God is waiting patiently Week 7, 1 Peter 3:18–4:6 Day 2: The triumph of Christ In every form of competition there is a decisive moment when the victory is secured even though the contest is not technically over. It may be a goal in hockey or a touchdown in football which gives the victor an insurmountable advantage even though there is time left on the clock. In today’s passage, we see a description of that climactic moment in the cosmic battle between God and Satan. Jesus, by virtue of his death and resurrection, is proclaiming victory over Satan and his cohorts. Ever since the fall of Satan, there has been an ongoing spiritual conflict between the angelic forces of good and evil. Consider the spiritual blow-by-blow account of the battle for the souls of mankind. After the devil’s apparent victory in inducing Adam and Eve — and consequently all their descendants — to fall into sin, God promised the Evil One himself eventual destruction by the Messiah, who would triumph with a crushing victory over him (Genesis 3:15). Satan sought to prevent this by the genocide of the Jews (Book of Esther) and the attempted destruction of the Messianic line itself. When all that failed, he attempted to kill the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:16–18). Thwarted in that, he tried to tempt Christ himself to abandon his mission (Matthew 4:1–4). Later, Satan incited the Jewish leaders and their followers to mob action that resulted in the Lord’s crucifixion (Mark 15:6–15). The Jewish leaders even saw to it that Jesus’ tomb was guarded lest he exit the grave (Matthew 27:63–66). The demons were likely celebrating their seeming victory in the wake of Christ’s death and burial, but the resurrected Christ arrived to declare victory. As you contemplate today’s passage, watch for time references, such as phrases and verbs that indicated completed action. 1 Peter 3:18–20a 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits — 20a to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. What is the significance of the term “once”? What would it have meant to Jews following the Mosaic Law? What contrasting phrases do you see in verse 18? What difference does this make in your life? The triumph of Christ and its announcement Many thoughtful Bible scholars think 1 Peter 3:18–22 is the most difficult section in the New Testament. In such cases, context has to be used to sort out the intended meaning from among the various proposals. The words “For ... also” in verse 18 show the direct connection to the previous verses (1 Peter 3:13–17)[1] where Peter was explaining that it was better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. We will guide you through the mysteries of this section by advancing a widely-accepted view. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. As challenging as it is that someone would want to suffer for doing good (1 Peter 3:17), Christ actually chose that path on our behalf (John 10:17 and 15:13). His suffering was beyond anything we might undergo on two counts: he willingly suffered the most shameful possible death, capital punishment by crucifixion, and he did so as a righteous man dying for the unrighteous. Why would he do that? He did it “to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18). In saying that Christ died “for sins” (verse 18), Peter uses a phrase that is used hundreds of times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the animal sacrifices that made a temporary atonement for sins. Everyone was aware that these sacrifices had to be made regularly, and that sets up the remarkable contrast that Christ died for sins “once for all” (HCSB, NLT, CEB). However, two clarifications of this precise translation are needed: (1) The meaning of the Greek adverb is “once and never again”[2]; and (2) The “for all” part of “once for all” is not a reference to the people Christ died for, but a reference to time, as if Peter was saying “once for all time.” The biblical text describes Christ’s once-and-never-again suffering with the phrase “the righteous for the unrighteous” (verse 18b, NIV). What the NIV’s translation obscures is that “the righteous” represents a singular Greek form while “the unrighteous” represents a plural Greek form. Accordingly, Dubis translates this phrase in the following way: “a righteous person for the sake of unrighteous persons.”[3] Jesus, the one righteous person, suffered — even to the point of death — for all the unrighteous people, including us. Since Jesus died for you, taking your sins upon himself, how has this one-time sacrifice changed your life? The NET Bible Notes ably discuss the final clause of 1 Pet. 3:18 by saying: Put to death in the flesh…made alive in the spirit. The contrast of flesh and spirit is not between two parts of Christ’s person (material versus immaterial) but between two broader modes of existence: the realm of unregenerate [not born again] earthly life versus eternal heavenly life. These two spheres of existence are also described in Colossians: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Col. 1:13). Jesus made the journey first by his resurrection from the dead. 19 [After being made alive,] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits — 20a to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. The brackets we have inserted in verse 19 above mark the phrase the NIV translators picked up from verse 18 and restated to make verse 19 clearer — at the cost of changing it. The new and astonishing information added by this verse is that, after his resurrection, Jesus “went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits” (verse 19). This statement raises a slew of questions! Who? The first question is: who are these “imprisoned spirits”? In developing an answer, the critical fact to understand is that the plural Greek noun translated as “spirits,” unless qualified by an adjective like “righteous,” is used in the New Testament “overwhelmingly to refer not to human dead but to supernatural beings, primarily malevolent.”[4] In a word, the spirits are demons. As additional evidence, the Greek word for “prison” is never used in the New Testament to refer to the place of the human dead; instead, it is used either to refer to prisons in the Greco-Roman world or to the place where Satan or demons is imprisoned.[5] In spite of these facts, there have been many through the ages who have tried to imagine some group of dead human beings for Jesus to visit. For example, Roman Catholic theologians believe Jesus went to the underworld, specifically to Limbo (the supposed entry hall of hell), to rescue the just from the pre-Christian era, assumed to be detained there until Christ applied his redemptive work to them.[6] We do not accept that view, and simply note that such difficult verses as 1 Peter 3:19 are usually the ones to inspire a lot of creative imagination. Do you find yourself attracted to teachers who advocate a detailed understanding of what happens after death? Discuss why it might be wiser to follow teachers who faithfully teach what is clear. Clement of Alexandria (c. A.D. 150–220), an early church father, seems to have been the first to suggest that Christ went to proclaim the gospel to the unsaved dead of Noah’s generation.[7] This idea has in various forms echoed down the ages among those who want to believe in the possibility of salvation for the unsaved dead, even though the Bible offers no support for such an idea. Those who want to identify these rebel spirits more exactly have used the few hints available to them. The mention of Noah and the other facts of verse 20 would possibly suggest the mysterious events of Genesis 6:1–4, in which angelic beings made the bad situation on earth worse than ever. When? If we can assume that the text of 1 Peter is generally written with events in chronological sequence, then the events of verse 18 — Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection — precede the events of verse 19 — going to the spirits in prison and proclaiming a message to them. Our assumption would place this encounter after the resurrection of Christ and during or before his ascension to heaven, a conclusion favored by Achtemeier.[8] Others have favored the time of Noah or the brief period while Jesus was in the tomb, before his resurrection. Where and what? We have combined these two questions since almost nothing can be said about where the encounter of Jesus and the imprisoned spirits took place. No location is mentioned in 1 Peter; in particular, none of the names used at that time for the place of the dead (humans) is found here. Dubis suggests that the recipients would have understood the location to be in the heavens, based on 2 Enoch 7:1–3, a Jewish writing of that period.[9] As to what was proclaimed by Christ to the imprisoned, demonic spirits, it appears most likely to have been his victory over sin at the cross and over death by his resurrection from the dead.[10] The demonic angels had rebelled against God in the years before the great flood of Noah (1 Pet. 3:20). God had used the flood to cleanse the world of human rebellion and detained the spirits who had mated with human women and had instigated the sin and violence as well. Since Peter has brought up Noah and mentioned the building of the ark, prepare to meet ... Noah the rock star! Many things have been buried in the shifting sands of history, but none is more surprising than the cultural fame of Noah in first-century Asia Minor. Of course, Noah’s fame is logical because the ark came to rest on the slopes of Mount Ararat (now part of eastern Turkey), some distance to the east of the region where Peter’s recipients lived. Noah was a regional hero. Karen Jobes[11] notes some of the factors leading to Noah’s ancient fame in Asia Minor: At least four flood traditions existed in Asia Minor in addition to the Bible’s account. An amazing series of Roman coins were minted with the image of Noah and his wife on one side and one of five successive Roman emperors on the other side during the period A.D. 193–253. Certain prophetic writings developed in Asia Minor from 30 B.C. to A.D. 70 depict Noah as a preacher of righteousness and repentance, as well as being the flood hero from whom the peoples of Asia Minor descended. Even the Gentiles among Peter’s recipients understood who Noah was, and he was the perfect vehicle for Peter’s message. Noah had stood firm against an unbelieving generation, received God’s blessing and achieved great honor. Peter was calling on his readers to do the same by preaching righteousness and repentance just as Noah had done. We would do well to follow the same path! Why is it difficult to stand alone, as Noah did, for your beliefs or for Christ? What is Peter saying about God waiting patiently (verse 20a)? Genesis 6 informs us how the ancient world had become thoroughly violent and depraved, to the point that God regretted ever creating humanity. At that time he gave Noah 120 years to complete an ark by which his family would one day escape the coming judgment. The violence and sin raged over all those years while God waited and withheld his crushing judgment. Finally, the day came when the ark and its cargo rose above the waters that killed every other living thing on the land masses. Peter suggests that God is again waiting patiently, and both Peter’s recipients and we today who trust in Jesus must endure the evil of this world until the Day of the Lord. A final word At the present time we struggle against the powers of demonic forces. They attempt to influence us through the corrupt world system over which Satan rules. Ephesians 6:12 (NASB) says, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” But Praise God, as believers we can know their power is limited and their time is short.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 13:38:45 +0000
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