1 Peter 3:18-4:6
has been a difficult passage to understand. I would like to recommend one line
of interpretation that is not heard of much.
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, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 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. 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, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and
authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. Therefore,
since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who
has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that
he no longer should live the rest of his time
in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For
we have spent enough
of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness,
lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In
regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in
the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They
will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For
this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might
be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the
spirit.
The key to
understanding this passage seems to lie in the concept of baptism as a dying to
self and a resurrection to live for God. This concept is seen in Romans 6:1-6
and Galatians 2:20.
So, verse 18
begins with the thought that on the cross Jesus suffered for our sins and rose
again by the Spirit which becomes a type for the antitype of baptism.
Verse 19-20 taken
together says, that “by whom”, i.e. the Spirit, Jesus preached to those who
sinned in the time of Noah. Only those came through the flood was saved – eight
souls. This is best seen as the Spirit preaching through Noah to his
generation.
The confusion comes
by the term ‘preached to the spirits in prison’. That gives rise to
interpretations that Jesus went and preached to them sometime in His ministry.
Many see this as between the death and the resurrection as said in the Nicene
creed – he descended in to hell. But the expression could mean, those spirits
who were condemned and sent to hell. In the present when Peter is writing they
are in prison, but when the word was preached to them they were one earth. If
you look at the passage carefully, you will find that nowhere it says when this
word was preached to them. Peter did not explain probably because he was clear
in his mind as to what he was saying.
In verse 21 he
now links this to baptism, which is not seen as a washing away of sins, but a regeneration
and a new person. Just as Noah and his family were saved coming through the
judgement on the world, we also are saved by coming through the judgement of
the cross with Jesus.
1 Peter 4:1 has
another difficult statement based on the same idea, ‘he who has suffered does
not sin.’ This is same thought in Romans 6:1-6. He who has died in baptism does
not sin or commit himself to sin. Suffering here is death continuing the
thought of 1 Peter 3:18, and not physical suffering as such.
We see this idea
of judging the flesh also in 1 Peter 4:6 where the gospel is preached to the
spiritually dead so that in baptism they can die and live by the Spirit. This
is the purpose of preaching.
