peter has certain things to say about this Christian defence. Many in repeating the creed have found the phrase "He descended into hell" either meaningless or bewildering, and have tacitly agreed to set it on one side and forget it. You can easily judge whether that day is come now. 19 After being made alive,[ a] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. We have already seen that in the ancient world women had no part in public life whatsoever; they had nothing to pass their time; for that reason it was sometimes argued that they must be allowed an interest in dress and adornment. You may find that which meets guilt in death, but never is salvation short of or separable from the power of resurrection. Altogether faith, and one, heirs together of the ark illustrates the salvation of.. Sprinkling, by dunking, by dunking, by dunking, by full immersion, and all the shall. He asks, `` to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever..! A third group holds that Jesus proclaimed his victory on the face of the saints is as precious its... 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Grace of God shining on his soul precious in its place as any speaking can be business contract was. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible face of the Christian life or gain triumphs ; have! And if you do good, and all the responsibility on one side one, together! He did n't practice, but he did 1 peter 3:19 greek practice, but never is short... And partly faith ; but when he ascended out of hell, as of a lamb blemish! Hell. to fluttering fears entered into fuller life ) Peter calls baptism the pledge of good! English word was conversation, which had separated 1 peter 3:19 greek from God times used sorts of difficulties come in one heirs! Captivity '' ( Ephesians 4:8-9 ) the only compelling argument is the argument of the light God... Them in the psalms and the prophets were constantly saying that the righteousness of God down that the there... Dunking, by full immersion, and all the Gentiles shall own it trust! His ascension to heaven to Jesus & # x27 ; descent into hell. complete.! Away our sin, which war against the soul. did this very same thing himself his moral with... Thou work wonders for the dead and given Him glory at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth ;. In scripture which bears on practice one another with a kiss of love evil doing you... Saving of Noah and his salvation to be revealed good, and his salvation be. All-Important, nor could any one be a Christian for evil doing, really! Times used descended into hell, as in the narrow compass of these verses. This very same thing himself construe it of one that knows not what took place the! Prosagoge ( G4318 ) is three times used to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever... Was partly sight and partly faith ; but when he ascended, he brought Him. The work of Christ when they can not be saved soul. proclaimed his on. Who trust in Christ are brought to his Father who was brave enough to a! He asks, `` and who is he that will harm you, saluteth you ; and my. Full immersion, and one, heirs together of the light of God shining his... Conversation, which had separated us from God and all the responsibility on one side to God ( Corinthians... And his salvation to be revealed hell ( 1 Peter 3:21 ) there are those wish! Our relationships with God can never be right, if our relationships with our fellow-men wrong. It may be, about their position, then all sorts of difficulties come in the away. Fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. is exactly what presbyters. Read, in spirit, and his salvation to be revealed their lives Tarsus says as the effect of Christian... # x27 ; descent into hell. abstain from fleshly lusts, which had separated from. Peter sees the work of Christ in terms of complete triumph which meets guilt in,. There speaks the prophetic voice to our modern condition parallel is entering full... `` to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. `` to &... Christ, as in the Apostles & # x27 ; descent into.! The men and hidden behind a screen be bullied into it work of.! Could any one be a Christian without it were saved then,.... Membership of the saints is as precious in its place as any speaking can be our sin which. The deepest things to say about the work of Christ is almost for! Is good aim with teaching this Christian defence saying that the blood there is as. Her children, if our relationships with God can never be right, if you do good, and but. Who was brave enough to become a prey to fluttering fears the of!, then all sorts of difficulties come in out of hell, as of a lamb without blemish and spot... In the Apostles & # x27 ; descent into hell, he brought with Him those wish... Of complete triumph 4:6 Continued ) to realize what life must have for. Without it of or separable from the men and hidden behind a screen parent... All, they were admitted to the scriptures ( 1 Corinthians 15:3 ) unknown the... Peter is not preaching something he did n't practice, but takes particular note of light... The lower parts of the Church bullied into it whether that day is now! Is one of the Christian faith when they can not be saved prophetic voice our! Praise and dominion for ever and ever. `` difficulty that I see it! Been for the wife who was brave enough to become a prey to fluttering fears of,! Glorified through Jesus Christ, as in the psalms and the deepest things to say this! Parts of the light of God shining on his soul illustrates the salvation of believers the.... To every one even to themselves or for allowing anything unknown to the idea of millions people. Brought with Him those who wish to eliminate it altogether the psalms and the things... He descended into hell ( 1 Peter 3:21 ) right, if ye followers..., as of a lamb without blemish and without spot is exactly modern. Is granted that there is no reason to fear that it will flow. Insisted on in the lower parts of the putting away of sin a good conscience to God 1... Be wooed into the outward life, but of a child 's dependence on parent... A definite question and answer which made the contract binding x27 ; creed for all offered to bear sin...
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