Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Peter 3:18

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins ] As in the previous chapter (1Pe 2:21-25), so here, the Apostle cannot think of any righteous sufferer needing comfort without thinking also of the righteous Sufferer whom he had known. And here also, as there, though he begins with thinking of Him as an example, he cannot rest in that thought, but passes almost immediately to the higher aspects of that work as sacrificial and atoning. Every word that follows is full of significance “Christ suffered ” (better than “hath suffered,” as representing the sufferings as belonging entirely to the past), once and once for all. The closeness of the parallelism with Heb 9:26-28 might almost suggest the inference that St Peter was acquainted with that Epistle, but it admits also of the more probable explanation that both writers represent the current teaching of the Apostolic Church. The precise Greek phrase “for sins” (literally, “ concerning, or on account of, sins”) is used in Heb 10:6; Heb 10:8; Heb 10:18; Heb 10:26, and in the LXX. of Psa 40:6, and was almost the technical phrase of the Levitical Code (Lev 4:33).

the just for the unjust ] The preposition in this case means “on behalf of,” and is that used of the efficacy of Christ’s sufferings in Mar 14:24, Joh 6:51, 1Co 5:7, 1Ti 2:6. It is used also of our sufferings for Christ (Php 1:29), or for our brother men (Eph 3:1; Eph 3:13), and therefore does not by itself express the vicarious character of the death of Christ, though it naturally runs up into it. In the emphatic description of Christ as “the Just,” we have an echo of St Peter’s own words in Act 3:14; in the stress laid on the fact that He, the just, died for the unjust, a like echo of the teaching of St Paul in Rom 5:6.

that he might bring us to God ] This, then, from St Peter’s point of view, and not a mere exemption from an infinite penalty, was the end contemplated in the death of Christ. “Access to God,” the right to come boldly to the throne of grace (Heb 4:16), was with him as with St Paul (Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12), the final cause of the redemptive work. The verb, it may be noted, is not used elsewhere in this connexion in the New Testament.

being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit ] The change of the preposition and the mode of printing “Spirit” both shew that the translators took the second clause as referring to the Holy Spirit, as quickening the human body of Christ in His resurrection from the dead. The carefully balanced contrast between the two clauses shews, however, that this cannot be the meaning, and that we have here an antithesis, like that of Rom 1:3-4, between the “flesh” and the human “spirit” of the man Christ Jesus, like that between the “manifest in the flesh” and “justified in the spirit” of 1Ti 3:16. By the “flesh” He was subject to the law of death, but in the very act of dying, His “spirit” was quickened, even prior to the resurrection of His body, into a fresh energy and activity. What was the sphere and what the result of that activity, the next verse informs us.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins – Compare the notes at 1Pe 2:21. The design of the apostle in the reference to the sufferings of Christ, is evidently to remind them that he suffered as an innocent being, and not for any wrong-doing, and to encourage and comfort them in their sufferings by his example. The reference to his sufferings leads him 1Pe 3:18-22 into a statement of the various ways in which Christ suffered, and of his ultimate triumph. By his example in his sufferings, and by his final triumph, the apostle would encourage those whom he addressed to bear with patience the sorrows to which their religion exposed them. He assumes that all suffering for adhering to the gospel is the result of well-doing; and for an encouragement in their trials, he refers them to the example of Christ, the highest instance that ever was, or ever will be, both of well-doing, and of suffering on account of it. The expression, hath once suffered, in the New Testament, means once for all; once, in the sense that it is not to occur again. Compare Heb 7:27. The particular point here, however, is not that he once suffered; it is that he had in fact suffered, and that in doing it he had left an example for them to follow.

The just for the unjust – The one who was just, ( dikaios,) on account of, or in the place of, those who were unjust, ( huper adikon;) or one who was righteous, on account of those who were wicked. Compare the Rom 5:6 note; 2Co 5:21 note; Heb 9:28 note. The idea on which the apostle would particularly fix their attention was, that he was just or innocent. Thus, he was an example to those who suffered for well-doing.

That he might bring us to God – That his death might be the means of reconciling sinners to God. Compare the notes at Joh 3:14; Joh 12:32. It is through that death that mercy is proclaimed to the guilty; it is by that alone that God can be reconciled to people; and the fact that the Son of God loved people, and gave himself a sacrifice for them, enduring such bitter sorrows, is the most powerful appeal which can be made to mankind to induce them to return to God. There is no appeal which can be made to us more powerful than one drawn from the fact that another suffers on our account. We could resist the argument which a father, a mother, or a sister would use to reclaim us from a course of sin; but if we perceive that our conduct involves them in suffering, that fact has a power over us which no mere argument could have.

Being put to death in the flesh – As a man; in his human nature. Compare the notes at Rom 1:3-4. There is evidently a contrast here between the flesh in which it is said he was put to death, and the Spirit by which it is said he was quickened. The words in the flesh are clearly designed to denote something that was unique in his death; for it is a departure from the usual method of speaking of death. How singular would it be to say of Isaiah, Paul, or Peter, that they were put to death in the flesh! How obvious would it be to ask, In what other way are people usually put to death? What was there special in their case, which would distinguish their death from the death of others? The use of this phrase would suggest the thought at once, that though, in regard to that which was properly expressed by the phrase, the flesh, they died, yet that there was something else in respect to which they did not die. Thus, if it were said of a man that he was deprived of his rights as a father, it would be implied that in, other respects he was not deprived of his rights; and this would be especially true if it were added that he continued to enjoy his rights as a neighbor, or as holding an office under the government. The only proper inquiry, then, in this place is, What is fairly implied in the phrase, the flesh? Does it mean simply his body, as distinguished from his human soul? or does it refer to him as a man, as distinguished from some higher nature, over which death had no power Now, that the latter is the meaning seems to me to be apparent, for these reasons:

(1) It is the usual way of denoting the human nature of the Lord Jesus, or of saying that he became in carnate, or was a man, to speak of his being in the flesh. See Rom 1:2; Made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Joh 1:14; and the Word was made flesh. 1Ti 3:16; God was manifest in the flesh. 1Jo 4:2; every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. 2Jo 1:7; who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.

(2) So far as appears, the effect of death on the human soul of the Redeemer was the same as in the case of the soul of any other person; in other words, the effect of death in his case was not confined to the mere body or the flesh. Death, with him, was what death is in any other case – the separation of the soul and body, with all the attendant pain of such dissolution. It is not true that his flesh, as such, died without the ordinary accompaniments of death on the soul, so that it could be said that the one died, and the other was kept alive. The purposes of the atonement required that he should meet death in the usual form; that the great laws which operate everywhere else in regard to dissolution, should exist in his case; nor is there in the Scriptures any intimation that there was, in this respect, anything special in his case. If his soul had been exempt from whatever there is involved in death in relation to the spirit, it is unaccountable that there is no hint on this point in the sacred narrative. But if this be so, then the expression in the flesh refers to him as a man, and means, that so far as his human nature was concerned, he died. In another important respect, he did not die. On the meaning of the word flesh in the New Testament, see the notes at Rom 1:3.

But quickened – Made alive – zoopoietheis. This does not mean kept alive, but made alive; recalled to life; reanimated. The word is never used in the sense of maintained alive, or preserved alive. Compare the following places, which are the only ones in which it occurs in the New Testament: Joh 5:21 (twice); Joh 6:63; Rom 4:17; Rom 8:11; 1Co 15:36, 1Co 15:45; 1Ti 6:13; 1Pe 3:18; in all which it is rendered quickened, quicken, quickeneth; 1Co 15:22, be made alive; 2Co 3:6, giveth life; and Gal 3:21, have given life. Once the word refers to God, as he who giveth life to all creatures, 1Ti 6:13; three times it refers to the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit, or of the doctrines of the gospel, Joh 6:63; 2Co 3:6; Gal 3:21; seven times it is used with direct reference to the raising of the dead, Joh 5:21; Rom 4:17; Rom 8:11; 1Co 15:22, 1Co 15:36, 1Co 15:45; 1Pe 3:18. See Biblical Repos., April, 1845, p. 269. See also Passow, and Robinson, Lexicon. The sense, then, cannot be that, in reference to his soul or spirit, he was preserved alive when his body died, but that there was some agency or power restoring him to life, or reanimating him after he was dead.

By the Spirit – According to the common reading in the Greek, this is to Pneumati – with the article the – the Spirit. Hahn, Tittman, and Griesbach omit the article, and then the reading is, quickened in spirit; and thus the reading corresponds with the former expression, in flesh ( sarki,) where the article also is lacking. The word spirit, so far as the mere use of the word is concerned, might refer to his own soul, to his divine nature, or to the Holy Spirit. It is evident:

(1) That it does not refer to his own soul, for:

(a)As we have seen, the reference in the former clause is to his human nature, including all that pertained to him as a man, body and soul;

(b)There was no power in his own spirit, regarded as that pertaining to his human nature, to raise him up from the dead, any more than there is such a power in any other human soul. That power does not belong to a human soul in any of its relations or conditions.

(2) It seems equally clear that this does not refer to the Holy Spirit, or the Third Person of the Trinity, for it may be doubted whether the work of raising the dead is anywhere ascribed to that Spirit. His special province is to enlighten, awaken, convict, convert, and sanctify the soul; to apply the work of redemption to the hearts of people, and to lead them to God. This influence is moral, not physical; an influence accompanying the truth, not the exertion of mere physical power.

(3) It remains, then, that the reference is to his own divine nature – a nature by which he was restored to life after he was crucified; to the Son of God, regarded as the Second Person of the Trinity. This appears, not only from the facts above stated, but also:

(a) from the connection, It is stated that it was in or by this spirit that he went and preached in the days of Noah. But it was not his spirit as a man that did this, for his human soul had then no existence. Yet it seems that he did this personally or directly, and not by the influences of the Holy Spirit, for it is said that he went and preached. The reference, therefore, cannot be to the Holy Spirit, and the fair conclusion is that it refers to his divine nature.

(b) This accords with what the apostle Paul says Rom 1:3-4, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, that is, in respect to his human nature, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, that is, in respect to his divine nature, by the resurrection from the dead. See the notes at that passage.

(c) It accords with what the Saviour himself says, Joh 10:17-18; I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This must refer to his divine nature, for it is impossible to conceive that a human soul should have the power of restoring its former tenement, the body, to life. See the notes at the passage. The conclusion, then, to which we have come is, that the passage means, that as a man, a human being, he was put to death; in respect to a higher nature, or by a higher nature, here denominated Spirit ( Pneuma,) he was restored to life. As a man, he died; as the incarnate Son of Gods the Messiah, he was made alive again by the power of his own Divine Spirit, and exalted to heaven. Compare Robinsons Lexicon on the word Pneuma, C.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Pe 3:18-20

Christ also hath once suffered for sins.

The great atonement

I. The glorious person who suffered for sin and sinners.

II. The sufferings by which he made atonement for sin.

1. Sin was the procuring cause of them.

2. His human nature was the immediate subject of them.

3. They were the sufferings of a Divine person.

4. They were not imaginary but real.

5. The sufferings of Christ were necessary.

6. Vicarious.

7. Grievous.

8. Voluntary.

9. By them the justice of God was fully satisfied.

10. Though they are long since finished, they have the same merit and efficacy that ever they had.

III. The end of Christs sufferings.

1. How, or in what respects, sinners may be said to be brought to God. Their being brought to God-

(1) Implies their being brought into a state of reconciliation and favour with God.

(2) It implies their having access into the gracious presence of God.

(3) It implies their being admitted to communion and fellowship with God.

(4) Sinners are brought to God when they attain to likeness and conformity to God.

(5) Sinners may be said to be brought to God when they forsake the service of sin, and cordially engage in the service of God.

(6) Sinners are brought to God, in the fullest sense, when they are brought to the full enjoyment of Him in heaven.

2. What influence the sufferings of Christ for sin have on the bringing of sinners to God. By the sufferings of Christ all grounds of controversy between God and sinners were legally removed (Col 1:20). (D. Wilson.)

The sufferings of Christ

I. Their reality. Christ suffered from-

1. Privation.

2. Satanic hostility.

3. Unkindness.

4. Misunderstanding.

II. Their atoning nature.

1. The character of Christ.

2. The doctrine of substitution.

3. The solitariness of the sacrifice,

(1) Nothing more is needed.

(2) Nothing more will be given.

III. Their design. That He might bring us to God-

1. In penitential sorrow.

2. To obtain mercy and peace.

3. With entire self-surrender.

4. Unto Gods immediate presence.

Lessons:

1. There is hope and help for all.

2. Christ is the way of access to God. (M. Braithwaite.)

The saints coming home to God by reconciliation and glorification

The scope of the apostle in this place is to fortify Christians for a day of suffering. In order to their cheerful sustaining whereof, he prescribeth two excellent rules.

1. To get a good conscience within them (1Pe 3:16-17).

2. To set the example of Christs sufferings before them (1Pe 3:18). The sufferings of Christ for us is the great motive engaging Christians to suffer cheerfully for Him.

I. The sufficiency and fulness of Christs sufferings intimated in that particle [once]; Christ needs to suffer no more, having completed that whole work at once.

II. The meritorious cause of the sufferings of Christ, and that is sin, Christ once suffered for sins; not His own sins, but ours.

III. The admirable grace and unexampled love of Christ to us sinners. The just for the unjust; in which words the substitution of Christ in the place of sinners is plainly expressed. Christ died not only for our good, but also in our stead.

IV. The final cause or design of the sufferings of Christ. To bring us to God.

1. What Christs bringing us to God imports.

(1) That the chief happiness of man consisteth in the enjoyment of God: that the creature hath as necessary dependence upon God for happiness, as the stream hath upon the fountain.

(2) Mans revolt and apostasy from God (Eph 2:12).

(3) Our inability to return to God of ourselves; we must be brought back by Christ, or perish forever in a state of separation from God (Luk 15:5).

(4) That Gods unsatisfied justice was once the great bar betwixt Him and man.

(5) The peculiar happiness of believers above all people in the world: these only shall be brought to God by Jesus Christ in a reconciled state; others, indeed, shall be brought to God as a Judge, to be condemned by Him. All believers shall be solemnly presented to God in the great day (Col 1:22; Jud 1:24). They shall be all presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

2. What influence the death of Christ hath upon this design.

(1) It effectually removes all obstacles to it.

(2) It purchaseth (as price) their title to it. (John Flavel.)

The Saviours mission

I. The character of the Saviours mission.

1. It was one that involved Him in suffering.

2. It was one of innocent suffering.

3. It was one unconquered by suffering.

II. The purpose of the Saviours mission.

1. We are away from God.

2. We can be restored to God.

(1) In thought.

(2) In will.

(3) In resemblance.

(4) In filial fellowship and friendship.

3. God Himself brings us back by Christ.

III. The extent of the influence of the saviors mission. (U. R. Thomas.)

Christs sufferings

I. The due consideration of Christs sufferings doth much temper all the sufferings of Christians, especially such as are directly for Christ. It is some ease to the mind in any distress, to look upon examples of the like or greater distress, in present or former times. It diverts the eye from continual poring on our own suffering; and when we return to view it again, it abates the imagined greatness of it. The example and company of the saints in suffering, is very considerable, but that of Christ is more so than any other, yea, than all the rest together. Therefore the apostle, having represented the former at large, ends in this, as the top of all (Heb 12:1-2).

1. Consider the greatness of the example; the greatness of the person Christ. There can be no higher example. Since thus our Lord hath taught us by suffering in His own person and hath thus dignified sufferings, we should certainly rather be ambitious than afraid of them. Consider the greatness and continuance of His sufferings, His whole life was one continued line of suffering from the manger to the Cross. Art thou mean in thy birth and life, despised, misjudged, and reviled, on all hands? Look how it was with Him, who had more right than thou hast, to better entertainment in the world. But the Christian is subject to grievous temptations and sad desertions, which are heavier by far than the sufferings which the apostle speaks of here. Yet even in these, this same argument holds; for our Saviour is not ignorant of those, though still without sin. If any of that had been in His sufferings, it had not furthered but undone all our comfort in Him.

2. Consider the fitness of the example. As the argument is strong in itself, so, to the new man it is particularly strong; it binds him most, as it is not far fetched, but a home pattern; as when you persuade men to virtue by the example of those that they have a near relation to.

3. Consider the efficacy of the example. He suffered once for sin, so that to them who lay hold on Him, this holds sure, that sin is never to be suffered for in the way of strict justice again, as not by Him, so not by them who are in Him. So now the soul, finding itself rid of that fear, goes cheerfully through all other hazards; whereas the soul perplexed about that question, finds no relief in all other enjoyments: all propositions of lower comforts are troublesome to it.

II. Having somewhat considered these sufferings, as the apostles argument for his present purpose, we come now, to take a nearer view of the particulars by which he illustrates them, as the main point of our faith and comfort. Here are two things to be remarked, their cause and their kind.

1. Their cause; both their meritorious cause and their final cause; first, what in us procured these sufferings unto Christ, and, secondly, what those His sufferings procured unto us. Our guiltiness brought suffering upon Him, and His suffering brings us unto God.

2. We have the kind of our Lords sufferings: Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Put to death. This is the utmost point, and that which men are most startled at-to die; especially a violent death. In the flesh. Under this second phrase, His human nature and His Divine nature and power are distinguished. But the Spirit here opposed to the flesh, or body, is certainly of a higher nature and power than the human soul, which cannot of itself return to re-inhabit and quicken the body. Put to death. His death was both voluntary and violent. That same power which restored His life could have kept it exempted from death; but the design was for death. He therefore took our flesh, to put it off thus, and to offer it up as a sacrifice, which, to be acceptable, must of necessity be free and voluntary; and, in this sense, He is said to have died even by that same Spirit, which here, in opposition to death, is said to quicken Him; Through the eternal Spirit, He offered Himself without spot unto God. And yet it was also expedient that His death should be violent, and so the more penal, to carry the more clear expression of a punishment, and such a violent death as had both ignominy and a curse tied to it, and this inflicted in a judicial way; that He should stand, and be judged, and condemned to death as a guilty person, carrying in that person the persons of so many who would otherwise have fallen under condemnation, as indeed guilty. Quickened. For all its vast craving mouth and devouring appetite, crying, Give, give, yet was the grave forced to give Him up again, as the fish to give up the prophet Jonah. The chains of that prison art strong, but He was too strong a prisoner to be held by them. That rolling of the stone to the grave was as if they had rolled it towards the east in the night, to stop the rising of the sun the next morning; much farther above all their power was this Sun of Righteousness in His rising again. That body which was entombed, was united to the spring of life, the Divine Spirit of the God-head that quickened it. (Abp. Leighton.)

The sufferings of Christ

Suffering is universal in the world. It comes from the first wailings of the infant to the last enfeebled cry of old age. It is found in the silent endurance of weakness and in the bold struggle of strength. It is in every station and rank of life. It is so various in its manifestations, that it seems as if we took a new lesson in it every day. To pass it by, to try to deny it, to make the ignoring of it a victory over it, is very short-sighted policy; it is what we would do with no other fact of like universal significance and power. And therefore, when Christ begins His gospel with the fact of suffering, we are at a loss whether to admire most the wisdom or the love of the method; together the boldness and the reasonableness of what He does startle us into asking the secret of One who could thus utilise the worlds greatest enemy, and turn in defence of mankind the very weapons which have so long wrought their destruction. The man who taught to his fellow men the uses of destructive fire was the hero of ancient mythology; the men who have bridled the lightnings, and chained the forces of air and water, are the great names of modern civilisation. But what shall we say of Him, who stopped not with the powers and material of the earth, but, going into the heart and life of man, found there the fact of suffering, and out of that formed the cornerstone of His kingdom? who, out of the cries and groans to which we close our ears, made the praises of God resound through the world? In this bold action the first element of strength is, that all suffering is traced to one source. Suffering is made to flow from sin. Christ suffered for sin, suffered as a criminal, suffered because of sin, under the weight of sin. The wisdom of Christ, the singleness of His purpose, the central power of His action, start out before us then; and we feel that He was indeed one who was fitted to deal with the great fact of human suffering, as He could thus put His finger on the very place whence it all flowed. It is only by getting at the true nature of a difficulty that we are able to conquer it; the new and deeper knowledge opens ways of approach unthought of before. There stood in proud seclusion the steepest peak in the Alps. Men looked at it, and said that human foot could never scale its heights. Bolder spirits tried every way which they could devise, approached it from all sides but one; and they succeeded in reaching certain points, but still there towered above them that inaccessible point. At length a wiser, more experienced eye was turned to that very side which had been pronounced evidently impossible; and, as he thus faced what had seemed the most despairing side of the problem, he saw that the strata of the earth below, broken sharp off in the upheaval of that majestic peak, furnished a series of steps which made the passage possible directly to the summit; and now every year even unexperienced feet make their way over the path thus opened. If any of us stand wondering how the mountain of our own or the worlds suffering shall be conquered, and have never seen the path opened on the side of mans sin, have tried every way but the fight against sin, have shed tears over every calamity but the depravity of our nature, have done everything but confess our sins in the sight of God, nay, have dismissed that as too dark and hard a side of the problem for us to face, now let the way opened by One who knew the secrets of our nature and of the generation of that mountain of suffering,-let that way be the one for our feet to follow. One of our greatest troubles, under the suffering which we feel ourselves or see in the world, is, that it does not seem to come upon the right people. But when this great Master approaches this very fact of suffering, as the one which He will use in His work, we have reason to expect a word of authority from Him on this most distressing feature of it. And it is here; the just for the unjust, Christ suffered. That runs through all His life, the thought that it was the very sinlessness of His life that made Him able to do the work for sinful men, that made Him able to take up the load of sin. The fact that He came from the Father, and was ever bound to the Father, was the very thing that made Him able to call men back to the Father. It is the privilege of strength to suffer for weakness. As it does so, strength is glorified; it conquers weakness, it spreads the power of its own life, it becomes strength in its right place. Only the mighty can help; and, as He thus helps, we look to His might as the reason for it, and through the work for us we find our Saviour. It is not gratitude alone-that, indeed, moves us as we think of what He did for as-but it is the opening of the source of strength by which He was able to do it. We come to Him through gratitude; and, as we reach Him, we find Him one who is mighty to save, because He could bring us near to God. This shows us the meaning and power of the last clause of our text. The apostle has been saying that Christs sufferings were so like the sufferings of the disciples, that they could feel the sustaining power of them. But here it is not likeness, it is dependence, that is brought out. These sufferings were to bring to God the very men who were now exhorted to imitate them. Never were they to forget that they had been brought to God by those sufferings. They had opened His love. They had drawn to Him who was able to reveal God to them. They had made the world a different place, one that had the power and presence of God as well as of man in it; never were they to forget that. But, as they remembered it, it would affect their lives, and change the whole character of them. The mystery of lifes power would be made theirs. They, too, would have but one object-to bring men to God. Never was there a time when the suffering of the world was so keenly felt as it is today. A philanthropic age needs the Cross, men anxious to alleviate the sufferings of the world need to have their own hearts broken for their sins, and all of us need to cling to these events of the suffering and death of Christ, and to feel that they contain the very power of our lives within them-the power of forgiveness and redemption, the power of happiness, the power of true labour, the power of the life eternal for this world and for the world that is to come. (Arthur Brooks.)

The unrepeatable sacrifice

The sufferings of Christ were in many respects peculiar:

I. They were officially undertaken and endured. The designation by which the Redeemer is here distinguished, and the emphatic statement whereby He characterises His sufferings must be taken together-Christ once suffered for sins. Suffering is no uncommon thing; Man is born to trouble. But Christ was not an ordinary man. Here then is a marked distinction between His and all merely human suffering. Man was not made man for the purpose of suffering; on the contrary, it is the result, the penalty, of his sin; but the very end for which the Christ became man was that He might suffer. In this sense, therefore, it may be said that He once suffered-the entire of His sufferings from the very first lay before Him. To us it is a merciful provision which leaves us in ignorance of future ills. Christ once suffered. His sufferings stand alone. Where can we find a just comparison for them? Here then is another peculiarity. The statement is that Christ suffered for sins. Were His sufferings the consequence of His own desert? Had this been so, His bitter enemies would not have failed to convict Him of sin; but His challenge in this respect was never answered. The sufferings of Christ were expiatory, substitutionary and vicarious. What was the doctrine of atonement under the law? Was it not that the innocent suffered for the guilty, and that on account of this suffering the guilty might go free? Hence the care in selecting the sacrificial victims that they might be without blemish or defect. How far from satisfying the requirements of such language as this is the view that would reduce the death of Christ to the mere result of a life of disinterested and self-sacrificing benevolence employed in turning men to righteousness; the seal of His doctrine, and a distinguished example of passive virtue!

II. To set forth the design of Christs sufferings, and to aim at its accomplishment in bringing men to God. Let us reflect upon the connection between sin and suffering, as viewed in relation to Christs suffering for sins.

1. Apart from personal interest in the sufferings of Christ, suffering regarded as the result of sin-suffering for sin-is a fact, the most terrible and unrelieved in the experience and history of our world. Men may quarrel with the suffering while they hug the sin, but the connection is there. Science may be invoked, and art and artifice may be employed to make sinning physically safe; but all this cannot remove or alter the fact-the goads are there.

2. To those who have a personal interest in His sacrifice, Christs suffering for sin takes away the sting of suffering.

3. The removal or lessening of sin must ever be the most effectual way of removing or lessening suffering. That is a spurious philanthropy which seeks to depreciate the gospel. (J. W. McKay, D. D.)

The sufferings of Christ

I. The character of the sufferer, and of the persons for whom he suffered.

1. Christ hath suffered, the just for the unjust. The expression intimates the perfect purity of His nature. But the expression, the just, intimates not only the perfect purity of His nature, but also the perfect purity of His life. His life was as pure as His nature. He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.

2. He suffered for the unjust. As the term, just, expresses the perfect purity, both of the nature and of the life of the Saviour; so the term, unjust, must express the impurity, both of the nature and of the life of those for whom He suffered.

II. What he who is the just hath done for the unjust, he hath once suffered for their sins.

1. This language intimates, that Christ the just One hath suffered. He suffered in His body. He was wounded, bruised, scourged, crucified. He suffered in His character. Crimes were laid to His charge which His righteous soul abhorred. He suffered in His soul. Satan tempted Him; His friends forsook Him; God hid His face from Him.

2. The language intimates that Christ the just One, hath suffered for the sins of the unjust. Why, then, if Christ had no sin in His nature, no sin in His life-why did He suffer? Why did not His perfect sinlessness screen Him from all evil? To answer these questions, we must have recourse to the doctrine of the substitution and atonement of Christ, and then to such questions it is easy to give an answer.

3. The language intimates that the just suffered only once: Christ hath once suffered for sins. The expression once, denotes the perfection of His atonement.

4. The language intimates that Christ suffered once for sins voluntarily. He is the just One, the equal of Jehovah, and who could have compelled Him to suffer? Or, if it had been possible to compel Him, His sufferings would have possessed no value.

III. The design of the just suffering for the unjust, that he might bring them to God. (Wm. Smart.)

Christs sufferings; or, the basis of evangelism

I. They were endured once. He hath once suffered. The word once, is capable of being taken in two senses. The sense of actuality: that is, the mere expression of the fact that He had suffered. Or, it may be taken in the sense of onlyness. Once for all:-never again, as Bengel has it, to suffer hereafter (Heb 4:28). Taken in this sense, two ideas are suggested:

1. That nothing more for the purpose is needed. His sufferings are sufficient.

2. That nothing more for the purpose will be vouchsafed. There remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.

II. They were endured by a just person. The Just. Christ was without sin. He was at once the foundation, standard, and revelation, of eternal rectitude.

III. They were endured on behalf of the unjust.

1. This is a proof of His amazing love. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die, etc.

2. This is an encouragement for the greatest sinner. The unjust of all grades and types of wickedness.

IV. They were endured to bring the unjust to God. That He might bring us to God.

1. Legally: They remove all governmental obstructions to reconciliation.

2. Morally: They remove the enmity of the human heart, and are the means of uniting the soul in love to its Maker.

3. Locally: Although God is everywhere, yet in heaven He is specially seen and enjoyed.

V. They were endured to the utmost extent. Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit.

1. Here is the death of His human nature;-the flesh. He suffered even unto death.

2. Here is the revivication of His human nature by the Divine Spirit:-quickened in the Spirit. The subject furnishes-First: Encouragement to suffering Christians. Secondly: A rebuke to those who limit the provisions of the gospel. Redemptive mercy is not for a favourite few:-it is for the unjust. Thirdly: A lesson to the impenitent. What ingratitude is yours! (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Christs sufferings

I. The highest instance of undeserved persecution.

1. We see that suffering is not necessarily a mark of sin.

2. We see that sufferings are not necessarily the sign of a bad cause.

3. We see that sufferings are not always a sign of defeat.

II. We have a distinct and direct statement of Christs substitutory sacrifice.

III. We have a reference to the object of Christs accomplishing this object-To bring us to God. We can only appreciate this suggestion by realising what is implied in being away from God. For man to be away from God is as if a flower were separated from its root, a babe from its mother.

IV. We have the great mystery of Christs death alluded to-Put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit. Our Lords soul could not die; no more can mans soul die. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)

The sufferings of Christ our atonement and our example

I. Our atonement. Christs sufferings.

1. Unique (), once for all.

2. Propitiatory. For sins.

3. Vicarious. The just for the unjust.

4. Effectual. That He might bring us to God.

II. Our example. (F. Dobbin, M. A.)

The sufferings of Christ

I. The sufferings of Christ are here asserted.

II. The meritorious cause of them is assigned.

III. A material circumstance relating to his sufferings is taken notice of.

IV. The opposite characters of Christ, and of those for whom he suffered, are laid down.

V. The great design of his sufferings is declared.

1. The ends of Christs sufferings are various.

(1) That He might set us an example of patience and resignation to the Divine will, under the troubles and difficulties of this life.

(2) To teach us self-denial and mortification.

(3) That He might exercise tender compassion towards us, under our trials and sorrows.

2. But the great end of His suffering for sins, the just for the unjust, was to bring us unto God.

Application;

1. Our hearts should be greatly affected with the representation which has been made unto us of the love of Christ.

2. How should we hate and abominate sin!

3. Let us draw nigh to God.

4. All our approaches to God should be through Jesus Christ. (S. Price.)

The design of Christs sufferings

I. The person who suffered. It was Christ, the just.

1. His official character. The word Christ properly means one anointed or consecrated to some sacred office.

2. His personal character-the just.

II. The sufferings He endured. For Christ also hath once, etc.

1. The nature of His sufferings. Christ suffered, being put to death in the flesh.

2. The period of His sufferings.

3. The object of His sufferings.

4. The issue of His sufferings. He was quickened by the Spirit.

III. The design He accomplished. That He might bring us to God.

1. The natural state of fallen sinners.

2. The personal efficacy of Christs atonement. It brings us to God. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)

The just for the unjust.–

The just suffering for the unjust

I. The nature of Christs sufferings.

1. Intense.

2. Ignominious.

3. Voluntary.

II. The purposes of Christs sufferings. That He might bring us to God.!

1. By His atoning sacrifice, thereby removing every obstacle in the way of the sinners access to God.

2. By the operations of His Holy Spirit.

3. By the prevalency of His intercession. (W. J. Brock, B. A.)

Christs sufferings for us

We accept the life and the death of Christ as an atonement, as a substituted suffering, the just for the unjust; but we do not feel that He was a sufferer only when He was on earth, and that His suffering then was all the suffering that was needful to the salvation of the world. It was the nature of Christ to suffer for sinners. He was embodied in the physical form that we might judge of what that nature was in the past, and what it was to be in the future, for the atoning nature of God existed from all eternity, and is going on to all eternity. The Lamb was historically slain in the time of Christ; but long before the coming of Christ there was the Divine atoning love, there was the vicarious suffering of the Saviour. And now, although no longer humbled in the flesh, Christ has not lost that peculiar element and attribute of the Divine nature-namely, substitution, imputation, vicariousness. Still He suffers in all our sufferings. He is afflicted in all our afflictions.

1. Sin becomes exceedingly sinful when judged by such a test as this. There is nothing that the whole world revolts at more than at flagrant ingratitude.

2. It is the presentation of such a Saviour as this that makes confession easy to pride. There are a thousand things that hinder men that have done wrong from forsaking their wrong-doing. But if God be for you, who can be against you? If the bosom of Christs love is open, and is a refuge to which you may fly for safety, why should you not avail yourself of it?

3. When we stand, at last, in Zion and before God, and look back upon our past career, how inevitable will it be that every one shall turn disgusted from the thought of his own strength, and that we shall take our crowns and cast them at the feet of Christ, and say, Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the praise of our salvation! The patience of God, the gentleness of God, the forgiveness of God, the sufferings of God for us-these will stand out in such illustrious light in that day that every one wilt be filled with joy, and gratitude, and triumph, and new pleasure in the consciousness that it was of God that he was saved, and not of himself. (H. W. Beecher.)

Christ the substitute

I. The need of pardon, suggested by the word in our text-sins. Unless you come to know and feel your need of a thing, you will never desire or welcome it. If I wished to convince you that you needed pardon, from your father, for instance, in an ordinary matter, I should first have to show you your offence. I am afraid many young people do not feel their need of pardon in a far higher sense. I wish I could write the word sins on your hearts today. This is one of the greatest words in all the Bible-in all the world. It tells about our offences against God-about our breaking of His holy law-about the evil we have done against our loving Father in heaven. And when once we come to get a sight of our sins as against God, we never can rest until we have got His pardon.

II. The gospel way of pardon. Some people think it is enough to ask pardon. Others think the way of pardon is to be sorry for their sins. Others think the way of pardon is trying to be as good as they can-saying their prayers, and striving to do what is right. Now the gospel way of pardon, though it might be said to include all these, is yet different from them all. It is very simple. It is very shortly told. I have heard an esteemed Edinburgh minister tell of his visiting an aged Christian man on his deathbed, and saying to him, Is it not a happy thing that we have the gospel set forth in so few and in such simple words? The old man looked up and said, One word, sir! His friend said, What is the one word? He replied, Substitution! The whole gospel in one word-substitution! If anyone were to ask me, What is the way of salvation? and I wanted to put it as shortly and as fully as possible, I would say, It is the immediate, present acceptance of Christ as the substitute on the authority of Gods word and offer. There is a touching story told regarding a body of men who had taken part in a rebellion, and were sentenced to have every tenth man of their number shot to deter others from doing what they had done. Among these were two, a father and son. We can fancy we see the men drawn up in a long line. Fixing, perhaps, on the first man by lot, he is marked out for death, and every tenth man thereafter, counting from him. The father and son stand together, and as the son runs his eye along the line he discovers that his father is a doomed man. He realises what it will be to have their family left without a head, his mother a widow, the old home stripped of its light and joy, and, quick as thought, he steps in where his father stood, and falls in his stead. He becomes his fathers substitute, and, if you ask the father in after years how he was saved, with the tear in his eye and a quivering voice, he will tell you he was saved by a substitute-that substitute his most loved and loving son. This, then, is what I want to bring out as the most important thing. The gospel way of pardon is by substitution-by One taking the place of another, by the Just taking the place of the unjust-the Good taking the place of the evil-the just Jesus, the good Jesus, taking the place of the unjust and the evil. God is just and holy, as well as merciful and loving. He is a King and Judge, as well as a Father. The authority of His law must be maintained. His justice must be vindicated. The law in its precept and penalty must be satisfied. It must be perfectly obeyed; and in the event of disobedience, the penalty of the broken law-death-must be suffered, either by each man himself, or by another in his room. We have all disobeyed, and so there is no hope for any one of us, except in the obedience and death of Christ. I would come to each of you and say, You are lost, and unless you get pardon you will be lost forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is willing to be your substitute now and here, and in Gods name and on the authority of His own Word I offer Jesus Christ to be your substitute. Here is One willing to take your place. Will you have Him? If you take Him you are saved, you are pardoned. When visiting our Jewish Mission Schools at Pesth, the capital of Hungary, a few years ago, I heard the truth on which I have been dwelling strikingly brought out by one of the pupils. The lesson was about the crucifixion of Christ, and the teacher asked, What connection have we with the work and death of the Lord Jesus? A young Jew held out his hand, as being prepared to give an answer, and said, It is just as if we had the merit; it is just as if we had been crucified!

III. The results of pardon-that is to say, the consequences of being pardoned through the substitution of another-through the Lord Jesus taking our place.

1. The first thing that follows gospel pardon is safety. There is no more danger. There is no condemnation to them who are thus in Christ Jesus.

2. There is happiness.

(1) This is the secret of happy living. A young friend, who had been in much anxiety about her soul, was shown into my study one night. Her face was quite radiant. It was such a change from what had been before that I could not help asking, What has happened tonight? The brief but expressive answer was, I have taken Him to be my substitute! That explained all.

(2) This is the secret of happy dying. Dr. Carey, the great Indian scholar and missionary, tells of his visit to one of the wards in an Indian hospital. On a bed, in a corner of the room, lay a dying soldier. Stepping gently up to him, he knelt at his bedside, and whispered into his ear, My dear brother, are you afraid to die? Looking up with a smile, the dying man answered, Oh, no, sir; I have died already! He meant that Jesus, his substitute, had died for him, and he had not to die, but only to fall asleep in Jesus.

3. There is gratitude-thankfulness.

4. There is love.

5. Lastly, there is service. It is told of the Duke of Orleans (Philip Egalite), father of Louis Philippe, the last king of the French, that on one occasion he was out riding, followed by his servant, who was also on horseback. The Duke had crossed an old bridge over a rapid stream in safety, but when his man servant was following, the bridge gave way, and horse and rider were thrown into the river. In a moment the Duke leaped from his horses back, plunged into the stream, and with considerable difficulty succeeded in saving the drowning man and bringing him to land. Need I describe the scene that followed? All dripping as he was, you might have seen the grateful servant prostrated at his masters feet, promising the gratitude and service of a lifetime, and asking what he could do to serve one who had done so much for him. You know the story of The Heart made Captive-the slave bought with British gold, who vowed he would never serve his purchaser. But when he learned that the stranger had bought him to set him free, there were no bounds to his love and gratitude, and no limits to his service. When asked as to the secret of his constant and devoted service, there was but the one answer, He redeemed me! he redeemed me! Such is the secret of all right-hearted service done for Christ, as well as of all holy living. He is my substitute. He suffered for me. He died for me. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits unto me? (J. H. Wilson, D. D.)

The just for the unjust

I. That Christ suffered should make suffering Christians patient. Not that I would make light of trials; far from it. I know they are often bitter and so long continued as to put a sore strain on clinging faith. Remember there is a ministry of suffering. The very trials of our life are ordered by a wiser will than ours, and are parts of a Heavenly Fathers discipline. As the stress of the storm strains the ship and shows where the weak parts are, so by our trials God would show us the weak points in our character, that we may strengthen what is weak and supply what is wanting.

II. Christs sufferings were for his people and on account of their sins. A man leaps overboard from the deck of a steamer on the broad Atlantic, and you think him a fool or a madman. But wait a little; why did he do it? He saw a sailor on the bulwarks overbalance himself and fall over the ships side, and he, a strong swimmer, leaped overboard to save him. And if you found that that drowning man had in time past often reviled the one who in his sore need risked his own life to deliver him, how could you find words to express your sense of the nobleness of such self-sacrificing conduct? And do you not think that the man thus plucked from the jaws of death would be heartily ashamed of his past reproaches, and would nevermore cease to love his deliverer? Is not this something like the case of the sinner and his Saviour Christ?

III. Consider now the object with which the saviour suffered. It was that He might bring us to God. This plainly implies a state of alienation and estrangement. O man, how far off hast thou wandered! How deep the enmity, how dire the distance between thee and thy God! How shall the awful gulf be bridged which thy sins have opened between thy God and thee? You now see how false is the common notion which many have of religion. They regard it as a thing to be turned to when one comes near to die-as a sort of desperate remedy to be taken when one can do no better. On the contrary, religion is a walk of fellowship with God; a thing for the daily round of duty; a life of obedience flowing from love and gratitude for redemption; a life unselfish, Christ-like, God-glorifying. (Wm. McMordie, M. A.)

Put to death in the flesh, but quickened by [in] the Spirit.–

The quickening influence of suffering

The main idea is of course a comparison between the experiences of our Lord and those of His suffering followers. The sacred writer was striving to the utmost to sustain and comfort them under the severe stress of persecution through which they were passing. Take heart, he seems to say; your sufferings are not exceptional; they run in the Divine family; even our Master was not exempt from them; He also suffered in the flesh; but His sufferings did not stay His blessed ministry; nay, they even augmented His sphere of usefulness; He was quickened in spirit, in which also he went forth to herald His accomplished work in regions to which, but for death, He had not obtained access. So shall it also be with you. Your sufferings shall not clip your wings, but add to your powers of flight. The things which happen to you shall fall out rather to the furtherance of the gospel; and it is through death that you must pass up to share His glorious resurrection and imperial power. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

The resurrection of Christ

No man ever yet came out of a great work the same as he went into it; he has always lost something, and gained something. A great effort for a noble purpose taxes a mans strength; but it builds up character, confidence, and reputation. A great effort for a selfish purpose drains a mans moral resources, he has to surrender nobler considerations and higher purposes; but it leaves him better off in the things of this world, with a larger fortune, and a greater command of earths luxuries. It is this process of gain and loss to which our attention is called in the review of Christs death and resurrection. It was a great transaction, nothing less than the attempt to overthrow the reign of sin and suffering in the world. The character and success of the great work would be largely indicated by the effect on Him who undertook it; the question which all must ask is, What part of Him gained, and what part of Him lost? As that is known, it ought to determine whether it is a work in which we wish to join. Flesh and spirit were both strong in Christ through all His life. Then came the contest with sin and suffering, and the body succumbed. It suffered, and went down into the grave. When its work was through, the spirit, which had never been daunted, which had relied upon the Father in its darkest moments, had an opportunity to show its strength. It was the spirit of the Son of God. It belonged to Him who was the incarnate Son of God; and it must take that same body, and show its own power, and do what the flesh had been unable to do. The spirit must assert itself: it must be seen to be the lifeguard of the body; it must be evident as the great protecting, rescuing power. And when that was once done, there was no defeat. What had been lost by the flesh had been more than made up by spirit, and the great transaction was a victory. Can we wonder, then, at the Christians joy at Easter? It is not as a single event by itself that the resurrection stirs our hearts: it is because it is connected with the whole nature of our being, with the whole work of Christs life, and with the mysteries of our existence, and of the world forever. We see spirit triumphing over flesh everywhere; not always, but on every side and in all departments, giving us the hope and key to this great fact. A poor weakened body labours under pain and disease for years; but the mind grows brighter day by day, and the spirit becomes more refined. It sometimes seems as if spirit could do anything; and it can, if it is the right spirit. It is its duty to animate the flesh, and it shows itself able to do it; and time after time it manifests its ability far above and beyond all the powers of flesh, making that flesh do things for which it has seemed to have no capability. Now let it be the perfect spirit, the spirit of the Son of God, and directly in a line with all our experiences is that resurrection from the dead. We find no hope of the resurrection but in the greatness of Christ, in His intimate and personal connection with the Father. It was the Fathers witness to His being the Son of God; in that He has raised Him from the dead. Spirit is nobler than flesh. Place two men side by side, one of whom has always lived for the flesh, the other of whom has always tried to find the spiritual side of everything, and of every event with which he has come in contact. The former weighs you down with his grossness. His talk of the pleasures of the table, his gossipy narration of things that have taken place, his dull, unimaginative dealing with all that happens, his narrow interests and selfish aims, they are dreadfully unsatisfying and wearisome. The other always seems to be buoyant with joy and hope of something better. He hates all grossness enough to drop it out of his life; and yet, with a sympathy with all souls, he finds gleams of hope in those of whom the world can say nothing but evil. You know the two types of men, and of the approaches to them in every degree and form, from your daily experience with those about you; you know it still more from the experiences within you. Every transaction upon which you enter has its two sides-it can exalt the flesh and kill the spirit, or it can kill the flesh and exalt the spirit. You may come out of a successful business or social career with all that the flesh can possibly give you, and find that the virtues of the spirit-the unselfishness, the purity, the honour, the thought of better things have been put out of existence; you are quickened in the flesh, you are put to death in the spirit. Here again we see that the resurrection of Christ was not an isolated fact, and did not stand alone. It gathers to itself all the words of the Sermon on the Mount, all the exhortations of nobleness of life, and living above this world, which had been dropping from Jesus lips ever since He began His ministry. They cannot stand alone; they ask a great completion, a victory on their side, that they may have power, and not meet with discouragement. It seems as if Christ would say, I appreciate how great a weight of conduct I have put upon you; I would help you bear it. I know how the forces of the flesh press on every side; a greater force of the spirit shall be with you through Me. See what the spirit can do to the flesh, and be encouraged in every battle. The power of a risen Saviour is to show itself in spiritual lives. Do you say that this may demand the giving up of certain things? Then let them go; be put to death in the flesh, if you can but live in the spirit. That was Pauls desire: If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. It was a matter of present attainment in the triumph of the spirit day by day; and for that we too are to labour, if our Easter joy and songs do indeed mean all that they say. We saw that this greatest feature of Christs resurrection was based on the fact that no man comes out of a transaction the same as he went into it. The same fact can lead us to the most complete participation in that resurrection, to which our minds are always turned. Are we to rise as He did? Had it hope for victory to any beyond Himself? We never come out of the great transaction of life the same as we went into it. We begin with spirit in the infant body, so unable to provide for itself. Then the flesh grows and asserts itself, until at length its hour of weakness comes, and, in the failure of disease or of old age, it loses its power, and sinks once more into the earth. What happens then, we ask? We never have any doubt as to that question about Christ. We find a clearer view and statement of His nearness to the Father coming out each day, as His life goes on. More and more He is bound to Him, until at last, in the great occasion of His death, it is not surprising that the trained and strengthened spirit conquers and raises Him. We can all tell of lives that have so followed Him, have so learned of Gods presence and love in the world through Jesus Christ that at every step in life their spirits have grown stronger, and without effort, nay, of necessity, our hearts include them in the Easter rejoicing, because we know which side of them the great transaction of life strengthened. (Arthur Brooks.)

He went and preached unto the spirits in prison.–

The gospel preached to the dead

Who is here spoken of? He. The form of the expression resembles that in our Creeds. He suffered and was buried. He descended into hell. The text does not say that the flesh of our Lord was put to death nor that His spirit was quickened. It states that He was Himself put to death qua flesh, and Himself quickened qua spirit. The flesh denotes His living body and animal soul; the spirit denotes here not the Holy Spirit nor the proper Deity, but the higher principle of the human spirit life, which was especially united to the Deity of Christ. He who is very God and very man, one person in two natures, did suffer death-in which nature?-not in His Divine nature-that is impassible-but in His human nature, which is passible. In the whole of His tripartite humanity? Not so: in a part of it, even in the flesh, and having there suffered death He, the same person, was quickened in the life, which never for a moment was quenched, of His own spirit. In that highest compartment of His human nature He experienced a transition to a new mode of existence, which issued in the resurrection of His incorruptible body. Meanwhile in the intermediate state-between the crucifixion and the resurrection, He, the Lord of Life, neither slumbered nor slept. His activity of philanthropy never ceased. Through the gates of death in the new life of the disembodied spirit He went, He made a journey. He the Crucified One, His body still hanging on the tree, passed away from the Cross of Calvary to the place of custody, where the souls of the departed were in confinement. These spirits in prison are they who, when they were in the flesh, in the midst of a universal apostasy saw not the signs nor felt the shadow of the coming judgment, nor heeded the voice of the righteous preacher, and therefore perished in their sins and in the flood. Their bodies were buried in the deep of the Deluge, and their spirits were carried into the deeper abyss of Hades. To these imprisoned souls was revealed in Hades the presence and the form of one like unto the Son of Man, clothed in human spirit. Thus disembodied and spirit ensphered the Son of God to the departed souls of the antediluvian world made a journey-and made a preachment. What was that preachment? Did He, in whom death could work no moral change, speak in His disembodied spirit to disembodied spirits, as He spake in the flesh to men in the flesh? Did He, the Apostle on earth of His Father in heaven, continue to pursue His Divine mission in Hades? There is a palate in this same Epistle which, rightly considered, makes it evident that St. Peter believed that to the dead in Hades the gospel itself had been proclaimed. To what class or classes of the dead it was proclaimed he does not specify; by whom it was proclaimed he does not specify; but, if we compare the two statements in the same Epistle-

(1) that Christ went and preached to the spirits in custody, and

(2) that to the dead also the gospel was preached-we must conclude that, according to St. Peter, our Lord in the world of spirits, between His own crucifixion and resurrection, announced glad tidings of great joy.

It is certain that the offer of salvation formed a part at least of His Divine message. And it is likely that this offer was made to all. Why not? Was not this their first opportunity of hearing of the great salvation wrought for all believers? There are some who have thought that the substance of our Lords preaching in Hades was of two kinds-that to some He preached salvation, to others perdition; that to the irreclaimably lost He preached a concio damnatoria. Surely this could not be; such a theory could never be in harmony with what we know of His Divine mission. Far better, and far more true, is it to suppose that He preached Himself, the One Saviour, to all alike. Not that all to whom He preached were alike susceptible of the message of glad tidings; because the multitude of the antediluvian unbelievers had indeed died in their sins, but still had so died in a very unequal measure of sin. To the class of incorrigible sinners the preaching of Christ in Hades would, we may believe, be in vain. They had sinned away their receptivity of the Divine message. They listened, indeed, from their sullen prisons to the heavenly Herald of mercy, and, as they listened to Him, they learned that He had died for the sins of the whole world, that He had died even for their sins, but at the same time they knew of themselves that He was not their present Saviour but their future Judge. Thus they would stand before the Preacher self-convicted and self-condemned. I conclude by mooting the question whether this interpretation of the text after all involves any abnormal teaching; whether, in fact, it is an exception to the general rule of Christian doctrine. It seems to me that there are some few passages in Scripture which indicate the broad theory that all men of all ages, who in this life never had the opportunity of hearing of Christ and of His salvation, will not perish hereafter for lack of that opportunity given some time, but failing this world will find that opportunity in the world to come; and if they are equal to it, if by patient continuance in well-doing here they are able to meet it, then they will embrace the gospel, and become par takers of the kingdom of heaven, if not as princes and rulers in Israel, yet as subjects. From this interpretation of the text an inference may be drawn. If Christ, through all His several stages of existence, was a forerunner and pioneer to His apostles and faithful followers, it may be that as the Personal Head of the Body Mystical did in that unseen world preach the gospel to departed spirits, so some or many of His living members, as they have disappeared one by one behind the veil, have also in their turn, and after His example, preached the same gospel there. If this idea is akin to truth, then it is possible that through the ages all along the gospel which St. John calls the gospel of the ages has not been hidden, but preached to such departed spirits as never heard, nor could hear, the glad tidings when they were in the flesh, and that it is not from lack of opportunity that any soul perishes. (Canon T. S. Evades, D. D.)

The spirits in prison

St. Peter is urging his readers to endurance under suffering. He sets before them the example of Christ. He suffered not only unjustly but for the unjust. That He might bring us to God-us, the erring and straying, the sin-bound and self-exiled. This is the starting point. St. Peter expatiates in the field thus entered. He bids us contemplate the effect of Christs suffering upon Himself. He bids us contemplate the two parts of His humanity-the flesh and the spirit. Death dissolved the compound. He was put to death as regards the one; He was made alive as regards the other. It is as though the dropping of the one gave new energy to the other. He had spoken in the days of His flesh of being straitened till the great baptism was accomplished. There was a compression in that enclosure of flesh and blood which would be taken off instantly by its removal. While the lifeless body was hanging for its last hour on the tree, He, the living spirit, was using the new liberty in a special office and mission-He was on a journey-He was making Paradise itself a scene of activity-in the spirit, St. Peter says, He went and preached to the spirits in prison. St. Peter defines with great precision the objects of this unearthly visitation. They are spirits in prison-they are dead men fast holden in Divine custody, as guilty aforetime of a great disobedience, which sealed their fate here, and swept them promiscuously into a condition which men must call judgment. These spirits were disobedient once-and the tense suggests an act of decisive and definite disobedience-at the time when the long suffering of God was waiting in the days of Noah. They were judged for their disobedience to this call-men, from the side of flesh and time, could not say otherwise than that these men had died in their sins-but a miracle of mercy sought them out, after long ages, in their prison house-the three days of Christs sojourn in the heart of the earth were used, of special grace, in their evangelisation-in the sight of men they lie still under judgment, but in spirit, according to God, they have been quickened into a supernatural life. Let us see if there is anything elsewhere in Scripture that will help us in bearing up under the weight of this remarkable disclosure. Yes, St. Paul has something very like it in his discourse on the communion-where he says that, for dishonouring this holy sacrament, many of the Corinthians not only are weak and sickly, but even sleep-have been, as he goes on to say, judged of the Lord, not only with divers diseases, but with sundry kinds of death-and goes on to explain to them that, when thus judged, punished even with death itself, they are chastened lest they should be condemned-death itself, judicial death, may be but a chastening to save from that condemnation which yet (the same verse says) is for the world. What is this but St. Peters judged, according to men, in flesh, yet living, according to God, in spirit?-a judgment, not of condemnation, but of chastening unto salvation? Before we pass to our last words of counsel, let us throw the light of St. Paul and St. Peter upon some of those darkest passages in the history of the Old Testament which seem to consign to a disproportionate doom men of a single sin, or men sinning half under compulsion. Take such an instance as that of the disobedient prophet-a man lied to by another prophet-and failing, under that persuasion, to keep the safe rule, what God has said to thee thyself is more true, for thee at least, and more concerning, than that which God is said to have said, in correction of it, or in repeal of it, to another. That man, for that yielding, is executed, within the day, under Gods death warrant. But is there any man to tell us, on the word of God, that the disobedient prophet is among the lost-that his is so much as one of the spirits in prison? Judged according to men in flesh-judged so far as the body, and the life of time, goes-for is it not judgment to be cut off hastily from this life of the living, and by a sentence written for evermore upon the page of God?-not necessarily condemned with the world-living possibly all the time, and to live, according to God the Judge, and in that higher part of the man, which is spirit. How many of the supposed injustices of Gods dealing may have their reconciliation and their justification in this hint of the apostles-in this more profound study of the Scriptures! Use the text thus, and it has life in it. Let it open to thee just a glimpse of realities out of thy sight! (Dean Vaughan.)

Christ in the flesh and in the spirit

Christ dealt with the living in the body, with the spirits in the spirit. (A. J. Bengel.)

Spirits in prison

I. That there are human spirits actually in the prison of hell.

1. A prison is a scene of darkness. Impurity, remorse, despair, constitute the blackness of darkness forever.

2. A prison is a scene of guilt.

3. A prison is a scene of bondage. Chains of iron confined the miserable culprit.

4. A prison is a scene of thoughtfulness. Hell is a dark realm of thinkers. But there are two features connected with hell that distinguish it from all the prisons on earth.

(1) It is self-erected. Each prisoner constructs his own prison.

(2) It is spiritual. The spirit is in prison. Earthly prisons cannot confine the soul.

II. That there are human spirits who have been in the prison of hell for centuries. Christ preached to them, by Noah, when on earth. Peter speaks of them now as being in hell. What period of time has elapsed between this lengthened suffering, however, impresses me with two considerations-

1. The fearful enormity of evil.

2. Mans capacity for endurance. Diseases soon break up the body; time withers the patriarchal oak, crumbles the marble; and the waters wear away the stones of the mightiest rocks; but, through ages of agony, the soul lives on!

III. That there are human spirits who have been in the prison of hell for centuries, to whom the gospel was once preached. Christ was in the world before His incarnation. The fact that there are spirits in hell to whom the gospel was once preached suggests two very solemn considerations:

1. That there is no necessary connection between hearing the gospel and salvation. He that heareth My words, and doeth them not, etc.

2. That the final misery of those who have heard the gospel must be contrary both to the disposition and agency of Christ. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The spirits in prison

I. Their state.

1. Disembodied.

2. Immortal.

II. Their condition.

1. A prison is a place of gloom.

2. A place of restraint.

3. A place of punishment.

4. A place of confinement for trial.

III. Their history.

1. They had the gospel preached to them.

2. Gods long suffering waited for them.

Applications:

1. Let not disobedient men doubt the certainty of future punishments.

2. Let not sinners question the justice of future punishment.

3. Let not the wicked be emboldened by numbers.

4. Let not the righteous be discouraged by their fewness.

5. Let not those who are alarmed despair. (Essex Remembrancer.)

The longsuffering of God waited.

The patience of God

The term applied here to the Almighty represents Him as we are not very apt to think of Him, i.e., as having before Him all the evil, of every kind, in His children, and bearing it; our ingratitude, our disobedience, our folly, our fickleness, our obstinacy, our selfishness, our wilfulness, our sensuality, our irreverence, our vanity-the whole dark and diversified mass of our sin. The catalogue of its shapes and degrees is well-nigh inexhaustible, yet it does not exhaust His patience. We have, it is true, as men and women, our disapprobations and even our little indignations at wrong-doing. But what marks a special contrast between them and the Divine displeasure is this, that as they gain in strength our human antipathies toward transgression are apt to grow hot and hasty. We want to see judgment against evil works executed speedily, forgetting that it was only just now that we began to see them to be evil works. Our brother trespasses against us, and, not considering that he is our brother, moulded of just such clay and subject to just such infirmities as ourselves, we cry out for the magistrate and the prison, if not the lash; and sometimes because there is no lash in the jailers hand, we take one up with our tongue. This is the impatient spirit that vitiates so many of our remonstrances against our neighbours crimes. Let us give a little wider reach to the treatment of the subject by contemplating the patience of God in its sublime delay, its slowness as men count slowness, in bringing about the most beneficent ends. He shows us this patience first as the Maker of things. You find it in the unhurried order of the natural creation; the slow building and furnishing of the outer worlds; the slow succession of geologic ages; the slow procession in ascending ranks, one only so little above another, of the races of plants and animals, affording an epoch for a reptile or a fern; the slow preparation of the planet for its final purpose in the rearing of an immortal family, the revelation of the spiritual glory of the Divine Man in the flesh, and the manifestation, by that incarnation, of a new earth with the sons of God for its kings and priests. We rise from the physical to the moral world. Take the broadest divisions of the human family-races and nations. From their beginnings in the East, as an eastern shepherd leads out his flocks, the Everlasting Father has brought His tribes out of their native sheepcotes and stationed them here and there over the globe. Vast territories, with fertile soils and blooming vegetation, with the wealth of navies and harvests in their bosom, were waiting to receive them: and some are waiting still. God waited His own good time for occupying them with human industry. Nor is this the chief exercise of His patience. One after another these nations have broken away from their Creators commandment. For each one of them He kindled the light of conscience or of revelation, to show them the way, and they shut their eyes upon it. Every national life has grown corrupt. No sooner have they come to prosperity than they have come to luxury, idleness, and the beginnings of decay. They have tempted and betrayed each other; cheated, fought, enslaved, murdered each other. Very seldom has He come to them with sudden judgments or wide spread desolations. He has waited till they would destroy themselves. He has tried them again and again. When one has gone down He has set up another, and waited patiently for that. Even the one people that He chose out of all the rest for His own, folding and guarding them, turned itself into the bitterest offence against Him. But His long suffering waited, and waited not only in the days of Noah, as the text says, but waited through the age of the patriarchs, waited through the age of Moses, and of the judges, and of the kings, waited till the captivity, waited and brought them back after it, waited till the fulness of time. But we can bring the doctrine home much closer to our personal feeling than this. We all know well enough what those things are that try and irritate us, in the common intercourse of life, and where our patience gives way. We know what the provocation is, when our motives are misjudged, or our self-respect is insulted; when mean calculations take advantage of our friendship; when our children are forgetful or wilful, our pupils dull, our servants careless, our neighbours arrogant, our beneficiaries unthankful or impertinent. We all know the sting that hurts us in contempt, in estrangement, in forgetfulness. Now, all these hateful things, in every instance, are known to God. They are full in His sight. Just so far as they are real offences at all, they are offences against Him before they are to us. He does not overlook them, but looks directly at them all. He sees the tyrants, the traitors, the hardened profligates, living out their many days, and some of them dying natural deaths in their beds, the Alvas and Torquemadas, small and great, of every age-His judgment seat not moved forward one hairs breadth to meet them this side the grave. Some one says, God is patient because He is eternal; and so we make excuses for our impatience. God is patient because He is good, as well as because He is strong and wise. He waits for men that they may return to Him. He spares them that they may spare each other. And then, if we could look far into the heart of God, might it not: appear that He has-considering their light, their calling, their privileges, and promises-quite as much occasion to let His patience have her perfect work in the inconstancies of Christians as in the crimes of unbelievers? the cold affections, lifeless prayers, halting steps. He has to wait even for His own people that He has redeemed-the Church that He has purchased with His blood-in her backward and worldly living. It is quite noticeable that one of the apostles of our Lord dwells on this grace of patience with peculiar earnestness, returning to it as if it had a special power to his conscience and a special sacredness to his heart; and this is St. Peter, from whom my text is taken. Have we not a reason for this, and at the same time a deeper look into his warm heart, when we turn to his personal character and history? His was just one of those impressible, impetuous temperaments, with great faults and great virtues, which lay a heavy tax upon the patience of friends, and yet inspire, beneath all that, a lively interest. So he must have felt how repeatedly and bitterly he had tried that one Divine Friend. Nor is the whole Scripture less clear and strong as to the practical value of this virtue in the Christian standard of character. Thus it shows us the kneeling suppliant at his lords feet crying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee all. It pronounces its blessing on those that bring forth fruit with patience. It casts in a beam of light on the dark mystery of our sufferings by telling us that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, bidding us rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Nay, further yet; by one true and deep interpretation of it the Cross of our Saviour is but the symbol of this doctrine. Patience and passion are but varied forms of one word; the sacrifice of long suffering. In the Son of Mary the patience of God comes down among men, and we behold His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, in the face of Jesus Christ giving His life for the world, and waiting for its faith. (Bp. Huntington.)

While the ark was a preparing.–

Safety in the ark

I. In the first place, we see by the parallel drawn between the faith of a Christian and the preservation of Noah in the deluge, that we must look for a deluge answering to that which then came upon the world. Who can seriously think of the world blaspheming its Maker, rebelling against Him, and then proudly contending that there is very little evil in that rebellion, and not see that some signal proof from the Governor of all, that that rebellion shall not be tolerated? The deluge of wrath, then, will come, like the deluge that swept away the millions of mankind in the days of Noah.

II. But then, as there was an ark which Noah constructed for his preservation and that of his family, we have an ark too, built not by our own hands, but built by our great Creator and Redeemer. Christ is to His people now the one Ark. There is one Shelter from the coming deluge of Gods wrath, one only Ark, for a lost soul; unless we are saved by that, we perish. Christ is the only thing between us and eternal destruction.

III. But as Noah was saved, not merely by understanding its construction and not merely by looking at its fair proportions and its massive timbers, but by entering within the ark and being shut within it by God, so the disciples of Christ are saved by entering into their Ark; and the one thing by which they enter in is faith. So that unless we come to Christ as our only hope, we are excluded from that Ark. It is built by the hand of God, it will float in safety over the deluge, and whoever is in it will be gloriously saved; but we must get within it. We may talk as Christians, we may belong to a Christian church, we may think ourselves safe; but unless we have climbed into the true Ark by faith, and have been shut in by the hand of God, we have no more possibility of safety than a person could have been saved by walking round the ark which Noah had constructed, or examining with surprise and admiration its massive construction.

IV. But there is another similarity between the disciples of Christ and Noah and his family. That similarity is in the water of baptism, as compared with the water of the deluge to Noah. Anti-typical to which, the apostle says, Baptism doth now save us. And therefore, just as the water bore up the ark of Noah, and it was when the waves dashed upon the ark in which he floated that his preservation was completed, so it is by baptism that the disciples of Jesus Christ are likewise saved. The water of baptism could no more save the baptized man, of itself, than the water of the deluge could save the antediluvian sinners who were outside the ark. It was the ark which saved; and then the water completed the salvation, by bearing up the ark upon its flood. And the water of baptism is the antitype of that water of the deluge, because it completes the figure which makes the person safe in Christ, who is the only Ark of the soul from the deluge to come. That this was the apostles meaning is further manifested by the expression which he used himself, to correct the imagination which might arise in any mind, that the external rite had in itself any such efficacy. He adds, Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh; external washing cannot save anyone; but it is the inquiring after God of a good conscience, it is the seeking God with the heart and with the soul-it is this which is the essence of the baptismal profession. There are two more points of comparison on which I must dwell. In the days of Noah there were multitudes that disbelieved, and but few that believed, the warning God gave; eight only out of the millions of mankind believed. The millions disbelieved. And so it is with the threatenings of God now; there are few that credit them, and millions that disbelieve them; which are right, the few or the millions? Christians! hold fast the truth, even if you were much fewer than you are; and never let your opinion be in the least shaken by any allegation of the presumption, the enthusiasm, or the folly of entertaining the opinions which are against those of the great mass of mankind. Hold them fast, and it will be for your happiness. And lastly, there is one final comparison between the two cases. The multitudes of those who disbelieved, in Noahs days, perished, and the few that believed were saved. Oh! that a warning voice could reach the millions of this world! (B. W. Noel, M. A.)

Baptism doth now save us.–

The two baptisms

It is questionable whether we would have had skill enough to discover that the two facts mentioned in the text contained essentially the same revelation, if the union had not been expressly pointed out to us in Scripture. The wild flood that destroyed the ancient world, and the gentle waters of baptism in Christian times-these two at first sight seem to have little in common. The connection is by no means so obvious as in some other types; but it is net less real.

I. The salvation of Noah and his family by water. As long as you think merely of Noah being saved from death by drowning, you miss the grand design of God in bringing the flood upon the earth. If the purpose of the Supreme had been to preserve the lives of those eight, it could have been accomplished by preventing the flood from coming, better than by constructing an ark to float on its surface. What object did the Almighty Ruler contemplate in those stupendous arrangements? To preserve His truth, and the earthen vessels that contained it, not from the flood of water, but from the flood of sin. The water flood, so far from being the source of danger, was the instrument employed to save. God employed one flood to wipe away another. The salvation which God works for His own, both in its whole and in its several parts, is a twofold operation. It is deliverance by destruction. In the Old Testament times, this principle of Divine government was exhibited in acts and ordinances of a more material kind. Christ had not yet come; and the personal ministry of the Spirit had not yet been fully developed. The providential dispensations and religious rites in which the principles were embodied, accorded with the infant state of the world and the Church. In form the manifestation was childish; but even in form all that was childish has been done away, and the self same truths are set forth in the ordinances of a more glorious ministration.

II. The salvation of Christians by baptism is like the saving of Noah by the waters of the flood.

1. The danger. In Gods sight the ailment of humanity is sin. Sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Find the way of making an end of sin, and the sting of death is instantly taken away. If it were not for sin we should have nothing to fear. We could smile at death, and at him who hath its power, if we were free from sin.

2. The deliverance. It, too, is like Noahs. We are saved by a flood. We are saved by baptism. And what is meant by baptism? In the first place, it is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. It is not the out ward act of washing with water that can save a soul from the dangers that surround us. It is not a corporal and carnal thing. Not this; but the answer of a good conscience toward God. It is the cleansing of the conscience from its guilt, so that when God makes inquisition for blood, He finds no spot or wrinkle there; so that the conscience, when put to the question, answers peace to the challenge of the Judge. Baptism doth now save us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is by being in Christ that we may get our sins purged away, and yet be ourselves saved. He stands before God to receive what is due to His peoples sins. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished, That baptism to which He looked forward from the first of time, and which He met on Calvary, was none other than the wrath of God against sin, which He had in covenant engaged to bear. The Messiah met that deluge, and emerged from it triumphant. From that baptism He rose again. The salvation of believers lies not in meeting God for themselves, when the vials of His wrath for sin are poured out; but in being found in Christ, when He receives His peoples due. It is the part and privilege of a believer to be baptized into Christ, and specifically to be baptized into His death (Rom 6:3; Rom 6:5). Our baptism is into Him, and He meets the baptism for us which would have carried us away. We have received the baptism, when in our Substitute we have received it. As Noah remained safe, shut up within the ark, while it received the surges of the deluge; so we, in Christ our refuge, are unhurt, while He meets and exhausts in our stead the justice due to sin. As the flood saved Noah, by destroying the wicked that swarmed on the earth, while he escaped by being shut within the ark; the baptism wherewith Christ was baptized saves Christians, by destroying sins and sinners, so that they who are found in Him in the time of visitation shall step out with Him upon a new earth, under a new heaven, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (W. Arnot.)

Baptism: helpful

The apostle speaks of baptism as saving us; that is the point that concerns us most. Of course the question starts, How does baptism save us; in what way is it helpful to us in our Christian life and career? If you look at the passage you will see that the apostle guards himself carefully. He says, Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. We cannot too distinctly assert that there is nothing saving in baptism itself. In what way, then, you may ask, does baptism save us? How can it be made helpful to us in the cultivation of Christian character and in the living of Christian life? The apostle tells us, But the answer of a good conscience toward God. The Greek term here translated answer means a question or interrogation. It is used to signify the mutual return of question and answer, which implies compact. You know that when two parties present themselves to the minister for marriage he requires them to say certain words after him; those words form what we may call the marriage oath, or declaration, or compact. When that declaration or compact has been made by both parties the man puts the ring on the finger of the woman as a sign or evidence that such declaration has been made. Now, what the wedding ring is to the married couple and society, baptism is to the believer and Christ. It is the sign, token, symbol of the covenant, compact, which the believer has entered into with his Saviour. In this sense it has an element of salvation in it, and it may be made helpful to you in the cultivation of Christian character and life by reminding you of the terms of that covenant.

I. That you have repented of your past life and conduct. There are some in whom the process or change we call repentance is not very marked or great. In some, from their natural temperament, or from the advantages of early surroundings, the religious life seems a gradual development. As the lovely bud opens under the genial influence of the springs sun, so their hearts open under the genial influence of the heavenly Fathers love. In others, as in the case of the prodigal, there is a time, sharp and distinct, when reflection arrests them in their course of sin and folly. Now, baptism is a standing perpetual reminder of that solemn crisis-that solemn resolve in your history. Hence Paul writes: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death? etc. (Rom 6:3-13). The act of baptism is an open public renunciation of sin, of sinful pleasures, of the follies of the world.

II. That you have accepted Christ as your Saviour. The compact you now make with Christ, and of which your baptism will be the standing sign and symbol, is that you accept, believe in Him as your Saviour. In accepting Christ as your Saviour you promise Him that you will give yourself up to Him. When tempted to relax or disobey, you will answer your tempter, I have placed myself in the hands of Christ; I am not my own. I have His prescription, and, unless I attend to that, I cannot expect spiritual healing or health. You will point your tempter to your baptism as a standing symbol of your covenant with Christ; and in this way your baptism will be helpful to you, and will save you.

III. That you have consecrated yourself to Christs service. The wife sees the ring on her finger, and she says, I am married; I am no longer my own. I am pledged to give my husband as much real pleasure and joy as lies in my power, to abstain from everything that would grieve or displease him, to make any and every sacrifice if necessary to contribute to his comfort and well-being. In the same way, remembering your baptism, you will say, I am married to Christ; I have pledged myself to His service as the great purpose of my life.

IV. That you sustain the most honourable relation to Christ, I wish I could, so fire the hearts of our young men and women that they could adequately realise the dignity and the honour of the relation they sustain to Christ, and of which baptism is the standing sign and seal. You know how the soldier is fired with the sense of his dignity as a soldier. There are many things that he would not do because it would disgrace his profession. And so I would that you should be ever conscious of the dignity and honour of the relation that you sustain to Christ. Remembering your baptism, the standing seal of that relation, you will say, I am a baptized Christian, one of Christs soldiers. How can I do this mean act, speak that false word, do that great wickedness, and sin against Christ? In this way, too, baptism may be helpful to you, and so save you. (B. Preece.)

Who is gone into heaven.-

Our Lords ascension

The ascension of our Lord was, in one point of view, only a result of His resurrection, and the proper completion of His triumph then achieved. That is, no new work was done by Him after His resurrection which brought about His ascension. It was His pleasure to remain on earth during those forty days, in order to show Himself alone to His disciples, and to establish beyond doubt the fact that He was risen from the dead; but they were only a delay interposed before that triumphant departure whose way was already prepared. First of all, then, the ascension of Jesus was the seal of the accomplishment of redemption. His work which He wrought in our nature was the rescuing it from the dominion of sin, and bringing it into union with God. This His glorious state of final perfection of humanity is not His alone. It belongs not to Him any more than His death and resurrection belonged to Him, as man individual. It belongs, in its actuality and in its effects, to our whole nature, which He bore on Him and bears on Him at this moment. In, and as accomplished in, that humanity thus glorified, does the Father behold all His creatures and all His purposes; in Him it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell, and that all things in heaven and in earth should be summed up. O how blessed an encouragement is this, in all our difficulties and under all our troubles. Thou feeble Christian, who believest and prayest and strivest, but hast never laid firm hold on the hope set before thee, who day by day art conning over thine own imperfections, turn thine eyes from looking inward, and look upward on Him where He is. That human Body, pierced but glorified, marred above measure, but also exalted above measure, let that be thy one object of contemplation. There is thy safety; there thy guarantee of Gods favour; on that blessed Form falls no frown of the Fathers countenance, but an everlasting smile of approval, and under that smile thou, His lowly and fainting member, art included. Fix thine eyes on Him and fear not; in Him thou hast all; through Him thou shalt rise after all thy falls; shalt enter into the kingdom after all thy doubts; for he that hath the Son hath life. I want in my belief which is to sustain me, which is to renew me in holiness, something as present to me as the world and the flesh and the devil are present with me; not only a past fact, however gracious and glorious; but a present fact, which I may look upon as part of this moment in which I live and struggle onward. And I can find this only in the glorified form of my Lord, now in heaven at Gods right hand, holding together this world, creating, blessing, vivifying, governing all things. This is no past matter. Far above this earth with her living tribes and her waving blossoms, far above these bright stars which bound the vision of the outward eye, I see that form of Him in whom I live; there is He who is made to me wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; His life is my obedience; His blood is my ransom; His resurrection is my justification. Earth and hell may combine against my weak nature; but there I see that nature standing in the Godhead glorified, and I know that I am safe. Outward appearances may discourage me to the utmost. Both the Church and the world are summed up in and ruled by that glorified One, who reigns above them both. Besides being the seal and pledge of our accomplished redemption, He is, in this His glorified state, our continuing High Priest and Intercessor. There, in the centre of the Fathers glory, He rests not idle, nor is He unmindful of those whom He came to save. They are ever borne on His thoughts, and not the least of their cares or wants is forgotten by Him. Through Him, not as an unconscious medium, but as the living and conscious offerer, all prayer is made. Again, our glorified Saviour is the giver of the Holy Spirit. From Him all spiritual influence comes direct, and without union with Him no man has the Spirit of the Lord. And this is a most important consideration. For men are apt to imagine of our blessed Lord as withdrawn from His Church; and the participation of spiritual gifts and spiritual life to be derived from a long succession of secondary instruments, and ordinances of grace; whereas it is by direct contact of every believing soul with Himself in glory, that all spiritual grace and gifts are derived, and means and ordinances are but helps to lifting the soul by faith into realisation of His person and office, and into communion with Him. (Dean Alford.)

Our ascended Lord

I. The circumstances.

1. They begin thus-Who is gone into heaven. He is gone: that sounds rather dolorous. Yet we dare not raise a monument to Christ as one who is dead. Let us complete the sentence-who is gone into heaven. Now you demand the trumpet, for the words are full of soul-stirring music, and create intense delight. Still, there are the words, He is gone: He is gone away from you and from me; we cannot now embrace His feet, nor wash them, nor lean our head upon His bosom, nor look into His face. Henceforth we are strangers here because He is not here. He intends us to remove, for He has removed. We are not at home on earth. He seems to say, Upwards, My brethren, upwards from off this earth; away from this world to the glory land. I am gone, and you must be gone, This is not your place of resting, but you must prepare yourselves for a time when it shall be said of each one of you, He is gone. Now let us consider that He is gone into heaven. What does this signify but, first, that He is gone out of the region wherein our senses can perceive Him? But then we know that our Lord, as man, is gone into a greater nearness to God than ever; He is gone into heaven, where is the throne of the great King. Let us joy and rejoice that our covenant Head is now in the bosom of the Father, at the fountainhead of love and grace, and that He is there on our behalf. In going into heaven there is also this thought, that our Lord is gone now into the place of perfect happiness and of complete glory. The Lord Jesus is filled with ineffable satisfaction, which is the reward of His passion and His death. Thinking this over, let us reflect that nothing could stop His going there. He is gone up into heaven, despite all who raged against Him. But I beg you to remember that He is gone up into heaven as our representative. Jesus does nothing by Himself now. All His people are with Him. He says, Behold I and the children which God hath given Me. They are always in union with Him. This is the best seal that our faith could desires the resurrection and ascension of Christ being practically the resurrection and the home bringing of all His redeemed.

2. Secondly, His sitting at the right hand of God: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God. Remember that this being on the right hand of God relates to the complex person of our Lord; it relates to Him not as God alone, but as God and man. It is His manhood that is at the right hand of God. Wonderful conception! The next being to God is man. Infinite leagues must necessarily lie between the Creator and the created; but between God and man in Christ Jesus there seems no distance at all, the man Christ Jesus sits at Gods right hand. What meaneth it that Christ sits at the right hand of God? Does it not mean, first, unrivalled honour? To sit at the right hand of God is the highest conceivable glory. Does not it also signify intense love? When Solomon would describe the love of the King to his bride, he said, Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. It means also communion and counsel. We speak of a person with whom we take advice as the man of our right hand. God taketh counsel with the man Christ Jesus. When you have a friend at court, you hope you will do well; but what a friend have we in the Kings courts; even Him who is the Wonderful Counsellor! Does it not also signify perfect repose? Jesus is gone up to the right hand of God, and sitteth there. O restful Saviour, we labouring, come to Thee and find rest in Thee; we also sit down expecting the time when Thou shalt put down all our enemies, and we shall tread even Satan under our feet.

3. The third fact is, His dominion: Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. Angels are subject to Him whom they nailed to the Cross, and at whom they wagged their heads. This is one of the wonders of heaven. Men in countless myriads are in heaven white robed, praising God; and one Man is actually on the throne of God, vicegerent, Lord over all; having every knee to bow before Him, and every tongue to call Him Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

II. The lessons of these circumstances.

1. The religion of Christ is true. Our doctrine is not sentiment, and view, and opinion, but fact.

2. Christs cause is safe. Let not His church tremble, let her not think of putting out the hand of unbelief to steady the ark of the Lord. The wheel will turn, and they that are lowest now shall soon be highest; they that have been with Him in the dust shall be with Him in His glory.

3. Now I can sea that His saints are safe; for if Jesus has risen and gone into His glory, then each individual in Him shall be safe too.

4. This explains the way in which Jesus deals with sinners. That which took place in His own person He makes to be a picture of what takes place in the men whom He saves. If you come to Him you can only get to know the fulness of His gracious power by being buffeted with conviction and repentance, and by having self, especially self-righteousness, crucified and slain.

5. I think, since Christ has gone into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, it shows which way we ought to go. I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. He draws them to the Cross, and you may be sure He will draw them to the crown. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christ at home

I. His residence.

1. He has gone there as to His proper abode.

2. To prepare for His disciples.

3. To attract the hearts of His disciples.

II. His position. On the right hand of God. The figure implies-

1. Might. Christ is at the fountainhead of power.

2. Dignity.

III. His authority.

1. Co-extensive with the universe.

2. Exercised for the promotion of moral excellence everywhere.

3. Specially contemplates the good of His followers. (Homilist.)

Angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.–

All angels subject to Christ

Both good and bad; the good willingly, the others against their will.

I. For the good angels.

1. If such glorious creatures be subject to Christ, then-

(1) How great a one is He, and how glorious is His kingdom.

(2) The greater honour and dignity our Head hath, the more joy and comfort may we have, who are His members.

2. In that He appoints them to watch and guard us-

(1) What a great honour is this to us.

(2) How may we hereby be comforted and encouraged against Satans malice.

(3) We must keep within com pass, and walk carefully in Gods ways.

II. For the evil angels.

1. All these are subject to Christ, and He hath triumphed over them.

2. As it is no small honour to Him our Head to have all these under Him, so the meditation hereof cannot but be comfortable to us, both in regard of Him and ourselves.

3. Those evil angels cannot do that evil they would, and if they cannot, much less can their instruments. (John Rogers.)

Christ the King of angels

We indeed are but little able to enter into the thoughts of apostles when they saw Him in His crucified body, ascending up into heaven. But we may understand that this was a part of their feelings; that now One, who is true Man as we are, who can enter into our joys and sorrows, our hopes and fears, He is set in the highest place, over all created things. And He carries with Him there the same tender love towards the meanest of His faithful servants which He ever vouchsafed to exercise here. It was, in some sort, as if ones nearest and dearest relation were made absolute king of the country. If persons who care for earthly things would rejoice in such a change as that, and consider their own fortune made, how much more joy to those who care for heavenly things, when we set our hearts to consider that He who laid down His life for us, He is made the great King in heaven and earth, and has all the treasures of grace and glory put forever into His hand. In this we see at once is included every good thing. But for the present there is one blessing in particular. It is the subjection of the spiritual world to our Saviour, Angels and authorities and powers were made subject to the Son of Man when He went into heaven, and sat down off the right hand of God. We naturally think, even from our childhood, a good deal of the spiritual world; of beings out of sight, who yet, for aught we know, may often be very near us, and may have great power to do us good, or to hurt us in body and soul. And the thought of our Lord gone up into heaven, and sitting on the right hand of God, is a thought of great power to set us right in our feelings towards both sorts of angelic beings. Consider, first, what a thing it is to know that the good angels are on our side, that they camp about us to deliver us. This certainty of angelical aid, so far as we are on Christs side, we have by His exaltation into heaven, and the subjection to Him of angels, authorities, and powers. But those words, doubtless, mean the evil angels as well as the good; our unseen enemies, as well as our unseen friends. Let us not try to put out of our minds the notion of the bad angels being around us, until we have turned in serious prayer to Him who for our sake holds them in chains. Imagine Christ our Lord on His throne, how His eye is ever fixed, both on you in your helpless slumbering condition, and on your adversary waiting to hurt you. And be sure, that if before you lay down you seriously and reverently committed yourself to Him in prayer, with sincere penitence for all your sins, He will not let the roaring lion devour you. You may, without presumption, imagine Him, then, saying to some of His good angels, Here is one who lays down to rest, desiring to dwell under the defence Of the Most High; he hath set his love upon Me, and tried to know My name; therefore do you, My good angels, take charge of him, and keep him from the evil that walketh in darkness. (Plain Sermons by Contributors to Tracts for the Times.)

The ascension

Who is gone into heaven. It is the correction of all that is carnal and all that is superstitious in our religion. It is the Christian application of God is spirit. It bids us not to rest in forms; not to multiply services as services, not to rest in sacraments as sacraments, but to look through all to One who is not here, but ascended; and to be sought therefore as one deeply sympathising with human infirmity, but exercising that sympathy not in weak indulgence but in transforming strength. Who is gone into heaven, and therefore can fill all things. Such is St. Pauls argument in his Epistle to the Ephesians. He reminds us that the Saviour Himself, remaining below, must have been confined by earths conditions. It is ascension which makes Him the Omnipresent. Gone into heaven. There then seek Him, There, when you have found Him, with Him dwell. (Dean Vaughan.)

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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 18. Christ also hath once suffered] See Clarke on Ro 5:6; “Heb 9:28“.

Put to death in the flesh] In his human nature.

But quickened by the Spirit] That very dead body revived by the power of his Divinity. There are various opinions on the meaning of this verse, with which I need not trouble the reader, as I have produced that which is most likely.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

For Christ also hath once suffered; in opposition to the legal sacrifices which were offered from day to day, and from year to year, Heb 7:27; 9:25; and Heb 10:12; and this shows, as the perfection of Christs sufferings, (in that they needed not be repeated), so our conformity to him in deliverance from ours; that as Christ underwent death (the principal part of his sufferings) not often, but once only, and then his glory followed; so likewise, if in this life we suffer for righteousness sake, according to Christs example, there remains no more suffering for us, but we shall be glorified with him, 2Ti 2:12.

For sins; i.e. for the expiation of sin. This is another argument for patience under sufferings, that Christ by his sufferings hath taken away the guilt, and freed us from the punishment, of sin; so that our sufferings, though they may be not only by way of trial, but of correction, yet are not properly penal or vindictive.

The just for the unjust; and therefore well may we, who are in ourselves unrighteous, be content to suffer, especially for his cause and truth.

That he might bring us to God; i.e. reconcile us to God, and procure for us access to him with freedom and boldness, Rom 5:2; Eph 3:12.

Being put to death in the flesh; his human nature, frequently in Scripture called flesh, as 1Pe 4:8; Joh 1:14; and though his soul, as being immortal, did not die, yet he suffered most grievous torments in it, and his body died by the real separation of his soul from it.

But quickened by the Spirit; i.e. his own Godhead, Joh 2:19; Joh 10:17,18. The former member of this sentence speaks of the subject of his death, his flesh, which was likewise the subject of his life in his resurrection; this latter speaks of the efficient cause of his life, his own eternal Spirit.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

18. Confirmation of 1Pe3:17, by the glorious results of Christ’s suffering innocently.

For“Because.”That is “better,” 1Pe3:17, means of which we are rendered more like to Christ in deathand in life; for His death brought the best issue to Himself and tous [BENGEL].

Christthe AnointedHoly One of God; the Holy suffered for sins, theJust for the unjust.

alsoas well asyourselves (1Pe 3:17). Compare1Pe 2:21; there His sufferingwas brought forward as an example to us; here, as a proof of theblessedness of suffering for well-doing.

oncefor all; neveragain to suffer. It is “better” for us also once to sufferwith Christ, than for ever without Christ We now are suffering our”once”; it will soon be a thing of the past; a brightconsolation to the tried.

for sinsas though Hehad Himself committed them. He exposed Himself to death by His”confession,” even as we are called on to “give ananswer to him that asketh a reason of our hope.” This was”well-doing” in its highest manifestation. As He suffered,”The Just,” so we ought willingly to suffer, forrighteousness’ sake (1Pe3:14; compare 1Pe 3:12;1Pe 3:17).

that he might bring us toGodtogether with Himself in His ascension to the right hand ofGod (1Pe 3:22). He brings us,”the unjust,” justified together with Him into heaven. Sothe result of Christ’s death is His drawing men to Him;spiritually now, in our having access into the Holiest, openedby Christ’s ascension; literally hereafter. “Bring us,”moreover, by the same steps of humiliation and exaltation throughwhich He Himself passed. The several steps of Christ’s progress fromlowliness to glory are trodden over again by His people in virtue oftheir oneness with Him (1Pe4:1-3). “To God,” is Greek dative (not thepreposition and case), implying that God wishes it [BENGEL].

put to deaththe meansof His bringing us to God.

in the fleshthat is,in respect to the life of flesh and blood.

quickened by the SpiritTheoldest manuscripts omit the Greek article. Translate with thepreposition “in,” as the antithesis to the previous “inthe flesh” requires, “INspirit,” that is, in respect to His Spirit. “Put to death”in the former mode of life; “quickened” in theother. Not that His Spirit ever died and was quickened, ormade alive again, but whereas He had lived after the manner of mortalmen in the flesh, He began to live a spiritual “resurrection”(1Pe 3:21) life, wherebyHe has the power to bring us to God. Two ways of explaining 1Pe 3:18;1Pe 3:19, are open to us: (1)”Quickened in Spirit,” that is, immediately on Hisrelease from the “flesh,” the energy of His undyingspirit-life was “quickened” by God the Father, into newmodes of action, namely, “in the Spirit He went down (assubsequently He went up to heaven, 1Pe3:22, the same Greek verb) and heralded [not salvation,as ALFORD, contrary toScripture, which everywhere represents man’s state, whether saved orlost, after death irreversible. Nor is any mention made of theconversion of the spirits in prison. See on 1Pe3:20. Nor is the phrase here ‘preached the Gospel‘(evangelizo), but ‘heralded’ (ekeruxe) or ‘preached’;but simply made the announcement of His finished work; so thesame Greek in Mr 1:45,’publish,’ confirming Enoch and Noah’s testimony, and therebydeclaring the virtual condemnation of their unbelief, and thesalvation of Noah and believers; a sample of the similar oppositeeffects of the same work on all unbelievers, and believers,respectively; also a consolation to those whom Peter addresses, intheir sufferings at the hands of unbelievers; specially selected forthe sake of ‘baptism,’ its ‘antitype’ (1Pe3:21), which, as a seal, marks believers as separated from therest of the doomed world] to the spirits (His Spirit speakingto the spirits) in prison (in Hades or Sheol, awaiting thejudgment, 2Pe 2:4), which wereof old disobedient when,” c. (2) The strongest point in favor of(1) is the position of “sometime,” that is, of old,connected with “disobedient” whereas if the preachingor announcing were a thing long past, we should expect “sometime,”or of old, to be joined to “went and preached.” Butthis transposition may express that their disobedience precededHis preaching. The Greek participle expresses the reasonof His preaching, “inasmuch as they were sometimedisobedient” (compare 1Pe 4:6).Also “went” seems to mean a personal going, as in1Pe 3:22, not merely inspirit. But see the answer below. The objections are “quickened”must refer to Christ’s body (compare 1Pe3:21, end), for as His Spirit never ceased to live, itcannot be said to be “quickened.” Compare Joh 5:21;Rom 8:11, and other passages,where “quicken” is used of the bodily resurrection.Also, not His Spirit, but His soul, went to Hades. HisSpirit was commended by Him at death to His Father, and was thereupon”in Paradise.” The theory(1) would thus require that Hisdescent to the spirits in prison should be after Hisresurrection! Compare Eph 4:9;Eph 4:10, which makes the descentprecede the ascent. Also Scripture elsewhere is silent aboutsuch a heralding, though possibly Christ’s death had immediateeffects on the state of both the godly and the ungodly in Hades: thesouls of the godly heretofore in comparative confinement, perhapsthen having been, as some Fathers thought, translated to God’simmediate and heavenly presence; but this cannot be provedfrom Scripture. Compare however, Joh 3:13;Col 1:18. Prison is alwaysused in a bad sense in Scripture. “Paradise” and”Abraham’s bosom,” the abode of good spirits in OldTestament times, are separated by a wide gulf from Hell or Hades, andcannot be called “prison.” Compare 2Co 12:2;2Co 12:4, where “paradise”and the “third heaven” correspond. Also, why should theantediluvian unbelievers in particular be selected as the objects ofHis preaching in Hades? Therefore explain: “Quickened in spirit,in which (as distinguished from in person; the words “inwhich,” that is, in spirit, expressly obviating theobjection that “went” implies a personal going) Hewent (in the person of Noah, “a preacher of righteousness,”2Pe 2:5: ALFORD’Sown Note, Eph 2:17, isthe best reply to his argument from “went” that a localgoing to Hades in person is meant. As “He CAMEand preached peace” by His Spirit in the apostles andministers after His death and ascension: so before His incarnation Hepreached in Spirit through Noah to the antediluvians, Joh 14:18;Joh 14:28; Act 26:23.”Christ should show,” literally, “announcelight to the Gentiles”) and preached unto the spirits in prison,that is, the antediluvians, whose bodies indeed seemed free, buttheir spirits were in prison, shut up in the earth as one greatcondemned cell (exactly parallel to Isa 24:22;Isa 24:23 “upon the earth .. . they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gatheredin the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison,” c. [justas the fallen angels are judicially regarded as “in chains ofdarkness,” though for a time now at large on the earth, 1Pe2:4], where 1Pe 3:18 has aplain allusion to the flood, “the windows from on highare open,” compare Ge 7:11)from this prison the only way of escape was that preached by Christin Noah. Christ, who in our times came in the flesh, in the days ofNoah preached in Spirit by Noah to the spirits then in prison(Isa 61:1, end, “theSpirit of the Lord God hath sent me to proclaim the opening ofthe prison to them that are bound”). So in 1Pe1:11, “the Spirit of Christ” is said to have testifiedin the prophets. As Christ suffered even to death by enemies, and wasafterwards quickened in virtue of His “Spirit” (or divinenature, Rom 1:3; Rom 1:4;1Co 15:45), which henceforthacted in its full energy, the first result of which was the raisingof His body (1Pe 3:21, end)from the prison of the grave and His soul from Hades; so the sameSpirit of Christ enabled Noah, amidst reproach and trials, to preachto the disobedient spirits fast bound in wrath. That Spirit in youcan enable you also to suffer patiently now, looking for theresurrection deliverance.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,…. Not his own, for he committed none, but for the sins of his people; in order to obtain the remission of them, to make reconciliation for them, and to take and put them away, and finish and make an end of them; which sufferings of his, on account of them, were many and great: he suffered much by bearing the griefs, and carrying the sorrows of his people, whereby he became a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs, from his cradle to his cross; and from the temptations of Satan, being in all points tempted, as his members are, though without sin; and from the contradiction of sinners against him, in his name, credit, and character, abusing him as the worst of men; and he suffered in his soul, from the wrath of God, and curses of the law, which lay upon him; and in his body, by many buffetings, scourges, wounds, and death itself, even the death of the cross; and which being the finishing part of his sufferings, is chiefly here meant. The Alexandrian copy reads, “died for you”; and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read, “died for our sins”; and this he did once, and but once; he died once, and will die no more; he was offered up once, and will be offered up no more; there is no more offering, or sacrifice for sin; the reason is, because his one offering is sufficient to take away sin, which the legal sacrifices were not, and therefore were often offered; and the reason why this his one offering, or once suffering and dying, is sufficient, is, because of his divine nature, or eternal Spirit, by which he offered himself, and gave infinite virtue to his sacrifice and satisfaction: now, this is an argument for suffering patiently; since Christ, the head, has also suffered, and therefore, why not the members? and since he has suffered for their sins, therefore they should not grudge to suffer for his sake; and seeing also their sufferings are but once, in this life only, and as it were but for a moment, and not to be compared with his sufferings for them; and especially when it is considered what follows:

the just for the unjust; Christ, the holy and just one, who is holy in his nature, and righteous in his life and actions, which were entirely conformable to the righteous law of God, and upright and faithful in the discharge of his office, and therefore called God’s righteous servant; he suffered, and that not only by unjust men, by the Jews, by Pilate, and the Roman soldiers, but for and in the room and stead of unjust men, sinners, and ungodly, who were destitute of righteousness, and full of all unrighteousness; and since he did, it need not be thought hard, or strange, that sinful men should suffer at the hands of others; and still it should be borne with the greater patience, since Christ not only suffered for them, but since an end is answered by it, as is here suggested:

that he might bring us to God; nigh to God, who, with respect to communion, were afar off from him; and in peace and reconciliation with him, who were enemies to him by wicked works; and that they might have freedom of access, with boldness, unto God, through his precious blood, and the vail of his flesh; and that he might offer them unto God, as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions render it; as a sacrifice acceptable unto God, presenting them to him unblamable and unreproveable in his sight; that he might bring them into his grace and presence here, and, as the great Captain of their salvation, bring them to him in glory hereafter:

being put to death in the flesh; in the human nature: flesh includes the whole of human nature, both body and soul; for though the body only dies, yet death is the dissolution of the union between them both; and such was Christ’s death; for though the union between the two natures continued, yet his body and soul were disunited; his body was left on the cross, and his soul, or Spirit, was commended to God, when his life was taken from the earth, and he was put to death in a violent manner by men:

but quickened by the Spirit; raised from the dead by his divine nature, the Spirit of holiness, the eternal Spirit, by which he offered himself, and by virtue of which, as he had power to lay down his life, so he had power to take it up again; when he was also justified in the Spirit, and all the elect in him. Now, as the enemies of Christ could do no more than put him to death in the flesh, so the enemies of his people can do no more than kill the body, and cannot reach the soul; and as Christ is quickened and raised from the dead, so all his elect are quickened together, and raised with him, representatively, and shall, by virtue of his resurrection, be raised personally, and live also; which is no inconsiderable argument to suffer afflictions patiently, and which is the design of this instance and example of the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Christ’s Sufferings.

A. D. 66.

      18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:   19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;   20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

      Here, I. The example of Christ is proposed as an argument for patience under sufferings, the strength of which will be discerned if we consider the several points contained in the words; observe therefore, 1. Jesus Christ himself was not exempted from sufferings in this life, though he had no guilt of his own and could have declined all suffering if he had pleased. 2. The reason or meritorious cause of Christ’s suffering was the sins of men: Christ suffered for sins. The sufferings of Christ were a true and proper punishment; this punishment was suffered to expiate and to make an atonement for sin; and it extends to all sin. 3. In the case of our Lord’s suffering, it was the just that suffered for the unjust; he substituted himself in our room and stead, and bore our iniquities. He that knew no sin suffered instead of those that knew no righteousness. 4. The merit and perfection of Christ’s sacrifice were such that for him to suffer once was enough. The legal sacrifices were repeated from day to day, and from year to year; but the sacrifice of Christ, once offered, purgeth away sin, Heb 7:27; Heb 9:26; Heb 9:28; Heb 10:10; Heb 10:12; Heb 10:14. 5. The blessed end or design of our Lord’s sufferings was to bring us to God, to reconcile us to God, to give us access to the Father, to render us and our services acceptable, and to bring us to eternal glory, Eph 2:13; Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12; Heb 10:21; Heb 10:22. 6. 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. Now, if Christ was not exempted from sufferings, why should Christians expect it? If he suffered, to expiate sins, why should not we be content when our sufferings are only for trial and correction, but not for expiation? If he, though perfectly just, why should not we, who are all criminals? If he once suffered, and then entered into glory, shall not we be patient under trouble, since it will be but a little time and we shall follow him to glory? If he suffered, to bring us to God, shall not we submit to difficulties, since they are of so much use to quicken us in our return to God, and in the performance of our duty to him?

      II. The apostle passes from the example of Christ to that of the old world, and sets before the Jews, to whom he wrote, the different event of those who believed and obeyed Christ preaching by Noah, from those that continued disobedient and unbelieving, intimating to the Jews that they were under a like sentence. God would not wait much longer upon them. They had now an offer of mercy; those that accepted of it should be saved, but those who rejected Christ and the gospel should be as certainly destroyed as ever the disobedient in the times of Noah were.

      1. For the explication of this we may notice, (1.) The preacher–Christ Jesus, who has interested himself in the affairs of the church and of the world ever since he was first promised to Adam, Gen. iii. 15. He went, not by a local motion, but by special operation, as God is frequently said to move, Gen 11:5; Hos 5:15; Mic 1:3. He went and preached, by his Spirit striving with them, and inspiring and enabling Enoch and Noah to plead with them, and preach righteousness to them, as 2 Pet. ii. 5. (2.) The hearers. Because they were dead and disembodied when the apostle speaks of them, therefore he properly calls them spirits now in prison; not that they were in prison when Christ preached to them, as the vulgar Latin translation and the popish expositors pretend. (3.) The sin of these people: They were disobedient, that is, rebellious, unpersuadable, and unbelieving, as the word signifies; this their sin is aggravated from the patience and long-suffering of God (which once waited upon them for 120 years together), while Noah was preparing the ark, and by that, as well as by his preaching, giving them fair warning of what was coming upon them. (4.) The event of all: Their bodies were drowned, and their spirits cast into hell, which is called a prison (Mat 5:25; 2Pe 2:4; 2Pe 2:5); but Noah and his family, who believed and were obedient, were saved in the ark.

      2. From the whole we learn that, (1.) God takes exact notice of all the means and advantages that people in all ages have had for the salvation of their souls; it is put to the account of the old world that Christ offered them his help, sent his Spirit, gave them fair warning by Noah, and waited a long time for their amendment. (2.) Though the patience of God wait long upon sinners, yet it will expire at last; it is beneath the majesty of the great God always to wait upon man in vain. (3.) The spirits of disobedient sinners, as soon as they are out of their bodies, are committed to the prison of hell, whence there is no redemption. (4.) The way of the most is neither the best, the wisest, nor the safest way to follow: better to follow the eight in the ark than the eight millions drowned by the flood and damned to hell.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Because Christ also died ( ). So the best MSS.; later ones (suffered). The example of Christ should stir us to patient endurance.

For sins ( ). “Concerning sins” (not his, but ours, 1:18). (around, concerning) with in the regular phrase for the sin offering (Lev 5:7; Lev 6:30), though does occur (Eze 43:25). So in the N.T. we find both (Heb 5:3) and (Heb 5:1).

Once (). Once for all (Heb 9:28), not once upon a time ().

The righteous for the unrighteous ( ). Literally, “just for unjust” (no articles). See 1Pe 2:19 for the sinlessness of Christ as the one perfect offering for sin. This is what gives Christ’s blood value. He has no sin himself. Some men today fail to perceive this point.

That he might bring us to God ( ). Purpose clause with , with second aorist active subjunctive of and the dative case . The MSS. vary between (us) and (you). The verb means to lead or bring to (Mt 18:24), to approach God (cf. in Eph 2:18), to present us to God on the basis of his atoning death for us, which has opened the way (Rom 3:25; Heb 10:19.)

Being put to death in the flesh ( ). First aorist passive participle of , old verb (from death), to put to death. is locative case of .

But quickened in the spirit ( ). First aorist passive participle of rare (Aristotle) verb (from making alive), to make alive. The participles are not antecedent to , but simultaneous with it. There is no such construction as the participle of subsequent action. The spirit of Christ did not die when his flesh did, but “was endued with new and greater powers of life” (Thayer). See 1Co 15:22 for the use of the verb for the resurrection of the body. But the use of the word (locative case) in contrast with starts Peter’s mind off in a long comparison by way of illustration that runs from verses 19-22. The following verses have caused more controversy than anything in the Epistle.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

The just for the unjust. But the Greek without the article is more graphic : just for unjust.

In the flesh. The Greek omits the article. Read in flesh, the material form assumed in his incarnation.

In the spirit. Also without the article, in spirit; not as A. V., by the Spirit, meaning the Holy Ghost, but referring to his spiritual, incorporeal life. The words connect themselves with the death – cry on the cross : “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Huther observes, “Flesh is that side of the man’s being by which he belongs to earth, is therefore a creature of earth, and accordingly perishable like everything earthy. Spirit, on the other hand, is that side of his being according to which he belongs to a supernal sphere of being, and is therefore not merely a creature of earth, and is destined to an immortal existence.”

Thus we must be careful and not understand spirit here of the Spirit of God, as distinguished from the flesh of Christ, but of the spiritual nature of Christ; “the higher spiritual nature which belonged to the integrity of his humanity” (Cook).

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins.”

He suffered not (Gk. peri) concerning his, but our sins. For these he died, 1Pe 2:21; 1Pe 4:1.

2) “The just for the unjust.” (dikaios huper adikon) the righteous one on behalf of the unrighteous ones, the whole world, Rom 5:6; Rom 5:8; Rom 5:10.

3) “That he might bring us to God.” (hina) “in order t ‘ he might (prosagage) lead us to or toward God — restore us to God’s favor. Rom 5:11.

4) “Being put to death in the flesh.” (Gk. men) on the one hand being (a state or condition of being) put to death in flesh.

5) “But quickened by the Spirit.” (de) on the other hand being (Gk. zoopoietheis) made alive in Spirit Rom 8:11. The necessary inference is that as Christ was glorified in suffering wrongfully, for or on behalf of others, so may His children glorify him thru suffering wrongfully for doing righteousness, Rom 8:17.

OH HOW MUCH WE OWE

When this passing world is done, When has sunk yon glorious sun, When we stand with Christ in Glory, Looking o’er life’s finished story: Then, Lord, shall I fully know, Not till then, how much I owe.

When I stand before the Throne, Dressed in beauty not my own, When I see Thee as Thou art, Love Thee with unsinning heart: Then, Lord, shall I fully know, Not till then, how much I owe.

–Robert Murray McCheyne

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

18 For Christ also It is another comfort, that if in our afflictions we are conscious of having done well, we suffer according to the example of Christ; and it hence follows that we are blessed. At the same time he proves, from the design of Christ’s death, that it is by no means consistent with our profession that we should suffer for our evil deeds. For he teaches us that Christ suffered in order to bring us to God. What does this mean, except that we have been thus consecrated to God by Christ’s death, that we may live and die to him?

There are, then, two parts in this sentence; the first is, that persecutions ought to be borne with resignation, because the Son of God shews the way to us; and the other is, that since we have been consecrated to God’s service by the death of Christ, it behoves us to suffer, not for our faults, but for righteousness’ sake.

Here, however, a question may be raised, Does not God chastise the faithful, whenever he suffers them to be afflicted? To this I answer, that it indeed often happens, that God punishes them according to what they deserve; and this is not denied by Peter; but he reminds us what a comfort it is to have our cause connected with God. And how God does not punish sins in them who endure persecution for the sake of righteousness, and in what sense they are said to be innocent, we shall see in the next chapter.

Being put to death in the flesh Now this is a great thing, that we are made conformable to the Son of God, when we suffer without cause; but there is added another consolation, that the death of Christ had a blessed issue; for though he suffered through the weakness of the flesh, he yet rose again through the power of the Spirit. Then the cross of Christ was not prejudicial, nor his death, since life obtained the victory. This was said (as Paul also reminds us in 2Co 4:10) that we may know that we are to bear in our body the dying of Christ, in order that his life may be manifested in us. Flesh here means the outward man; and Spirit means the divine power, by which Christ emerged from death a conqueror.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

2. The Example Of Christ 3:184:6

1Pe. 3:18-19 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison,

Expanded Translation

Because Christ also suffered (some MSS have died) for sins (or possibly, sinners) once for all, the righteous one in behalf of the unrighteous ones, in order that he might bring us into the good graces of God (by reconciling us to Him); having been put to death indeed in the realm of the flesh, but made alive in the realm of the spirit; in which form he (Christ) also went and preached (by means of such men as Noah) unto the spirits (presently) in prison,

_______________________

suffered for sins once

ONCEhapax, is an adverb usually meaning simply once (2Co. 11:25), but sometimes once for all: Heb. 6:4; Heb. 9:26. Thayer says the word here is used of what is so done as to be of perpetual validity and never need repetition.

the righteous for the unrighteous

Righteous is singular, referring to Christ, while unrighteous is plural, referring to the lost. The word for, huper, may be rendered in behalf of or for the sake of. On this whole phrase see also Rom. 5:6, 2Co. 5:21, Heb. 9:28. Christ so suffered when He died for you and me!

The reason for this statement is evidently to show us that we have a divine example and pattern for those who suffer for well doing. He was just, innocent and guiltless, yet He suffered.

that he might bring us to God

Prosago, meaning to lead or conduct to, bring. This word was sometimes used in a nautical sense of a ship or craft that was approaching land, particularly a harbor (Act. 27:27). How good it is when Christ, our Captain, pilots us out of the stormy seas of life and into Gods serene harbor, the Church.

The death of Christ on the cross was the means of reconciling sinners to God (Eph. 2:14-18). Peter opens up one of the deeper aspects of the death of Christ. The veil that hid the Holy of Holies was then rent in twain, and believers were invited and encouraged to draw near into the immediate presence of God.

The reference to His sufferings leads Peter (1Pe. 3:18-20) into a statement of the various ways in which Christ suffered, and of His ultimate triumph, By His example in His sufferings, and by His final victory, the Apostle would encourage those whom he addressed to bear with patience the sorrows to which their religion exposed them.

being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit

The article the is not in the Greek, either before flesh or before spirit. We observe the absence of any article or preposition in the original, and the exact balance and correspondence of these two clauses. The two datives, beginning with in must be taken in the same sense; it is impossible to regard one as the dative of the sphere, and the other as the dative of the instrument; both are evidently datives of the sphere to which a general predicate is to be limited, They limit the extent of the participles being put to death and made alive. Thus the literal translation is, being put to death in flesh, but quickened in spirit.
(Another point that shows the balance of these two phrases is the existence of men in the first phrase and de in the seconda common way of showing contrast in the original.)

To what does the term spirit refer in this verse? There are at least three possibilities: (1) The Holy Spirit, part of the Godhead; (2) That eternal part of man that God gave him upon birth, and which returns to Him upon death (Ecc. 12:7); and (3) That inner principle which stands in contrast with flesh. Hence, that which Jesus possessed in common with all men, and which was not affected by His death.

It is our opinion that the last is referred to in this passage in view of Peters purpose in writing these words. The Apostle is evidently trying to show that though Christ suffered death, this, far from terminating His existence or destroying His influence, only enabled Him to be brought to life in the realm or sphere of the spirit. When the Lord said, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit; when he bowed His head and gave up the spiritthat spirit passed into a new life.
This explanation seems to fit into the context more smoothly, as it is universally true. All of us will some day have this same experience. To those of us who are Christians and faithful, when we are made alive in the spirit we shall be living with our heavenly Father forever. Hence, regardless of the sufferings we may have to endure here, the end will be glorious.

in which also he went and preached

IN WHICHThe word here rendered in may also be translated by or throughthat is, the spirit previously referred toChrists. It would seem untenable that we should make spirit here refer to anything different than we did in 1Pe. 3:18. The preaching that Christ is spoken of as doing here, He had to do outside of the realm or sphere of His corporeal body. This preaching was done by Christ in His spirit before His incarnationbut (as we will see in 1Pe. 3:20) it was done through Noah. It was done to the antediluvians.

Notice the similarity of language in 1Pe. 1:11. The Old Testament prophets spoke by the Spirit of Christ.

In Gen. 6:3, God said, My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for that he also is flesh. How was Gods Spirit striving with those ancient peoples? What means did He use? 2Pe. 2:5 tells us Noah was a preacher (kerux) of righteousness during that period.

PREACHEDkerusso, means first to publish, proclaim as a herald (1Co. 9:27). Then, to announce openly and publicly, noise abroad, preach.

unto the spirits in prison

The term prison, as it is used in the New Testament, might refer to: (1) the act of guarding, or watching; (2) those who kept watch; hence, a guard or sentinel; (3) the place where persons are kept under guard, a prison. This is its most common usage in the New Testament. Compare Act. 5:19, 2Co. 6:5.

But how or in what way are the spirits of man in prison? There is a sense in which each persons spirit is imprisoned at death. It is then confined to Hadesthe abode of the dead.
The spirits were not in prison when Noah preached to them, but when Peter was penning these words. The Syriac version has sheol here instead of prison, with reference to the place of departed spirits. They are (Peter is saying) presently confined, and will be until the resurrection, on the last day, when they shall receive their condemnation. See also 2Pe. 2:4, Jud. 1:6.

How do we know when the preaching was done to these spirits? The next verse tells us plainly. It is the only place in the passage where the Apostle refers to the time element, It was done while the ark was a preparing.

How does this whole verse relate to the context? In the patience and forbearance of Christ and also of His mouthpiece, Noah, during this previous age of great sinfulness, we are encouraged to be patient in our attempt to do good to others though we also are offended, persecuted and abused.

On these two verses, and particularly the question Did Christ go to hell? be sure to read the Special Study of Brother Fields on the subject. You will find it in the final pages of The Glorious Church, his book on Ephesians. His work forms an excellent commentary on this passage as well as Eph. 4:9.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(18) For Christ also.This gives a reason for thinking it no such formidable thing to suffer when one is innocent. It has been tried before, and the precedent is encouraging. It is, says Archbishop Leighton, some known ease to the mind, in any distress, to look upon examples of the like or greater distress in present or former times . . . As the example and company of the saints in suffering is very considerable, so that of Christ is more than any other, yea, than all the rest together. If King Messiah (note that he does not call Him Jesus) could endure to be cut off (but not for Himself), was it for any one who clung to the promises to shrink from the like test?

Hath once suffered.Even if we retain the verb, it should be suffered, not hath suffered, it is all past now; but much the better reading is died, which leaves no doubt about the meaning of suffering in 1Pe. 3:17. And this He did once. In this significant word St. Peter strikes out the main argument of a great portion of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. 7:27; Heb. 9:27; Heb. 10:10). The thought that Christ suffered or died once conveys comfort to these Christians for several reasons: (1) because His death has, once for all, taken all terror from an innocent death; (2) because no Christian will have to die more than one death; (3) because one death, so soon over for ever, contains the further idea of happiness and peace beyond. The word to die in Greek is often used in a penal senseto be put to deathand is to be so taken here.

For sins.When the Apostle says Christ also, he raises a comparison between Christ and the Christian martyr. Now the parallel does not merely consist in the fact that both suffer or are put to death. Both are put to death but once. Both are put to death innocent: the martyr while well-doing, Christ acknowledged to be just. But this does not exhaust the likeness. The Messiah is said to be put to death for sins. Now this expression for sins (literally, in connection with sins) is that which is used to mean as a sin-offering. (See Rom. 8:3; Gal. 1:4; Heb. 10:6; Heb. 10:8; Heb. 10:18; Heb. 10:26; Heb. 13:11; 1Jn. 2:2; 1Jn. 4:10.) If, therefore, Christ also was put to death as a sin-offering, it is implied that, in a sense, the Christian martyr is also a sin-offering, and (though in an infinitely lower degree) dies, like Him, just for unjust. This is a fresh encouragement to St. Peters first readers to meet death bravely. In what sense they can be sacrifices for other mens sins we shall consider presently.

The just for the unjust.That preposition for contains a volume of theology. Though it is not so weak a word as the one which occurs in the phrase for sins, it does not express the notion of substitution. (Comp. Note on 1Pe. 2:21.) It is simply on behalf of. As a substitute for the unjust, we make bold to say that (according to Holy Scripture, and the primitive fathers, and the conscience of man) neither the martyrs nor Christ Himself could have made atonement; on behalf of other men, the martyrs could very easily be said to die. It is, perhaps, a pity that the definite article has been inserted in our version. Though, of course, our Lord is the only human being who can in strictness be called just, St. Peter means the word here to cover others besides Him; Christ also died, a just man on behalf of unjust men.

That he might bring us to God.Or, better, bring you; though it cannot be stated peremptorily in this case that such is the reading. (See Note on 1Pe. 1:12.) The substantive derived from this verb appears as access in Rom. 5:2; Eph. 2:18; Eph. 3:12. A most important doctrinal passage. St. Peter says not a word about the Atonement in its effect upon the mind of the Father towards man. Though there is, no doubt, some deep truth in the phrase which occurs in the second of the Thirty-nine Articlessuffered . . . to reconcile His Father to usit is a side on which the New Testament writers do not much dwell. It is too high a mystery for our minds to reach. The phrase is itself not Scriptural. The New Testament, as has been well pointed out, never even speaks of the reconciliation as mutual. The quarrel is treated as one-sided, so far, at least, as in connection with the Atonement. When, then, our Lord was put to death as a sacrifice for sinsa righteous man on behalf of unrighteous menSt. Peter explains these terms by the expression in order that He might bring you to God, not in order that He might bring God to you. The voluntary death of a righteous man upon the cross, in the calm calculation that nothing else would so attract sinful men to Himself, and thus to the Father who sent Him (Joh. 12:32this is the aspect of the Atonement which St. Peter sets forth. Perhaps on another occasion he might have set forth a different aspect; but now he is still thinking of the effect of Christian conduct upon the outer world, and his object is to make the Christians feel that they too can, in their measure, bring the unjust, the persecuting heathens and Jews, to God by innocent and voluntary deaths. Thus their deaths are carrying on the work of reconciliation; and what Christ did for them (died for you) they do for others. Well then may they be called blessed when they suffer (1Pe. 3:14).

Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.The interpreters of this sentence may be classified in two groups, according as they understand the fact referred to in the second clause to be (1) the resurrection of Christ, or (2) something which took place between His death and His resurrection. Now, if we could accept the translation in the English Bible, by the Spirit, it would be pretty obvious to accept (1); and we should point to such passages as Rom. 1:4; Rom. 8:11, to show that the resurrection of Christ was due to the action of the Holy Ghost. It would not be possible to follow Oecumenius, Calvin, Beza, and Leighton, in taking the flesh to mean generally the human nature of Christ, and the Spirit by which He was quickened to mean His own divine nature; for Christ has a human spirit as truly as a human body and soul, and it would be heresy to call His divine nature His spirit, as though it occupied in Him the position which is occupied in men by the human spirit. But, as a matter of fact, we cannot translate it quickened by the Spirit. It is literally, killed indeed in flesh, but quickened in spirit. Now, how can quickened in spirit be a description of the Resurrection? It cannot be answered (with Huther) that the spirit here means the resurrection body; for though that is indeed a spiritual body, yet it is playing fast and loose with words to identify spirit and spiritual body. If the resurrection body be only spirit, where is the resurrection? Neither would the antithesis be correct between flesh and spirit, if by spirit is meant the new form of body given at the Resurrection. Or, again, taking spirit in its true sense of the inward incorporeal self, could the Resurrection be described as a quickening of it? True, the spirit itself will gain in some way by its re-incorporation (2Co. 5:4); but as the spirit has been alive all along, but the flesh has been dead, the contrast would be very forced to express death and resurrection by killed in flesh, but quickened in spirit, instead of saying rather killed in flesh, but soon quickened in the same. Thus we are driven to (2). As a matter of fact, there is nothing in the words to suggest an interval between the quickening and the killing. They both are parts of the same act, and both are used to explain the word died. It is a kind of apology for having used the word death at all (for we have seen that St. Peters object is to help the future martyrs to despise death, 1Pe. 3:14): Died, do I say? yes, killed in flesh, it is true, but actually quickened to fresh energies in spirit by that very act of death. (Comp. our Lords charge to the Twelve, Mat. 10:28.) But how can His death be said to have been a quickening of His human spirit? Some take the word to mean simply preserved alive, a word almost identical, being used apparently in that sense in Luk. 17:33, Act. 7:19. The notion, however, would be too weak here; some energetic action seems required to balance being killed. That St. Peter is speaking of something not altogether peculiar to Christ, but common to men, may still be inferred from his saying Christ also. The doctrine, then, seems to be (as Bengel and others say) that the spirit, set free from the body, immediately receives new life, as it were, thereby. To purely spiritual realities it becomes alive in a manner which was impossible while it was united to the flesh. The new powers are exemplified in what follows immediately. So long as Christ, so long as any man, is alive in the flesh, he cannot hold converse with spirits as such; but the moment death severs flesh and spirit the spirit can deal with other spirits, which Christ proceeded forth with to do.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

18. Christ also As well as yourselves.

Once Once for all; perhaps also intimating that their suffering might be in like manner, once, or at least that soon they would look back upon it in that light.

Suffered On the cross, freely, voluntarily, doing the will of God, and for no fault of his own.

For sins On account of, or in relation to, sins, that is, in expiation of them. The preposition , for, radically signifies around, in the relation of circumference to centre, the action being from above. (See Curtius, 466, 5.) It represents Christ throwing himself down upon and around sins in such a manner that the falling curse of the broken law would surely strike him. In the Septuagint, is used more than sixty times to represent sin-offerings. Its use here shows that Christ made atonement for sins, by suffering in the stead of those for whom he offered himself a sacrifice.

The just Rather, A just person for unjust persons; one righteous man for a world of the unrighteous. The terms just and unjust express a relation to law, and are exact opposites. Christ, the innocent and guiltless, died as a condemned criminal in the stead of the wicked and guilty. The preposition , here rendered for, is used to represent a bending over one to protect, defend, and avert injury. (Winer, 47, 5, 50.) Christ did this by letting the injury fall upon himself, interposing between the stroke of justice and the sinner, and receiving in his own person, in the stead of the guilty, a suffering on account of sin. This, surely, was most blessed suffering in well doing; and his followers may well take courage to suffer patiently in his cause. But a still more glorious view is presented, showing the intent of this suffering.

That he might bring us to God Does this mean that he might bring us, after the final judgment, together with himself into heaven? Or, that he might bring us into a state of reconciliation and communion with God in this world? Dean Alford, quoting Bengel, adopts the former view, as though it were the only possible one; and it evidently accords with his interpretation of what follows. It is true that Christ will bring all saved souls to heaven; but it does not seem to be taught here. We prefer the second view, as bringing the death of Christ into close connexion with its results, as in 1Pe 1:3; 1Pe 1:21; 1Pe 2:24; Col 1:21, and elsewhere. It also precisely accords with the use of the noun , access, in Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12; and, further, sustains the parallel in 1Pe 2:21. Indeed, it is what our Lord said, (Joh 12:32,) that if he were lifted up he would draw all unto himself.

Being put to death Aorist: Having been put to death. The participles and are connected with bring us to God, as explanatory of the means whereby we, unjust, alienated, and afar off, are brought into peace with him. Besides the antithesis between them, there is another between and . The clause literally reads, put to death indeed in flesh, but quickened in, or by, spirit. As to put to death, there is no difficulty.

Flesh If this word means Christ’s body, then spirit must mean his human spirit, which, as we shall see, the word quickened will not allow; yet the assumption that as only the body died, must perforce signify body, has led to the wildest vagaries in both interpretation and theology. The word is a common one to designate our Lord’s entire humanity, embracing both body and soul. “The Word was made flesh.” Joh 1:14. “Of his loins according to the flesh.” Act 2:30. “Of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Rom 1:3. “In the likeness of sinful flesh.”

Rom 8:3. “God was manifest in the flesh.” 1Ti 3:16. “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” 2Jn 1:7. Compare Joh 17:2; Act 2:17; Rom 3:20; Eph 2:15; 1Pe 1:24 ; 1Jn 4:2, for a similar use of the word. Christ was put to death as a man. Death dealt with him as with any other man, separating, in the usual way, the soul from the body, and subjecting him to all the conditions of dying. No reason appears, therefore, for a specific statement that he died in his body, leaving as true in his special case the universal fact that the spirit did not die. The meaning, then, is, he was put to death in his human nature.

Quickened The word so translated is used in eleven other places in the New Testament. In seven, Joh 5:21, (twice;) Rom 4:17; Rom 8:11 ; 1Co 15:22; 1Co 15:36; 1Co 15:45, it refers to the resurrection of the dead; in three, Joh 6:63 ; 2Co 3:6; Gal 3:21, to giving spiritual life; and once, 1Ti 6:13, to God as the life-giver. In every case it means to make alive, to give life where it before had ceased to be, or had not been, which, indeed, is the exact signification of the word. Those expositors who understand by the human spirit, are compelled here to invent new definitions for this word. Some, like Steiger and Bloomfield, understand preserved alive, which the word never means; and which would only make St. Peter record a fact common to all who die, as a singular phenomenon in the case of Christ. Wordsworth says, “His human spirit, being liberated by death from the burden of the flesh, acquired new life by death; it gained new powers of motion,” etc. This is undoubtedly true, and no less universally true of all souls on their escape from the body; but the word never means an increase of life where life already exists. Alford correctly insists that the word means “brought to life;” but he explains, Christ “ceased to live a fleshly mortal life, began to live a spiritual resurrection life,” which, true enough as to the first half, has no foundation in fact for the second half until the morning of the third day. The plain and necessary meaning of quickened is, that something pertaining to our Lord, which had once lived, was restored to life, or that something that had never lived was brought into being and connected with him. Of the latter we have no intimation, and the former was realized in his resurrection from the dead. Any other meaning destroys the antithesis.

The Spirit This refers (1) to our Lord’s human spirit, (2) to the Holy Spirit, or (3) to his divine nature. As to the first, the human spirit of Christ had not died; it, therefore, was, not made alive. Doubtless on its emancipation from the body by death it became more free and untrammelled; but neither this nor any supposed change in the mode or sphere of its existence fulfils the condition required in made alive. It follows that spirit is not the object of the participle quickened. Nor had Christ’s human spirit any power to raise him from the dead, which, as we have seen, quickened signifies. (2.)

It would not be dogmatically erroneous to understand the word of the Holy Spirit, although no express passage ascribes the resurrection of Christ to him. For, though God raised him from the dead, it is a well-known truth that God’s works are wrought by the Holy Ghost; and we are taught that Christ “cast out devils by the Spirit of God,” (Mat 12:28😉 gave “commandments unto the apostles through the Holy Ghost,” (Act 1:2😉 and by his Spirit inspired the prophets, chap. 1Pe 1:11. But, (3.) we prefer to understand Christ’s divine nature, partly because it fills out the contrast, and partly because whatever is done by the Holy Spirit is in reality his work. Thus he will raise believers at the last day, (Joh 6:40; Joh 6:44; Joh 6:54😉 but St. Paul teaches that it will be done by the indwelling Holy Spirit in them. Rom 8:11. This rounds out the double antithesis: put to death indeed as to his human nature, but made alive by his divine nature. It is urged, (as in Lange,) as a grammatical objection to this view, that the two datives are evidently parallel, and must have the same sense. The reply is, that this is a begging of the whole question that compels quickened to take a meaning which it never has; and that the true rule is, that the force of the datives is fixed by the meaning of the two participles. The resurrection is referred to again in 1Pe 3:21, but in another connexion and for another purpose, namely, to show how baptism saves; and, besides, it is too remote for the present inquiry as to how the suffering of Christ brings us to God. Our Lord was put to death, and thus made atonement, but his dying simply expiated sin. As God-man he was dead; and, though his human soul still lived in union with his divine nature, while held in the bonds of death he was powerless to apply the benefits of his dying. By his resurrection he became “Lord both of the dead and living,” (Rom 14:9,) and won that power. An exact parallel is, “Was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Rom 4:25. Thus St. Peter and St. Paul agree.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,’

Once again we learn that when the Christian faces suffering he must bear in mind that Christ also suffered for sins. Suffering for righteousness’ sake is nothing new. It has been a part of following Christ from the beginning (see Mat 16:24; Joh 15:20; Joh 16:2; Act 14:22; compare Hebrews 11). The fact that Peter says that He suffered for sins ‘once’, brings out that this suffering refers specifically to the cross. The Messiah suffered once as ‘the Righteous One’ (Act 3:14; Act 22:14; Heb 9:26; Heb 9:28) on behalf of the unrighteous (the Obedient One on behalf of the disobedient), and He did so in order that He might be our Mediator (1Ti 2:5; Heb 8:6; Heb 9:15; Heb 12:24) and bring us to God, by shedding the blood of the covenant for the remission of sins (Mat 26:28). Compare the picture in Heb 9:11-12; Heb 9:14; Heb 10:19-20 which also speaks of His suffering, and the way back to God that results from it.

‘On behalf of’ (huper) indicates that He died in our place both as our substitute (Mar 10:45) and as the representative of all Who are His elect. It is to be noted here that our approach to God is made possible through His suffering, not through His resurrection, for without that suffering in which He bore our sin we would not be able to approach God. But His resurrection is then the evidence that He has accomplished His purpose and defeated the powers of darkness. It is the source of our confidence and of the life that we receive as a result.

The cross and the resurrection regularly go together, and we have here the emphasis that Christ Himself was ‘put to death in the flesh’, so that His life on earth was over. But then we also have the emphasis that He was ‘made alive in the spirit’. This was the indication that death had been defeated. The new life that He would give to all who became His was just beginning. His suffering was the action of men as they thought that they had done with Him (although within the purposes of God), His resurrection was the action of God. It does not say that He ‘became alive in the spirit’ but that He ‘was made alive in the spirit’. Thus after men had put Jesus to death, God ‘made Him alive in the spirit’. In other words although His body was dead, God gave Him a new spiritual body through which His spirit could live (1Co 15:44-45). This can only refer to the resurrection. (The same is also true if we translate ‘was made alive by the Spirit’. In fact it makes little difference for spiritual life is always finally the result of the Spirit’s working).

The verb ‘made alive’ is elsewhere used similarly in order to indicate resurrection. See for example 1Co 15:22; Joh 5:22. Compare also Rom 1:4. And in the context here the term ‘spirit’ signifies ‘supernatural’ life. Consider for example the parallel of the ‘spirits in prison’. Their supernatural existence is seen as in contrast with the supernatural spiritual life that He has received. See also 1Co 15:45, where He is made a ‘lifegiving spirit’; Heb 12:23, where we learn of ‘the spirits of righteous men made perfect’ who are in the after-life; Rom 1:4 where Jesus is ‘declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead’; Joh 6:63, where ‘it is the spirit that makes alive, the flesh is of no profit, the words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life’. Thus there is no reason for doubting that we have here a description of Christ’s resurrection (1Pe 1:3; 1Pe 1:21; 1Pe 2:4) following His death (1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 1:19; 1Pe 2:24). It would be totally unlike Peter not to mention the resurrection here (compare 1Pe 1:3; 1Pe 1:21 ; 1Pe 2:4; 1Pe 3:21), especially as he then goes on to describe the enthronement.

‘In the spirit.’ The idea is that He arose with a spiritual body in renewed spiritual life (1Co 15:44). This is not contradicted by Luk 24:39. There Jesus was not denying that He was ‘spirit’ (we know that in fact He is spirit – Joh 4:24), He was denying that he was a ‘ghost’. Thus we must not see Him there as denying that He had risen as a ‘supernatural’ spirit in a spiritual body, but simply as denying that He was a mere phantasm.

Alternately we may see ‘in the spirit’ as meaning ‘by the Spirit’, with the life of the Spirit contrasted with human life. Some would object that the parallel of ‘flesh’ with ‘spirit’ excludes this idea, but a similar parallel between flesh and the Holy Spirit can be found in Gal 5:16 ff. and would make good sense here. On the other hand there it is the pull of ‘sinful flesh’ that is contrasted with the work of the Spirit, whereas here there would appear to be the deliberate intention of contrasting the death of His sinless human flesh with the making alive of His spirit as in 1Co 15:44-46, where it also refers to the resurrection. However, whichever way we view it, to be made alive by God is certainly to be made alive by the Spirit.

In the end it would be unwise of us to speculate too much on something which we cannot possibly fully understand, but it is difficult to see ‘made alive in the spirit’ as referring to some kind of experience that happened before the resurrection. Peter is hardly likely to be suggesting that not only had Jesus’ body died, but His spirit had also died in such a way as to need to be made alive again even prior to the resurrection. He would be well aware that Jesus had commended His spirit to God (Luk 23:46) and that when the body died the spirit did not die but returned to the God Who gave it (Ecc 12:7). His point here is rather therefore to emphasise the activity of God in the unique work of ‘making alive the spirit in a spiritual body’ through the resurrection following physical death (compare Isa 26:19; Dan 12:2-3; Joh 5:28-29).

We can in fact compare for this whole process the credal hymn cited by Paul in 1Ti 3:16. ‘He Who was manifested in the flesh (He was put to death in the flesh), vindicated in the spirit (He was made alive in the spirit), seen of angels (He proclaimed His victory to angels, here seen in terms of the spirits in prison), preached among the nations (just as when, while the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, Noah as the preacher of righteousness preached to the nations), believed on in the world (the response of a good conscience towards God), received up in glory (Who is on the right hand of God, having gone into Heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him)’. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Peter may be patterning his arguments on a similar credal hymn, while applying them in such a way as to get over his point.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Grounds Of Their Confidence In The Face Of The Powers That Are Against Them ( 1Pe 3:18-21 ).

If we are to understand the significance of the verses that follow it is important that we recognise their context. It is a context of contrast. On the one hand are the people of God, who follow Christ, and worship God alone, on the other are the people who are attached to idolatry and the occult, and are opposed to the people of God. (Compare, ‘you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God’ – 1Th 1:9, and note Peter’s emphasis in 1Pe 4:3) Thus the context is of those who follow Christ, as compared with those who follow false gods, whether gods of idolatry or of materialism. We must remember that the vast proportion of people in the world in those days were in fact totally involved with idolatry and the occult. It affected every part of their lives. They walked in fear of the quite arbitrary wrath of the gods. But at the same time they were strongly attached to them, especially the ones that they felt were favourable. That is why they fought so fiercely for them (compare Act 19:27-28).

Today in the Western world the gods may be singers, musicians or sports stars, but the worship is still as intense. In view of this Christians were to make sure that if they themselves were attacked, any attack on them was not because of their sinful manner of life or their bad behaviour, but because they were walking in obedience to Christ and manifesting His righteousness in opposition to these powers of darkness (Luk 22:53; Col 1:13). They were to be able to say, ‘the prince of this world has come, and has nothing in me’ (Joh 14:30) And they were to remember that God’s method of defeating these evil powers and ideas would often be through suffering, a suffering which would strengthen their own faith and bring men to face up to and know the truth (1Pe 1:7).

With this in mind Peter now summarises the triumph of good over evil, and of Jesus Christ over the powers of darkness. He has in mind the fact that Christians have been transferred from under the tyranny of darkness, into the kingdom of His Beloved Son (Col 1:13), and that it was through the victory at the cross (Col 1:14) that this occurred. For this was what the cross was all about, to bring men and women into obedience to God so that they might be delivered from being children of disobedience.

We have already seen that that was because He ‘redeemed us with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless and unblemished lamb’ in accordance with God’s eternal purpose (1Pe 1:18-20) bringing us to ‘obedience to the truth’ (1Pe 1:22), and because He ‘bore our sins’ so that ‘by His stripes we are healed’ (1Pe 2:24) in order that we might ‘live unto righteousness’, with the result that we can be purified by being sprinkled with His blood (1Pe 1:2). Now we learn that as a consequence of His suffering in our place, and His subsequent resurrection and resultant triumph, we can enjoy full deliverance from all the powers of evil and sin. And this is because God has under control all who stand against Him, as can be evidenced from the past by what He did to the angels who sinned.

Seeing it in the light of Daniel 7, the Son of Man has come out of suffering and has received the kingship, and the glory and the dominion, and through our suffering for righteousness’ sake as a result of our involvement in His service, and our obedience to His word, we also will share it with Him (Daniel 7).

One further point needs to be borne in mind as we look at these verses. In any difficult passage open to a number of interpretations as this one is, the best way to decide on which one is correct, all other things being equal, is by closely observing the grammar. We will now therefore consider one or two points of grammar that may aid us in discovering what Peter was trying to say.

1) The ‘in which’ in 1Pe 3:19 is a construction that nowhere else in the New Testament refers to a preceding adverbial dative. If this principle is followed ‘in which’ cannot refer directly to ‘in the spirit.’

2) ‘He went’ in 1Pe 3:19 is the same verb as in 1Pe 3:22. All other things being equal this would suggest that the two must be interpreted in the same way as a literal journey of Christ (as 1Pe 3:22 clearly is) occurring around the same time, e.g. ‘He went to the spirits in prison’ and ‘He went into Heaven’.

3) The ‘through water’ in 1Pe 3:20 finds its best parallel in ‘through the resurrection of Jesus Christ’ in 1Pe 3:22.

4) The verb ekeruxen can mean either ‘preached’ or ‘made proclamation’. Both usages are found both in the New Testament and elsewhere. See for example Rev 5:2; Mar 1:45; Mar 7:36; Luk 8:39.

5) The term ‘spirits’, when used on its own without qualification, always elsewhere refers to ‘spiritual beings’ (e.g. Heb 1:7; Heb 1:14; 1Ki 22:21-23; Job 4:15; Isa 31:3 with 2Ki 6:17; Eze 1:12; Eze 1:20-21; Eze 10:17; Zec 13:2 where a false spirit of prophesy is in mind). We may add to this the fact that the idea of spiritual beings in prison or the equivalent is found in Isa 24:21-22 ; 2Pe 2:4; Jud 1:6; Rev 9:1-11, as well as in external Jewish literature.

Bearing this in mind we will now consider the passage.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Pe 3:18. Being put to death in the flesh, &c. By the flesh, in which our Lord was put to death, must be understood his body, which was nailed to the cross till he expired; and by the Spirit, the holy and ever-blessed Spirit of God. See the Inferences.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Pe 3:18 . First, mention of the death of Christ by way of giving the reason.

[ ]] is connected with the idea immediately preceding, and gives the ground of the ; (as in chap. 1Pe 2:21 ) places the sufferings which the Christians have to bear, as , side by side with the sufferings of Christ, , so that must be taken as referring not to [ ] only (as is done by most commentators, among them de Wette), but, as the position of the words ( . before ) clearly shows, to [ ] (Wiesinger, Brckner, Schott). Hofmann’s application of it to the whole “statement here with respect to Christ” is open to objection, from the fact that in what follows there are elements introduced which go too far beyond the comparison here instituted. Christ’s sufferings were on account of sin, and such also should be the sufferings of the Christians. [193] This does not preclude the possibility of His sufferings having had a significance different from what theirs can have. This peculiar significance of Christ’s sufferings is marked by , or, as Schott holds, by . gives prominence to the fact that in relation to His subsequent life ( ) Christ’s suffering took place but once, as in Heb 9:27-28 (Hofmann: “once it took place that He died the death He did die, and what followed thereon forms, as what is enduring, a contrast to what passed over but once”); doubtless not without implying the secondary idea, that the sufferings of Christians take place only once also, and come to an end with this life. [194]

, which states yet more indefinitely the purpose of Christ’s sufferings: “ on account of sin ,” finds a more precise definition in what follows.

, “as the just for the unjust;” comp. Rom 5:6 : , equivalent to, in commodum, is not in itself, indeed, equal to ; but the contrast here drawn between and suggests that in the general relation, the more special one of substitution is implied (Weiss, p. 261); comp. chap. 1Pe 2:21 . The omission of the article is due to the fact that the apostle holds it of importance to mark the character of the one as of the other.

] gives the purpose of [ ], which latter is more closely defined by that which immediately precedes and follows; does not mean “to sacrifice;” (Luther, Vulg.: ut nos offerret Deo), neither “to reconcile;” but “ to bring to ,” i.e. “ to bring into communion with God ,” which goes still beyond the idea of reconciliation; the latter presupposes Christ’s death for us; the former, the life of Him who died for us. Weiss maintains, without sufficient reason (p. 260), that the word here points to the idea of the Christians’ priesthood (chap. 1Pe 2:5 ). The verb occurs here only; the substantive , Rom 5:2 ; Eph 2:18 ; Eph 3:12 . [195]

, ] This adjunct does not belong to (de Wette), but to (Wiesinger); it is subjoined, in order to show prominently how the can take place through Christ; the chief stress is laid on the second member. According to Schott, both participles are to be considered as “an exposition of ;” this assumption is contradicted, on the one hand, by the distance between them and the latter word; and, on the other, that they must necessarily be attached to a verb.

The antithesis between the two members of this sentence is strongly marked by . The datives , , state with reference to what the verbal conceptions , holds good; “they serve to mark the sphere to which the general predicate is to be thought of as restricted” (Winer); comp. 1Co 7:34 : ; Col 2:5 : , . Schott explains somewhat ambiguously the datives “as general more precise adverbial definitions,” which state “what is of determinative importance in both facts,” and “the nature of the actual condition produced by them.”

is by some understood instrumentally; incorrectly, for cannot be taken thus; the two members of the clause correspond so exactly in form, that the dative in the one could not be explained differently from the dative in the other, as Wiesinger, Weiss, von Zezschwitz, Brckner, Schott, and Fronmller justly acknowledge.

; this antithesis occurs frequently in the N. T.; with reference to the person of Christ, besides in this passage, in Rom 1:3 : , and 1Ti 3:16 : (cf. also chap. 1Pe 4:6 ).

The antithesis of the two conceptions proves it to be erroneous to assign to the one term a sphere different from that of the other, and to suppose to mean the body of Christ , and the Spirit of God . Antithesis clare ostendit quod dicatur in alia quidem sui parte aut vitae ratione mortificatus, in alia autem vivificatus (Flacius). It must be observed that both are here used as general conceptions (Hofmann), without a pronoun to mark them as designations applicable only to Christ; for which reason cannot relate exclusively to the human, and to the divine nature of Christ. [196] As general conceptions (that is, as applicable not to Christ alone, but to human nature generally), and must, however, not be identified with and . [197] For ; is that side of human nature in virtue of which man belongs to the earth, is therefore an earthly creature, and accordingly perishable like everything earthly; and , on the other hand, is that side of his nature by which he belongs to a supernatural sphere of existence, is not a mere creature of earth, and is accordingly destined also to an imperishable existence. [198]

Wiesinger (with whom Zezschwitz agrees) deviates from this interpretation thus far only, that he understands , not as belonging to the nature of man, “but as that principle of union with God which is bestowed upon man at regeneration.” This deviation may arise from the reluctance to attribute a to man as such (also in his sinful condition); as, however, according to Peter, the souls of the departed are (1Pe 3:19 ), it is thus presupposed that an unregenerate man also possesses a during his earthly existence. It must also be observed that and are here not ethical antitheses, but are contrasted with each other as natural distinctions.

] incorrectly interpreted by Wahl here, as in other passages of the N. T., by capitis damno, morti addico; for although it may sometimes occur in this sense in the classics, still in the N. T. it means only to kill . By , then, the apostle says of Christ, that He was put to death in His earthly human nature (which He along with all the rest of mankind possessed [199] ), i.e. at the hand of man by the crucifixion.

does not mean “to preserve alive,” as several commentators explain, e.g. Bellarmin ( de Christo , lib. iv. cap. 13), Hottinger, Steiger, and Gder; this idea, in the Old as in the New Testament, being expressed by and other words (see Zezschwitz on this passage); but “ to make alive ” (de Wette, Wiesinger, Weiss, Zezschwitz, Schott, Khler, [200] Hofmann, and others); it often applies to the raising up of the dead; cf. Joh 5:21 ; Rom 4:17 ; 1Co 15:22 , etc. In this sense alone does answer the preceding . Bengel: vivificatio ex antitheto ad mortificationem resolvi debet. The latter idea assumes the anterior condition to have been one of death, whilst the former in contradiction to . would presuppose one of life. Christ then, according to the apostle, entered into the actual state of death, that is, in so far as the pertained to Him, so that His life in the flesh came to an end; [201] but from death He was brought back again to life, that is, was raised up, as far as the pertained to Him, so that the new life was purely pneumatical. But the new life began by His reuniting Himself as to His , so that thus this itself became pneumatical. [202]

According to Bengel, with whom Schmid ( bibl. Theol .), Lechler, and Fronmller agree (comp. also Hahn, neutest. Theol . I. 440), does not refer to the resurrection of Christ, but to His deliverance from the weakness of the flesh, effected by His death, and, based upon this, his transition to a higher life (which was followed by the resurrection). [203] Against this, however, is to be observed: (1) That the going of His to the Father, connected with His death (Luk 23:46 ), is, as little as His ascension, spoken of in Scripture as “a becoming quickened;” (2) That as in the whole man Christ is meant, the same must be the case in ; and (3) That this view is based on what follows, which, however, if rightly interpreted, by no means renders it necessary. Buddeus is therefore entirely right when he says: vivificatio animae corporisque conjunctionem denotat. [204]

[193] The subsequent proves that the sins for which Christ suffered were not His own sins; thus also the believer’s sufferings should not arise out of his own sins, he should not suffer as a , but as an . Rejecting this application, Hofmann finds the point of comparison in this, “that we should let the sins which those who do us wrong commit. be to us the cause of sufferings to us” (?).

[194] Oecumenius finds in an allusion to: , or to the brevity also of the sufferings. Gerhard unites all three elements by saying: ut ostendat (Ap.) passionis Christi brevitatem et perfeetionem sacrifieii et ut doceat Christum non amplius passioni fore obnoxium. According to Pott, it is also meant to express the contrast to the frequent repetition of the O. T. sacrifices, an application entirely foreign to the context. According to Schott, indicates that Christ suffered once for all, so that any further suffering of the same kind is neither necessary nor possible. This is no doubt correct, but it does not follow that Peter whose words combine the typical and specifically peculiar significance of the sufferings of Christ should not have had in his mind the application of to believers, as above stated. It is with as with ; it is impossible for believers to suffer in the same sense that Christ suffered .

[195] It is certainly very doubtful whether the purpose also of the death of Christ, here stated, “admits of application to us,” in that “it should likewise be our object, by the manner in which we endure undeserved sufferings, to bring those by whom we are wronged to bethink themselves, and to lead them to a knowledge of Christ” (Hofmann).

[196] Accordingly, interpretations like those of Calvin are incorrect: caro hic pro externo homine capitur, spiritus pro divina potentia, qua Christus victor a morte emersit; Beza: , i.e. per divinitatem in ipso corporaliter habitantem, equal to , 2Co 13:4 ; Oecumenius: , , . It is equally incorrect, with Weiss (p. 252), to understand as meaning “the human nature of Christ” (instead of which he no doubt also says: “the earthly human nature of Christ”), and as meaning “the pre-existent divine communicated at baptism to the man Jesus”(which, as “Weiss maintains, constitutes, according to Peter, the divine nature of Christ). Weiss, for the sole purpose of representing the apostle’s doctrinal conception as still in a very undeveloped state, imputes to Peter a view of the person of Christ which as he himself says is possessed of “a duality which somewhat endangers the unity of His person.” Nor has Wichelhaus hit the true explanation when he says: “Peter here considers Christ as, on the one hand, a true man in body and soul liable to all suffering ; and, on the other hand, in so far as He was anointed by the Holy Ghost.”

[197] and are proved to be two distinct conceptions by the fact that after the resurrection man will have a , but no . The difference between and is clear from passages such as Mat 6:25 . If in other passages be used as synonymous with (comp. e.g. Joh 12:27 with Joh 13:21 ), this is explained by the two-sidedness of the human soul.

[198] To Weiss’s remark, that Peter terms that side of human nature by which man is rendered capable of religious life , it must be replied that the possesses such capacity for this very reason, that even under the power of the it has never ceased to be spiritual. In place of , would not be at all appropriate here, in the first place, because forms no antithesis to , and then because the idea of what is celestial, peculiar to , would not find expression in it.

[199] Schott is wrong in maintaining that the antithesis to what is here said should be, “that Christ was quickened according to His glorified human nature;” the antithesis to “ earthly ,” however, is not “ glorified ,” but “ celestial .”

[200] “Zur Lehre Ton Christi Hllenfahrt,” in the Zeitschrift fr luth. Theol. u. Kirche , by Delitzsch and Guericke, 1864, H. 4.

[201] Schott substantially agrees with this interpretation, but thinks that the above expression does not say decidedly enough that “this was an entire cessation of His life.” However, this “ entire ” is saying too much, since evidently points to a limitation.

[202] Hofmann says, not quite accurately ( Schriftbeweis , II. 1, p. 473): “the antithesis . . . . denotes the end of life in the flesh, and the commencement of life in the spirit.” For spiritual life was in Christ during His life in the flesh, and after it, before His resurrection. At His death He committed His to His Father; it was therefore in Him before, and continued to lire after His death. Hofmann remarks correctly, however: “As it was the Christ living in the flesh who, by being put to death, ceased to be any longer in that bodily life in which from His birth He had existed, so His quickening of that which was dead is a restoration of a spiritual nature to a bodily life.”

[203] Bengel: Simul atque per mortificationem involucro infrmitatis in carne solutus erat, statim vitae solvi nesciae virtus modis novis et multis expeditissimis sese exserere coepit. Hanc vivificationem necessario celeriter subsecuta est excitatio corporis ex morte et resurrectio e sepulcro. Schmid: “The is a principle which He possessed in a special manner, this, in consequence of death, is set free from the trammels of sensuous bodily nature, it now enters upon its full rights, and developes in its fulness that which was in Him.”

[204] Schott explains, indeed, rightly in itself, but he objects to the identification of with , and thinks that the former is the fundamental condition of the latter, which is the “side of the resurrection concealed and as yet hidden in the depths”(?). But where does the apostle make any allusion to any such distinction between two sides in the resurrection of Christ?

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

1Pe 3:18-22

Analysis:Further exhortation to readiness of suffering in consideration of a deeper motive. Only thus do we attain to resembling Christ, who suffered for our sins, whose sufferings had every where, even in the world of the dead, salutary effects, and led to the most blessed issue

18For49 Christ also hath once suffered for sins,50 the just for the unjust,51 that he might 19bring us to God, being put to death52 in the flesh, but quickened53 by the Spirit:54 By55 20which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime56 were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,57 wherein few,58 that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21The like figure59 whereunto even baptism doth also now save us,60 (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,61 but the answer62 of a good conscience toward God,) by63 the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God;64 angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.65

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1Pe 3:18. Because Christ also suffered.If, according to our ideas, any one ought to have been spared the cup of suffering, it was Christ; but He also suffered on account of sins and for their atonement.

Once, cf. Rom 6:10; Heb 7:27; Heb 9:7.It requires not to be repeated and as compared with eternity, it is a short suffering, being compressed into the space of several years and days. It probably relates to the exhortation which follows that we also should once for all die unto sin, 1Pe 4:1. (Lachmann reads: .). , on account of sins, cf. 1Pe 2:24; Rom 8:3. Sins were the originating cause of His sufferings and their blotting out His aim.

A just person for (in the stead of) unjust persons. . Although per se may be rendered for the benefit of, yet both the circumstance that the context opposes one innocent person to many guilty persons and the word clearly express the idea of vicarious suffering; for relates to Christs office of High-priest. Defilement by sin under the Old Testament barred all approach to God; the Priest had the privilege to draw near to God and to mediate the peoples approach to Him. This is rendered in the LXX. by . Vide Weiss, cf. 1Pe 2:4.The word confirms this view, cf. Heb 9:27-28.The repeated reference to the sufferings of Christ shows in the opinion of Gerhard, that the Apostle cannot weary to make mention of His sufferings, hence he calls himself 1Pe 5:1, a witness of the sufferings of Christ.

Put to death indeed in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. is best joined to . The restoration of men to the lost communion with God is conditioned by the sacrificial death of Christ, by His resurrection and royal power. not = , cf. Joh 5:21; Rom 8:11; 1Co 15:22., ; the two Datives denote the sphere to which the predicate must be supposed to be limited, cf. Winer, 41, 3. a. The Datives are evidently parallel and must be taken in the same sense. The sense of the first is clear: He was put to death as to His outward, sensuous nature. If this is established, it is impossible to interpret the second member as follows: He was made alive by the spirit that had been given to Him, by the higher divine part of His nature. Weiss:The parallelism indicated by and , rather requires us to render, as to His Spirit He was made alive, (animated.). Death hardly affected the spirit and soul of Christ, but both at the moment of Christs dying were for a short time put into a state of unconsciousness. But hardly had Christ surrendered His spirit into the hands of the Father, when the Divine Spirit filled and penetrated Him with a new Divine life. Flacius already observes: the antithesis clearly shows that Christ was put to death as to one part of His nature, but made alive as to another. It is a modus loquendi taken from or alluding to the universal lot of the godly, cf. Gen 45:27; 1Th 3:8. Roos:His soul, for its great refreshing, was endued with and penetrated by heavenly strength. Others take the view that His death ensued in virtue of the weakness inherent in the flesh, His reanimation in virtue of the strength peculiar to the Spirit, cf. 2Co 13:4. But ; does not well suit this interpretation, which is somewhat forced. [Luther: This is the meaning, that Christ by His sufferings was taken from the life which is flesh and blood, as a man on earth, living, walking and standing in flesh and blood and He is now placed in another life, and made alive according to the spirit, has passed into a spiritual and supernatural life, which includes in itself the whole life which Christ now has in soul and body, so that He has no longer a fleshly but a spiritual body. Hoffman, Schriftbeweiss 2, 337, says: It is the same who dies and the same who is again made alive, both times the whole man Jesus, in body and soul. He ceases to live in that that, which is to His Personality the medium of action, falls under death; and He begins again to live, in that He receives back this same for a medium of His action again. The life which fell under death was a fleshly life, that is, such a life as has its determination to the present condition of mans nature, to the externality of its mundane connection. The life which was won back is a spiritual life, that is, such a life as has its determination from the Spirit, in which consists our inner connection with God.M.] [Wordsworth: St. Peter thus guards his readers against the heresy of Simon Magus, and the Docet who said that Christs flesh was a phantom; and against that of the Cerinthians, and other false teachers, whose errors were propagated in Asia, who alleged that the Christ was only an Aeon or Emanation, which descended on the Man Jesus, at His Baptism, but departed from Him before His Passion.M.]

1Pe 3:19. In which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison. is evidently to be joined with , not= , but really in the condition of a spirit separated from the body. Bengel:Christ dealt with the living in the body, with the spirits in the spirit. . =even to the spirits in prison He did preach; so great was His condescension and so far reached the consequences of His voluntary, vicarious sufferings. As Paul the Apostle, Eph 4:9-10, adverts to the descent of Christ to the lowest parts of the earth, doubtless in close connection with the exhortation, cf. 1Pe 5:2, and with the evident meaning that the example of Christ should move believers to descend to the weakest and most abandoned persons, of whose salvation none entertained any hope, so here the descent of Christ to the world of departed spirits occurs in connection with the preceding exhortations to perseverance in well-doing and suffering. not=in the realms of death, for the word always denotes a custody, a place of confinement, a prison, Rev 20:7; Mat 5:25; Mat 14:3; Mat 18:30; Mat 25:36; Mar 6:17; Mar 6:27; Luk 2:8; Luk 12:58; Luk 21:12; Luk 23:19; Joh 3:24; Act 5:19; Act 8:3; 2Co 6:5; Heb 11:36; consequently it has not the abstract sense of being bound. But this prison must be in the realms of death, cf. 2Pe 2:4; Judges 6; Mat 5:25-26. This evidently follows also from the comparison with 1Pe 4:6. That it is not a mere condition, but a locality in Hades, is manifest both from , for one does not go, i. e., travel into a condition, and from the parallel of 1Pe 3:22. As heaven is a definite locality, so is the netherworld (Hades).The power of the death and life of Christ operates in two directions, downwards to the realms of death, and upward to the higher regions of heaven.. Gerhard takes it not so much of verbal as of real preaching, as in Heb 12:24, not in order to liberate them or to give them time for repentance, but in order to show His glorious victory to the spirits of the damned. But the usus loquendi of , and 1Pe 4:6, which should be connected with the passage under notice, militate against his view. The word occurs joined with in Mat 4:23; Mat 9:35; Mar 1:14; Mar 16:15. Where it is found alone, it is understood that the chief burden of His preaching was: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come nigh, repent and believe the Gospel, Mar 1:38; Mar 1:15; Mat 3:1; Mat 4:17; Mat 9:35. It was just this kind of testimony which was to constitute the sum and substance of Apostolical preaching, Mat 10:7; Mat 24:14; Mar 3:14; Mar 6:12; Mar 13:10; Luk 9:2; Act 9:20; Act 10:42-43; 1Co 1:23; Php 1:15 : 2Ti 4:2. It is never used of judicial preaching. It is, therefore, by no means so indefinite an expression as Bengel supposes, but one which has a very definite meaning; further light, moreover, is shed on it by of 1Pe 4:6. The unequivocal sense is: Jesus proclaimed to those spirits in the prisons of Hades the beginning of a new epoch of grace, the appearance of the kingdom of God, and repentance and faith as the means of entering into the same.

1Pe 3:20. Now follows a further definition. They are men, who once were unbelivers, in the time of Noah. Their having repented on seeing the flood break in, or during the long interval until the coming of Christ, is a gratuitous and arbitrary conjecture. Their unbelief was practical, exhibited by their disobedience, for so Peter invariably takes , cf. 1Pe 2:7. They ridiculed the prediction of the coming floods and despised the exhortation to repent.

When the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few persons, that is eight souls, were saved by water. (The Text. Rec. had , but our reading is doubtless correct.), the goodness of God, exhibited as , in the long postponement of punishment and judgment, and the waiting for amendment; cannot be separated without violence from the following . It waited 120 years for repentance, Gen 6:3.Since Noah was a preacher of righteousness in word and deed to his contemporaries, 2Pe 2:5, and since the difficult building of his floating house, covering so long a space of time, ought to have excited their serious consideration, their unbelief appears so much the more culpable. = , the well-known name of the ark, cf. Mat 24:38; Luk 17:27; Heb 11:7., denotes the difficulty and long duration of the building which was progressing in their sight. , into which a few souls fled, and were saved, through, and by means of, the water. suggests both ideas in connection with the comparison with baptism which follows.

A few persons, put designedly, not only because, as Steiger remarks, this narrative shows per se the relation of believers and unbelievers, but also because the fact itself supplies the strongest motive for Christs descent into the realms of death, as an act demanded by the grace of God. Only eight souls were saved in the delugemany thousands and thousands, who were very diverse as to their moral condition, perished; how conclusive, therefore, the inference that that event took place in the world of spirits, which Peter, however, knew, not from inferences he had drawn, but doubtless in consequence of a special revelation. As the time of Noah was elsewhere viewed as an important type of after-times, cf. 2Pe 2:5; 2Pe 3:6-7; Mat 24:37, etc., so here also it ought to be taken in a typical sense, while the activity of Jesus ought not to be considered as being limited to the generation of Noah. By the example of Noahs family, Peter was taught the dealings of God with all men, who, without any fault of theirs, have not known the salvation in Christ. This passage of Christs descent into Hades belongs to those which have suffered most from the treatment of commentators. Some distorted the preaching of Christ into mediate preaching by Noah or the Apostles, others into preaching, which, although having taken place immediately in the realms of death, was yet confined to the godly only. Steiger has enumerated their vagaries; they carry their confutation within themselves, and rest, one and all, on dogmatical embarrassment. Our explanation is supported by many passages, e. g., Act 2:27; Act 2:31; Psa 16:10; Eph 4:8; Act 13:35; Act 13:37; Act 2:24; Luk 23:46; Mar 15:37; Mar 15:39; Php 2:10; Luk 16:19. Cf. Koenig, Christs Descent into Hell; Gder, Doctrine of Christs Appearing among the Dead; Zezschwiz, Petri ap. de Christi ad inferos descensu sententia; Herzog, Real-Encyclopdie, Art. Hades; [and the Excursus on the Descensus ad Inferos at the end of this section.M.]

[Wordsworth:St. Peters Epistle was probably written in the East (see 1Pe 3:13). There the belief in two opposite principles, (dualism), a Good and Evil, was widely disseminated by the religion of Zoroaster, and by the Magi of Persia (see Psa 45:3; Psa 45:7). There also the Ark rested after the waters of the Flood.

The author of this Epistle, written in the East, may have heard the objection raised, on the history of the Flood, against the Divine Benevolence and the Unity of the Godhead, and he appears to be answering such objections as those, and to be vindicating that history. He shows the harmony of Gods dispensations, Patriarchal and Evangelical. He teaches us to behold in the Ark a type of the Church, and in the Flood a type of Baptism. He thus refutes the Manichan heresy. He says that God was merciful, even to that generation. He speaks of Gods long-suffering, waiting for them while the Ark was preparing. He states boldly the objection, that few, only eight souls, were saved in the Ark, and contrasts the condition of those who were drowned in the Flood with the condition of those who have now offers of salvation in Baptism. He says that the rest disobeyed while the Ark was preparing. He uses the Aorist tense (). He does not say, when the Ark had been prepared, and when the Ark was shut, and when the Flood came, and it was too late for them to reach it, they all remained impenitent. Perhaps some were penitent at the eleventh hour, like the thief on the cross. Every one will be justly dealt with by God. There are degrees of punishment, as there are of reward (see Mat 10:15; Luk 12:48). God does not quench the smoking flax (Mat 12:20). And St. Peter, by saying that they did not hearken formerly, while the Ark was preparing, almost seems to suggest the inference that they did hearken now, when One greater than Noah came in His human spirit into the abysses of the deep of the lower world, and that a happy change was wrought in the condition of some among them by His coming.M.]

1Pe 3:21. Which, in the antitype, is now saving us. (The Textus. Rec. reads , an easier reading. Lachmann reads instead of ; so also Tischendorf;) resumes 1Pe 3:18, after the Apostles manner of returning after a parenthesis, to what had gone before, and by making it the subject of further elucidation, cf. 1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 2:21. The thoughts now mentioned are by no means accidental, and such as might have, been omitted, but the of 1Pe 3:18 remained to be explained, as to the manner how it was effected, viz.: by baptism, whereof that saving water was a type. relates to , similar to the members of Noahs family., antitypal, in the antitype, that is, as baptism. Two appositions to . The water of the flood is here viewed only in the light of having been saving to Noah and his family, inasmuch as it carried the ark., the Present is used because the saving has only begun and is not yet completed.

Not putting-away the filth of the flesh, but inquiry of a good conscience after God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.Now follows a more particular account of the nature of baptism, first, negatively, theft, positively. The end contemplated is not, as in the case of Jewish lustrations, purification from the filth of the body. Steiger cites Justin Martyr, Tryph. p. 331, Of what avail is that baptism, (that of the Jewish lustrations) which cleanses the flesh and the body only? It is rather an . In explaining this dark passage, it is necessary to begin with the more lucid points. The antithesis of the putting-away of the filth of the flesh suggests a reference to the moral import of baptism, to inward, spiritual cleansing. Hence the Apostle names this as the end contemplated in baptism. With this we have to connect the apposition , for a good conscience toward God, which is much more than a good conscience toward men (1Co 4:4), is just what we need. Connecting, with the majority of commentators, with , as indicating the end of , would yield a very harsh expression, which cannot be illustrated by 2Sa 11:7, besides, the apposition would then appear to be superfluous. But since the Genitive corresponds with , it must be like the latter, the Genit. objecti, not the Genit. subjecti. As to the matter itself, the good conscience cannot be supposed to be existing at baptism and preceding it, for the Apostle elsewhere regards a good conscience as something received at, and effected by, baptism, Act 2:38. If the good conscience were anterior to baptism, it would be difficult to see how salvation, by means of baptism, could be necessary. What, then, is the meaning of , which occurs only once, and that in this passage, in the New Testament? We should expect a word signifying the cleansing of the conscience: but is never used in such a sense; nor does it signify promise or pledge, as Grotius explains the word from the usage of Roman law, nor address, confidence, open approach, but simply asking, inquiry. This gives quite a good sense: baptism is the inquiry for a good conscience before God, the desire and longing for it. This would define the subjective side of baptism, with reference to the circumstance that from the earliest time certain questions relating to the state of his conscience were proposed to the candidate for baptism. Lutz approaches the right explanation: Baptism is the request for a good conscience, for admittance to the state of reconciliation on the part of such as have a good conscience toward God, a petition for the pardon of sin, which is obtained by the merits of Christ. Similar are the views of Wiesinger and Weiss, except that they erroneously join and . Adhering to the idea of asking, the thing asked may be conceived, as follows: How shall I rid myself of an evil conscience? Wilt Thou, most holy God, again accept me, a sinner? Wilt Thou. Lord Jesus, grant me the communion of Thy death and life? Wilt Thou, O Holy Ghost, assure me of grace and adoption, and dwell in my heart? To these questions the Triune Jehovah answers in baptism, Yea. Now is laid the solid foundation for a good conscience. The conscience is not only purified from its guilt, but it receives new vital power by means of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

is better joined with than with , from which it is too far separated. In 1Pe 1:3, the living hope is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, here, the good conscience. The mediating features of and of have now been indicated. [Most commentators connect with , treating the intervening sentence as a parenthesis.M.]

[Wordsworth:From the Book of Common Prayer: Baptism represents to us our profession, which is to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to be made like unto Him, that as He died and rose again for us, so we who are baptized and buried with Christ in His death, should be dead to sin and live unto righteousness, continually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living, in order that we who are baptized into His death may pass through the grave and gate of death to our joyful Resurrection, through His merits who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Waterland, On Justification, p. 1 Peter 440:St. Peter assures us that Baptism saves; that is, it gives a just title to salvation, which is the same as to say that it conveys justification. But then it must be understood, not of the outward washing, but of the inward lively faith stipulated in it and by it. Baptism concurs with Faith, and Faith with Baptism, and the Holy Spirit with both; and so the merits of Christ are savingly applied. Faith alone will not ordinarily serve in this case, but it must be a contracting faith on mans part, contracting in form corresponding to the federal promises and engagements on Gods part; therefore, Tertullian rightly styles Baptism obsignatio fidei, testatio fidei, sponsio salutis, fidei pactio, and the like.

Baptismal interrogatories were used in the primitive, even in the Apostolical Church, and Peter seems to refer to them here. See Act 8:37; Heb 6:1-2; cf. Rom 10:10. Justin Martyr, Apol. 1, c. 61; Tertullian, de Spect., c. 4; de Coron Mil., c. 3, and de Resurrect. Carnis, c. 48. Anima non lavatione sed responsione sancitur. Cf. Cyprian, Ep. 70, 76, 85; Hippolytus, Theophan., c. 10; Origen, Exhortatio ad Martyr, c. 12; Vales in Euseb. 7, 8, and Euseb. 7, 9, where Dionysius, Bp. of Alexandria, in the third century, speaks of a person who was present at the baptism of some who were lately baptized, and heard the questions and answers, . See more in Wordsworth.M.]

1Pe 3:22. Who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected unto him.Now follows, as the further consequence of the sufferings of Christ, His ascension into heaven, and exaltation to the right hand of God. A former sufferer is now exalted to the highest dignity of heaven. Thus this verse beautifully connects with the exhortation to willingness of suffering, cf. 1Pe 3:17-18, and paves the way for 1Pe 4:1, etc. ; cf. Ps. Exodus 1; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3; Php 3:20. He has been received as sharer of the Divine government. He is not only King of His Church, but of the whole world. =having gone into heaven. It is incorrect that this designates, not a locality of the universe, but a relation to the world. Wiesinger., cf. Heb 1:4; Eph 1:21; Col 2:10. The spirits, in their various gradations, are now subjected to Him who has suffered so much and so deeply. We do not pretend to determine whether they can be distinguished, with Hoffmann, as , inasmuch as they are the executors of the Divine will, as , inasmuch as they sway authority in this world, and , because they bring about the alternations of this world, cf. Mat 28:18; Luk 24:49; Act 2:32; Act 2:35; Act 3:21; Act 3:26; Act 4:10-12; Act 10:40-42.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The fact that the Apostles do not separate the vicarious element of the sufferings of Christ from its typical element suggests an important hint to preachers as to the treatment of the atonement of Jesus.

2. The restoration of the lost communion of sinners with God is, according to 1Pe 3:18, one of the main ends of the sufferings of Christ; but His resurrection is also a co-operating factor in this great work, 1Pe 3:21.

3. There are no stronger motives for perseverance in well-doing, even where it involves the endurance of great suffering, than those taken from the innocent and vicarious sufferings and death of Jesus. As His sufferings and death conducted Him to life and to a greatly blessed sphere of work, so we are warranted to believe, if through suffering for righteousness we are made like Him, that suffering and death itself will also conduct us, and others by us, to life and blessedness. That which has affected the Head will also in different degrees affect the members, cf. Eph 2:5; Eph 2:7.

4. Christs descent into hell, or rather into Hades, which transpired, not after, but before His resurrection (cf. Act 2:27; Act 2:31), is by no means a subordinate point in the Apostles creed that may be surrendered to unbelief, but a fundamental article. But doubtless it is not founded, as Weiss assumes, on a conclusion reached by the Apostles reasoning, as if he had inferred the necessity of Christs preaching among the dead, both from the exclusiveness of the salvation wrought by Christ only, and from the justice of God, but rather on an illumination of the Holy Ghost, whose organs the Apostles were. The justice and love of God now appear to us in glorious light, and withhold the definite sentence of condemnation until all men have decided with full consciousness concerning Christ and His Gospel. He is set as the rock of salvation or stone of stumbling for all the world, 1Pe 2:6, etc.

5. Hades is not the final, absolute place and state of punishment; this is evident from Rev 20:14; Rev 20:10; the lake of fire and brimstone, the fiery pit, , is that final place. There are in Hades two provinces or regions, separated from one another by a gulf. The one is a place of repose, comfort and refreshing, Abrahams bosom, Luk 16:22, probably that paradise to which before His resurrection and ascension (Joh 20:17) Jesus went with the thief, Luk 23:43; lower paradise, as contrasted with the upper, to which Paul was transported, 2Co 12:2; 2Co 12:4; cf. Rev 2:7. Another part of the lower world contains the different prisons of human souls, who in their bodily existence had despised the word of God, acted against the light of conscience, and died in guilty unbelief. Here Jesus, as a spirit, appeared to fallen spirits, to some as Conqueror and Judge, to others, who still stretched out to Him the hand of faith, as a Saviour. We may, therefore, suppose with Knig that the preaching of Christ begun in the realms of departed spirits its is continued there in a manner adapted to the relation of the world of the dead, and analogous to the manner in which such provision has been made adapted to our earthly relations (cf. 1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9), so that those who here on earth did not hear at all, or not in the right way, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, shall hear it there. If this truth had always been sufficiently recognized, the anti-scriptural opinion of universal recovery would hardly have found such extensive circulation. [But see the Excursus, below.M.]

6. Baptism is here taken as a means of grace, although not described from every point of view, but only according to its subjective condition, the desire for a good conscience, which coincides with and according to its saving power which is mediated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

7. This passage in connection with Act 5:32 contains a testimony for the visible ascension of Christ, which has recently been questioned, and, alas! occasionally also by professedly believing teachers.

8. The doctrine of this section has, as Richter says, nothing in common with the heresies of purgatory and universal recovery. But it affords a lucid example that the atonement once made (Act 5:18) is of universal import for all men and for all times. It affects even the dead, and the decision of their eternal destiny depends upon their relation to the announcement of the death and resurrection of Christ.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Suffer gladly for Christs sake, because He also has suffered for you and for all. Look at the glory into which your Head has entered through suffering.Consider that suffering happens to us only once in the flesh, 1Pe 3:18, and that it has manifold blessings for us and for others.The universal sin-offering of Jesus, the fulfilment of all the typical offerings.The atonement having been made for all men, must also be preached to all men.It was part of the reward of the perfect obedience of Christ that He should receive the keys of hell and death. Hence He was able to enter the realms of death and remove thence as many as He chose without the ruler of those prisons being able to prevent it.There are in the prisons of the unhappy realms of death, in which unconverted souls are detained unto judgment, differences and degrees of which some are more supportable and others more fearful and insupportable, Mat 10:15; Mat 11:22.The descent of Christ into the dark and horrible regions of the world of the dead exhibits the stupendous power of His commiserating love.Christ appearing to them as Conqueror and Judge, did not proclaim to them the sentence of condemnation but announced to them the only way of salvation from their long, more than two thousand years imprisonment.Let nobody die with the false consolation of hearing the Gospel hereafter in the world of death.As here, so beyond the grave, there are not wanting witnesses of Christ and preachers of the Gospel.The success of Christs preaching in those prisons is not recorded; Peter may intend to give a hint on the subject in mentioning the few who escaped the flood.A threefold fruit of the sufferings of Christ: 1. He has brought us to God by reconciling us to God through His blood and becoming our peace, Rom 5:10; Eph 2:13; Col 1:20; Col 1:2. He brings us daily to God, for through Him we have access to the Father by faith, Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18, and by His Spirit He renews us day by day. 3. He will bring us to God in the end, when it shall appear what we shall be.

Besser:It is infinitely better to suffer once with Christ than to suffer eternally without Christ.

Bede:The ark was lifted up with Noah and his family: so we are carried upward and made citizens of the kingdom of heaven by baptism. As the water of itself did not save Noah, but only by means of the ark, so the water of baptism saves us not as water only but as water with the true ark which is Christ. All the power of baptism flows from the sufferings of Christ, from the wood of the cross. Despair not, little flock; look through the mist of thy tribulation upward to the Prince of glory, to thy King, before whom every thing lies prostrate.To what manifold and rich glory do sufferings lead!How will it fare with those who cause tribulation to believers?Do not abuse the long-suffering of God, believe that the punishment, of God comes irresistibly and with more fearful weight, if His grace has been neglected.

Starke:Away, popish mass! We need no more offering for sin. The one offering of Christ is mighty and valid for eternity, Heb 10:12.O, the riches of the love of God and of Christ! For a righteous man one will perhaps suffer a little, but Christ has suffered every thing for sinners, Rom 5:7-8; Rom 5:10.The vengeance of God comes slowly but it strikes hard. Long spared, fearfully punished; such has been the experience of thousands who lived after the first world, 1Co 10:6, etc.Our baptism should continually remind us not to act against the dictates of our conscience or to sin against God, Rom 6:4.There are orders among the holy angels, although we do not understand their nature and condition, Col 1:16.

Lisco:The glory of the grace of Christ.The duty of Christians to make a good confession in word and deed.The history of the victory of Jesus Christ, the Head of the kingdom.

[As Fronmuellers views on this passage, 1Pe 3:19-20; 1Pe 4:6 are rather onesided and the doctrinal inferences drawn from them laid down rather too dogmatically, it is but fair that the question in all its bearings should be laid before the readers of this Commentary, which is-done in the subjoined excursus, taken from an article prepared by me for the Evangelical Review., January 1866.M.]

EXCURSUS ON THE DESCENSUS AD INFEROS

[The object of our Lords descent to Hades.The passage, 1Pe 3:19, stands in the context from 1Pe 3:18-20, in a literal and grammatical translation, as follows: Because Christ also suffered for sins once, a just person on behalf of unjust, in order that He might present us to God; put to death indeed in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, which were disobedient formerly, when the long suffering of God was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, etc. The reasons for this translation appear from the exegesis, to which we now proceed.

, 1Pe 3:18, gives the reason why suffering for well-doing is better than suffering for evil-doing; because it establishes the conformity of Christians to Christ their Head. He suffered for sins once, that is, He voluntarily underwent suffering for our sins: He made Himself our sin-offering, He suffered in our stead, and His sufferings were the means of everlasting blessedness to others and of eternal glory to Himself; so we also suffer, and for sins, not indeed for the sins of others, but for our own, and by parity of reasoning it follows that the sufferings of Christians not only conform them to Christ (with reverence be it spoken), but are the means of everlasting blessedness to themselves and of eternal glory to Christ. This applies not to all suffering, but only to suffering for well-doing. This beam of comforting light falls on the sufferings of Christians from this through , Besser. indicates the analogy and shows that belongs to Christ and His followers. He suffered once and once only, once for all. So it will be with us. Our suffering is only once, limited to a short space of time; it is only for a season, and our present suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. The way to glory lies through the valley of humiliation. Christ suffered as a just person on behalf of unjust; of course the comparison is only relative, for although we are called in 1Pe 3:12, and suffer as , yet is our infinitely inferior to that of Christ, and our suffering not vicarious like His, for we suffer not , but . The end of our Lords suffering is stated in the words , that He might bring us near to God. This is the fruit of our Lords passion, that He brings the wanderers back to the Father, and the lost to the homes of blessedness;66 or, in the words of Bengel: That going Himself to the Father, He might bring in, who had been alienated, but now justified, together with Him into heaven, 1Pe 3:22, by the selfsame steps of humiliation and exaltation, which He Himself had trodden. From this verse onward to 1Pe 4:6, Peter thoroughly links together the course of progress of Christ and believers (wherein He Himself followed the Lord according to His prediction, Joh 13:36), in conjunction with the unbelief and punishment of the many.67 The Apostle next proceeds to specify the manner how Christ opened the way of our being brought to God. We have here a double antithesis and , and and ; the two nouns have been variously explained. Oecum., Theoph., Gerhard, Clarius, Calov, Horneius, Capellus makes them erroneously to denote the human and the divine natures of Christ; Castellio (also Com. a Lap., Flacius, Estius, Bengel) interprets: Corpore necatus, animo in vitam revocatus; Grotius paraphrases by quod attinet ad vitam hanc fragilem et caducam, and explains by that divine power. There are many other variations; without entering upon their discussion, we hold with Alford that the two nouns have adverbial force and that this construction removes the difficulties which otherwise spring up. The fact is that quod ad carnem, Christ was put to death, quod ad spiritum, He was brought to life. His flesh was the subject, recipient, vehicle of inflicted death; His spirit was the subject, recipient, vehicle of restored life. But let us beware, and proceed cautiously. What is asserted is not that the flesh died and the spirit was made alive, but that quoad the flesh the Lord died, quoad the spirit, He was made alive. He, the God-man, Christ Jesus, body and soul, ceased to live in the flesh, began to live in the spirit; ceased to live a fleshly mortal life, began to live a spiritual resurrection-life. His own spirit never died, as the next verse shows us. Alford.This is the meaning, that Christ by His sufferings was taken from the life which is flesh and blood, as a man on earth, living, walking and standing in flesh and blood, * * * and He is now placed in another life, and made alive according to the spirit, has passed into a spiritual and supernatural life, which includes in itself the whole life which Christ now has in soul and body, so that He has no longer a fleshly but a spiritual body. Luther.It is the same who dies and the same who is again made alive, both times the whole man, Jesus, in body and soul. He ceases to live, in that that, which is to His personality the medium of action, falls under death; and He begins to live, in that He receives back this same for a medium of His action again. The life which fell under death was a fleshly life, that is, such a life as has its determination to the present condition of mans nature, to the externality of its mundane connection. The life which was won back is a spiritual life, that is, such a life as has its determination from the Spirit, in which consists our inner connection with God. Hofmann, Schriftbeweiss, 2, 336.

. 1Pe 3:19, clearly refers to and must be rendered in which, not by which as in E. V. may be connected with the whole period and rendered in which He also went, etc.(Alford), or with , and translated in which He went and preached also (or even) to the spirits in prison, Steiger. The latter construction seems preferable, for it not only avoids the awkwardness of subordinating the whole period to what precedes, but also gives prominence to the new idea that the activity of Christ reached even to the spirits in prison. On see below, denotes the actual presence of the Spirit of Christ in the place of departed spirits, for in 1Pe 3:22 clearly shows that the participle must refer to local transference. is=almost (from cf. 1Pe 4:6, whose is used with reference to the dead); our verb in connection with is found in Mat 4:23; Mat 9:35; Mar 1:14; Mar 16:15; it implies the preaching of the gospel in Mar 1:38; Mar 1:15; Mat 3:1; Mat 4:17; Mat 9:35; it has this meaning in the following passages: Mat 10:7; Mat 24:14; Mar 3:14; Mar 6:12; Mar 13:10; Luk 9:2; Act 9:20; Act 10:42-43; 1Co 1:23; Php 1:15; 2Ti 4:2; it is never used in the sense of judicial announcement and N. T. usage clothes it with the meaning to preach the gospel.

1Pe 3:20 describes the character of the spirits in prison; they were still disobedient (), i. e., exhibited unbelief in disobedience. They derided the prediction of the coming flood, and despised the exhortation to repentance, distinctly marks the period of their unbelief, viz., the time during which the ark was preparing. The long suffering of God gave them one hundred and twenty years time for repentance. In , which is doubtless the true reading (A. B. C. K. Z.) the full time during which the exercise of the Divine long-suffering took place, is brought out, just as intimates the difficulty and protracted duration of the building of the ark.

Sound exegesis clearly establishes the Apostolic declaration, that our Lord Jesus Christ, after His crucifixion, went in spirit to the place of departed spirits (Hades, Sheol as in Syriac) and there preached to those spirits, who, in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, persisted in unbelief and disobedience. Why, what and with what effect he preached there, is not revealed. The Apostles declaration, however clearly established, has been felt from the earliest times to present many and great difficulties, and occasioned an almost endless variety of interpretations, the main features of which will appear in the following classification. Making the of our Lord the starting point, we have the following survey (given by Steiger):

Christ Preached. I. Mediately: 1, by Noah, 2, by the Apostles. II. Immediately, in the realms of the dead: 1. to the good; 2. to the good and the wicked; 3. to the wicked.

I. 1. Christ preached mediately by Noah. Augustine, Bede, Thomas Aquinas, Lyra, Hammond, Beza, Scaliger, Leighton, Horneius, Gerhard, Elsner, Benson, al., and among more recent authors John Clausen, and Hofmann, (Schriftbeweiss II. 335341) hold that Christ preached by Noah to his contemporaries, that preacher of righteousness not preaching of himself, but in obedience to the prompting of the spirit of Christ; so that while Noah was the instrument, Christ was virtually preaching by him. In illustration of this view we quote Augustine (Ep. 99 ad Euodiam; cf. also Ep. 164): Spiritus in carcere conclusi sunt increduli qui vixerunt temporibus Noe, quorum spiritus, i. e., anim erant in carne et ignoranti tenebris velut in carcere conclus Christus iis non in carne, qui nondum erat incarnatus, sed in spiritu, i. e., secundum divinitatem prdicavit; and Beza: Christ, says he (the Apostle), whom I have already said to be vivified by the power of the Godhead, formerly in the days of Noah, when the ark was preparing, going forth or coming. not in a bodily form (which He had not yet assumed) but by the self-same power through which He afterwards rose from the dead, and by inspiration whereof the prophets spoke, preached to those spirits who now suffer deserved punishment in prison, as having formerly refused to listen to the admonitions of Noah?

This kind of interpretation, notwithstanding the respectable authorities who advocate it, will be rejected by candid scholars as arbitrary and ungrammatical. As arbitrary, because the Apostle neither intimates any such figurative preaching of the spirit of Christ in Noah, nor that Noah preached at all; as ungrammatical, because

a. The subject of discourse is not the Logos but the God-Man (Calov), and the means by which He preached is not the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of Christ sc, ).

b. The object () designates not living men, but departed spirits (cf. Luk 24:37; Heb 12:23; Rev 22:6).

c. The metaphorical of Augustine caro et ignoranti tenebr and the qui nunc in carcere meritas dant pnas of Beza are inadmissible, the former because it destroys all local reference and thus spiritualizes away the historical value of the Apostles declaration, the second because it takes an unjustifiable liberty with that declaration in transferring to the present what manifestly belongs to the past: , , , and set forth historical events in chronological order, and the describes the local condition of the as the time when the preaching took place, (Alford).

d. interrupts the chronological order, and plainly separates the time of Christs preaching from the time of their disobedience. Bengel says: Si sermo esset de prconio per Noe, aliquando aut plane omitteretur, aut cum prdicavit jungeretur; and Flacius, as he disjoins the kind of preaching from the disobedience of those spirits, so on the other hand, he conjoins it with their imprisonment or captivity.

e. , as compared with 1Pe 3:22, cannot be resolved into a pleonasm; giving to the words their common meaning must mean, he went away and preached. (Hensler).

I. 2. Christ preached mediately by the Apostles. This is the view advocated by Socinus, Vorst, Grotius, Schen, Schlichting and Hensler. It is distinguished, like I, 1, by the metaphorical interpretation of ; =the prison of the body (Grotius) or=the prison of sin (Socinus, Schlichting, Hensler;) and the either=the Jews (sub jugo legis existentes,) or=the Jews and Gentiles (sub potestate diaboli jacentes). is explained in the sense that those to whom Christ preached have now ceased to be unbelievers; Hensler, who gives this explanation, is constrained to read in the next clause . But it is a purely arbitrary assumption, unwarranted by the facts of the case that all have believed. , according to the advocates of this view, refers to the efficacy of Christ through the Apostles, but it requires an uncommonly fertile imagination to bring this out. The supposed analogy in Eph 4:21; Eph 2:17, cannot be pressed into the service of these expositors, for the context is too plain to admit of a similar construction; the of Eph 4:21 is= , 1Pe 3:20, and , 1Pe 3:21, while , in Eph 2:17, clearly refers back to , 1Pe 3:14, and denotes His coming to the earth in person to make known the covenants of peace, sealed with His atoning sacrifice. On grammatical grounds this view is altogether untenable, and its advocates are constrained to wave grammatical considerations. Although Huther justly remarks, How this interpretation heaps caprice on caprice, need not be shown, the following objections to it may be found useful:

a. The in which Christ preached, according to this view, must be the Holy Spirit; but this Isaiah , 1. forbidden by the context, for refers to the immediately preceding it. 2. Gives a double meaning to , for must signify the souls of men.

b. Christ preached by the Apostles not during His bodily death, 1Pe 3:18, but after His exaltation, 1Pe 3:22. Steiger.

c. in point of time immediately follows and denotes an actual going away. These considerations abundantly refute explanations like that of Grotius, which we give as a sample of theological finessing: Adjungere voluit Petrus similitudinem a temporibus Noe, ut ostendat quanta res nunc melius per Christum quam tunc per Noen processerit.

We now pass on to the second class of interpretations, viz.:
II. Christ preached immediately in the realms of the dead.

I. To the good. Marcion. (Irenus I. 24, 27, cf. Walch, Hist. d. Ketzer. I. 512; Neander, Ch. Hist. I. p. 799), held that Christ then set at liberty those whom the Old Testament describes as ungodly, but whom he (Marcion) maintained to be better than the believers of the Old Covenant, who had to stay behind in hell. The Apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus asserts the same concerning the truly good (see Birchs Auctarium, p. 109, 147, cf. Matthi p. 200, and Euseb. H. E. I.). Irenus (I 3:27, 2; 3:31, 1), taught that Christ announced to the pious (the patriarchs and others), the redemption He had purchased, in order to bring them into the heavenly kingdom, (cf. Just. Mart. Dial c. Tryph. p. 298). This is substantially the view of Tertullian (de Anima. 7, 55), Hippolytus (de Antichr. c. 26), Isidorus (Sent. I. 16, 15) Gregory the Great and the Greek Church, Petr, Mogilae, Conf. Eccl. Gr. Orth. I. 49, etc.; Joh. Damasc, de Orth. fide III. 26), the Schoolmen (Anselm, Albertus, Thom. Aquin.), Zwingle and Calvin, Zwingle (Fidei Chr. Expos, art. de. Chr. VII.) says: It is to be believed that He (Christ) departed from among men to be numbered with the inferi, and that the virtue of His redemption, reached also to them, which St. Peter intimates, when he says that to the dead, i. e., to those in the nether world, who, after the example of Noah, from the commencement of the world, have believed upon God, while the wicked despised His admonitions, the gospel was preached. On doctrinal ground he defends his view by the position that no one could come to heaven before Christ (Joh 3:13) because He must have in all things pre-eminence (Col 1:18). (De vera et f. rel. art. de baptismo, p. 214, 29). Calvin interprets by specula sive ipse excubandi actus, and describes the spirits in as pias animas in spem salutis promisss intentas, quasi eminus eam considerarent. Perceiving a difficulty in … he explains: Quum increduli fuissent olim; quo significat, nihil nocuisse sanctis patribus, quod impiorum multitudine pne obruti fuerint; that as those believers sustained no injury to their souls from the multitude of believers that surrounded them, so also now believers are, through baptism, delivered from the world. The way in which he justifies his interpretation, sets forth views to which many, that now call themselves after the Genevan Reformer, are hardly prepared to subscribe: Discrepat fateor, ab hoc sensu Grca syntaxis; debuerat enim Petrus, si hoc vellet, genitivum absolutum ponere. Sed quia apostolis novum non est liberius casum unum ponere alterius loco, et videmus Petrum hic confuse multas res simul coacervare, nee vero aliter aptus sensus elici poterat; non dubitavi ita resolvere orationem implicitam, quo intelligerent lectores, alios vocari incredulos, quam quibus prdicatum fuisse evangelium dixit. To this class of interpreters Bp. Browne also belongs, who makes to signify proclaimed, and explains that Christ proclaimed to the patriarchs that their redemption had been fully effected, that Satan had been conquered, that the great sacrifice had been offered up, and asks, If angels joy over one sinner that repenteth, may we not suppose Paradise filled with rapture when the soul of Jesus came among the souls of redeemed, Himself the Herald () of His own victory; Brownes view is that of Horsley (Vol. I. Serm. 20), who favours, however, in language more decided than Brownes, the view that Christ virtually preached to those who had once been disobedient in the days of Noah. The difficulty of Browne supposes to be met by the consideration that many who died in the flood were, nevertheless, saved from final damnation, which he thinks highly probable. The real difficulty, in his opinion, consists in the fact that the proclamation of the finishing of the great work of salvation, is represented by St. Peter as having been addressed to these antediluvian penitents, and as mention is made of the penitents of later ages, who are equally interested in the tidings. We have already shown that cannot be diluted into a mere proclaiming or heralding forth, and we shall show, by and by, that the antediluvian sinners, not penitents, appear to be singled out because of the enormity of their wickedness, and that the fact of their being made the objects of Christs tender solicitude, seems to shed the light of heaven on one of the most bewildering subjects in irreligion.

The objections to this whole view, in its different modifications, are

a. The text says nothing whatever of the good, but refers explicitly to the disobedient. All interpretations which ignore this distinct and explicit reference, are arbitrary, and substitute speculation for the language of inspiration.

b. The text says nothing whatever of the repentance of the contemporaries of Noah, nor does any other passage of Scripture give us any information to that effect. We must, therefore, conclude that the expedient which makes those antediluvians to have repented at the breaking in of the flood, however ingenious, amounts to simple assumption. (The last view is held by Suarez, Estius, Bellarmine, Luther on Hosea 4, 2, A. D. 1545, as quoted by Bengel, Peter Martyr, Osiander, Quistorp, Hutter, Gessner and Bengel. The latter says: Probabile est nonnullos ex tanta multitudine, veniente pluvia, resipuisse: cumque non credidissent dum expectaret Deus, postea cum area structa esset et pna ingrueret, credere cpisse: quibus postea Christus, eorumque similibus, se prconem grati praestiterit. Browne also shares this view.)

II. 2. Christ preached in the realms of the dead to the good and the wicked. This is maintained by Athanasius, Ambrose, Erasmus, Calvin, Instit. 2, 16, 9. Christs preaching to the good is described as a prdicatio evangelica ad consolationem, to the wicked as a prdicatio legalis, exprobatoria, damnatoria ad terrorem. Bolton quotes the language of Abraham to Dives (Luke 16, 23 sq.) in support of this view, which is however, open to the same objections as II. 1. viz.: that Scripture is silent concerning the good.

II. 3. Christ preached in the realms of the dead to the wicked. Luther (Werke, Leipz. Vol. XII. p. 285) appears to favour this view when he says that one could not reject this opinion, because that which St. Peter clearly affirms, etc. Even under this head we have divergent opinions in connection with the question whether Christ manifested himself to the disobedient as Redeemer or as Judge.

Flacius, Calov, Buddeus, Wolf, Aretius, al., make the burden of Christs preaching an announcement of condemnation. Hollaz (quoted by Huther) says: Fuit prdicatio Christi in inferno non evangelica qu hominibus tantum in regno grati annunciatur, sed legalis, elenchtica, terribilis, eaque tum verbalis, qua ipsos terna supplicia promeritos esse convincit, tum realis immanem terrorem iis incussit. Against this view, it may be said

a. That , as already stated, used of Christ and the Apostles, does not admit of such a sense, but uniformly signifies to preach the Gospel;

b. That such damnatory preaching, besides being utterly superfluous in the case of spirits already reserved to condemnation (Alford) is derogatory to the character of the Redeemer; Christian consciousness revolts from the thought that the holy Jesus, whose dying words were words of forgiveness and love, should have visited the realms of the dead and exulted over the misery of the damned, and publishing His triumph, have intensified their torments and made hell more of hell to them;

c. That the context forbids such a view, As if Peter would console the faithful with the arguments, that Christ, even when dead, underwent suffering on behalf of those unbelievers (Calvin); for it must be borne in mind that the whole passage, of which these much controverted verses form part, is designed to show how the sufferings of Christ minister to the consolation of believers, (cf. Wiesinger, p. 241.)

We come now to the only remaining view, according to which Christ visited the realms of the dead and preached there the Gospel to the dead. This is the explicit declaration of the Apostle, who says nothing, however, of the effect of His preaching, whether many, few, or any, were converted by it. It is necessary to start with this caution, because the disregard of it has led many expositors, especially among the fathers, to unwarranted conclusions. E. g., Clement of Alexandria, says: Wherefore, that He might bring them to repentance, the Lord preached also to those in Hades. But what, do not the Scriptures declare, that the Lord has preached to those that perished in the deluge, and not to these only, but to all that are in chains, and that are kept in the ward and prison-house of Hades; adding, that while Christ preached only to those of the Old Testament, the Apostles, after His example, must have preached there, and that, also to the heathen, but both only to the good, to those that lived in the righteousness which was agreeable to the law and philosophy, yet still were not perfect, but passed through life under many short-comings. Origen (on 1 Kings 28. Hom. 2) adds to this, that the prophets had also been there, in order to announce beforehand the arrival of Christ, but confines the number of the delivered also to those who, before death, had been prepared for it. This view seems to have generally spread through the Eastern Church. (See Steiger, p. 225.) These, and similar opinions, cannot be taken as interpretations, for they superadd inferences which are not warranted by the language of St. Peter, who declares that Christ preached the Gospel in Hades to the unbelieving contemporaries of Noah; nothing more, nothing less.

It has been shown above that Hades denotes the place of the departed, and consists of two separate regions, kept asunder by an impassable gulf. As we know from our Lords promise to the penitent thief, that He went on the day of His crucifixion to Paradise, so we learn from St. Peter that He preached to the spirits in prison, and that these disembodied prisoners were those of men who were disobedient in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing.

The word cannot be rendered otherwise than prison. Cf. Mat 5:25; Luk 14:3; Luk 18:30; Luke 25:36, 39, 43, 44; Mar 6:17; Mar 6:27; Luk 3:20; Luk 12:58; Luk 21:12; Luk 22:33; Luk 23:19; Joh 3:24; Act 5:19; Act 12:4 and in 13 other places; 2Co 6:5; 2Co 11:23; Heb 11:36; Rev 2:10

The word has been shown to signify preached the gospel. It has this sense in the following passages: Mat 3:1; Mat 4:17; Mat 10:7; Mat 10:27; Mat 11:1; Mar 1:7; Mar 1:38-39; Mar 3:14; Mar 5:20; Mar 16:20; Luk 4:44; Rom 10:14; 1Co 9:27; 1Co 15:11; and was thus understood by Irenus (4, 37, 2, p. 347, ed Grabe.) Dominum in ea qusunt sub terra descendisse evangelizantem adventum suum. (Clemens Alex. Strom. 6, 6, , . So Cyril Alex, on Joh 16:16, and in Hom. Pasch. 20.)

In concluding this Excursus, it is important to observe that the Apostle teaches nothing that bears any resemblance to the Popish notion of purgatory, since hades and purgatory are two distinct conceptions, the one being the abode of all the departed, the other a supposed place of purification for a particular class of Christians; nor does he teach universal recovery; nor does he intimate any thing in favour of a second probation after death. In addition to this caution, the reader is referred to the capital note of Rev. Dr. Schaff on Matthew XII. 32. pp. 228, 229.

Footnotes:

[49]1Pe 3:18. [, because, German dieweil, better than for; it is not, as Alford puts it, a reason, but the reason, why Christian suffering for well-doing is blessed,M.]

[50]1Pe 3:18. [ , translate: Christ also suffered for sins once.M.]

[51]1Pe 3:18. [ =a just person for unjust persons.M.]

[52]1Pe 3:18. [, Aor. put to death.M.]

[53]1Pe 3:18. [, Aor. made alive.M.]

[54]1Pe 3:18. [Both and , are in the Dative without any preposition: the change of prepositions in the English version is peculiarly unhappy, as obscuring the sense; and , are put in antithesis by the regular and ; translate: put to death indeed in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. The German has after the flesh and after the spirit. before is omitted in A. B. C. K. L. and Cod. Sin.M.]

[55]1Pe 3:19. [ =not by but in which, so German.M.]

[56]1Pe 3:20. [ ; translate: Which were disobedient once () when () the long-suffering of God, etc.M.]

[57]1Pe 3:20. [ =the ark was being prepared.M.]

[58]1Pe 3:20. [ =in which a few persons. The construction of is pregnant, the few being saved in it after having entered into it. A. B. sustain ; so does Cod. Sin.M.]

[59]1Pe 3:21. [ . Translate: Which (the water), as the antitype (de Wette) or in the antitype (Germ. Polygl.) is now saving us even (as or in) baptism. , Rec. C. K. L. Sinait. , A. B. with many versions. , Present, the action not yet completed.M.]

[60]1Pe 3:21. [ . Translate: Which (the water), as the antitype (de Wette) or in the antitype (Germ. Polygl.) is now saving us even (as or in) baptism. , Rec. C. K. L. Sinait. , A. B. with many versions. , Present, the action not yet completed.M.]

[61]1Pe 3:21. [Not putting-away (subst.) the filth of the flesh.M.]

[62]1Pe 3:21. [But , inquiry (Vulgate, de Wette, Alford) of a good conscience after God. See note below, in Exeg. and Critic.M.]

[63]1Pe 3:21. [, by means of.M.]

[64]1Pe 3:22. [Translate: Who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven. The Vulgate adds after deglutiens mortem, ut vit tern hrn efficeremur.M.]

[65]1Pe 3:22. [=being subjected.M.]

[66] Bullinger:Hic est fructus passionis dominic, quod fugitivos reducit ad Patrem, et perditos in des beatas.

[67]Ut nos qui abalienati fueramus, ipse abiens ad Patrem secum una, justificatos, adduceret in clum, 1Pe 3:22, per eosdem gradus, quos ipse emensus est, exinanitionis et exaltationis. Ex hoc verbo Petrus, usque ad c. i1Peter 1Pe 3:6, penitus connectit Christi et fidelium iter sive processum (quo etiam ipse sequebatur Dominum ex ejus prdictione, Joh 13:36) infidelitatem multorum et pnam innectens.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

DISCOURSE: 2403
THE NATURE AND ENDS OF CHRISTS DEATH

1Pe 3:18. Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

SUFFERINGS, of whatever kind, are not in themselves joyous, but grievous: nevertheless they may on some occasions become a source of joy and triumph. If, for instance, they be inflicted for righteousness sake, and we have the testimony of our conscience that we suffer for well-doing, we may then unfeignedly rejoice in them, as on other accounts, so especially because they render us conformable to our Lord and Saviour. This thought was suggested by St. Peter as a rich source of consolation to the persecuted Christians of his day: nor can we have any stronger incentive to patience and diligence in every part of our duty, than the consideration of what Christ has done and suffered for our sake.

The words before us lead us to contemplate,

I.

The nature of Christs sufferings

We speak not of their quality, as corporeal, or spiritual, but of their nature as described in the text. They were,

1.

Penal

[Some affirm that the sufferings of Christ were only to confirm his doctrine, and to set us an example: but these ends might have been equally answered by the sufferings of his Apostles [Note: If there was nothing penal in our Lords sufferings, his example was not near so bright as that of many of his disciples; since he neither met his sufferings with so much fortitude, nor endured them with such triumphant exultation, as many of his followers have since done. But if they were the penalty due to sin, his apparent inferiority is fully accounted for.]. But they were the punishment of sin: and the wrath of God due to sin, was the bitterest ingredient in them. We had merited the curse and condemnation of the law: and he, to deliver us from it, became a curse for us [Note: Gal 3:10; Gal 3:13.]. He suffered for sins; and though his punishment was not precisely the same either in quality or duration, as ours would have been, yet was it equivalent to our demerit, and satisfactory to the justice of an offended God.]

2.

Vicarious

[It was not for any sin of his own that Jesus was cut off [Note: Dan 9:26.]: he was a Lamb without spot or blemish [Note: 1Pe 1:19.], as even his enemies, after the strictest scrutiny, were forced to confess [Note: Joh 18:38; Joh 19:6.]. He died, the just for, and in the room of, the unjust [Note: , this imports substitution. See Rom 5:7. in the Greek.]: the iniquities of all the human race were laid upon him [Note: Isa 53:6.]: he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement he endured was to effect our peace [Note: Isa 53:4.]. He, who was innocent, became a sin-offering for us, that we, who are guilty, might be made righteous in him [Note: 2Co 5:21.].]

3.

Propitiatory

[The death of Christ, like all the sacrifices under the Jewish law, was an atonement for sin. It is continually compared with the Jewish sacrifices in this view [Note: Heb. passim.]. We say not, that the Father hated us, and needed to have his wrath appeased by the interposition of his Son (for the very gift of Christ was the fruit of the Fathers love [Note: Joh 3:16.]); but we say, in concurrence with all the inspired writers, that when it was necessary for the honour of the Divine government that sin should be punished, either in the offender himself or in his surety, Christ became our surety, and by his own death made a true and proper atonement for our sins, and thus effected our reconciliation with God [Note: Eph 5:2 and 1Jn 2:2.]. On any other supposition than this, the whole Mosaic ritual was absurd, and the writings of the New Testament are altogether calculated to deceive us.]

From considering the nature of our Lords sufferings, let us proceed to notice,

II.

The end of them

His one great design was to bring us to God:

1.

To a state of acceptance with him

[We were enemies to God in our minds by wicked works; nor could we by any means reconcile ourselves to God: we could not by obedience; because the law required perfect obedience: which, having once transgressed the law, we could never afterwards pay: nor could we by suffering, because the penalty denounced against sin was eternal, and consequently, if once endured by us, could never be remitted. But, when it was impossible for us to restore ourselves to Gods favour, we were reconciled to him by Christs obedience unto death [Note: Col 1:21-22. Rom 5:10.]; and to effect this reconciliation was the very end for which he laid down his life [Note: Eph 2:16.].]

2.

To the enjoyment of his presence in this world

[The holy of holies was inaccessible to all except the high-priest; nor could even he enter into it except on the great day of annual expiation [Note: Heb 9:7-8.]. But at the very instant of our Lords death, while the Jews were worshipping in the temple, the vail was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the most holy place was opened to the view of all [Note: Mat 27:50-51.]. This was intended to declare, that from henceforth all might have the freest and most intimate access to God [Note: Eph 2:13; Eph 2:18.]. All are now made priests unto God [Note: Rev 1:6.]; and, in this new and living way, may come to his mercy-seat to behold his glory, and to enjoy his love [Note: Heb 10:19-22; Heb 12:18-24.].]

3.

To the possession of his glory in the world to come

[It was not only to save us from condemnation, but to exalt us to everlasting happiness, that Jesus died. The salvation which he procured for us, is a salvation with eternal glory [Note: 2Ti 2:10.]. The robes in which the celestial spirits are arrayed, were washed in his blood [Note: Rev 7:14.]; and all the ransomed hosts unite in ascribing to him the felicity they enjoy [Note: Rev 5:9-10; Rev 5:12.]. Nothing short of this could answer the purposes of his love [Note: Joh 17:24.]; and the accomplishment of this was the ultimate end of all he suffered [Note: Heb 2:9-10.].]

Before we conclude this subject, let us contemplate
1.

How great is the love of Christ to our fallen race [Note: Who would do any thing like this for a fellow-creature? Rom 5:7-8. Neither Moses, Exo 32:32; nor St. Paul, Rom 9:3. thought of any thing like this. See the Discourse on Rom 9:1-5.]!

2.

How cheerfully should we endure sufferings for his sake [Note: Compare ver. 14. with the text, and Heb 13:12-13 and Act 5:41.]!

3.

How inexcusable will they be who continue still at a distance from their God [Note: Joh 15:22. fortiori, and Heb 2:3.]!

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

On the interesting subject of Christ’s suffering for sins, when he made his soul an offering for sin, and in which he acted, as the substitute and sponsor for his people, our souls may well dwell forever. It is a subject to be begun in this life, but never to be finished to all eternity. The Holy Ghost in this scripture, hath very blessedly explained somewhat of the manner of Christ’s offering, when he saith, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. I say somewhat of the manner: but our furthest researches, in the present unripe state of our spiritual apprehensions, can go but a very little way. I shall venture to offer my views of his difficult passage to the Reader. But I only propose them as mine, not to decide, but to enquire. Here, as in all other places of this Poor Man’s Commentary, where there is supposed to be any obscurity, and the enlightened children of God, see through different mediums; I simply offer my views, but I leave the Reader, under the Holy Ghost’s teaching, to form his own.

And first. Christ is here said, to be put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Very little doubt can arise from these words, but that by the flesh is meant, Christ’s human nature. And it should seem as plain, that as Christ alone is here spoken of, by the Spirit is meant, his divine nature; that is, his Godhead. And in confirmation, it should be observed, that Christ himself declared this before his death; when he said to the Jews, destroy this temple, meaning the temple of his body; and I will raise it up in three days, Joh 2:19 . And the Holy Ghost, by Paul, taught the Church of the Romans, that Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Rom 1:4 . Had Christ not been a quickening Spirit, and had not his own power and Godhead gone forth, in this act of raising himself from the dead, his resurrection would not have declared him to have been the Son of God with power. We perfectly well understand that as the offering up of Christ was through the eternal Spirit, and all the persons of the Godhead were engaged in their several office-characters, in that high transaction; so we as perfectly understand, that all the Persons of the Godhead concurred, and co-operated, in the glorious act of Christ’s resurrection. See 1Co 6:14 ; Joh 11:25 ; 1Ti 3:16 . But in this beautiful scripture now before us, there can be but little doubt, that it is Christ personally considered who is spoken of; being put to death in the flesh, that is, his human nature, and quickened by the Spirit, that is, his divine. It is Christ only that is here spoken of.

Secondly. The subject meets us very blessedly again, in another view. The Son of God, having taken into union with himself, that holy portion of our nature, Heb 2:16 , which contained in it the seed of holiness, for every individual member of his mystical body, constituting the Church; and having offered himself an offering for sin by his death on the cross, he not only raised himself from the dead, by his own quickening power, but, at the same time, raised and exalted this holy portion of our nature, his own personal body, to the possession of all divine perfections. By virtue of his eternal power and Godhead, he communicated to this human nature he had assumed into union with his divine, a glory surpassing all creation. The scripture expresseth it in those unequalled words; For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, Col 2:9 . So that in this mysterious union of Person, God and Man. Christ hath all the attributes of eternity, independency, sovereignty, and glory. For so it is written: As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also; because he is the Son of man, that is God-Man Mediator. Not as the Son of God only; for, as such, nothing could be given him; because he possessed in himself, from all eternity, in common with the Father and the Holy Ghost, all divine perfections. But it is as God-Man Mediator, whereby he hath all power given him in heaven, and in earth. See Joh 5:26-27 and Commentary.

Thirdly. From the two foregoing statements, we next arise to a third, growing out of the former; in the blessedness of which Christ’s whole body, the Church, is included; namely, that by virtue of this union of Christ’s human nature with his divine, Jesus, by his quickening Spirit, communicates to all his members in his mystical body, all things that pertain to life and godliness, 2Pe 1:3 . For here lies the blessedness of the Church’s union with her Lord Jesus, in his twofold nature, not only possesseth this personal glory, which is peculiarly his own, and incapable of being possessed by any other, or communicated to any other; but, as Head of his body the Church, he hath a power to communicate all communicable grace, here, and glory above, to the several members which constitute his mystical body. He hath, (as he said himself,) power over all flesh, to give eternal life, to as many as the Father hath given him, Joh 17 . And it is this, which makes Jesus so peculiarly endeared, and blessed to his people. Hence, as a quickening Spirit, Christ is said to raise our bodies, spiritual bodies, which by creation are natural bodies; and sown as such, when they return to the earth. So that, what was sown in dishonor, shall be raised in glory. For as in the first Adam of the earth, we have borne the image of the earthy; so in the second man, which is the Lord from heaven, and the last Adam so called, and who was made a quickening Spirit, we shall bear the image of the heavenly, 1Co 15:42-49 . And this beautiful scripture, which gives so clear an illustration of the doctrine, is yet further explained, by another part of the sacred writings, where the Holy Ghost by the same Apostle, in allusion to Christ as a quickening Spirit, saith, He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working, whereby he is able, even to subdue all things unto himself, Phi 3:21 .

Reader! pause, if but for the moment, to remark, what a world of holy joy and comfort ariseth out of this one view of Christ, as a quickening Spirit. How often doth the child of God feel, and groan under the workings of sin! And how sweet sometimes the prospect of the grave is, where sleeping in Jesus, we shall lay down all the sorrows and distresses, arising from these workings of sin; yea, and all sin together! But here is a prospect of blessedness, even going beyond that. While we look to Jesus as a quickening Spirit, we look through the grave, and beyond it, dying in union with his Person, we become the blessed dead, concerning whom John heard a voice from heaven, declaring them blessed, because they die in the Lord, Rev 14:13 . And here Jesus, beheld as a quickening Spirit, secures their blessed resurrection, because, they who die in the Lord shall arise and live in the Lord, Hence, both living and dying, they are the Lord’s. And the Holy Ghost gives his gracious testimony to the same, as well as marks the vast change, which shall then take place. He shall change our vile body, and fashion it like unto his glorious body. Jesus, who quickened his own body, will quicken yours. It went down to the grave a natural body. It shall come up a spiritual body. It was sown in corruption; it shall be raised in glory. It doth not yet appear, saith John, what we shall be, but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, 1Jn 3:2 . Like him! Reader! do not overlook this. Those vile bodies of ours, which by reason of sin, are so unlike him now, shall be like him then. And though we know not now, what we shall be, Jesus both knows now, as he will know then; and loves us now, as he will love us then. Oh! that every truly regenerated child of God would have this always in remembrance! What, though the body of sin and death distress you daily, yea, will continue to distress you, with its weaknesses, corruptions, and sins, to the last hour; yet when Jesus calls your spirit home, and leads your body down to the house appointed for all living, it shall then distress no more. How many of the Lord’s exercised ones is Jesus daily, hourly, calling home, whose bodies called forth the groan but just before Jesus called home the spirit? Oh! for grace and faith, to be always in lively exercise, under the full assurance, that how unlike soever our bodies are to Jesus at death, we shall be like him in our resurrection. Amidst all that is unlovely, and unloving in our bodies now, they are still the property, and must always be the care of the all lovely, and all loving Jesus. His, is to preserve them through life, to watch over them in death, to quicken them at the great rising day, and to present, both body, soul, and spirit, to himself, Father, and Spirit, faultless before the presence of his glory, with exceeding joy, Jud 1:24 . Let every child of God, in the prospect of this unquestionable truth, cry out, with him of old, and say: As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness, Psa 17:15 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

Ver. 18. That he might bring us ] To reconcile and bring men again to God was the main end of Christ’s coming and suffering. This is the wonderment of angels, torment of devils, &c.

The just for the unjust ] Oh, the vile dulness of our hearts, that cannot be duly affected herewith! Behold, here was piety scourged for the impious man’s sake, wisdom derided for the fool’s sake, truth denied for the liar’s sake, justice condemned for the unjust man’s sake, mercy afflicted for the cruel man’s sake; life dies for the dead man’s sake. What a suffering was that, when the Just suffered for the unjust, with the unjust, upon unjust causes, under unjust judges, and by unjust punishments, &c. Euripides saith it is but righteous that they that do things not good should suffer things not pleasant; but what had that innocent “Lamb of God” done?

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

18 22 .] Establishment of the above position on the fact of Christ having Himself suffered, being righteous , and through death, even in death vanquishing the power of death, entered into His glory at God’s right hand:

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

18 .] because (not ‘for:’ it does not only render a reason , but lays down the reason why Christian suffering for well-doing is blessed) Christ also (as well as yourselves if ye be so called as to suffer) suffered for sins (the thought is somewhat similar to that in ch. 1Pe 2:21 , but the intent of it different: there, it was as an example to us that the sufferings of Christ were adduced: here, it is as a proof of the blessedness and advantage of suffering for well-doing, that proof being closely applied to us by the fact that that suffering was undertaken on our behalf, and that blessedness is our salvation. I distinctly hold, with Wiesinger, to come in, as a point of comparison between Christ and ourselves, under the , against most Commentators, among whom are De Wette and Huther. Considering St. Peter’s love of antanaclasis (using the same term in two meanings), of which we have already had several examples, e. g. 1Pe 3:9 ; 1Pe 3:14-15 , I have no hesitation in applying the the one time to Christ, the other to ourselves, though His suffering for sin, and ours, are two very different things. He, the sinless One, suffered , for sins; as a sacrifice for sin, as a sinner, made sin for us, dying the death of a criminal: we, though not sinless, yet , are to suffer if God’s will so will it, , for sins which we are supposed to have committed, and as sinners. To miss this, is to miss one of the cardinal points of the comparison) once (“from this , through the ,” as has been beautifully said (Besser, in Wies.), “a beam of comforting light falls on the sufferings of Christians.” He suffered once : His sufferings are summed up and passed away: He shall suffer no more. And we are suffering : it shall be soon so thought of and looked back upon. For this reason doubtless, and not as c. to shew , nor as Pott, al., to contrast the sufferings of Christ as in Heb 10:1-2 , with the often-repeated sacrifices of the O. T., is inserted), a just person ( is purely predicative: not as E. V. ‘the just,’ which again loses the point of comparison) on behalf of unjust persons (this again, though the resembling tints are beginning somewhat to fade off, is another point of comparison: He suffered, just, righteous, : He represented, He was offered for, the unjust, the unrighteous: and so we in our turn, though in a far less deep and proper meaning, when we, being ( 1Pe 3:12 ), suffer as , though not in any propitiatory sense . We have similar uncertainty and play of meaning where the same subject is treated Rom 6:10-11 , , , : where the two expressions, though they have a common meaning of small extent, are in their widest and most important references of necessity widely divergent), that (with this we leave the comparison, as far as suffering is concerned, returning to it presently for a moment with the , and pass up to the of His innocent suffering, and to that which makes it so glorious and precious to us, as the ground of all our blessedness in suffering) He might bring us near to God (“ut nos, qui abalienati fueramus, ipse abiens ad Patrem, secum una, justificatos adduceret in clum, 1Pe 3:22 , per eosdem gradus quos ipse emensus est, exinanitionis et exaltationis. Ex hoc verbo Petrus, usque ad cap. 1Pe 4:6 , penitus connectit Christi et fidelium iter sive processum (quo etiam ipse sequebatur Dominum, ex ejus prdictione, Joh 13:36 ) infidelitatem multorum et pnam innectens.” Bengel: who also remarks on , “Deo id volenti. Plus notatur per dativum quam si diceretur ad Deum ”), put to death (this participial clause conditions the , giving the manner of that bringing us near to God) indeed in the flesh (of this there can be no doubt, and in this assertion there is no difficulty. is adverbial; it was thus, in this region, under these conditions, that the death on the cross was inflicted: His flesh, which was living flesh before, became dead flesh: Christ Jesus, the entire complex Person, consisting of body, soul, and spirit, was put to death ), but made alive ( again ) in the spirit (here there may seem to be difficulty: but the difficulty will vanish, if we guide ourselves simply and carefully by the former clause. ‘Quod ad carnem,’ the Lord was put to death: ‘quod ad spiritum,’ He was brought to life (for this, and not “remained alive,” must be insisted on as the meaning of ). His flesh was the subject, recipient, vehicle, of inflicted death: His spirit was the subject, recipient, vehicle, of restored life. But here let us beware, and proceed cautiously. What is asserted is not that the flesh died and the Spirit was made alive ; but that ‘quoad’ the flesh the Lord died, ‘quoad’ the Spirit He was made alive. He, the God-man Christ Jesus, body and soul, ceased to live in the flesh, began to live in the Spirit; ceased to live a fleshly mortal life, began to live a spiritual resurrection life. His own Spirit never died, as the next verse shews us. “This is the meaning, that Christ by His sufferings was taken from the life which is flesh and blood, as a man on earth, living, walking, and standing in flesh and blood and He is now placed in another life and made alive according to the Spirit, has passed into a spiritual and supernatural life, which includes in itself the whole life which Christ now has in soul and body, so that He has no longer a fleshly but a spiritual body.” Luther. And Hofmann, Schriftb. ii. 1. 336, says, “It is the same who dies and the same who is again made alive, both times the whole Man Jesus, in body and soul. He ceases to live, in that that , which is to His Personality the medium of action, falls under death; and He begins again to live, in that He receives back this same for a medium of His action again. The life which fell under death was a fleshly life, that is, such a life as has its determination to the present condition of man’s nature, to the externality of its mundane connexion. The life which was won back is a spiritual life, that is, such a life as has its determination from the Spirit, in which consists our inner connexion with God.” It is impossible, throughout this difficult and most important passage, to report all the various shades of difference of opinion which even the greater expositors have given us. I shall indicate only those which are necessary to be mentioned as meanings to be distinguished from that which I advocate, or as errors likely to fall constantly under the eye of my readers. Of this latter class is the rendering of the E. V. here, “ by the Spirit ,” which is wrong both grammatically and theologically: the explanation of c., Calov., al., : , : and that of Grot. that = , 2Co 13:4 ):

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Pe 3:18 . The advantage of suffering for well-doing is exemplified in the experience of Christ, who gained thereby quickening (1Pe 3:21 ) and glory (1Pe 3:22 ). How far the pattern applies to the Christian is not clear. Christ suffered once for all according to Heb 9:24-28 ; the Christian suffers for a little (1Pe 3:10 ). But does the Christian suffer also for sins ? St. Paul and Ignatius speak of themselves as ; compare the value of righteous men for Sodom. But even if Peter contemplated this parallel it is quite subordinate to the main idea, in which ( spirit ) even to the spirits in prison he went and preached them that disobeyed once upon a time when the patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was being fitted out . The spirits who disobeyed in the days of Noah are the sons of God described in Gen 6:1-4 . But there as in the case of Sarah St. Peter depends on the current tradition in which the original myth has been modified and amplified. This dependence supplies an adequate explanation of the difficulties which have been found here and in 1Pe 3:21 , provided that the plain statement of the preaching in Hades is not prejudged to be impossible. The important points in the tradition as given in the Book of Enoch (vi. xvi. cf. Jubilees v.) are as follows: the angels who lusted after the daughters of men descended in the days of Jared as his name (Descent) shows. The children of this unlawful union were the Nephilim and the Eliud. They also taught men all evil arts so that they perished appealing to God for justice. At last Enoch was sent to pronounce the sentence of condemnation upon these watchers, who in terror besought him to present a petition to God on their behalf. God refused to grant them peace. They were spirits eternal and immortal wi.o transgressed the line of demarcation between men and angels and disobeyed the law that spiritual beings do not marry and beget children like men. Accordingly they are bound and their children slay one another leaving their disembodied spirits to propagate sin in the world even alter it has been purged by the Flood. But Christians believed that Christ came to seek and to save the lost and the captives; all things are to be subjected to Him. So Peter supplements the tradition which he accepts. For him it was not merely important as connected with the only existing type of the Last Judgment or an alternative explanation of the origin and continuance of sin but also as the greatest proof of the complete victory of Christ over the most obstinate and worst of sinners. sc. : as a bodiless spirit in the period between the Passion (18) and the Resurrection-Ascension (22). , even to the typical rebels who had sinned past lorgiveness according to pre-Christian notions. , the spirits in prison, i.e. , the angels of Gen. l.c. who were identified with my spirit of Gen 6:3 , and therefore described as having been sent to the earth by God in one form of the legend (Jubilees, l.c. ). The name contains also the point of their offending (Enoch summarised above); cf. 2Pe 2:4 ; Jud 1:6 ; and the prophecy of Isa 51:1 (which Jesus claimed, Luk 4:8 f.), . These spirits were in ward when Christ preached to them in accordance with God s sentence, bind them in the depths of the earth (Jub. 1Pe 5:6 ). = , cf. Luk 4:8 . Before Christ came, they had not heard the Gospel of God’s Reign. Enoch’s mediation failed. But at Christ’s preaching they repented like the men of Nineveh; for it is said that angels subjected themselves to Him (1Pe 3:22 , cf. , throughout the Epistle. , their historic disobedience or rebellion is latent in the narrative of Gen 6 . and expounded by Enoch; cf. 1Pe 2:7 )., 1Pe 3:1 , 1Pe 4:17 . In LXX commonly = rebel ( ). , God’s long-suffering was waiting . The reading is attractive, as supplying a reference to the present period of waiting which precedes the second and final Judgment (Rom 2:4 ; Rom 9:22 ) The tradition lengthens the period of (Rom 3:25 ); but St. Peter limits it by adding while the Ark was being fitted out in accordance with Gen. If Adam’s transgression be taken as the origin of sin the long-suffering is still greater. The idea seems to be due to , I reflected , of the LXX, which stands for the unworthy anthropomorphism of the Hebrew I repented in Gen 6:6 . Compare for language Jas 5:7 ; Mat 24:37 f.; Luk 17:26 f. , sc. entered and . . . . St. Peter hints that here in the typical narrative is the basis of the disciple’s question, (Luk 13:23 ). so Gen 7:7 ; . = persons (of both sexes), cf. Act 2:41 , etc. The usage occurs in Greek of all periods; so in Hebrew and soul in English. , were brought safe through water . Both local and instrumental meanings of are contemplated. The former is an obvious summary of the whole narrative; cf. also (Gen 7:7 ). The latter is implied in the statement that the water increased and lifted up the ark (Gen 7:17 f.); though it fits better the antitype. So Josephus (Ant. I., iii. 2) says that “the ark was strong so that from no side was it worsted by the violence of the water and Noah with his household ”. Peter lays stress on the water (rather than the ark as e.g. , Heb 11 ) for the sake of the parallel with Baptism (Rom 6:3 ; cf. St. Paul’s application of the Passage of the Red Sea, 1Co 10:1 f.).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

hath. Omit.

suffered. The texts read “died”.

for = concerning. App-104.

sins. App-128.

Just. App-191.

bring. See Act 16:20.

in the flesh = in flesh. No art. or preposition. Dative case.

quickened. See Rom 4:17.

by the Spirit = in spirit. No preposition. (Dative case), and though the Authorized Version has the art. it is rejected by all the texts. App-101. The reference is to the resurrection body, and the contrast is between His condition when He was put to death and when He rose from the dead.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

18-22.] Establishment of the above position on the fact of Christ having Himself suffered, being righteous, and through death, even in death vanquishing the power of death, entered into His glory at Gods right hand:

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Pe 3:18. , because) That is better, by means of which we are rendered more like to Christ, in death and in life: for His passion brought the best issue (result) to Himself, and the best fruit to us.-, Christ) The Holy One of the holy. These are neatly turned expressions: Christ for sins, the just for the unjust.-, once only) never again to suffer hereafter. It is better for us also to suffer once with Christ, than for ever without Christ.- , for sins) just as though He Himself had committed them.-, suffered) and that too in such a way, that His enemies slew Him on account of His confession. But His preaching was not thereby hindered; for He discharged that office, both before the day of His death, and on the day of His death, and immediately after His death.-, the Just) [Who has accomplished good for us in a most pre-eminent way, 1Pe 3:17.-V. g.] Why should we not suffer on account of justice? 1Pe 3:14.- , that He might bring us) that He Himself, when He departed to the Father, might justify us, who had been alienated from God, and might bring us to heaven (1Pe 3:22) together with Himself, by the same steps of humiliation and exaltation which He Himself passed through. From this word as far as ch. 1Pe 4:6, Peter closely connects together the path or progress of Christ and the faithful (by which path he himself also was following his Lord, according to His prediction, Joh 13:36), intertwining therewith the unbelief and punishment of the many.- , to God) who willed it. More is signified by the Dative than if he had used a Preposition [ ], unto God.-, being slain by death) as though He now had no existence. Peter shows us how our , access to God, was effected.-, in the flesh) The flesh and the spirit do not properly denote the human and divine nature of Christ: comp. ch. 1Pe 4:6; but either of them, so far as it is the principle and fixed condition of life, and of the working which is in conformity with it, whether it be among mortals, of however righteous a character it may be; or with God, even that which is in glory: Rom 1:4, note. To the former state the soul in the body is more adapted; to the latter, the soul either out of the body, or when united with the glorified and spiritual body: 1Co 15:44.-, quickened) This process of quickening ought to be explained as antithetical to that of being put to death. As to the rest, Christ having life in Himself, and being Himself the life, neither ceased, nor a second time began, to live in spirit: but no sooner had He by the process of death been released from the infirmity which encompassed Him in the flesh, than immediately (as illustrious divines acknowledge) the energy of His imperishable life began to exert itself in new and most prompt modes of action. Wisely therefore does Hauber refer the burial of our Redeemer in some way to His exaltation, in the Contemplations about the Burial of Jesus Christ, p. 8. Comp. the dissertation of Essenius, p. 10. This quickening, and in connection with it His going and preaching to the spirits, was of necessity quickly followed by the raising of His body from the dead, and His resurrection from the tomb, 1Pe 3:21. Christ liveth unto God, Rom 6:10. Comp. the phrase according to God, ch. 1Pe 4:6. The discourse of our Lord, John 6., which Peter had received in a becoming manner, Joh 6:68, had been fixed in the heart of Peter; and with that portion, and especially Joh 6:51; Joh 6:53; Joh 6:62-63, may be compared that which Peter writes, 1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 1:19; 1Pe 3:18; 1Pe 3:22; 1Pe 4:1.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

1Pe 3:18-22; 1Pe 4:1-6

8. CHRIST AN EXAMPLE OF SUFFERING

1Pe 3:18-22 and 1Pe 4:1-6

18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God;–One cannot escape the conclusion that the apostles of our Lord were Christ-intoxicated men! It is highly significant that they did not write on any theme associated with redemption without being immediately reminded of, and alluding to, their matchless leader and guide. Peter’s reference to suffering wrongfully for righteousness’ sake brought immediately to his mind the one who, above all others, suffered in this manner and he is offered, as in 1Pe 2:21-25, as a pattern for other innocent sufferers. Here, as there, the apostle appeared to be unwilling to quit the subject with Christ presented as no more than an example of suffering; and he therefore proceeds to present the higher aspects of the Lord’s suffering and death in relation to the redemption and salvation of man. To this end, the writer sets forth the reason why it is blessed to suffer for righteousness’ sake. Christ suffered in this manner; Christ is our example; hence, he who suffers as the Lord did, more nearly identifies himself with Christ.

Each word in this text is vitally significant. Christ “suffered”; he suffered “for”(peri,concerning) our sins; he suffered concerning our sins once for all (apax), it not being necessary to make continual offerings as under the old order; and the design of his offering was “that he might bring us to God.” Through his suffering we now have access to God (Rom 5:2), and are privileged to come boldly to the throne of grace (Heb 10:19) though once afar off (Eph 2:17), we have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13). It is significant that there is no article before the words “righteous” and “unrighteous” in the original text. The meaning is, A righteous person suffered for (huger, on behalf of) unrighteous persons, a fact without which the blood of Jesus would have been no more efficacious than that of any other man.

Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit;–Tw.o things are affirmed of the Lord in this statement (1) he was put to death in flesh (there is no article before either “flesh” or “spirit” in this affirmation); (2) he was made alive in spirit. “In flesh” (sarki) and “in spirit” (Pneumati) are locatives, indicative of the sphere in which the action occurred. “Put to death” and “made alive” are aorist passive participles, thus pointing to a definite occasion when these events happened. The meaning is, the sphere of death, for our Lord, was in the flesh ; the sphere in which he was made alive (quickened, A.V.) was in the spirit. Death affected only his flesh; for from dying in spirit, here he was quickened, made alive. In what spirit? “In flesh” and “in spirit” are exactly balanced in the text; it is not likely that one is locative and the other instrumental; each is to be regarded as measuring the extent of the participles to which they are attached. “Flesh” and “spirit” are often opposed to each other in the sacred writings: “Manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit” (1Ti 3:16); judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” The “spirit” alluded to in this verse is, therefore, that inner principle which stands in contrast with the flesh–the divine spirit which Jesus possessed in common with all men, and which was not affected by the death which he suffered. Why should it be asserted that in this spirit he was made alive? It should be remembered that it was Peter’s purpose to show that though Christ suffered death this, far from terminating his existence or destroying his influence, merely enabled him to be energized, brought to active life in the realm of the spirit. His spirit, instead of perishing in death, was clothed with renewed and enhanced powers of life. At death, this spirit passed into a new sphere of existence, hence was said to have been made alive.

19 In which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison,–“In which” (en hoi), i.e., in which spirit–the spirit referred to in the preceding verse–the inner principle of life not’ subject to death. In this spirit he preached. “Preached” (eke-ruxen, aorist indicative of kerusso, to herald abroad, to proclaim), is a general term denoting a public proclamation or announcement. What was preached is not stated. This preaching was done to “spirits in prison.” They are called “spirits” because they were in a disembodied state when Peter wrote; and they were “in prison” i.e., under restraint as wicked beings. “In prison” is of frequent usage to denote the state or condition of those spirits which because of disobedience await condemnation at the last day. (2Pe 2:4; Jud 1:6; Rev 20:7.) It should be noted that Peter does not declare that these who were the objects of this preaching were in a disembodied state and in prison when the preaching was done; such was their condition when he wrote. The period in which such lived in the flesh, and the time when this preaching was done is clearly stated in the verse which follows.

That aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,–These “spirits” were once in the flesh; they were once upon a time (Note) disobedient; the period of their disobedience was “while the ark was a preparing”; and during this period Christ preached to them. What one does through an authorized agent, he is said to do himself (1Jn 4:1), hence Christ, in the person of Noah, preached to the antediluvians during the period in which the ark was being constructed and these, having rejected this preaching, died in disobedience, and were under restraint in the spirit realm when Peter wrote. The meaning of the passage, simply and briefly put, is this: Christ preached; he preached “in spirit” to “spirits in prison.” These spirits in prison were wicked persons who lived while the ark was “a preparing.” The preaching which Christ did was through Noah. Those to whom the preaching was done were bound in the prison house of disobedient spirits at the time the letter Peter wrote was penned. (See additional note on these verses at the end of the chapter.)

Demonstrated in the events associated with the ark and the flood was the “longsuffering of God.” One hundred and twenty years were especially designated as the probationary period afforded man. (Gen 6:3.) During this period there most have been many opportunities afforded the antediluvian world to turn in penitence to the Lord. These were, for the most part, rejected.

Wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:–“Wherein” is, literally, “into which” (pis hen), i.e., into the ark in order to be saved the eight souls went, being saved in it through (dia, by) means of the water. They were saved in the ark, and by the water; the ark protected them from the flood, and the water bore up the ark, the means of their salvation from the old world. The eight souls saved were Noah and his wife, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and their wives. (Gen 7:13.) Noah was a preacher of righteousness. (2Pe 2:5.)Though he continued his preaching through the period in which the ark was being constructed, only those of his family were finally induced to avail themselves of the protection it afforded. The vast world of unbelievers about him perished. Those saved in the ark were “saved through water.”

21 Which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism,–The antecedent of “which” is the “water” alluded to in verse 20, not, however, the water of the flood, but water generally, and in this clause identified as the water of baptism. The apostle thus affirms that water, utilized in baptism, “after a true likeness,” of that characteristic of the deliverance of Noah and his family from the old world, now saves. “After a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism” is, literally, in the Greek text, “which antetype is now saving you, even baptism.” The salvation of Noah and those with him is thus made a type of the deliverance which the sinner receives in passing through the waters of baptism. The “likeness” obtains in the following manner: (1) the waters of the flood bore up the ark and delivered its occupants from the destruction of the antediluvian world; (2) these waters separated those who were saved from those who drowned in them; (3) the flood destroyed the evils of the old world and enabled Noah and his family to emerge into a new existence. In like fashion, (1) baptism is the final condition in a plan through obedience to which one is enabled to escape the condemnation of the lost. (Mar 15:15-16.) (2) Baptism designates the line of demarcation between the saved and the lost. (3) In baptism the “old man of sin” is buried, and from its watery grave one comes forth to “walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:4.)

It should be noted: (1) The baptism which is here declared to save is water baptism–baptism being the antetype of the water of deliverance in the flood. “Which also . . .” is a reference to water, ordinary water, the same kind of water in the flood. The baptism which saves is, therefore, water baptism. (2) The salvation contemplated is not deliverance from persecution, affliction, sickness, or death; all of these embraced in Peter’s statement suffered such. Neither is the salvation future baptism is said to save now. Inasmuch as the salvation promised is not deliverance from earthly suffering or trial, and is declared to be “now,” the conclusion is inescapable that the deliverance promised is salvation from past, or alien, sins; and the statement is thus in exact harmony with one earlier made by the same apostle when, in response to the query, “Brethren, what shall we do?” answered, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Act 2:37-38.)

The mention of water in Connection with Noah’s deliverance from the old world immediately suggested to Peter a resemblance which exists in the water of our salvation, “even baptism.” It should be noted that Peter does not affirm that Noah and his family were saved by water, nor in water, nor from water; they were saved through water, i.e., the water was the means through which God exercised his saving power. Following “a true likeness” baptism “saves now, not of course as a Saviour, but as an instrument through which God exerts saving power. When Naaman was led finally to dip in the river Jordan to be cleansed of his leprosy, he did not attribute miraculous efficacy to its muddy waters; this power resided only in God. Yet it was not until he dipped that he was cleansed. (2Ki 5:14.) Similarly, when one is properly and intelligently baptized today, he does not understand that the power of forgiveness resides in the water, but in God; and that the baptism is a condition precedent to receiving salvation from God’s hand.

Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; –To guard against any misunderstanding that should arise as a result of a misinterpretation of the first clause of this verse, Peter explains that baptism does not put away “the filth of the flesh.” “Filth” (rupos) refers to that which is dirty, physically defiled. Baptism does not wash sin from the skin, and is not to be confused with a bath for the body or a ceremonial cleansing of the flesh. It is a condition precedent to the forgiveness which God alone exercises. (Mar 16:15-16; Rom 6:3-4.)

Having explained what baptism is not, Peter tells what it is: “the interrogation of a good conscience toward God.” An “inter-rogation” is a question, an inquiry; baptism thus becomes an act through which an individual seeks to manifest a good conscience. One submitting sincerely to baptism follows the promptings of a good conscience; indicates thereby that his conscience is sensitive, and that he is desirous of doing exactly what the Lord has com-manded. That the conscience is here declared to be good prior to baptism is no objection to the conclusion that baptism is essential to salvation. Saul of Tarsus possessed a good conscience while in unbelief and a persecutor of the church. (Act 23:1.)

Baptism derives its benefits “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” which it symbolizes. Baptism “loth now save” only be-cause Jesus was raised from the dead.

22 Who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.–Jesus is often said to be at the right hand of God. (Psa 110:1; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Heb 1:3.) It is a posi-tion of eminence, honor, dignity, and power to which he was ele-vated following his ascension. In the announcement of the great commission (Mat 28:18-20), Jesus declared that all authority had been delivered into his hands; and here, the lesser authorities of the universe are said to be under subjection to him. For a similar declaration of Christ’s authority, see. Eph 1:19-23. “Angels and authorities and powers” embrace the hierarchy of heaven. (Col 2:10-15.) The words include not only the good angels, but also the bad; and “authorities and powers” are comprehensive terms designed to embrace all of every class of beings under God.

Commentary on 1Pe 3:18-22 by N.T. Caton

1Pe 3:18-For Christ also hath once suffered for sins.

Our great example (Christ) suffered. Once, however, and no more. It is, therefore, no proof that our cause is bad because we suffer. He suffered on the cross for sins not his own. He was just, and he suffered for the unjust. The object of his suffering was that he might thereby bring us to God.

1Pe 3:18-Put to death in the flesh.

Nails were driven through his hands and feet. His side was pierced. All these wounds were inflicted on his flesh-his body suspended. He was upon the cross, the Roman method of capital punishment, and there his earth-life was terminated.

1Pe 3:18-But quickened by the Spirit.

That is, made alive by the Spirit. The idea that Christ did not die, that some entertain, I regard as infidelity; bold, bald infidelity, and nothing else. The idea I here and now unhesitatingly repudiate. Let the Word of the living God speak. Paul to the Corinthians asserts clearly and plainly as a part of the gospel that he there preached the fact of his death. “How that Christ died” (1Co 15:3). This I believe, and here I stand and leave all consequences in the hands of a merciful and loving Father. That Christ had life in himself I do not question. That he had power to lay down his life and power to take it again he affirms, and I believe I see no difficulties here to the humble believer. The veiled things are not for our mental vision. In God’s own good time they may be made plain. It is enough for me to know that he was made alive by the Spirit, and that he arose from the dead. This much God desires me to know, for he revealed just this much, and with it I am content.

1Pe 3:19-By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.

By which?

By the Spirit. The grammatical construction of the sentence requires this answer. The sense of the passage also demands it. He went.

Who went?

Christ, of course.

How did he go?

By the Spirit; same Spirit by which he was quickened, and by this Spirit Christ preached unto the spirits in prison. It is manifestly certain that at some time these spirits heard preaching.

When did they hear it? is the question.

Was it during the time which intervened between the death of Christ and his resurrection, or was it before? By whom was the preaching done? Was it by Christ in person, or by his Spirit in another?

Before proceeding further in the investigation, it becomes necessary, to a clear understanding of the matter, to inquire something more about these spirits in prison. No doubt they were in prison at the time Peter wrote this Epistle, but were they in prison at the time of the preaching mentioned? Who were they, anyhow? Peter leaves us in no doubt on this question, for he fully enlightens us in a subsequent verse. They were the people who lived before the flood. They were the antediluvians. We can now safely proceed. Did Christ preach to these? It is an admitted axiom that what one does by another, he is recognized as doing by himself. Can this axiom be applied to the preaching of Christ to the antediluvians? Let this question be examined in the light of the sacred Scriptures: “And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph 2:17-18). Now, Paul attributes this preaching to Christ, when it is absolutely certain that it was not done by him in person, but by the apostles. Nehemiah also, in the ninth chapter of his book and at the thirtieth verse, regards the Father as testifying against the Jews, and yet asserts that he did so by his Spirit in the prophets. The axiom is unquestionably a Bible principle. If Paul and Nehemiah were correct, may not Peter with equal propriety attribute to Christ what he did by his Spirit in Noah? This view of the matter, which manifestly is the correct one, answers all questions and solves all apparent difficulties. Remember that it is this same Peter who informs us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. (2Pe 2:5.) The spirits to whom Noah preached were, at the time Peter wrote, in prison. The preaching was done while they lived on the earth. The same Spirit that quickened Christ inspired Noah, and by him preached to the antediluvians. Taking this view of the matter, we can fully comprehend the declaration contained in Gen 6:3, which reads: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” Its striving was while Noah preached. Thus Christ may be said to do what he did by his servant Noah. With the language of the apostle Peter before us, this view, and none other, can, with safety, be assumed. In his style of expression the Spirit that inspired the ancient prophets was the Spirit of Christ (1Pe 1:11.) In fact, he leads us to believe that, from the very beginning, the scheme of redemption, and the whole of it, as the ages passed, down to its complete revelation to humanity, was under the control and direction of Christ.

1Pe 3:20-Which sometime were disobedient.

The antediluvians refused to heed and obey the preaching of Noah. They disregarded his warnings. All this time God bore with them. His long-suffering was extended to them all the time Noah was engaged in building the ark.

1Pe 3:20-Wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

In the ark Noah built, eight persons were saved-Noah and his three sons and their wives. The water that destroyed all other persons saved these eight.

1Pe 3:21-The like figure whereunto even baptism.

The saving of Noah and family by water, Peter says, is a figure of baptism, which he affirms doth also now save us. God saved Noah by water because he believed and obeyed God, and destroyed all others then living, because they believed not, and of course refused to obey. That was his appointment then. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mar 16:16) is God’s appointment now. Complying with God’s appointment in baptism, we are safe; or baptism, the antitype of the waters of the flood, saves us. The prerogative is with God to name the conditions or means, and on the part of his creatures to accept. Comply and be saved, or reject and be destroyed.

1Pe 3:21-Answer of a good conscience.

Toward God the answer of the conscience is good whenever our own consciousness assure us that we have done just what God required of us, without alteration or substitution. We mistake not when we take God at his word. Anything less leads to danger. And as if inspiration looking down the ages by anticipation would guard against all mistakes, utters its warning. Inspiration saw in the future partisan zeal, claiming that as the water of baptism only affected the body, it was unnecessary; that the office of baptism was to wash the body simply. The Spirit in Peter says this is a mistake. It is not commanded for that purpose at all, but for the answer of a good conscience. God commands baptism. Man complying has a conscience in that respect void of offense. His conscience is good. It could not have been good had he failed to obey the command. The mistake as to the office-work of baptism might occur, because the whole body is washed, but how on earth a mistake could occur as to its form, no one can rationally tell. The whole body enveloped in water is as far removed in action from any form of affusion as day is from night.

1Pe 3:21-By the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God demonstrated to the world the Messiahship of Jesus by raising him from the dead. He was determined by that resurrection to be God’s Son, and clothed with all authority in heaven and on earth. He it is who commands baptism. It is his appointment. By it he saves. He had the power to have suspended salvation upon some other terms, or upon something else, but he did not, and that is the end of the matter. We can not question his authority, and it is impious to doubt his ability and willingness.

1Pe 3:22-Who is gone into heaven.

Jesus Christ has gone into heaven. He is there seated at God’s right hand. He is now the Governor of the universe. Angels and all human rulers and governments are now subject to his sway.

Commentary on 1Pe 3:18-22 by Burton Coffman

1Pe 3:18 –Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

Suffered for our sins … The great atonement of Christ is denoted by this. Paine pointed out that there are visible in this epistle “three stands of Peter’s thought about the atonement.”[26] It is compared to the paschal lamb (1Pe 1:19), the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (1Pe 1:24), and to the scapegoat (1Pe 1:24).

Suffered for sins once … “Once” is the great New Testament word from the Greek [@hapax], meaning “once for all.”Heb 9:26); (2) Christ’s death (Heb 9:28); (3) the deliverance to mankind of the faith (Jud 1:3); (4) the offering of Christ’s blood in heaven (Heb 9:12 Heb 9:26); (5) the appointment to die (Heb 9:27); (6) God’s shaking the earth and the heavens so as to remove them (Heb 12:27); and (7) the suffering of Christ for sins (1Pe 3:18).

The righteous for the unrighteous … Let it be strictly observed that Peter in this does not say, “That he might bring God to us,” but “that he might bring us to God.” There was nothing in the atonement that was designed to change God in any manner; for it was men who needed to be changed. The separation between God and man “is one-sided.”[28] The suffering of Christ was not to satisfy God but for the purpose of getting the attention of rebellious men. God already loved humanity before the atonement was even possible.

Put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit … The first clause is clear enough being a reference to the crucifixion of our Lord; but there is a wide disagreement among scholars as to the meaning of “made alive in the spirit.”

Made alive … It is amazing that some read this as if it meant “kept alive,” or “continued alive”; whereas the true meaning of the words, as in the text, is “made alive,” resurrected! “In the New Testament, these words are never used in the sense of maintained alive, or preserved alive.”[29] Therefore, these words must be understood to mean the resurrection of the Son of God from the grave, the same being the only way in which Jesus Christ was ever “made alive.”

But who did the making alive? This also is easily resolved. It was achieved by “the spirit of holiness” (Rom 1:4), as Paul said, significantly using the expression in connection with “the flesh” of Christ which was of the seed of David, much as Peter referred to “flesh” which was crucified. It was through that same “eternal spirit” that Christ offered himself to God (in the crucifixion) (Heb 9:24); and by that very same Holy Spirit that he was conceived in the womb of Mary (Mat 1:20). In fact, the very Spirit which indwelt Christ throughout his earthly sojourn was the Holy Spirit dwelling in him without measure (Joh 3:31), and so uniquely associated with Christ that the Holy Spirit could not even come to the earth to dwell in the apostles until Christ should go back to heaven! (Joh 16:7). There is thus little doubt, therefore, that it was the Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead, and the translators could have saved a lot of misunderstanding if they had capitalized Spirit in this passage. We reject the intricate arguments from the “antithesis” in the Greek text which is said to refute this; because, as Barnes said, “So far as the mere use of this word (spirit) is concerned, it might easily refer to his own soul, to his divine nature, or to the Holy Spirit.”[30] Men who speak learnedly about the alleged difference between the divine nature of Christ, his human soul, and the blessed Holy Spirit which was in Christ throughout his earthly sojourn are unconvincing.

But, did not Christ declare that he himself would raise himself up from the grave (Joh 10:17)? Yes, indeed; but there are hundreds of examples in the New Testament where something done by one member of the Godhead is attributed to another member of it. The resurrection of Christ is also ascribed to the Father (1Co 6:14; 2Co 4:14; Eph 1:20), thus being ascribed to all three, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

[26] Stephen W. Paine, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 977.

[28] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 420.

[29] Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1953), p. 176.

[30] Ibid.

1Pe 3:19 –in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison,

In which … The Spirit by which the preaching in view here was done was the blessed Holy Spirit, by whom and through whom all the preaching has been done throughout the ages. To make the spirit by which Christ preached, as here, to have been his human spirit, or anything else except the Holy Spirit, involves men in making distinctions that are simply not discernible in the word of God.

He went and preached … Commentators with a theory to uphold make a big thing out of the went,” encountering innumerable difficulties when they suppose that he went “while dead and buried”! As a matter of fact, “he went and preached” is just a Biblical way of saying he preached. “Such expressions (he went) are often redundant in Greek.”[31] Herodotus often used such expressions as “he spoke, saying,” or “he speaking, said,” and we have the same kind of an expression in “he went and preached.” “No particular stress should be laid on the clause he went.”[32] Speaking of the preaching of the apostles themselves, Paul said that Christ “came and preached peace to you that were afar off” (Eph 2:17); but Christ preached to the Ephesians through human instruments, nevertheless it is said that he “came and preached” to them. Therefore, “If Christ is said by Paul to go and do, what he did by his apostles, Christ may with equal propriety be said by Peter to go and do what he did by Noah.”[33]

Unto the spirits in prison … The meaning of this is that the preaching mentioned in the previous verse was directed to living men and women on the earth at the time the preaching was done, but who at the time of Peter’s mentioning this were “in prison,” that is, in a deceased state, under the sentence of God like the angels who are cast down and reserved unto the day of judgment and destruction of the wicked. There is another possibility, namely, that the whole antediluvian world to whom the preaching was directed were said by Peter in this passage to have been “in prison” at the time of the preaching of Noah. If that is what he meant, then the figure harmonizes perfectly with Jesus’ preaching to the citizens of Nazareth and others of that generation, referring to his message as “a proclamation of release to the captives,” that is, the captives in sin (Luk 4:18). There is no Scriptural reason whatever for not referring to that whole generation which rejected the preaching of Noah as “the souls in prison”; however, Peter wrote, “spirits in prison”; and, for that reason, we must refer the words “spirits in prison” to their present status at the time of Peter’s writing. They, like the fallen angels, were then “spirits in prison.” Ages earlier, they were living men and women who rejected the preaching of Christ through Noah. Peter here spoke of them, by way of identification, as “spirits in prison”; but there is not a line in this passage which requires us to believe that Christ preached personally to those “spirits in prison” during the three days his body lay in the tomb! See Note 1 at end of the chapter.

It is clear then that the meaning attributed to “spirits in prison” turns altogether upon the fact of when the preaching was done. The next verse makes it certain that it was during the generation of Noah, a time when the “spirits” here mentioned were not “spirits” merely, but “souls”; therefore, “spirits in prison” is a reference to their status at the time Peter wrote.

[31] Ibid., p. 177.

[32] Ibid.

[33] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 480.

1Pe 3:20 –that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:

That aforetime were disobedient … “Aforetime” flies like a banner over the whole passage; those souls Peter identified as “spirits in prison” when he wrote were living souls generations earlier in the time of Noah. In the time of Noah they were disobedient; in the time of Noah Christ preached to them; in the time of Noah, most of them rejected salvation; in the time of Noah “few” were saved. A few “spirits”? no indeed! a few “souls,” that being what all of them were at the time of the preaching. There is absolutely no hint whatever in the entire New Testament of any spirits, at any time whatever, ever having been saved, or for that matter, even preached to. All of the nonsense that one reads about Christ preaching to the spirits in Hades is a fabrication built like a superstructure above and beyond the New Testament text. Of course, the selfishness of men enters into such interpretations. Men would like to have a second chance. Having rejected Christ in their bodies, they dream of getting preached to “as spirits”! The popular notion held by many that Christ preached to disembodied spirits is rationally inconceivable. If he had done such a thing, why should Noah’s generation alone, of all who ever lived on earth, have been singled out as the beneficiaries? No. We must agree with Nicholson:

The passage holds out no hope for the impenitent; it forbids the notion that those who during their earthly life refuse the gospel of God’s grace may have a second chance in the world beyond, and may be ultimately saved.[34]

When the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah … This is a further elaboration of the “aforetime,” just mentioned. That “aforetime” was “when” the longsuffering of God waited.

In the days of Noah … This is another phrase pertaining to the “aforetime”; it was in the days of Noah.

While the ark was a preparing … This is still another clause pertaining to the “aforetime”; therefore, there is really no excuse for construing the events of these verses as things that happened during that three days and nights Jesus was in the tomb. Furthermore, the “aforementioned” time is the only time specified in the whole paragraph.

Days of Noah … Why is Noah introduced in this context? It was because of the figure of our salvation inherent in the event related here; and what the apostle designs to show by this is that the same spirit that preached through Noah is exactly the same Spirit now preaching through the apostles, a fact Peter had already categorically stated in 1Pe 1:11. Another very obvious purpose of Peter is to encourage the saints under threat of impending persecution by calling attention to the fact of “few” being saved through the great debacle of the flood, with the inherent warning that it may also be “few” who will be saved through the looming terror. Thus it is clear that the preaching Jesus did (1Pe 3:19) was done through Noah. The surmise that Christ in some spiritual state would have done any preaching is only that. If Christ had desired to communicate to either spirits or living souls in any kind of spiritual state, it would not have been necessary for him to enter our earth-life at all. Not even the Holy Spirit addresses men directly; as Jesus said, “He shall not speak from himself” (Joh 16:13).

While the ark was a preparing … is a reference to a period of some 120 years during which the ark was built, and during which Noah preached to the rebellious world. He is called a “preacher of righteousness” (2Pe 2:5). Some who would interpret this Scripture as meaning that Christ preached through some other instrumentality than that of the Holy Spirit make various arguments from the Greek text; but, as Barnes said (even while not agreeing that it was by the Holy Spirit), “The language here is consistent with the thought that Christ did the preaching through the instrumentality of another, to wit, Noah.”[35]

Wherein few … eight souls were saved … These were Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their respective wives.

Through water … Just as the waters of the flood separated between Noah’s family and the rebellious antediluvian world, just so the water of Christian baptism separates between God’s people today and those who are unsaved. That analogy Peter would promptly state.

[34] Roy S. Nicholson, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 291.

[35] Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 178.

1Pe 3:21 –which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ;

After a true likeness … The figure, pattern, or type in this verse is the salvation of Noah’s family “by water.” The common misunderstanding that makes baptism the figure in this place is totally wrong, baptism being the antitype, the reality which was only symbolized by the salvation of Noah. How does the salvation of Noah prefigure the salvation of Christians?

(1) It was the water of the flood that separated Noah from the disobedient generation that perished; and it is the water of Christian baptism that separates between the saved of today and the disobedient who perish.

(2) Noah (and family) were borne through the flood for a period of nine months; and as Macknight noted, “Noah’s coming forth from the water to live again on the earth, after having been full nine months in the water, might fitly be called his being born of water.”[36] Christians too must be “born of water” (Joh 3:5).

(3) The same water which destroyed the antediluvians was the water which bore up the ark and delivered Noah and his family into a new life. It is the water of baptism that destroys the wicked today, in the sense that they rebel against God’s command, belittle and despise it, either refusing to do it at all, or downgrading any necessity of it, even if they submit to it; while at the same time, it is the water of baptism that buries the Christian from his past and “into Christ,” from which he, like Noah, “rises to walk in newness of life.”

(4) The same element is prominent in both deliverances, that of Noah and that of the Christian, the same being water; and it is exactly the same kind (who ever heard of different kinds of water?) of water that is evident in both salvations, his and ours. The water that caused the flood is one with the water of Christian baptism.

(5) It was the water of the flood which washed away the filth of that evil generation; and it is the water of Christian baptism that, in a figure, washes away the sins of Christians (Act 22:16). There is a variation in the figure here, which Peter pointed out; namely, that, whereas it was actual filth that was washed away by the flood, it is moral and spiritual filth which are washed away in baptism. The former affected the flesh and not the conscience; the latter affected the conscience but not the flesh.

(6) Only a few were saved through the flood; and (in the relative sense) only a few will be saved in Christ.

Doth now save you, even baptism … This is as awkward a translation of this as the ingenuity of man could have devised. “Baptism” is the subject of the clause and should be first, reading, “Even baptism doth now save you.” This simple statement of truth should upset no one, for Christ himself said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mar 16:16); and Peter here said no more than what the Lord said there.

Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh … In this clause, Peter pointed out a variation in the figure; whereas it was the polluted flesh that was destroyed and removed by the flood, it is a moral and spiritual cleansing effected in baptism. Some have made this an excuse for saying, “Peter is telling them that it (baptism) is no external rite.”[37] It is hard to conceive of a more irresponsible statement by a Christian scholar than this one. All history denies the notion that baptism is not an external rite. On the other hand, it most assuredly is an external rite. Christ was baptized in a river. It took a laver (baptistery) to perform it in the days of the apostles (see Tit 3:5, where the “laver of regeneration” is mentioned, and comment in my Commentary on Titus, pp. 145-147); it was performed in pools of water like those men pass by on the road when traveling (Act 8:36); and even today there is hardly a church of any name in all Christendom that does not have in its place of worship either a baptistery or the vestige of one (the font); and it may be inquired where did these come from(?) if Christian baptism is not an external rite? Of course, it is also a fact that baptism is not merely, or solely, an external rite.

But the interrogation of a good conscience toward God … The word of the Lord seems to have been designed in order to give men who will not believe it some kind of crutch upon which to rely in their unbelief. Someone has said, “There is hardly a text in the Bible that does not have a nail in it where the devil can hang his hat.” The word here falsely rendered “interrogation” is exactly that. In the Greek language, as in the English, there are many words that have multiple meanings, some of those meanings being actually contradictory, and this is such a word. In English, for example, the word “fast” may be applied to a horse that wins the Derby, or to one that is tied fast to a post. Take the English word “cut”: (1) It means a mountain pass; (2) a wound inflicted by a knife; (3) to skip, as when one cuts a class; (4) the cut-off in golf tournaments; (5) to adulterate, as when hard drugs are cut, etc., etc.

Similarly, the Greek word here rendered “interrogation” has a number of meanings: “answer,” “interrogation,” “appeal,” “inquiry,” “craving,” “prayer,” and “pledge.”[38] Three of these meanings, appeal, craving and prayer, if used in the translation would indicate that baptism is submitted to as a craving, appeal or prayer for a good conscience, whereas the others would be something that a good conscience already received before baptism does. These meanings are antithetical, and the true meaning must be determined by Peter’s teaching elsewhere. Did he mean that Christians before they are baptized have already received a good conscience and that their baptism is only the response that a good conscience gives; or did he mean that in order to receive a good conscience one must be baptized? It is the conviction of a lifetime, on the part of this writer, that it is the latter meaning which is true. No man, as long as he has not obeyed the divine commandment to be baptized, can ever have, even if he should live 200 years, a good conscience as long as he is unbaptized. Therefore, full agreement is felt with Nicholson’s endorsement of the New American Standard Bible’s rendition thus:

And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you – not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience – through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (NASB).[39]

Peter’s great Pentecostal sermon has the same meaning, where he declared that believers should repent and be baptized in order to receive the forgiveness of sins (Act 2:38). There is further comment on this in my Commentary on Hebrews, pp. 200-201.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ … Peter kept coming back again and again to the fountain source of all blessing. Even the obedience of the gospel by sinners is not the source of their redemption, despite being one of the conditions of its bestowal. The resurrection of Christ is everything in the Christian religion. Both in 1Pe 1:3 and here, Peter did not fail to stress this.

Zerr was faithful to point out that there is also in this text an effective argument for immersion as the action that truly is baptism in the New Testament sense. “Had the rite been performed by sprinkling, all would have known that such an act could not cleanse anything,”[40] certainly not any filth from the body.

[36] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 483.

[37] A. J. Mason, op. cit., p. 422.

[38] Archibald M. Hunter, op. cit., p. 134.

[39] Roy S. Nicholson, op. cit., p. 292.

[40] E. M. Zerr, op. cit., p. 261.

1Pe 3:22 –who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

The same magnificent truth proclaimed by Jesus in Matthew’s Great Commission (Mat 28:18-20) is also enunciated here. The universal power and godhead of the Son of God is a cornerstone of Christian doctrine.

Note 1. In the interpretation above, the term “spirits in prison” was construed as a reference to people who at the time Peter referred to them were deceased, therefore “spirits” in prison, in the sense of their being like the fallen angels imprisoned until the day of their doom at the final judgment. In further support of that view the following is added. The Tyndale Commentary offered the objection that “spirits in prison” is not elsewhere used in the Bible to describe departed human spirits.[41] However, both wicked spirits, that is, spirits of wicked people, and the spirits of the just made perfect (Heb 12:23) are thus referred to if the word “spirits” (of persons plainly said in the next line to have been disobedient) is here construed as a reference to the spirits of wicked men; and there is no logical reason why this should not be done. If it was proper to refer to the “spirits of just men,” it is also correct to refer to “spirits in prison” as a designation of the wicked men deceased, for the very fact of their being “in prison” designates them as wicked.

ENDNOTE:

[41] F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973), p. 128.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

sins

Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Depths of Mercy

Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.1Pe 3:18-22.

1. St. Peters Epistle might be called the Epistle of exhortation. It is a persuasive plea for a lofty, spiritual character. In this letter, the courageous though impetuous Peter, the practical Apostle, shows that he was capable of lofty flights, and that his conception of the Christian character was all-comprehensive and complete. To him the new man in Christ Jesus was no weakling, but a man of many parts, strength, and beauty. Again and again in this chapter he makes us feel that to him the salient feature of Christs life was His suffering. A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief is the phrase that must occur to any one who reads this section with care. Then in many ways St. Peter urges his readers and hearers to express the same Divine quality. That example of God in Christ must be followed by the disciple. The disciple must not be surprised when in the growth of holiness and zeal for service there occur distressing and disheartening experiences. At such times the disciple must think of his Lord. Then he will recall incidents in that life which disclose the sufferings inseparable from that high following. This is the unity of purpose running through all the sentences of the paragraph.

The capacity of some people to bear pain, misfortune, disappointment, without breaking down, may be the most powerful agency for convincing others of the reality and value of the Christian life and it may be Gods way of touching other hearts. When they told our Lord that Lazarus was ill He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby. If that was the purpose of Lazarus sickness it may be the purpose and explanation of your present trouble. Then it is worth bearing, and the man who believes that the chief end of life is to glorify God will not shrink from the course of pain. The man who would follow Christ must be willing, and even eager, to take on his own blameless shoulders the blame which belongs to another. He must be willing to open his heart to the sufferings that fall on other lives. He must be willing, in order to save another and to serve him, to become involved in the consequences of his wrong-doing. He must be willing, like the hero in Ralph Connors Prospector, to put himself into dangerous and equivocal positions, to endure suspicion and blame which rightly belong to another, in order that he may shield and save. There are still innumerable opportunities for the innocent to suffer with the guilty and for them, and the man who refuses to take them, who will shut the sufferings and sins of the world from his heart, who says, let us have a good time of comfort and ease, or of gaiety and pleasure, who says, the affairs of the people about me are no concern of mine, who makes it the first business of his life to avoid trouble and misunderstanding, is a stranger to the spirit of Christ. As long as there is suffering in the world, and sin, the Christian must share it. Hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps.1 [Note: Charles Brown, Trial and Triumph, 94.]

2. The Apostle has been speaking of the suffering patience of Christ, and urges the example of it upon his readers. But he shows that it was more than an example. It was an exhibition of redeeming power; it was a sacrifice for sins. Its purpose was nothing less than to bring mankind to the feet of God by the greatness of Divine love. Starting from a widespread belief in the extent of the Messiahs work as held among the Jews, or from the direct teaching of his Master after His return from the grave, he speaks of that wider work in the gracious carrying of the great redemptive message into the under-world.

I have watched an insect making its way with some earnest purpose along the highway. I have watched its movements so long that I have become much interested in the success of its errand. I have seen when a loaded cart was coming up, whose wheel would have crushed the creature in an instant. I have laid a twig across its path, and compelled it to turn aside. Oh, how it stormed and fretted against my interference: if it could communicate with its kind, it would have a tale of hardship to recount that night, of some unknown and adverse power that stopped its progress and overturned its plans. Conceive, now, that intelligence should be communicated to that tiny being, and it should discover that another being, immeasurably raised above its comprehension, had in compassion saved it from death!1 [Note: W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, 211.]

I

Suffering on Earth

Christ also suffered for sins once.

1. The death of Christ wan the outward expression of His mind and spirit.It was not so much anything done to Him by wicked men or by God, as His own doing, a sacred act, the greatest of His works, and the profoundest of His parables. This act gave Him scope to show more clearly than He could in any other way all He was, and all He thought, felt, and believed. The Cross is the fullest exposition of the mind of Christ. As an expression of the worlds estimate of Jesus, Calvary was the verdict of ignorance, passion, and prejudice. It was a judgment to be repented of in fuller light. But think of Calvary as Christs judgment of the world! Now is the judgment of this world. The Cross is Christs verdict on the world, His sentence of death on the life that is born of the flesh.

The redemptive suffering of Jesus is the suffering of His heart. The virtue of His Passion lay in the spirit that He manifested. The human and material environment of the Masters death has dominated our thought too much. I do not think that the material incidents of Gethsemane and Calvary were essential to our redemption. I believe that if Christ had never been betrayed by one of the twelve, He would still have died for our sins. I believe that if He had never suffered the brutal accompaniments of mockery and blasphemy, and the loathsome coarseness of contemptible men, He would still have died for our sins. I believe that if He had never been crucified, He would still have died for our sins. I believe that if He had finished His ministry in public acclamation, instead of public contempt, He would still have passed into outer darkness, into an unthinkable loneliness, into a terrible midnight of spiritual forsakenness and abandonment. He came to die, came to pass into the night which is the wages of sin, and what we men did was to add to His death the pangs of contempt and crucifixion.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, The Epistles of Peter, 140.]

2. In the suffering of Christ, God Himself suffered.We behold Him in the Son of Man. We see the wounds of love in His hands and feet and side. This message also gives suffering a glory which transforms and exalts it. Since suffering is loves highest privilege, clearly the Cross gives us the secret of much beauty and joy in the suffering life of earth. It is true that the Cross does not sanction wanton suffering. Not a jot of the passion of the Christ was without its end, not a pang of His travail shall be without its satisfying fruit. It is still a privilege to alleviate human suffering wherever we can, even as Christ did when He healed the sick, and fed the multitude, and restored the dead to the mourners. But there is suffering which is all-beautiful, and becomes holy and wonderful in the light which is shed upon it from the Cross. The suffering which is the throbbing pulse of love is not an evil, but a good. It brings us into mystical relation with the mystery of God in His atoning Son. Let us not lament, if we suffer for loves sake. Wearing our crown of thorns, let us stand before the cross, and the music of the Divine love will give us a blessedness which is known only when love is glorified with wounded hands and feet.

Would a mother think her love satisfied if she did not, and could not, suffer with her suffering child? Nay, she would consider herself disgraced by her insensibility. Even if she but imagined herself too insensible, she would suffer pangs because of the imagined inertness and inadequateness of her love. If she were offered the gift of insensibility, the power of looking without a pang on her loved ones suffering, not for worlds would she accept such immunity. And if she were told that God possessed such immunity, her mother-heart of suffering love would know itself greater than such a God. Yet the eternal God says: Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. The glory of God is His love. The glory of His love is that it is life. The glory of His life of love is that for loves sake it could suffer infinitely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.1 [Note: J. Thomas, The Mysteries of Grace, 54.]

3. The suffering of Christ was vicarious.He died, the righteous for the unrighteous. The just for the unjust is an outrage on civil justice, which is based on individualism; the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But it is ground law of humanity, founded, as it is, on a community of life; we are members one of another. The many men are one man.

I saw the other day a sight which, happily, is rarer than it wasa man reeling through the street in the shamelessness of advanced drunkenness. People turned to look as he staggered past. I heard no laugh or jeer, but expressions of shame and pity on all sides. The sober felt for the drunken what he should have felt for himself; and by thus taking on them, even for a moment, a pain and a shame not their own they helped to replenish and preserve in the community that store of right feeling towards evil which is the safeguard of the unfallen and a very laver of regeneration for the sinner that repenteth. The man in the dock is sullen, defiant or indifferent, but some one in the court, mother or wife, feels for him all he should feel. As the sordid story of crime is pieced together, she burns in the fever of shame, and moans or faints as the pain of his sentence pierces her heart. The common conscience towards evil is daily repaired and strengthened by the sufferings of the just for the unjust, and a place of repentance for the guilty maintained by the sorrows of the innocent. Civil justice proceeds on the supposition that we are individuals merely, but every days experience proves that we are only individual members of one great whole, and that both in our sins and in our sorrows we very soon come to where the individual ends and the common life begins.2 [Note: J. Morgan Gibbon, Evangelical Heterodoxy, 88.]

4. The suffering of Christ reconciles men to God.As a rivulet, after its toilsome, lonely progress past moor and forest, falls into the larger current of the river, as the river, after many windings and doublings, pours itself into the sea, so the soul, after the vain struggles of self-will, is reconciled to the river of Gods will, which is the river of life eternal. Reconciliation is harmony, agreement, atonement, and nothing else satisfies God or man. Punishment can never satisfy either the holiness of God or the conscience of man. The Divine holiness can be satisfied only with holiness, and I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. The homecoming of the prodigal quits all scores. Father and son are satisfied, and God is, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself without reckoning their trespasses.

He suffered, that he might bring us to God. All that need be said about that gracious bringing is just this, that in Jesus, answering the call of His redeeming grace, men and women in countless numbers have turned their faces home, and are making their way out of the deadening bondage of sin into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Far, far away, like bells at evening pealing,

The voice of Jesus sounds oer land and sea,

And laden souls, by thousands meekly stealing,

Kind Shepherd, turn their weary steps to Thee.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, The Epistles of Peter, 142.]

5. Christ identifies Himself with us in suffering.In our increasing grasp of the solidarity of the human race we have learned to look upon the human family as being one thing; and we know that the human family thrills throughout its wide extent under the power of this suffering of One for the many. All that you need is identification existing between the sufferers and those through whom they suffer. Well it is here. Our Lord, the Son of God, has become the Son of humanity; He has entered into that relation with the race, and with each member of the race, which a perfect community of nature involves. He is linked to all and each with the link of perfect love; and what exquisite capacities of suffering love always carries with it! He is the Head of the race, its Representative, the Second Adam. The whole race is re-gathered up in Him; and there is no possibility of identification between men like the identification that exists between the man Christ Jesus and us His brethren. It is because of the relation in which He stands to the race, that He died for us upon the Cross; and His death has all the wonderful effects which are assigned to it in Christian teaching, because it is a sorrow which is more fruitful than any other sorrow could be. I go to the Cross then, and I look to the Christ hanging there as my representative and dying that redeeming death.

They preach of a great Vicarious Anguish suffered for the world. Do they not know, rather, that it was suffered in and with it? that it was instead an Infinite Participance and Sympathy? that the anguish was in the world, and the Love came down, and tasted, and identified itself with it, making of the ultimate of pain a sublime, mysterious Rapture? That it is far more to feel the upholding touch of One who goes down into the deep waters before us, and to receive, so, some little drops that we can bear of the great Chrism, than to stand apart, safe on the sunny bank, while He passeth the flood for us, bringing it safely for our uncleansed feet for ever. Thatnot thiswas the Pity and the Sacrifice; that is the Help and the Salvation; the Love and the Pain enfold us together; that is what the jasper and the crimson mean; the first refraction where the Divine Light falls into our denser medium of being; the foundation stone of the heavenly building. The beginning of the At-one-ment; till, through the tenderer, peacefuller tints, our life passes the whole prism of its mysterious experience, and beyond the far-off violet, at last, it rarities to receive and to transmit the full white Light of God.1 [Note: A. D. T. Whitney.]

II

Ministry in Hades

He went and preached unto the spirits in prison.

1. This declaration is like a little window through which we look into a world unknown and almost unsuspected; and what is suggested by the glimpse through the window is so strange, it involves so many extraordinary possibilities, that one can hardly wonder that many extravagant theories have been raised upon it. It was the extravagance of these theories that led St. Augustine in the beginning of the fifth century to seek for some other explanation of the text altogether; and he maintained that there is no reference in this text to what is called the descensus ad inferosa descent to the shadesbut that it refers simply to the historical episode of Noah preaching to those who subsequently perished by the flood. And Luther, no doubt seeing what a tremendous pile of mediaeval superstition had been reared on the strength of the text, admitted St. Augustines view; and Protestants have largely followed Luther, and have declared that the passage simply means that during the time of the flood, or just before, Jesus Christ preached to those sinful men as He preached to sinful men in the time of His Incarnation. But the reference in 1Pe 3:22 to the Ascension seems to suggest that the preaching took place after Christs death.

The weighty authority of R. H. Charles may be invoked to prove that the interpretation which accepts Christs mission to the dead fits in with our fuller knowledge of contemporary Jewish literature. It throws light on one of the darkest enigmas of the Divine justice. At the same time full justice will be done to the early Christian tradition that in some way or other Christ benefited the souls of the faithful departed. But it must be admitted that the bare statement of the Apostles Creed asserts only that Christs soul passed into the condition which our souls will enter at death, sanctifying every condition of human existence. Harnack writes that the clause is too weak to maintain its ground beside the others, as equally independent and authoritative, but, as Swete says, he fails to point out in what the weakness lies, while to us it appears to possess in a very high degree the strength which comes from primitive simplicity and a wise reserve.

Thus the consensus of theological opinion justifies the teaching of the poet of the Christian Year:

Sleepst Thou indeed? or is Thy spirit fled,

At large among the dead?

Whether in Eden bowers Thy welcome voice

Wake Abraham to rejoice,

Or in some drearier scene Thine eye controls

The thronging band of souls;

That, as Thy blood won earth, Thine agony

Might set the shadowy realm from sin and sorrow free.1 [Note: A. E. Burn, in the Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, i. 716.]

2. Christ breaks through all barriers, and proclaims His Lordship in the realm of spirits. The Keys of Hades in the Book of Revelation serve to interpret the proclamation to the spirits in prison. Whatever the details may mean, the central picture in the Petrine passage is the triumphant march of the crucified Jesus through the domain of Hades. He is there taking command of the keys. He has come as Lord of the citadel, and makes His proclamation as such to the spirits in ward. The Monarch has come to take possession. Just as His coming into our earth shook our world with a new power, so His entry into Hades shook this shadowy realm with new forces. He grasped the keys of all Hades throughout all its mysterious boundaries, and not merely of a part of it. Therefore St. Peter writes only of a fraction of the whole proclamation and triumph, this portion having been chosen for the enforcement of a particular lessonthe lesson of godly Noahs triumph over a turbulent and evil world. The Son of Man conquered the grave for the bodies of men, and took possession of Hades as Lord of the spirits of men. Therefore He will come to judge the quick and the dead alike. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.

The most primitive, or, at least, the earliest traceable, element in the conception of the Descensus would seem to be the belief that Christ, having descended into the under world after His death, delivered the Old Testament saints from that necessity of being confined in Hades which was thenceforward abrogated in the case of believers, and conveyed them to the Heaven which all believers have hereafter the right to enter.1 [Note: Friedrich Loofs, in the Encyclopdia of Religion and Ethics, iv. 661.]

3. Christ proclaimed the glad tidings of His Kingdom to those in Hades. He who came down from heaven to seek and to save that which was lost did not count His work over when He had finished it for the generation that then lived, or when He had laid the foundation of it for other generations thereafter; but He went also to those who had been so unhappy as to be born and to have died before He came. He went and continued His ministry among the spirits in prison. The Cross was set up, so to speak, in Hades. The promise to the penitent thief was not a promise to one; it was a promise to all who had gone before Christ and desired to know Him, who had died in His faith, in His love, but without the sight of Him;it was a promise to all of them, that on that day He would bring rest and satisfaction to them. So we can think of Christ going there among all the dead, from Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, down to Isaiah and Micah, and John the Baptistto all those who had been hungering for Him, expecting and longing for Him, to the souls of the great heathen, longing for they knew not what, but surely finding at last their satisfaction in Him.

It is impossible to shut Christ out of any region of His universe. He has a right everywhere. Hell and destruction are open before Him. He tracks lost man down to the deepest and darkest cavern. Even devils could not shut their gate of flame upon Him. He is come to seek and to save that which was lost; and I rejoice to believe that every lost child of Adam shall have at least the opportunity of accepting Christs mediationthat Christs great work has been published through the universeand that even from hells floor of fire, clear up to heavens loftiest pinnacle of jasper, the story of redeeming love is known in all the pomp of its simplicity, in all the omnipotence of its pathos.1 [Note: J. Parker, Hidden Springs, 119.]

O the generations old,

Over whom no church-bells tolled,

Christless, lifting up blind eyes

To the silence of the skies!

For the innumerable dead

Is my soul disquieted.

Hearst thou, 0 of little faith,

What to thee the mountain saith,

What is whisperd by the trees?

Cast on God thy care for these;

Trust Him, if thy sight be dim:

Doubt for them is doubt of Him.

Not with hatreds undertow

Doth the Love Eternal flow;

Every chain that spirits wear

Crumbles in the breath of prayer;

And the penitents desire

Opens every gate of fire.

Still Thy love, O Christ arisen,

Yearns to reach these souls in prison!

Through all depths of sin and loss

Drops the plummet of Thy cross!

Never yet abyss was found

Deeper than that cross could sound!2 [Note: Whittier.]

4. Can we say anything as to the result of Christs preaching in Hades? Whatever the effect of Christs descent into Hades was for the ungodly, it would seem that His presence gave a higher status and a more vivid consciousness of blessedness to the holy dead. This appears inevitable. The revelation of the Messiah must have been to them a revelation of the deeper meanings and glories of their immortal life. His coming would make them share in the new and splendid development of the Kingdom of God which that coming involved. In the twilight land they too were waiting for His glory, and in His redemptive presence in the might of His victory they would rise into richer life. The godly of the old dispensation would be splendidly lifted into the glory of the new. Those who had been gathered to the bosom of Abraham would now know the higher blessedness of being with Christ.

In his Poem, The Everlasting Mercy, John Masefield gives the autobiography of a soul that sank to the lowest depths of sin. But Divine mercy pursued him in the vilest haunts and, in the person of a Quaker girl, hurled this appeal at the bolted door of his heart.

Saul Kane, she said, when next you drink,

Do me the gentleness to think

That every drop of drink accursed

Makes Christ within you die of thirst,

That every dirty word you say

Is one more flint upon his way,

Another thorn upon his head,

Another mock by where he tread,

Another nail, another Cross,

All that you are is that Christs loss.

Resistance was useless. The bolt yielded, and the power of love conquered in the prison of his soul. And this is what he says

I did not think, I did not strive,

The deep peace burnt my me alive;

The bolted door had broken in,

I knew that I had done with sin.

I knew that Christ had given me birth,

To brother all the souls of earth,

And every bird and every beast

Should share the crumbs broke at the feast.

5. Does the possibility of new opportunity beyond this world diminish the urgency for missionary effort? If you object, as against this possible extension of mercy, that it will encourage sinners to go on as they are, in the hope of another chance by and by, the reply is that in exactly the same way you might object to the Gospel itself, that the death of Christ and pardon through His Cross is an encouragement to continue in sin that grace may abound. Men do argue that way, and St. Paul rebuked it by his solemn God forbid.

Then it is said, if the offer of salvation is to be made to the ignorant on the other side of death, what special urgency is there for strenuous labour in the present? That is how many men have reasoned, and how many reason to-day. If the unenlightened heathen are not swept into hell, the burden of the situation is lightened, and the strain is relaxed. It is a terrific motive to conceive that the unillumined multitudes are dropping over the precipice of death into everlasting torment. And that has been the conception of many devoted followers of Christ. One writer makes the terrible declaration that three millions of the heathen and Mohammedans are dying every month, dropping over the precipice into the awful night, swept into eternity! Swept into what? If they go out with unlit minds and hearts, are they never to see the gracious countenance of the Light of Life? He went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Does this destroy the urgency for foreign missions, and will it lull the heart of the Church to sleep? One may well ask where are we if the motive of our missions and ministry is to save people from the fires of hell?

The real missionary motive is not to save from hell, but to reveal Christ: not to save from a peril, but to proclaim and create a glorious companionship. Here is the marrow of the controversy, concentrated into one pressing question: Is it of infinite moment to know Christ now?

The love of Christ will always create missionaries. Raymund Lull was a gay and thoughtless courtier living a life of pleasure and of self-indulgence at the court of King James of Aragon. And one evening he was seated on his bed playing the zithern and trying to compose a song to a beautiful lady of the Courta married lady, who rejected his addresses. While this gay, accomplished man was trying to compose the song, he thought he saw upon his right hand the crucified Saviour, and from the hands and the feet and the brow the blood was trickling down, and Christ looked at him reproachfully; he put down his zithern and he could not compose the song. Agitated, disturbed, and conscience-stricken, he left the room. Eight days after he had forgotten the event, but he had not forgotten the song; he took the zithern again, and began to finish the songa song of an unrequited love. And he lifted up his eyes and saw again on his right hand the crucified Saviour with the blood trickling from the hands and the feet and the brow, a reproachful look in His eyes. The zithern was put aside again and this thoughtless creature saidThat is the greatest unrequited love in all the world. Let me sing some song to that. He did not rest. He gave up his post at the Court, and became the great first missionary to the Moslems.1 [Note: R. F. Horton, The Hidden God, 61.]

III

Supremacy in Heaven

Who is on the right hand of God.

Christ is now on the right hand of God, and angels and authorities and powers are subject to Him.

1. In Him heaven obtains its highest vision of the glory of God. The God of redemption has become the centre of the heavenly places. Love is the highest expression of God, and grace is the highest expression of love. The God that sitteth upon the throne has to be reinterpreted in the light of the Lamb that was slain. Just as the Son of Man was the complete revelation of God upon the earth, so the ascended Christ is the complete revelation of God in heaven. The angels that looked upon the face of God in cycles past are learning anew the meaning of His glory, and ancient principalities and powers are learning from the enthroned Son the manifold wisdom of God. Once heaven rang with music to the Creator, and the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy. But now the highest music of heaven is praise to the Redeemer God, the Hallelujah Chorus to the Lamb that was slain. He has been exalted by the right hand of God to reveal the heart of God to the wondering hosts of heaven. For all heaven God is marvellously reinterpreted in the light of the atoning cross.

2. This was the fitting climax of so wonderful a career. It was not enough for Christ to conquer in the great fight, and to secure the fulfilment of His mission. He must receive a triumph. He must be crowned.

In his article on Dr. Chalmers Dr. John Brown has asked us to conceive of the reception which a great and good man is bound to get in heaven. May we not imagine, he says, when a great and good mana son of the morningenters on his rest, that heaven would move itself to meet him at his coming? Bunyan has given us a glowing description of the welcome given to Christian and Hopeful, as they drew near to the Golden City. But if heaven thus moves itself to welcome a great and good man, who shall describe the homecoming of the risen and victorious Christ? We know that the heavens resounded with song when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and the listening earth caught a faint echo of the strain. Surely the music, if not sweeter, was more exultant, when Jesus came back a Conqueror, with Calvary and the Cross behind, and the work of Redemption accomplished. Yes, angels and principalities and powers united in the shout, Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. And He took His place on the throne of everlasting supremacy.

3. This was the enthronement of man. When Christ ascended on high, He brought our humanity with Him and placed it on the throne. Henceforth it is human nature at its best and purest that is triumphant and rules the universe. When we remember this, how cheerful and confident it should make us about the future. We need not fear to face lifes ceaseless battle. When we remember who occupies the place of supremacy, we can say

Some day love shall claim her own,

Some day fuller truth be known,

Some day right ascend the throne,

Some sweet day.

The true future of humanity lies in its realization of its glorious Head there upon the Throne, and we who know Him by faith must bring this home to others. In the wall of Constantinople still stands the gate through which the Moslem conquerors marched into the ancient Christian city which they were about to sack. The gate is walled up, and through that gate they say the Christian conqueror will enter for the Christian reoccupation of the city. So, as with Jerusalem, where the same fact is repeated, the Golden Gate in each case testifies to an ever-present fear that some day Jesus Christ will conquer. To the seer in lonely Patmos, separated from his fellow-worshippers on the Lords Day, doubtful, perhaps, about the future of the Church in a time of fierce persecution, comes the vision which in all ages has nerved the saint for witnessing and suffering, whether it be Isaiah or Ezekiel or Paul or Stephen, the vision of the invincible Sovereignty and present Glory of the Lord. Then, what thou seest, write. And the whole Book, with its glimpses of Christian history to the end of time, turns upon that opening vision as its pivot. It is the last written revelation which the world has had of that Glory. Thus St. Johns stewardship to the Church was fulfilled.1 [Note: T. A. Gurney, The Living Lord, 129.]

Depths of Mercy

Literature

Arnot (W.), The Anchor of the Soul, 197.

Brown (C.), Trial and Triumph, 123.

Butcher (C. H.), The Sound of a Voice that is Still, 71.

Carroll (B. H.), Sermons, 366.

Carter (T. T.), Meditations on the Suffering Life of our Lord, 148.

Cox (S.), Expositions, ii. 444.

Evans (T. S.), in The Anglican Pulpit of To-day, 440.

Eyton (R.), The Apostles Creed, 71.

Gibbon (J. M.), Evangelical Heterodoxy, 79.

Gibson (E. C. S.), in Sermons for the People, 251.

Gregory (J. R.), Scripture Truths made Simple, 149.

Gurney (T. A.), The Living Lord and the Opened Grave, 37.

Hicks (E.), The Life Hereafter, 34.

Horton (R. F.), The Hidden God, 81.

How (W. W.), Plain Words, ii. 187.

Kendrick (A. C.), The Moral Conflict of Humanity, 253.

Mackarness (C. C.), Sermons for the People, New Ser., iii. 249.

Meyer (F. B.), Tried by Fire, 135, 141.

Parker (J.), Hidden Springs, 115.

Plumptre (E. H.), The Spirits in Prison, 3, 111.

Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, ii. 73; ix. 361.

Simpson (J. G.), The Spirit and the Bride, 233.

Thomas (J.), The Mysteries of Grace, 103.

Thomas (W. H. G.), The Apostle Peter, 210.

Wilberforce (B.), Feeling after Him, 183.

Wilberforce (B.), Sermons in Westminster Abbey, 164.

Wilson (J. H.), The Gospel and its Fruits, 99.

Christian World Pulpit, xiv. 179 (Wagstaff); xlviii. 42 (Thompson); lxvii. 216 (Body); lxxiii. 317 (Gore); lxxvii. 307 (Roberts).

Church of England Magazine, li. 113 (Lester); lvii. 240 (Bryan).

Church of England Pulpit, xlvii. 256 (Silvester); 1. 98 (Wilberforce).

Churchmans Pulpit: Good Friday and Easter Even: vii. 175 (Reichel), 178 (Pinder).

Keswick Week, 1899, p. 84 (Webb-Peploe).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

Christ: 1Pe 2:21-24, 1Pe 4:1, Isa 53:4-6, Rom 5:6-8, Rom 8:3, 2Co 5:21, Gal 1:4, Gal 3:13, Tit 2:14, Heb 9:26, Heb 9:28

the just: Zec 9:9, Mat 27:19, Mat 27:24, Act 3:14, Act 22:14, Jam 5:6, 1Jo 1:9

that: Eph 2:16-18

being: 1Pe 4:1, Dan 9:26, Rom 4:25, 2Co 1:24, 2Co 13:4, Col 1:21, Col 1:22

but: Rom 1:4, Rom 8:11

Reciprocal: Gen 6:3 – My Gen 40:15 – done Exo 28:38 – bear the iniquity Lev 1:17 – shall not Lev 3:13 – lay his hand Lev 4:4 – lay his hand Lev 4:32 – a lamb Lev 4:34 – the horns of the altar Lev 4:35 – and the priest shall make Lev 5:8 – wring off Lev 8:14 – he brought Lev 9:3 – Take ye Lev 16:17 – no man Lev 22:19 – General Num 3:50 – General Num 7:15 – General Num 28:30 – General Deu 21:4 – shall strike Psa 38:20 – because Psa 40:12 – mine Psa 69:4 – then I Psa 73:28 – But Pro 21:18 – wicked Isa 53:5 – But he was Isa 53:6 – his own Isa 53:8 – was he stricken Isa 53:11 – bear Eze 45:17 – he shall prepare Zec 13:7 – smite Mat 20:28 – and to Mat 26:38 – My Mar 15:31 – He Luk 23:4 – I find Luk 23:22 – Why Joh 1:29 – which Joh 2:19 – I will Joh 5:19 – for Joh 6:63 – the spirit Joh 10:15 – and I Joh 11:51 – that Jesus Joh 12:32 – if Joh 13:15 – given Joh 14:6 – no Joh 19:4 – that ye Rom 4:8 – to whom Rom 5:2 – By whom Rom 5:8 – in that Rom 6:10 – he died unto Rom 8:34 – It is Christ Rom 10:7 – to bring up 1Co 7:23 – are 1Co 15:3 – Christ 2Co 3:6 – giveth life Gal 2:16 – we have Gal 4:5 – redeem Eph 1:7 – whom Eph 2:13 – are Eph 2:18 – through Phi 2:8 – the death Col 1:14 – whom 1Th 1:10 – whom 1Th 5:10 – died 1Ti 2:6 – gave 1Ti 3:16 – justified Heb 9:14 – who Heb 9:15 – for Heb 10:20 – his Heb 12:2 – endured 1Pe 1:11 – the Spirit 1Pe 1:19 – with 1Pe 4:16 – as 1Jo 2:1 – the righteous 1Jo 2:2 – he is 1Jo 2:29 – he is 1Jo 3:5 – in 1Jo 3:16 – perceive 1Jo 4:10 – and sent

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Pe 3:18. No unjust person could suffer and die on behalf of another like him, hence it was necessary for the just Christ to do this. Put to death in the flesh. In order to die it was necessary for Christ to take on a fleshly body. He was quickened or returned to life by the Spirit. The italicized phrase is an important key to the passage of several verses. The Deity or Godhead is composed of three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These are all equal as being divine and pure, but the Father and Son are the makers and preservers of all things. They accomplish their wonderful works through the services of the Spirit. It should therefore be understood that the leading thought in this and the following verse is what was accomplished for Christ through the instrumentality of the Spirit.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Pe 3:18. Because also Christ died once for sins, a righteous one for unrighteous ones, in order that he might bring us to God. There are two varieties of reading to notice here. Documentary evidence is pretty evenly balanced between the verb suffered and the verb died. Although the Revised Version retains the former, the latter is preferred by the majority of textual experts (Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, Gebhardt). Instead of bring us to God (which is accepted by the Revised Version and most critics), bring you to God is adopted by Westcott and Hort. Christs suffering or dying is represented to have taken place on account of sin, in the matter of sin, or in respect of sin; for the preposition used here has this general sense. It is said to have taken place also once, once for all and no more (cp. Rom 6:10; Heb 7:27; Heb 9:28). This may possibly embody the idea that this suffering or dying superseded the necessity of all further suffering or dying of the same kind, either on the part of Christ Himself or on that of Christians (so Schott). It is rather introduced, however, to suggest the difference between the suffering or death, however bitter that was, as finished shortly and once for all, and the continuous power and blessedness of the life which was its issue. Still greater force is given to this by the use of the simple historical tense died, which throws all that was painful in Christs instance completely into the past. But Christs suffering or dying is also described as that of a righteous One for unrighteous ones. A different preposition is now used for the for,one meaning in behalf of or, to the advantage of. It is possible that in the present connection, where the righteous and the unrighteous are set so decisively over against each other, this idea of suffering in behalf of others may pass over into, or imply, that of suffering in the place of others. Weiss, e.g. (so also Huther), recognises the idea of substitution at the basis of the statement, in so far as the contrast, which is made so prominent between the righteous and the unrighteous, necessarily produces the idea that the suffering which was endured in behalf of these, ought really to have been endured by the righteous themselves (Bib. Theol. of the New Testament, i. p. 232, Clarks Trans.). The more general idea, however, is the one distinctly in view here, and thus there is warning mingled with the encouragement which is conveyed by Christs case as Peter here presents it. If it is right to speak, as Besser does, of the little word once as letting a beam of comforting light fall on the sufferings of Christians, this clause reminds them of the necessity of making sure that their sufferings be not of the kind which their own fault induces, but rather of the kind righteously borne with a view to the good of others. The particular good which Christ set before Him as the object of His suffering or dying was the bringing us to God; by which is meant introducing us to God, giving us admission, or the right of direct access, to God. This is the sense which the cognate noun has in the few passages in which it is found, viz. Rom 5:2, Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12; and here, too, the idea is neither that of presenting us an offering to God (so the Vulgate, Luther, etc.). nor that of simply reconciling us to God, but (as it is rightly understood by Huther, etc.) that of introducing us to actual fellowship with God. This verse, therefore, establishes a certain analogy between Christ and Christians, in so far as He was made subject to suffering not less than they, and was made so not for His own fault but for that of others. This analogy is used, however, in support of the previous statement as to its being a better thing to suffer for good than for evil. Hence, having immediately in view the advantage or good which suffering for righteousness sake brings with it, Peter goes at once (as formerly in chap. 1Pe 2:22, etc.) beyond the elements of similarity which might present the suffering Christ as an example to suffering Christians. He touches on more than one thing which gave Christs sufferings a value all their own. They were of the unique order which (as the once implies) neither required nor admitted repetition. And the gain which they secured, by which also they pre-eminently illustrate the good which suffering for righteousness sake yields, and how preferable it is to suffer, if suffer we must, for well-doing rather than ill-doing, was the otherwise unattainable boon of a direct approach for sinners to God, a free intercourse with God.

put to death indeed in flesh, but quickened in spirit. Two things are here affirmed to have taken effect on Christ, when He suffered or died in order to bring us into this fellowship with God. These, however, are so balanced that the one appears simply as the preliminary to the other, and the attention is concentrated on the latter. The one is rightly given as a being put to death; for the term does not mean, as some suppose, merely being condemned to death (compare its use, e.g., in Mat 26:59; Mat 27:1; Rom 8:36; 2Co 6:9, etc.). The other is correctly interpreted not as a being kept alive (which idea is expressed in the New Testament by different terms), but as a being quickened or made alive; the word being that which is elsewhere (Joh 5:21; Rom 4:17; 1Co 15:22, etc.) applied to the raising of the dead to life. To the two things are added definitions of two distinct spheres in which they severally took effect. These are conveyed each by a single noun, which has almost an adverbial force here, viz., in flesh, i.e fleshly-wise, or, as regards the natural, earthly order of life; and in spirit, i.e spirit-wise, or, as regards the higher spiritual order of life. Those two terms are analogous to other antithetical phrases which are applied to Christ, such as according to the flesh and according to the spirit of holiness (Rom 1:3), manifest in the flesh, and judged in the spirit (1Ti 3:16). They point to two different forms of existence, a natural, mortal form of existence associated with flesh, and a supernatural, immortal form of existence associated with spirit,in other words, a perishable, corporeal life, and an imperishable, spiritual or incorporeal life. As regards the one, He ceased to live it by being put to death. As regards the other, He continued to live it, and to live it with new power, by being quickened. The A. V., therefore, is entirely at fault in rendering the second clause by the Spirit, as if the reference were to the Holy Spirit and to Him as the Agent in Christs resurrection. In this, too, it has deserted the versions of Wycliffe, Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva, and Rheims, which all give in spirit or in the spirit.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

These words are brought in as a strong argument, why Christians that suffer wrongfully should bear it patiently; it was our Saviour’s own case; he that had perfect innocency and unspotted righteousness, suffered in the severest manner for us that were unrighteous, that he might reconcile us to God, being put to death in the flesh, that is, in our human anture, but quickened by the Spirit, or raised to life again by the power of his godhead; it doth therefore well become all his followers cheerfully to undergo all manner of sufferings for him, which they meet with in their duty to him.

Note here, 1. Christ did not barely suffer for our good, but he suffered in our stead: he is not only said to suffer for us, but to suffer for our sins, that is, the punishment of our sins; for no man was ever said to suffer for sin that did not undergo and endure the punishment of sin.

As the sin-offering under the law is called an offering for sin, because it did expiate the guilt of sin, by dying in the place and stead of the offender; in like manner, when the death of Christ is called an offering for sin, what can it import, but that he suffered to make atonement for sin in our place and stead? The just for the unjust; if these words do not imply the substitution of Christ as our surety, and his suffering the punishment due to our sins, what words can express it?

Note, 2. That the great end of Christ’s bitter death and bloody sufferings, was to bring all those for whom he died unto God; now Christ’s bringing us to God imports our apostasy from him, and our inability to return to him; that sin unsatisfied for, which was the great bar to keep us from him, is mercifully removed by him, and that our chief happiness consists in the enjoyment of him.

Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: As if St. Peter had said, “Though Christ suffered for our sins, and was put to death in his human nature, or flesh, yet he was quickened and made alive by the Spirit, in which, or by which Spirit, he went and preached to the spirits in prison, which in the days of Noah were hardened in sin and disobedience, whilst the long-suffering of God endured them, and waited for their repentance no less than an hundred and twenty years, whilst the ark was making and preparing, and Noah preached to them; yet so impenitent were they to the very last, that only eight were saved in the ark.”

Note here, 1. That the old world before the flood were in prison whilst here on earth, being in bondage and captivity to sin and Satan, held in the chains of their lusts, and in the bondage of their iniquity; such as are in bondage to sin, are captives in Satan’s prison: the old world was also in prison whilst on earth, as having received from God the sentence of destruction, and were reserved as in prison, against the day of slaughter, if they repented not within an hundred and twenty years.

Note, 2. That Christ by his Spirit did preach to the old world in the ministry of his prophets, Enoch and Noah; and his Spirit did chide with them and reprove them, in order to their bringing to repentance.

Note, 3. That those refractory and hardened sinners, for despising the offers of grace made to them, were for their disobedience clapped up in the prison of hell, suffering the vengence of eternal fire; such as were cast into prison in Noah’s time, were all fast in St. Peter’s time: there is no picking the locks of hell gates, no breaking through the walls of the fiery Tophet; hell has a door to take in, but none to let out.

Note, 4. That though Christ by his Spirit preached to the spirits in prison, yet it was not when they were in prison, I mean in the prison of hell, but when here on earth; there are no sermons in hell, no conditions of happiness proposed, no tenders of salvation propounded there; Christ preached to these prisoners to prevent their imprisonment, Christ preached to these men, who were now in prison, that they might not have been imprisoned.

Note lastly, That the obstinate infidelity, and sottish stupidity, of the old world, was amazing, that after an hundred and twenty years’ preaching, no more than eight persons should be persuaded into the belief of the world’s destruction.

From the beginning we find that the prophets of God had cause to complain that few have believed their report: do not the ministers of God now groan to God, that they run in vain, and labour in vain, and spend their strength for nought? From the beginning it has been so.

Lord! if thou honourest any of us with better success, and givest us to see the fruit of our labours in the lives of our people, help us to set the crown of praise on the head of thine own grace, and say Non nobis, Comine, non nobis, &c. “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.”

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Christ’s Preaching In the Days of Noah

Christ’s suffering included dying for us. Jesus certainly is an example of one who suffered for doing what was right. He was a righteous person suffering for those who are not righteous ( Ephesians 2:1-6, 13:16 ). He suffered “once for all” time, which is the more literal meaning of the word translated “once.” His only purpose in that death was to bring man back to God. Jesus died physically, but he was “brought to active life in the realm of the spirit” (Woods). The spirit is that eternal part of man in contrast to his fleshly body, which is temporary.

The “spirits in prison” would have to be the disembodied spirits of the disobedient God waited on in the days of Noah. Their prison would be the Hadean realm where they awaited the day of judgment (compare 2Pe 2:4-5 ; Jud 1:6 ). Just as Christ is said to have preached to the Gentiles through the apostles ( Eph 2:17 ), he preached to the people before the flood through Noah ( 2Pe 2:5 ).

There is no indication these spirits were in prison when preached to, only that they were in prison when Peter wrote. Since all men will be judged based upon the deeds done in their body, the doctrine of a second chance after death is a false one ( 1Pe 3:18-19 ; 2Co 5:10 ; Mat 25:31-46 ).

When these spirits were still in the body, they disobeyed God’s will. Particularly, they were disobedient during the period when God waited for the ark to be prepared, which could have been one hundred years ( Gen 5:32 ; Gen 7:6 ). Noah was a preacher of righteousness, so God waited for them to repent. Compared with the multitudes who drowned, eight souls were certainly few. Those eight were saved in the ark by the very water that destroyed the disobedient. The water was the instrument God used to exercise his saving power ( 1Pe 3:20 ).

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

ARGUMENT 16

THE DESCENSION OF CHRIST INTO HADES

The Apostolic Fathers all believed that the human soul of Christ was in Hades, while His body hung on the cross and lay in the sepulcher. The old versions of the Apostles Creed have the clause, He descended into hell. In the English both Gehenna and Hades are translated hell. In the Revised Version, Gehenna only is translated hell, hades being transferred, as we have no synonymous word. Hades is from alpha, not, and eidoo, to see. Hence, it simply means unseen, i.e., the invisible world, including both heaven and hell. The rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16) both went to Hades, the former to burning Tartarus, and the latter to Abrahams Bosom, i.e., the Intermediate Paradise, in which all of the Old Testament saints accepted the translated abode till Christ led captivity captive. The Greek and Roman poets and philosophers (who had descended from the house of Noah) all corroborate Luke in the location of both the good and bad in the lower world, the latter in the fire of Tartarus and the former in Elysium, which means a place of unmingled bliss. The Old Testament recognizes all, both good and bad, as descending into hades. When King Saul failed to destroy Agag, i.e., to get sanctified, like all others, he utterly apostatized. In his desperation, sorely pressed by the Philistines on the battlefields of Mount Gilboa, forsaken of God, who answered him no longer in dreams, or visions, nor by urim nor thummim, he strolls away in the night to consult the Witch of Endor, who, in her panegyric of bringing up Samuel from the dead, pursuant to Sauls request, exclaimed aloud, I saw God ascending out of the earth. 1Sa 28:13. Thus at that moment God brought up Samuel to deliver his final prophecy to Saul, And tomorrow thou and thy sons shall be with me (1Sa 28:19), thus abundantly confirming the conclusion that in the old dispensation all the dead, good and bad, went to Hades, the former to Paradise, and the latter to fiery Tartarus. Samuel was Gods holy prophet, and of course had gone to Abrahams Bosom, the Intermediate Paradise. He tells Saul, the hopeless apostate and suicide, that he and his unconverted sons shall be with him after they are slain in Mount Gilboa, i.e., they would all be in the same place, Hades, like the rich man and Lazarus; Samuel in Paradise and Saul in Tartarus. Jesus said to the dying thief, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. That Paradise was not heaven, for Jesus testified to the women on the Resurrection morn, that He had not yet gone up to His Father, whereas He had met the thief in Paradise on the preceding Friday. While Paul lay dead under the shower of stones at Lystra, he ascended up to the third heaven, (i.e., to heaven proper, as the firmament is the first heaven, astronomical worlds the second, and the home of the glorified the third). This third heaven is also Paradise 2Co 12:2-4. Of course the thief did not go to this Paradise, but to Abrahams Bosom, the Intermediate Paradise. Act 2:31 :

Foreseeing he spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ, that He may not be left in Hades nor did His flesh see corruption,

thus revealing most unequivocally that our Saviors human soul was in Hades while His body lay in the sepulcher, He ascending out of Hades to receive His body instead of descending down from heaven. Eph 4:8-10 vividly describes the descension of our Lord into the lower parts of the earth, which never could mean the sepulcher in which He was deposited, which I have frequently visited. It is not in the lower parts of the earth, but on the surface, excavated out of a great rock in the mountain side, and entered horizontally. No grave is in the lower parts of the earth, much less our Saviors sepulcher.

18. Because Christ died once for Sins, the just for the unjust, that He may lead us to God, indeed being put to death in the flesh but quickened in the spirit. Spirit here in the Greek does not begin with a capital as in the English, since it does not mean the Holy Spirit, but he human spirit of Christ. This is evident from the antithesis with flesh, which is utterly destroyed by the English translation. Our Savior is perfect God and perfect man. His perfect humanity consists of a perfect human soul and body. While His body was put to death on the cross, His human soul received a powerful quickening by the Holy Ghost;

19. By which also having gone, he proclaimed to the spirits in prison. On this transaction the Roman Catholic purgatory has been utterly erroneously founded, as well as other false dogmata, promising sinners a second probation. The English translation preach, which is utterly untrue, has been made the pillar of these heretical superstructures. The Greek is erkeeruxen, which does not mean preach the Gospel at all, but proclaim as a herald; euangelein being the word, which always means to preach the Gospel.

20. The Revised Version should have corrected this error, having proclaim instead of preach. Of course these wicked antediluvians were with the devils in hell. Rest assured there is not a ray of hope for disembodied sinners in this passage. When our Savior came on the earth in a human body, all hell was stirred as never before. Satan and his myrmidons in their utter spiritual blindness, despite their transcendent intellects, leaped to the conclusion that if they could kill the man-Christ they would put finale to a four thousand years war, defeating the plan of salvation, achieving ultimate victory, winding up the conflict and adding earth to hell. Therefore Satan lays under contribution all the powers of the pandemonium to kill Jesus as quickly as possible. When they succeed in the seduction of Judas, a black courier wings his flight to hell with the joyous news. Meanwhile all hell is jubilant over the victory even now in sight; another courier arrives with the thrilling news of his condemnation by the grand Sanhedrin and the signature of his death warrant by Annas, the Roman high priest, and Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest. While the pandemonium is roaring and reverberating with jubilant shouts, another fiend sweeps in on black pinion, vociferating the ravishing tidings, Both Herod and Pilate, our loyal servants, the chief autocrats of all the land, have signed His death warrant. Hence no power in all the earth can deliver Him out of our hands. Never in all the ages was Tartarus so vociferous with shouts of victory. Now King Diabolus, encumbering his ebony throne in the great Stygian palace, orders ten thousand tall demons mounting up to superscribe in glowing candles around the pandemonium, Victory. Meanwhile other fiends arrive with the news, He is nailed to the cross, bleeding and dying. Beelzebub now arrives, testifying, It is done. I stood by the cross and saw it all done. The grim monster has Him in his dark grip. He is dead! and millions of devils vociferate the regions of woe with shouts of victory. Hark! A stentorian thunder-clap shakes the pandemonium from center to circumference! A light above the brilliancy of ten thousand noonday suns sweeps in from the portal, revealing all the dark, dismal dens of hells gorgon horrors. It is none other than the human soul of Christ; having evacuated the crucified body on the cross, He has come down, the herald of His own victory in all the regions of woe. The light radiant from His glorified soul reveals Him to every devil in the abyss. Paralyzed by panic they fall and acknowledge Him conqueror. With His own hands, as around the dark walls of the pandemonium, moving with the tread of a conqueror, He pulls down the prophecies of four thousand years successful warfare, and treads them beneath His feet. Now He proceeds to Satan, tremulous and quaking, on his throne, seizing him by the throat, dragging him down, puts His foot on his neck, verifying the first promise made in Eden, i.e., the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head. Having triumphed over all hell, He crosses over the deep chasm, chasma, impassable to all mortals (Luk 16:26), and before midnight enters the intermediate Paradise, called Abrahams Bosom. Oh, how the thief runs to Him with a shout, You said you would meet me in Paradise today and, glory to God, here you are! Here comes Father Abraham with a tremendous shout, and takes Him in his arms. Job comes with an uproarous hallelujah. Isaac, Jacob, Caleb, Joshua, Daniel, and all the prophets, martyrs and saints, who have trodden the earth, shining, shouting and suffering for God the last four thousand years, rally around Him, rending the vaults of paradise with tremendous shouts of glory. Such an ovation that Intermediate Paradise had never known. Saturday passes by amid tremendous rejoicings. Meanwhile He marshals them all preparatory for the evacuation of the intermediate elysium, for the home of the glorified angels and redeemed saints, encircling the throne of God.

On Sunday morning begins that wonderful ascension (Eph 4:8-10), in which He leads captive all the occupants of Abrahams Bosom, now that the Abramic covenant has been verified, and sealed with His blood, thus opening heaven to all the blood-washed. Wonderful is the rapture of that triumphant ascension, accompanied by all the Old Testament saints. He comes up to the sepulcher and receives His body on the third morn. As this mighty host of Old Testament saints were all disembodied, of course they were invisible to mortal eyes. Jesus, the only one seen, because He only had His body. Meanwhile this mighty host accompany Him in His abiding forty days with His disciples, and constitute His triumphal procession when from Mount Olivet He ascended up to the glorified home of His Father in heaven. Jesus must be the first fruits of them that slept. His glorified body, the eternal confirmation of the redemptive scheme, must first of all enter heaven. Though a number of others were raised from the dead before Christ, we have no evidence that their bodies were transfigured. Hence Jesus was the first one to raise from the dead, receiving the resurrection body. It was pertinent that all the Old Testament saints should be detained in that Intermediate Paradise till the plan of salvation was literally consummated by the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. David (Psalms 24) catches a prophetic vision of this wonderful ascension. Having risen from Mount Olivet with the velocity of lightning, they sweep through ethereal space, passing rolling worlds, glittering sphere, luminous comets and flaming suns, till now the celestial metropolis, in its ineffable glory, bursts upon their enraptured vision. Lift joyous heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and let the King of glory come. Who is this King of glory? The Lord mighty to save, He is the King of glory. The celestial portals all open wide, while millions of angels pour out to greet them with loud shouts: Welcome home, ye blood-washed. Now the King of glory entered amid the enraptured songs of the seraphim, the thrilling paeans of the cherubim, the golden harps of the archangel and the tremendous hallelujahs of the heavenly hosts, accompanied by the innumerable procession of the Old Testament saints, on and on they sweep around the clarion jubilations of countless millions, till halting before the effulgent throne, the Son salutes the Father: Behold, I and the children whom Thou hast given me. Such a testimony meeting as heaven has never seen now follows. Father Abraham leads the way, followed by Job, Moses, Joshua, Daniel, the prophets, patriarchs, saints and martyrs, to the ravishing delight of the angels.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

1Pe 3:18-22. Christ Himself suffered injustice at the hands of men, but see how splendid the result! All salvationeverywhere in the universeis the result of His suffering and sacrifice, and these have raised Him in triumph above all orders of creatures. Through our faithoutwardly expressed in baptismwe are made partakers in the power of His resurrection (Php 3:10), so our suffering counts for little. While this seems to be the general idea of the section there is one very difficult passage in ita passage that has been termed the darkest in the NTthe words which deal with the preaching to the spirits in prison. A brilliant emendation by Rendel Harris (accepted in Moffatts NT) seems the real solution of the problem. At the beginning of 1Pe 3:19 the Gr. reads enkai, and Harris thinks that the word ench followed this, and had been slipped by the scribe. We should therefore read, It was in the spirit that Enoch also went and preached, etc. The reference would then be to the story in the Book of Enoch (chs. 6ff.) of his intercession on behalf of the fallen angels, as the result of whose sins the flood came upon the earth. This makes the illustration of Noah quite intelligible, and also, allowing for the extravagances of allegory, the supposed resemblance between the passing through the flood on the part of those in the ark and baptism.

If we decline to accept the emendation, then this passage has to bear either the burden of a special revelation as to an activity of Christ on which the rest of the NT is silent, or we must suppose that the writer invented a myth for which he had no reasonable basis. Each of these suppositions is very difficult, and it seems scarcely worth while to spend time over all the speculations to which the passage has given rise, as these may be read in the literature cited in the bibliography (p. 908). The idea of Christs preaching in Hades laid hold of the imagination of the early Church, and has held sway ever since. In early English poetry the Harrowing of Hell was a familiar subject, and it appears in Christian art. Nineteenth-century controversies about Eternal Hope again brought it into prominence, as may be seen in such a work as Plumptres Spirits in Prison. There is in the mind of the present writer no doubt that Rendel Harriss solution is the correct one, and this is strengthened by frequent references in the epistle to the Book of Enoch.

[The very ingenious emendation, in which Rendel Harris had, in fact, been anticipated, is most attractive, but it is difficult to harmonise with 1Pe 4:6, which cannot well be separated from this passage. There the preaching is of glad tidings, whereas Enoch preached condemnation. Moreover, as Rendel Harris himself confesses (Side-lights on NT Research, p. 209), the text as he restores it is lacking in continuity, and further correction would be necessary to fit it into its context. The sudden transition from the experiences of Christ to the preaching of Enoch is harsh in the extreme, and it is almost incredible that the references to Christ should have been abruptly closed without the completion we naturally expect. If the present text is accepted, the meaning is probably, not that Jesus preached to the angels who mated with women (Gen 6:1-4), but that in the interval between His death and resurrection (note the sequence of clauses and the words went and preached) He went to Hades and there preached to the imprisoned spirits of the antediluvians of Noahs time.A. S. P.]

1Pe 3:21. interrogation: the word is difficult, and has been given many meanings (cf. mg.). Perhaps we cannot get beyond the general sense that what is of real effect is the inward turning of the contrite and genuine heart to God in the rite of baptism.

1Pe 3:22. angels, etc.: in Enoch 61:10 we read, He will call on all the host of the heavens . . . and all the angels of power, and all the angels of principalities. Probably we should here read, angels of authorities and powers, as the departments of angelic domination.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 18

Quickened; raised to life.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

3:18 {18} For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, {19} the just for the unjust, {20} that he might bring us to God, {21} being put to death in the {m} flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

(18) A proof of either of the rules, by the example of Christ himself our chief pattern, who was afflicted not for his own sins (which were none) but for ours, and that according to his Father’s decree.

(19) An argument taken by comparison: Christ the just, suffered for us that are unjust and shall it grieve us who are unjust, to suffer for the cause of Christ.

(20) Another argument being partly taken of things coupled together, that is, because Christ brings us to his Father that same way that he went himself, and partly from the cause efficient: that is, because Christ is not only set before us for an example to follow, but also he holds us up by his power in all the difficulties of this life, until he bring us to his Father.

(21) Another argument taken from the happy end of these afflictions, in which Christ also goes before us both in example and power, as one who suffered most grievous torments even to death, although but only in one part of him, that is, in the flesh or man’s nature: but yet became conqueror by virtue of his divinity.

(m) As touching his manhood, for his body was dead, and his soul felt the sorrows of death.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

2. The vindication of Christ 3:18-22

Peter now reminded his readers of the consequences of Jesus’ response to unjustified persecution. He did so to strengthen their resolve to rededicate themselves to follow God’s will wholeheartedly and confidently. He also wanted to assure them of their ultimate triumph in Christ.

1Pe 3:18-22 contain some very difficult exegetical problems. Who are the spirits who received a proclamation (1Pe 3:19)? When did Jesus make this proclamation? What was its content? Why did Peter mention Noah? In what sense does baptism save us?

One group of interpreters believes Jesus went to the realm of the dead and preached to Noah’s contemporaries between His crucifixion and His resurrection. [Note: E.g., Bigg, p. 162.] Some of these say He extended an offer of salvation to them. Others feel He announced condemnation to the unbelievers. Still others hold that He announced good news to the saved among them.

A second group believes Jesus preached to Noah’s sinful generation while Noah was living on the earth. They see Him doing so through Noah.

A third group holds that Jesus proclaimed His victory on the cross to fallen angels. Some advocates of this view say this took place in hell between His crucifixion and His resurrection. Others believe it happened during His ascension to heaven.

I shall discuss these views in the exposition to follow.

In 1Pe 2:21-25 Peter mentioned Jesus’ behavior during His passion (1Pe 2:21-23), His death on the cross (1Pe 2:24 a), and His present ministry as the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (1Pe 2:24-25). In 1Pe 3:18-22 he cited Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into glory, the "missing links" in the previous record of Jesus’ experiences. Peter proceeded to explain the significance of Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation not only for believers but also for the whole universe. Whereas the previous example of Jesus stressed the way He suffered while doing good, this one emphasizes the theme of Jesus’ vindication, which is major in 1 Peter following the quotation of Psalms 34 in 1Pe 3:10-12.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

"For" connects 1Pe 3:18-22 with 13-17, but "Christ also" recalls and resumes the example of Jesus Christ that Peter cited in 1Pe 2:21-25. Peter used the same phrase to introduce Jesus Christ as an example of suffering there. Suffering for doing good is the point of comparison in both passages.

"Once for all" emphasizes the complete sufficiency of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. It does not need repeating (as in the Roman Catholic mass) or adding to (by any human works, cf. Rom 6:10; Heb 7:27; Heb 9:12; Heb 9:26; Heb 9:28; Heb 10:10). The emphasis is on the finality of His sacrifice ("once for all," Gr. hapax) rather than on the extent of the atonement ("for all").

His was also a vicarious sacrifice: the just One died for the unjust ones (1Pe 1:19; 1Pe 2:21-24; 1Pe 4:1; cf. Isa 53:11; Mat 27:19; Luk 23:47; Rom 5:6-10; 1Jn 2:1; 1Jn 2:29; 1Jn 3:7). The purpose of Jesus Christ’s death was to bring us into fellowship with God.

". . . no other NT writer has this active picture of Jesus leading the Christian to God. But it fits with Peter’s usual conception of the Christian life as an active close following of Jesus (1Pe 2:21; 1Pe 4:13)." [Note: Davids, p. 136.]

The phrase "having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit" has received several different interpretations.

Some interpreters believe that "flesh" refers to the material part of Jesus Christ’s person and "spirit" to the immaterial part. [Note: E.g., Lenski, p. 159; John Albert Bengel, New Testament Word Studies, 2:746; B. C. Caffin, "I Peter," in The Pulpit Commentary, p. 133; A. J. Mason, "The First Epistle General of Peter," in Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, 8:420; J. W. C. Wand, The General Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude, p. 100; and Robertson, 6:116.] Supporters of this view argue that we should regard "flesh" and "spirit" as two parts of the Lord’s human nature (cf. Mat 26:41; Rom 1:3-4; 1Ti 3:16; 1Co 5:5). The contrast then would be that Jesus’ body ("flesh") died, but His immaterial part ("spirit") experienced resurrection. The problem with this view is that an article precedes neither "flesh" nor "spirit" in the Greek text. The absence of the article usually stresses the quality of the noun. This would not be normal if Peter meant to contrast Jesus’ body and His spirit. He would have included an article before each noun. The absence of the articles suggests a special meaning of "flesh" and "spirit." Furthermore Jesus’ resurrection involved both the material and immaterial parts of His person, not just His spirit.

Another view is that we should take the Greek nouns (sarki and pneumati, translated "in the flesh" and "in the spirit") as instrumental ("by the flesh" and "by the spirit") rather than as dative. The contrast, according to this interpretation, is between wicked men, who put Jesus to death by fleshly means, and the Holy Spirit, who raised Him. However, the Greek dative case ("in the flesh") is probably what Peter intended here rather than the instrumental case ("by the flesh"). This is probably a dative of respect. [Note: F. Blass and A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, § 197.] It is not who was responsible for Jesus’ death and resurrection that is the issue but how Jesus suffered death and experienced resurrection. Moreover if "spirit" means the Holy Spirit, its meaning is not parallel with "flesh."

A third view is that "flesh" refers to Jesus’ death and "spirit" refers to His resurrection. The weakness of this view is that it is redundant. Peter said, according to this view, that Jesus was put to death in death and that He was made alive in resurrection.

A fourth view sees "flesh" as describing Jesus’ pre-resurrection condition (following the Incarnation) and "spirit" as referring to His post-resurrection condition. Peter used the same terminology in 1Pe 4:6 where he referred to Christians who had died but were now alive. I prefer this view.

"As in Rom. i.3f.; 1 Tim. iii.16, flesh and spirit do not here designate complimentary parts of Christ, but the whole of Christ regarded from different standpoints. By flesh is meant Christ in His human sphere of existence, considered as a man among men. By spirit is meant Christ in His heavenly spiritual sphere of existence, considered as divine spirit (see on 1. 11); and this does not exclude His bodily nature, since as risen from the dead it is glorified." [Note: Kelly, p. 151. Cf. Davids, p. 137-38.]

"’Flesh’ and ’spirit’ do not refer to two ’parts’ of Christ, i.e., his body and his soul; nor does the ’spirit’ refer to the Holy Spirit or Christ’s human spirit. Rather, ’flesh; refers to Christ in his human sphere of life and ’spirit’ refers to Christ in his resurrected sphere of life (cf. [William J.] Dalton, [Christ’s Proclamation to the Spirits,] pp. 124-24; TDNT, 6:417, 447; 7:143)." [Note: Blum, p. 242. Cf. Fanning, p. 444.]

 

"If ’flesh’ is the sphere of human limitations, of suffering, and of death (cf. 1Pe 4:1), ’Spirit’ is the sphere of power, vindication, and a new life (cf. [F. W.] Beare, [The First Epistle of Peter: The Greek Text with Introduction and Notes, p.] 169). Both spheres affect Christ’s (or anyone else’s) whole person; one cannot be assigned to the body and the other to the soul . . .

 

"The statement that Christ was ’made alive in the Spirit,’ therefore, means simply that he was raised from the dead, not as a spirit, but bodily (as resurrection always is in the NT), and in a sphere in which the Spirit and power of God are displayed without hindrance or human limitation (cf. 1Pe 1:21)." [Note: Michaels, p. 205. Cf. Selwyn, p. 197.]

Jesus Christ became the Victor rather than a victim. All who trust Him share that victory (cf. 1Pe 3:13-17). This verse is an encouragement to Peter’s readers that even though Jesus died because He remained committed to God’s will, He experienced resurrection. Therefore we should remain faithful with the confident hope that God will also vindicate us.

This verse is "one of the shortest and simplest [?!], and yet one of the richest summaries given in the New Testament of the meaning of the Cross of Jesus." [Note: J. M. E. Ross, The First Epistle of Peter, pp. 151-52.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)