Last summer when we agreed to cover 1 Peter during our Sunday evening sermon series I made recommendations to the other pastors on paragraphs we each should preach. I assigned myself this section, 1 Peter 3:18-22, for…fun. If you’re keeping note, you remember that Dave taught last and covered 3:1-7. Jonathan has a message already for verses 8 and following, but he had an opportunity to be gone tonight, so we swapped evenings, not passages.

My title, though, and the reason for this paragraph, hinge on a part we’ve temporarily skipped. When we are suffering, and when we show a sort of hopefulness that causes others to ask about it, we want to be ready with a good apology. The word in 3:15, typically translated as “defense” or “reason” is ἀπολογία (apologia). Apology here means not admitting that we were wrong or saying that we’re sorry, but explaining the foundation for why our hope is real. We’re to have our case prepared. There is actually plenty of basis before 3:15, and yet there is a “for” or “because” in verse 18 that sets up clear comfort for suffering Christians.

There are, as we’ll see, some significant questions and competing interpretations that keep everything from being equally clear. But these verses contain some glorious, and hope case-making, truths.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, 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 he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. (1 Peter 3:18–22, ESV)

Christ Vivified (verse 18)

Christ also suffered, connects with Christian suffering in verse 13 and 17. It’s not that Christians suffered first, but rather that Christian suffering isn’t without precedence. In chapter 2 Peter said that Christ left us an “example,” an underwriting (ὑπογραμμὸν), that we should follow in His steps. This is where WWJD got its origin, with the fictional story by Charles Sheldon. But Christ’s suffering is more than merely a pattern which we should imitate, it is also for our propitiation. His unique suffering was once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. We have hope in whatever parts of our suffering that are similar to His because of His suffering that was something we could never do. His was a substitution which the “for” or “instead of” emphasizes.

“He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for out iniquities;
upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.”
(Isaiah 53:5-6, from which Peter quotes in 1 Peter 2:24, and see also Isaiah 53:11-12)

We also have hope because of the purpose of our justification: that He might bring us to God. This is my favorite reminder of Christ’s work; He turns rebels into brothers, hostile enemies into companions and allies. Redemption is unto reconciliation, forgiveness unto fellowship, propitiation unto peace in His presence. Our sin offended His holy standard and it separated us from Him. The Son suffered to save and bring back the wandering sheep (1 Peter 2:25); He leads you to the Father (see Ephesians 2:18).

The end of verse 18 begins the challenging part, ** being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit**. He really died; He had a physical body that the Roman soldiers beat and nailed to a cross. In the flesh, as a man, He suffered. On one hand they killed Him, then on the other hand God made Him alive (μὲν…δὲ). He was vivified, from Latin vivere, “to live,” so enlivened. But in what way?

The word πνεῦμα (pneuma) is never capitalized in Greek, context always determines whether it is the Holy Spirit or the spirit of a person, the intangible, non-flesh animating part.

If it is the Holy Spirit (as represented in the KJV, NIV) then all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned in this verse as working for our salvation. Paul explicitly connects the Holy Spirit who dwells in us as the Spirit “who raised Jesus from the dead” (Romans 8:11). If it is the Holy Spirit, the phrase really isn’t parallel; having been put to death in the realm/sphere of the flesh and being vivified by the agent of the Spirit. (Though see a possible similar use in 1 Timothy 3:16, ἐν σαρκί…ἐν πνεύματι, body and Spirit.)

If it is “spirit” (as in the Geneva Bible, NASB, ESV), then why emphasize that? The resurrection is about His body, which was dead and buried but now alive (which is also our hope). After He said, “It is finished,” Jesus “bowed his head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). So this is when He got it back?

The Greek word here is not the typical word for resurrection (which we find in verse 21), but a form of ζωοποιέω, meaning “to be caused to live, to be vivified.” Is this a time between His bodily death and bodily resurrection, when Jesus was disembodied but made alive again in His spirit, or is it another way to refer to His resurrection? Jesus did tell the thief on the cross beside Him that he would be with him today in paradise (Luke 23:43), which means that He did not suffer in hell from Friday to Sunday.

The questions spill into the next section.

Christ Vindicated (verses 19-20)

In the (Spirit/spirit), Jesus went (somewhere) and preached (something) to an audience (of spirits).

in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, (1 Peter 3:19–20a, ESV)

Who are the “spirits in prison”? What is the “prison” and where is it? When did this proclaiming occur? What did Jesus proclaim? Why is this so important? What is it doing here? Peter seems to expect that his readers know all of this; his lack of additional details suggests that he’s reminding them not revealing new info. We have less confidence.

Luther wrote, “A wonderful text is this, and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means. (quoted by Schreiner)

In which…having gone He preached picks up with the last word in verse 17, so “in the Spirit/spirit” Jesus traveled somewhere. It seems that this was the next thing after having been made alive. Vivification/resurrection led to this proclamation.

The original word order is, “in which also to the in prison spirits having gone He preached,” with an emphasis on the spirits. When the plural spirits is used in the New Testament it is not about men, but angels, and usually fallen angels. And the only prison for spirits we’re told about is a place for the disobedient spirits (namely Satan in Revelation 20:7) whom Jude perhaps describes in confinement.

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day (Jude 1:6, ESV)

Right after that Jude mentions Sodom and Gomorrah and “likewise” sexual immorality (Jude 1:7). Peter also refers to this angelic disobedience and detention.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; (2 Peter 2:4–5, ESV)

Yet some commentators (such as Calvin) assert that this prison in 1 Peter 3:19 is figurative for those imprisoned in ignorance or sin or even those bound under the law. So to him, spirits is men, regardless of what the word usually refers to.

But what connection does that have to Christ “having gone preached”? Verse 19 sounds like a message, not an extended ministry (Heibert).

And how does that relate to in the days of Noah? We do know that it was particularly sinful, which resulted in God wiping out almost all humanity. Some (such as Augustine) see the “spirits” as the spirits of men, but the now disembodied spirits of the men who died in the flood, but the proclamation was through Christ’s Spirit in Noah preaching to them (compare with 2 Peter 2:5).

In 1995 I was taking a Greek class which worked through 1 Peter, and in my final project, an outline commentary on the book, I took the Noah as preacher interpretation. My professor wrote, “You can be wrong if you want to.” Ha.

I have changed my mind, mostly because every prophet preached righteousness through Christ’s Spirit (see 1 Peter 1:11), not just Noah. Plus the order presented in verses 18 to 19 makes the preaching post Christ being vivified; it’s not the pre-incarnate Christ. In addition to that, the part that stands out in Noah’s day is the demonic activity, which also sets us up for verse 22.

It would fit the interpretation that the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 were demons, or at least that men were demon-possessed (MacArthur), and especially in their sexual immorality (Jude 1:6). They were “spirits” who did not obey…in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared. The spirits are pre-flood evil-doers. God’s patience waited, but not indefinitely.

This relates to Christ announcing His triumph.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:15, ESV)

he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:20b–21 ESV)

In His preaching Christ wasn’t offering them a second chance, this isn’t a gospel message; there is “no missionary work in hell” (Lenski). It is a message of His victory.

This relates to our hope. The comfort is that a culture dominated by evil, full of depravity, and even rife with demons doesn’t win. The great powers against Christ heard Christ proclaim His victory.

Christ Victorious (verses 21-22)

Peter follows the flood waters of judgment with waters of baptism. It corresponds (ἀντίτυπον) to or “symbolizes” (NIV) the ark, but it’s not the water, the analogy is to Christ. As the waters of judgment brought death, so we are buried in death when baptized, and we only “survive” because we are in Christ.

Peter is not teaching baptismal regeneration. The water isn’t magic, the cleansing isn’t via ceremony. The external isn’t the point, but the appeal to God for a good conscience.

Our salvation is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the elect are born again by faith into hope (1:3).

Now He’s ascended, our Lord ever more. All the angels, whatever their hierarchy, authorities and powers, have been made subject to Christ, and this is especially true of the fallen angels. He is at the right hand of God, a position of honor and authority. There is not one thumb’s-width in the entire domain of all existence over which Christ does not rule as Lord. His enemies are being made His footstool (see Psalm 110:1).

Conclusion

For my final answers tonight, I’ll go with spirit instead of Spirit, and that being made alive refers to His bodily resurrection rather than a time of His disembodiment when darkness covered the earth for three hours during His crucifixion, that the spirits in prison are the fallen angels who sought to corrupt the human race while Noah built the ark and now are imprisoned, that the resurrected Christ proclaimed His triumph over them, that we are being delivered through our union with Christ and will be brought to God by Christ, and that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.

This provides a good apology for our hope: Christ is alive. Christ has atoned for our sin. Christ announced His victory. Christ has ascended to His throne. He knows what it means to suffer for doing good, according to God’s will (verse 17), and look at what His suffering brought.