Grace Means...Invitation

1 Peter 3:18-22

Up to this point in his letter, Peter has been telling us to honor those in authority over us even if they are unjust because our suffering serves a purpose. He tells us that we will receive blessings from God the Father for our submission. In 1 Peter 2:21 and following, he gives the example of Jesus Christ to show how we can find strength and courage to face the trials in our lives. 

In 1 Peter 2:23, Peter says, “He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” Trusting and believing in God the Father is where Jesus found His strength, and this is where Peter tells us to find our strength.

When Jesus’ disciples were facing their greatest trial, Jesus said:

John 14:1 (NKJV) Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

Jesus told the disciples to trust Him on the night that He was betrayed and arrested. He did this to prepare them because everything they were about to see would seem to contradict the truth that Jesus is the Son of God omnipotent. They needed the strength and courage of faith to face the approaching difficulties.

To face the trials of our lives, we also need the strength and courage that comes through belief (faith) in God.

Scattered throughout Peter’s exhortations to be submissive and humble are statements like “that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.” (1 Peter 2:15)

1 Peter 2:15 (NKJV) For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—

Revealed in such statements is the fact that we are God’s vessels to make Him known. God uses our suffering, trials, and example to point others to our Savior. As a continuation of this theme of reaching out to the lost, Peter explains the heart of God in allowing the suffering of His children. 

God’s purpose in the trials of His children is seen in 1 Peter 3:18.

1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God...

God had deep and eternal purposes in the life of His Son. Things that we cannot comprehend. In Hebrews 5:7-9, we see part of the eternal purpose of God in the life of His Son.

Hebrews 5:7–9 (NKJV) ⁷who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, ⁸though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. ⁹And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

If Jesus learned obedience and was perfected in His sufferings, how much more necessary is it for us to learn obedience and be perfected (matured).

However, even in the “perfecting” that God worked in Jesus, He also worked out eternal salvation for all who believe.

1 Peter 3:18 tells us that Jesus suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. God’s purpose in the suffering of our Lord Jesus (His only begotten Son) was to reconcile us to Himself, to “bring us to God.”

 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 says:

2 Corinthians 5:20–21 (NKJV) ²⁰Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This verse confirms that God continues to work to bring people (us) to Himself. First, as verse 21 makes clear, He provided the way (means) of salvation. Then He made us ambassadors for Christ to invite others to come to Him.

According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, the means of salvation was Jesus being made sin for us, that we might become righteous in Him. This concept is also expressed in 1 Peter 3:18 when it says,

1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit...

In this verse, we see that:

1. He suffered once for sin.

• His suffering was once for all. (See also Hebrews 9:26)
• His suffering was for sin.

2. He was put to death (for sin).
3. He rose from the dead.

These points are the gospel in a nutshell - a summary of what Jesus did.

This verse also tells us how Jesus rose from the dead. He was made alive by the Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit had a vital role in the work that Jesus did, just as He has a crucial role in our salvation. The Holy Spirit works to bring us to God. Jesus died and rose again to bring us to God. The Holy Spirit gives testimony to the truth to our spirits. He tells us about Jesus. 

At this point, Peter enters a subject that has divided the church since the time of Augustine and Jerome.

Jerome was born in about 347 AD and was a scholar who translated the Bible into Latin. His translation is known as the “Vulgate” and is still the official version of the (Roman) Catholic Church. (The word “Vulgate” means “common,” as in “common English.”)

Jerome’s understanding of this passage is reflected in His translation and is reflected in the King James Version of the Bible, which says:

1 Peter 3:19–20 (KJV) ¹⁹by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; ²⁰which 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...

The idea that comes out of this is that Jesus, while dead or in the spirit, went and preached in Hades or the place of the dead. This idea also ties in with the Roman Church’s teaching on purgatory.

Augustine was a contemporary of Jerome, and was considered the better theologian. To this day some consider Augustine to be the most important thinker in Christian history. Born in 354 A.D., he was seven years younger than Jerome. Augustine interpreted Peter’s saying differently from Jerome, and these two interpretations have remained the two principle interpretations in the Church to this day. However, since Jerome’s translation is the official translation, his interpretation has dominated.

With this background, let me show you the textual form in which the Greek New Testament came to the original readers.

1 Peter 3:19-20  inwhichalsotothespiritsinprison havinggonehedidpreachwhosometimedisbelieved whenoncethe longsufferingofGoddidwaitindaysof Noahanarkbeing preparinginwhichfewthatiseight soulsweresavedthroughwater

I do this to demonstrate that punctuation, and in rare cases even how one divides up the words with spaces, can make a difference. Now, putting in verse divisions and punctuation, we have:

1 Peter 3:19-20 ¹⁹in which also, to the spirits in prison having gone, he did preach, ²⁰who sometime disbelieved, when once the long-suffering of God did wait, in days of Noah — an ark being preparing — in which few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water;

As usual, Peter is hard to interpret. He chooses to use word order that can be confusing. Look at the phrase “spirits” in “spirit having gone.” The spirits have gone to prison (past tense, thus they are now in prison). Now, look at the phrase “when once the long-suffering of God did wait.” This phrase indicates when the preaching took place. In other words, the preaching took place in the days of Noah, not at the time of the cross.

This word order is something like saying “The robber, having run from the police, is in prison.” When one could just as easily say, The robber, who is in prison, ran from the police.” Or, “The robber ran from the police and is in prison.”  

When we look back at verse 18, we see that Peter says Jesus was raised to life by the Spirit. Then in continuation of the thought, he says “in which,” which also means “by which.” In other words, the agency or agent by which the preaching was done is the Holy Spirit. Jesus preached to the people of Noah’s day by sending the Holy Spirit. It is not saying that Jesus went to the prison. Rather, it is saying that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to preach to the people of Noah’s day, and since they did not believe and trust God’s provision, they are now in prison, waiting for the day of judgment.

If the people of Noah’s day had listened to the warnings of the Holy Spirit (spoken by Noah), then they would have been saved. Jesus (God) invited them and pleaded with them for 100 years while Noah built the ark. But since they did not get into the ark, they perished. 

After pointing to the fact that God waited patiently, preaching, while the Ark was being built, Peter says:

1 Peter 3:21 (NKJV) There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

“Antitype” means representation by type. Some translations say “comparable.” The Ark and baptism can be compared as types, both having to do with salvation.  Salvation comes by faith when we listen to the Holy Spirit and come to Him. He both warns and invites.

This warning and invitation are how Baptism is like the Ark. God warns us through the Cross that judgment is coming. And, He invites us all to come. He pleads with us to come. Just as Jesus preached to the people of Noah's day by the Holy Spirit working in Noah, Jesus preaches to the people of our day by the Holy Spirit working through His people, the Church.

This working of the Holy Spirit is why the removal of the Church plays such a significant role in End Time events. (2 Thessalonians 2:7)

Peter says baptism saves us because it represents us coming or turning to God. Peter says that it is not the washing of the body that saves us. Instead, it is the plea of the conscience to God that saves us. Being baptized is not the thing that saves us. Calling upon the name of the Lord saves us. 

God offered the people of Noah’s day a way of salvation. They were invited. The people of today (we) are being offered a way of salvation. We are invited.

This warning and invitation are what Peter is trying to communicate. This is the second interpretation, the way Augustine understood this passage and the way Martin Luther understood this passage. All this “preaching to spirits in hell” stuff confuses the issue and ignores the context of everything Peter has been saying about suffering. 

Our God warns and invites. He does not wish for any to perish. So, He always provides a way of salvation. He is waiting. But, the time when His patience will come to an end is quickly approaching. 

We should learn from history. 

For example, in the days of Moses, God warned Pharoah, and all Pharoah had to do to be safe was let God’s people go. God warned and invited Pharaoh ten times before His patience ran out. 

God warned the people of Noah’s day, and all they had to do was get on the boat. Noah preached to them for a hundred years before God’s judgment fell. 

God, by the Holy Spirit, is preaching to the world today, and all we have to do is believe. We show faith, an appeal to God, by Baptism. 

If you have not been baptized, how am I supposed to believe that you believe?

One more thing to consider is how Pete finishes his thoughts. He says:

1 Peter 3:21–22 (NKJV) ²¹through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

“Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” tells us how our confession (baptism) saves us. But Peter also considers it essential to clarify who Jesus is. 

There are many false christs in the world, but Jesus is the Lord who is risen from the dead, one with God the Father, and all things have been made subject to Him, whether in heaven or on the earth. It is crucial, vital, important, and necessary that we are baptized in the name of this Jesus Christ and no other. The god that the Mormons worship will not do. The God that the Jehovah’s Witnesses worship will not do. The God that the Mohammedans worship will not do. Jesus was clear when He said:

John 14:6 (NKJV) No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Peter makes sure we understand which Jesus is inviting us to salvation.

Do you know Him?

Have you appealed to Him for salvation?

Have you been baptized?