Sunday
Morning Bible Study
January
12, 2020
Some of you thought you’d never see me again. I told you I wasn’t going anywhere.
This week Caleb is in Texas to perform a wedding that has been on the books
for months now.
I’m just filling in as one of his assistants.
Introduction
From Rome, the apostle Peter writes this letter to the Jew and Gentile
believers that are living throughout the province known as Asia Minor, or,
modern Turkey.
It is AD 64. Caesar Nero is beginning to unleash his persecution of
Christians back in Rome, where Peter is.
The believers in Rome faced torture, being burned alive, and death by
animals in the Coliseum.
The main themes that we’ve seen woven through this tapestry of difficulty
are:
Suffering -
Submission – an unusual response to suffering, learning to “yield” to God
rather than “fight” the problem.
Relational Evangelism – the way we go through our difficulties and yet
still cling to God can be a light to those who are going through dark times of
their own.
Since it’s been a few weeks since we’ve been in 1Peter, I want to review a
few things to remind us of the context of our passage.
Peter has been reminding us that we will face suffering.
He’s told us that when we suffer, we need to learn to follow in Jesus’
footsteps (1Pet. 2:21)
(1 Peter
2:21 NKJV) For to this you were called, because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
Hopefully when we experience suffering, it’s because we’ve been following
Jesus and not just being a jerk.
Peter said that when we suffer we should…
(1 Peter 3:15 NKJV)
But
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give
a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear;
When we go through suffering, we ought to check our hearts to be sure we
are allowing Jesus to be our Lord, because we might have an opportunity to
“speak”. We might have an opportunity to
“preach” or share our testimony.
We will have something to say.
3:18-22 Suffer and Share
:18 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,
:18 Christ also suffered once for sins
Jesus’ suffering paid for our sins.
He didn’t have to do it many times, He only died once.
The writer to the Hebrews said,
(Hebrews
10:10 NLT) For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the
sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
once – hapax – once, one
time; once for all
This is very similar to the language used in Hebrews, where the writer
clearly taught that Jesus only had to die once to pay for the sins of the
entire world for all time:
(Hebrews
9:28 NKJV) so Christ was offered once to bear the
sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time,
apart from sin, for salvation.
(Hebrews
10:10 NKJV) By that will we have been sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(Hebrews 7:27 NKJV) who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up
sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once
for all when He offered up Himself.
suffered – pascho – to be
affected or have been affected, to feel, have a sensible experience, to
undergo; in a bad sense, to suffer sadly, be in a bad plight
aorist active indicative
:18 the just for the unjust
Jesus was the “just” person dying in our place.
He paid a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.
:18 that He might bring us to God
He might bring – prosago –
to lead, to bring; to open a way of access, for one to God; to render one
acceptable to God
Aorist active subjunctive
This was what Jesus’ suffering accomplished.
Our sin disconnects us from God.
(Isaiah 59:1–2
NKJV) —1 Behold, the Lord’s
hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated
you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He
will not hear.
Paul wrote,
(Romans 6:23 NKJV) For the
wages of sin is death…
If you work at Sin Inc., you will be paid a wage for what you do. Your paycheck will pay you “death”, complete
separation from God.
The real problem is that we are ALL sinners. (Rom. 3:23)
When Jesus died, He died as a perfect, sinless sacrifice.
His death wasn’t to pay for His own sins, He died to pay for our sins.
Because He, as God, laid down an immortal, infinite life, His death has the
potential to pay for all of the sins of the entire world, all with a single
death.
All that’s left for you to have your sins paid for, is to receive this free
gift of God. You must believe.
(John 1:12 NKJV) But as many
as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those
who believe in His name:
:18 being put to death in the flesh
put to death – thanatoo –
to put to death; metaph.; to make to die i.e. destroy, render extinct; by death
to be liberated from the bond of anything, literally to be made dead in
relation to (something)
aorist passive participle, masculine nominative, singular
Jesus died a real, physical death.
The Roman soldiers were surprised that Jesus had died so quickly. So these professional executioners made sure
He was really dead.
The movie “Risen” follows a fictional Roman through the days of Jesus’
death and resurrection.
:18 but made alive by the Spirit
made alive – zoopoieo (“live”
+ “to make”) – to produce alive, begat or bear living young; to cause to live,
make alive, give life; by spiritual power to arouse and invigorate; to restore
to life
aorist passive participle, masculine nominative, singular
This is the resurrection of Jesus.
Three days after His death, Jesus rose again.
Jesus’ physical body was brought back to life in part by the work of the
Holy Spirit.
This clip is also from the movie “Risen”, as the fictional Clavius takes us
inside the very real meeting between the risen Jesus and Thomas.
By the way, have you ever wondered if anything happened during those three
days between Jesus’ death and resurrection?
The involvement of the Holy Spirit was not just at the resurrection proper
but was also during that period between Jesus’ death and resurrection.
:19 by whom also He went
and preached to the spirits in prison,
I wish they hadn’t ended verse 19 here, I’d suggest that the following
phrase in verse 20 also be a part of this verse.
Don’t forget that verse and chapter divisions are arbitrary. They were added far after the Bible was
written. They are helpful but not always
“inspired”.
:20 who formerly were
disobedient,
:19 by whom also He went
By whom – referring back to the “Spirit” (v.18)
the “whom” is neuter, just like the word for “Spirit” (pneuma)
He went – poreuomai
Aorist passive participle
The “whom” is a reference to the help of the Holy Spirit that Jesus will do
something.
:19 and preached to the spirits in prison
prison – phulake – guard,
watch; a watching, keeping watch; of the place where captives are kept, a
prison
preached – κηρύσσω kerusso – to be a
herald, proclaim openly: something which has been done
aorist active indicative
Don’t limit this word “preached” to giving someone a chance to believe,
repent, and be saved.
Jesus might have been delivering a message of something having been
accomplished.
There are others words that also are translated “preached” (ie euaggelidzo
– “to speak good news”), which also have a broader meaning than just the
“preaching of the gospel leading to salvation”.
:20 who formerly were disobedient
disobedient – apeitheo –
not to allow one’s self to be persuaded; to refuse or withhold belief; to
refuse belief and obedience; not to comply with
aorist active participle, masculine plural dative
This word can carry the idea of being “unbelieving”.
formerly – pote – once
i.e. formerly, aforetime, at some time
The word for “disobedient” can also carry the idea of being “unpersuaded”
or “unbelieving”
:19 preached to the spirits in prison
Ok, what in the world is Peter talking about???
This is a difficult passage and the number of possible interpretations are
about as long as the number of commentaries you’ll read.
What is the “prison”? When did Jesus go there? What was His message?
Because the following verses are about Noah, some have suggested that
Christ preached in the days of Noah through the lips of Noah.
Peter will call Noah a “preacher of righteousness”… (2Pet.
2:5)
(2 Peter 2:5 NKJV) and did not spare the ancient world,
but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
Without boring you with the hundreds of possible interpretations, I’ll just
share my opinion with you.
I believe that Jesus went and preached to the souls of the unbelieving dead
after His death on the cross, before rising from the dead.
Before His resurrection, the spirits of all people who died went to a place
in the center of the earth known as “Sheol”, or, “Hades”.
In Sheol, there were two compartments, two separate places. One was known
as “Abraham’s bosom” or “Paradise”. The other was a place of torment, known as
“hell” of “Gehenna”.
You can read a very vivid description of this in Luke 16.
Abraham’s bosom was for the faithful, hell was for the unfaithful.
At the cross, Jesus suffered and died.
Just before dying He declared “It is finished”.
Jesus didn’t rise from the dead for three days. So what happened during that time?
I believe Jesus went to Sheol.
He didn’t go to Sheol to be beaten up by the devil (as
some suggest). Jesus had already paid
the price (“finished”)
I believe He preached or “declared” what He had just
accomplished (paying the price)
He didn’t preach to give those unbelieving in hell a
second chance. The Bible says that our
“chance” is before death, not afterwards (Heb. 9:27)
(Hebrews 9:27 NKJV) And as it is appointed for men to
die once, but after this the judgment,
Jesus’ message was a declaration of what He had just done,
the Promised Messiah had paid for the sins of the world.
This message would have sealed the despair of those in
hell, that they had rejected God’s salvation.
To those in “Paradise”, Jesus may have simply given the
same message, but instead of despair, their message was one of hope fulfilled.
Then, it was time for Jesus to empty that compartment
called “Paradise” and take them to heaven.
I think this is what Paul meant when he wrote,
(Ephesians
4:8–10 NKJV) —8 Therefore He says: “When He
ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what
does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the
earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the
heavens, that He might fill all things.)
And now when a person dies…
If the person is an unbeliever, he will go to hell where he will spend
eternity paying for his sins.
If a person is a believer, he will go immediately to heaven, to be in the
presence of God.
Note: These are very, very vague passages. These ideas concerning
Jesus’ visit to Hades are not things we’re going to be extremely dogmatic
about.
My suggestions are simply one way of putting all the Scriptures together.
verse 20 goes on to switch from Jesus suffering and “preaching”, to Noah
doing his own suffering and preaching.
:20 …when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the
ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved
through water.
:20 in the days of Noah
Peter doesn’t question the historicity of the story of Noah and his big
boat.
If you consider yourself a person too smart to believe a story about a
worldwide flood and a boat that contained all those animals, there are some
great resources you ought to consider before just tossing this aside.
Note: an “ark” is simply another
word for “box”. Moses also built an
“ark”, the ark of the covenant. It was a
box that held God’s contract/covenant.
Noah’s ark was a box that was just a bit bigger…
:20 eight souls, were saved through water
We don’t have an exact count of the population of the world in the days
before the flood, but we do know that only eight survived the flood.
Who were the survivors? Noah and his
three sons, and all their wives.
Instead of dying in the flood, these eight individuals were saved through
the flood (with the help of a boat)
when – hote – when
whenever, while, as long as
waited – ekdechomai – to
receive, accept; to look for, expect, wait for, await
imperfect middle indicative
was being prepared – kataskeuazo
– to furnish, equip, prepare, make ready; of builders, to construct, erect,
with the included idea of adorning and equipping with all things necessary
present passive participle
the ark – kibotos – a
wooden chest or box; in the NT the ark of the covenant, in the temple at
Jerusalem; of Noah’s vessel built in the form of an ark
few – oligos – little,
small, few
were saved – diasozo – to
preserve through danger, to bring safely through; to save, keep from perishing;
to save out of danger, rescue
:20 the Divine longsuffering waited
longsuffering – μακροθυμία makrothumia –
patience, endurance, slowness in avenging wrongs
Paul tells us that we ought to be “patient” with others (1Cor. 13:4), but
here we see God’s “patience”.
“Longsuffering” or “patience” is referring to the period of time between
when God’s warning that He was going to destroy the world with a flood, to when
the flood actually occurred. God was “patient”
Ever since the time of Adam’s sin (Gen. 3), mankind’s sin began to get
worse and worse.
By the time of Noah, this was how bad it was:
(Genesis 6:5 NKJV) Then the Lord saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
We believe that the period of time between God’s warning and the flood was
about 120 years. (Gen. 6:3).
(Genesis 6:3 NKJV) And the Lord said,
“My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh;
yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
So what happened during those 120 years?
Noah built a boat.
Noah preached.
In his second letter (2Peter 2:5), Peter calls Noah a
“preacher of righteousness”.
(2 Peter 2:5 NKJV) and did not spare the ancient world,
but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
The word Peter uses for “preacher” is related to the one
he uses for Christ preaching to those in prison (kerux)
Ancient Jewish traditions claim that Noah was ridiculed
and persecuted when he preached.
So … God didn’t just one day say “ENOUGH”!! and then wipe out the world.
He waited for 120 years, giving the world a warning of what would happen
through the lips of Noah.
Lesson
Suffer and Share
There is a sense in which both Jesus and Noah experienced difficulty and suffering,
and they still had a message to declare.
Some of you may be going through difficulty
right now.
Take heed to what Peter already told us to do when we suffer:
(1 Peter 3:15 NKJV)
But
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give
a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear;
We may not understand the full reasoning behind why we may
suffer until we meet Jesus face-to-face.
But if you are still breathing, make sure Jesus is the
Lord of your heart, and get ready to share.
God may have someone for you to talk to.
In the context of suffering and persecution, Jesus said,
(Matthew 10:19–20
NLT) —19 When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to
say. God will give you the right words at the right time. 20 For it is
not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking
through you.
:21 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,
:21 an antitype which now saves us - baptism
an antitype – antitupos –
a thing formed after some pattern; a thing resembling another, its counterpart
saves – sozo – to save,
keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction; to save in the
technical biblical sense
Think of the word “antitype” as a “picture”, a “symbol”, an “illustration”.
The picture of Noah and his family being “saved” through water (flood) is a
“picture” of us being “saved” through baptism.
Baptism itself contains the symbols of a person “dying” in the water and
being “raised” to life.
If we stopped reading right here, we might get to think that a person isn’t
“saved” until they’re baptized (as some teach).
But Peter doesn’t stop here.
:21 not the removal of the filth of the flesh
The practice of baptism comes from the Jewish ritual “mikveh” bath.
If you visit Israel, you will see these ritual baths in almost every
archaeological dig.
You walk down the steps into the water to “wash away” your sin.
Peter tells us it’s not being dipped in the water that saves you, it’s…
:21 the answer of a good conscience toward God
It’s your heart.
The ESV translates this:
(1 Peter
3:21 ESV) …not as a removal of dirt from the body but as
an appeal to God for a good conscience
Baptism itself is just another picture.
Baptism doesn’t save you.
The thing that brings salvation to you is your cry to God for His mercy.
removal – apothesis – a
putting off or away
the filth – rhupos –
filthy, dirty
conscience – suneidesis –
the consciousness of anything; the soul as distinguishing between what is
morally good and bad, prompting to do the former and shun the latter,
commending one, condemning the other; the conscience
the answer – eperotema –
an enquiry, a question; a demand; earnestly seeking; craving, an intense desire
:21 through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ
The resurrection of Jesus is critical to our salvation.
It is the proof that Jesus did indeed to what He claimed He would do – pay
for our sins.
Jesus had enough “eternal life” to not only pay for our sins, but to come
back from the dead.
:22 who has gone into
heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers
having been made subject to Him.
:22 who has gone into heaven
40 days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven, where He will
be until He returns.
:22 angels and authorities and powers
These are names of levels of angelic beings.
:22 having been made subject to Him
being made subject – ὑποτάσσω hupotasso – to
arrange under, to submit
subordinate; to subject, put in subjection; to subject one’s self, obey; to
submit to one’s control; to yield to one’s admonition or advice; to obey, be
subject; A Greek military term meaning "to arrange [troop divisions] in a
military fashion under the command of a leader". In non-military use, it
was "a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming
responsibility, and carrying a burden".
aorist passive participle
We can’t seem to get away from that word “submit”.
Peter has already had much to say about submission in the realm of:
Government/authorities
Work
Marriage
Here, the angelic realm is submitted to Jesus.
Don’t be quick to blow off this spiritual discipline of submission.
It’s important to God.
Don’t be quick to keep demanding your own way about things.
:20 the Divine longsuffering waited
Lesson
Don’t wait too long
In his second letter, Peter writes that the world had forgotten about the
flood, and they blew off all the warnings of the Second Coming because they
thought “nothing has ever changed”.
But things had changed. In Noah’s
day the world was destroyed.
In Noah’s day, God gave the world a 120 year warning.
And then came the day that it was too late.
Peter wrote,
(2 Peter 3:9 NLT) The Lord
isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is
being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed,
but wants everyone to repent.
The word “patient” is the same as “longsuffering in our
passage.
The most romantic movie of all time (The Notebook) is about two individuals
who can’t make up their mind about their relationship.
So what do YOU want?
Jesus loves you like no one ever has.
He gave His life for you so that you could be with Him in
eternity in heaven.
Have you opened your heart to Jesus yet?
Have you received God’s free gift of forgiveness?
Don’t misunderstand God’s patience. There’s a reason you are still around on this
planet. God wants you to find His mercy.
Don’t wait until it’s too late.