1 Peter 3:18-22: The Triumph of Christ

1 Peter 3:18-22: The Triumph of Christ

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Peter, and today the next passage we come to is 1 Peter 3:18-22. It says,

18 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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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. 21 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, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we know it’s your will that we be conformed to the image of your Son, Jesus. And we also know that the way that happens is by your Spirit and through your Word. So, please, Holy Spirit, take this passage and use it to accomplish your purposes within each one of us. Lead us to Christ and conform us to his image. And it’s in his name that we pray, amen.

Many of you probably know that, personally, I’m not a huge sports fan. From time to time someone will ask me if I’m a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and my typical reply is that I don’t think I’m worthy of the title “fan.” Instead, it would probably be more accurate to describe me as a Steelers supporter. I’ll often Google the score after a Steelers game and maybe even watch a highlight video on occasion, but that’s about it. However, as we all know, some people are truly fanatical about their favorite sports teams. And the way you can tell if someone’s truly a fan of a team or not is whether they still root for that team even when the team doesn’t do very well and maybe hasn’t done well for numerous years. That’s the ultimate test. Is the person still loyal to their team even when their team has losing season after losing season? For example, if someone claims to be a Pirates fan, I think we can pretty much take them at their word. 

But of course, it’s never easy to be a fan of a losing team. Depending on how emotionally invested you are in that team’s performance, you might find yourself feeling discouraged—or, in some extreme cases, even depressed—because of how poorly your team is doing. 

Likewise, as Christians in our society today, it can sometimes feel like we’re on a losing team. With each passing year, society seems to be going further and further in a secular direction, and Christians—at least, Bible-believing Christians—seem to be increasingly sidelined and at times even shunned and ridiculed. That can be discouraging. 

And if you’ve been with us as our church has been journeying through the book of 1 Peter together, you know that’s very much the situation in which Peter’s original readers found themselves as well. In fact, their situation was even worse. Many of them were being openly persecuted because of their faith in Jesus. So, Peter writes this letter in order to encourage them in the midst of their unjust suffering. 

And here in our main passage today of 1 Peter 3:18-22, that’s precisely what Peter does. He encourages his readers in the midst of their suffering by reminding them that Jesus is triumphant. That’s the main idea of this passage. It’s very simple but very powerful. Jesus is triumphant. By the way, notice that I’ve put that in the present tense, indicating not just that Jesus will be triumphant at some point in the future but that he actually already is triumphant right now. And we’ll see how that’s the case as we work our way through this passage. 

The passage begins with verse 18. Peter writes, “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.” Think about that phrase, “Christ also suffered.” The word “also” is very significant. In the previous verse, Peter spoke of Christians who “suffer for doing good.” And he now immediately makes a comparison between their suffering and the suffering of Christ. “For Christ also suffered,” Peter says. Peter’s basically reminding his readers that they’re not alone in their suffering. Jesus himself has already endured the same kinds of things they’re enduring—as well as things that are far worse than they’ll ever endure—and therefore understands completely what they’re going through. And that’s such a comfort for us as well. No matter what trials or hardships or opposition we find ourselves facing, Jesus has experienced it all and understands it all and promises to be with us through it all so that we’re never alone. 

Peter then goes on to say that “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous.” This is one of the clearest and therefore most important verses in the entire Bible about what Jesus accomplished through his death on the cross. Jesus dying on the cross wasn’t some sort of unforeseen or pointless tragedy but rather an ordeal he endured very deliberately in order accomplish something wonderful. According to Peter, Jesus “suffered [that is, he died] once for sins.” In our natural condition, everyone in this world is guilty of sin. We’ve all rebelled against a holy God and therefore deserve to be punished for our sins forever in hell. That’s what God’s justice requires. If God didn’t punish us for our sins, he’d be no better than a human judge who refused to hold any criminals responsible for their actions. It would be a gross miscarriage of justice. 

However, this God of justice is also a God of love. And, being a God of love, he desires that we be rescued from the punishment our sins deserve. But how could that rescue be accomplished? When you think about it, that’s actually the central question of the Bible. How can God forgive our sins and still be just? How can he withhold the punishment we deserve and yet not be sinning or violating his own righteous nature in doing so? 

The answer is that someone would have to be punished in our place. And that’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus was fully God and yet took on human flesh so that he would be eligible to act as our representative. He then, as Peter says, “suffered once for sins.” That is, Jesus suffered the agony of death on the cross because of the sins we had committed. 

Then, just to make absolutely certain there’s no confusion, Peter offers additional clarification in the next phrase—“the righteous for the unrighteous.” The word “for” there indicates that a substitution is taking place. The righteous one—Jesus, who was sinless and perfect—suffered in the place of and as a substitute “for” unrighteous sinners, such as you and me. The righteous suffered in place of the unrighteous. Theologians call it “penal substitutionary atonement.” I know those are some big words, but sometimes it’s good to have big words to describe such profound truths. “Penal substitutionary atonement.” It’s really not all that complicated when you break it down. The death of Jesus on the cross was “penal” in that he was suffering a penalty when he died—the penalty for our sin. His death was also “substitutionary” in that Jesus was functioning as a substitute for us in bearing this penalty. Then, finally, Jesus’ death made “atonement” for our sin in that it paid for our sin in such a way that God’s wrath was appeased and his justice was satisfied. That’s what happened on the cross.

In the Old Testament, this was foreshadowed by the sacrifice of animals in the temple. God required that the Israelites slaughter animals in order to symbolize atonement for sin. In reality, though, the blood of animals was never sufficient to actually atone for the sins of God’s people. That would require the blood of another sacrifice—the ultimate sacrifice—and that is the sacrifice of God’s own Son. We then read in the New Testament about Jesus being sacrificed on the cross. Jesus suffered as our substitute and thereby purchased our salvation. The theologian John Stott once wrote that “The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.” That’s a great way to say it. 

Perhaps the closest comparison we could make today would be someone breaking the law and therefore being ordered by a court to pay a certain fine—let’s say a very large fine. However, at that point, someone else might conceivably step in and pay that fine on the person’s behalf. In essence, the second person would be suffering the financial penalty on behalf of the first person. And justice would be satisfied. The court would receive the payment, and the person who broke the law wouldn’t be subject to any further punishment. Likewise, Jesus endured the penalty—or, we might say, paid the price—for our sins. Of course, that price, as we’ve said, wasn’t just a simple fine but the full force of God the Father’s wrath against our sins. And Jesus did that voluntarily. This wasn’t some sort of divine child abuse but rather a voluntary decision Jesus made because of his love for us. Jesus loved us so much that he essentially endured hell on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to endure hell in hell. 

As a result, Peter says, Jesus is now able to “bring us to God.” Again, verse 18: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God….” In our natural condition, our sins separated us from God. But Jesus bridged that divide and reconciled that relationship with the result that we’re now able to enjoy closeness with God once again. The same closeness with God that once existed in the Garden of Eden before humanity’s rebellion is now restored because of what Jesus has done and will one day be fully enjoyed in the new creation. 

However, in order to experience any of this, God requires that we turn away from our sinful rebellion and put our trust in Jesus alone as the atoning sacrifice for our sin and as the only one who can rescue us from our sin. This means we have to renounce all of our misguided attempts to get right with God through our own moral or religious efforts and place all of our confidence in Jesus to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. So, if you haven’t yet done that, let me be very clear that that’s the most important thing you could ever do. Your eternal destiny depends on whether you’ve embraced Jesus in that way or not. Will you, even today, look to him for rescue? 

And as those of us who are already Christians think once again about what Jesus has done, let’s remind ourselves that the death he died on that cross should also have some very distinct ongoing effects in our lives. One of these is enabling us to walk in freedom from guilt and shame. Maybe you’ve done some things in the past that you’re not proud of and that you’re actually tempted to feel guilty for and ashamed of to this day. You can experience freedom from all of that as you recognize in a progressively deeper way what Jesus has accomplished on your behalf. 

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Don’t you just love verse 11? “Such were some of you.” In other words, the things on that list or whatever other sins you might have committed describe what you “were,” not what you are. Jesus has cleansed you. 

And even though we might still struggle with sinful desires and at times give in to those desires, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from those sins as well with the result that, as soon as we repent of whatever we’ve done, we can be free from guilt and shame. We don’t have to spend a certain amount of time on probation in our relationship with God before we can be close to him once again or earn our way back into his good graces by being extra-good Christians for a while. Instead, because of what Jesus has done, we’re forgiven of our sins and can therefore walk in total freedom from all guilt and shame. 

Yet, as we continue working through verse 18 and through the rest of this passage, we see that Jesus’s substitutionary death can never be separated from his victorious resurrection. At the end of verse 18, Peter says that Jesus was not only “put to death in the flesh” but was also “made alive in the spirit.” That word “spirit” could either be translated with a lowercase “s” as a reference to the spiritual—or eternal—realm in general or with a capital “S” as a reference to the Holy Spirit raising Jesus from the dead. Either way, we can conclude that Jesus’s death isn’t complete apart from him being victoriously raised from the dead three days later. 

So, Peter says that Jesus was “made alive in the spirit” and then verses 19-20: 19 in which he [Jesus] went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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. Now, if you have trouble understanding what that means, you’re not alone. 

The great Reformed theologian Martin Luther once wrote this about these verses: “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.” So, there you go. No less than Martin Luther said that this may very well be the most difficult text in the entire New Testament. Fortunately, though, for us today, I’m about to explain it with such penetrating insight and clarity that you’ll just be astounded. And if you’re not…well…I guess you can let me know on a Connection Card. 

The most foundational question for us to answer from this passage is, who or what are the “spirits in prison” that Peter refers to in verse 19? He says that Jesus “went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison.” Who or what are those spirits? And if you look at verse 20, Peter does give us a clue. He says that these are the spirits that were disobedient during the days of Noah. Okay, so maybe we should look back at the story of Noah in Genesis 6-9 and see what spirits those might be. 

And as we do that, we read something very strange in Genesis 6:1-4: 1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 

Now, this passage in itself isn’t the easiest to interpret, but what we have here are the “sons of God” impregnating the “daughters of men.” I believe the “the sons of God” is a reference to fallen angels or demons, while the “daughters of men” are simply regular human women. And since demons don’t have bodies, the only way these demons were able to do this was presumably by taking control of men’s bodies. So, this is incredibly vile. You have thoroughly demon-possessed men having sexual relations with women and thereby producing a whole new breed of demon-possessed offspring that verse 4 refers to as the Nephilim. And we see in the rest of the chapter that it was in part because of these Nephilim that God had to flood the earth. This Nephilim population was so vile and wicked that it had to be eradicated. 

Yet, we might still wonder, what became of these demonic spirits who caused all of this trouble? The flood was physical and therefore only capable of killing the demon-possessed offspring—not the demonic spirits themselves. So, what became of these spirits? Well, according to Peter back in our main passage God put them in prison. These are the spirits Peter refers to as the “spirits in prison” who he says disobeyed in the days of Noah. 

We find additional support for this view in 2 Peter 2:4, which says that “…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....” We also find a similar statement in Jude 6, which says, “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he [God] has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” In other words, there were some demons who deviated so far from their proper boundaries that God had to lock them up to keep them contained until he judges them in a climactic way at the final judgment.

In some ways, I guess, it’s kind of like the county jail. One of the things I learned when did weekly Bible studies at the Allegheny County Jail is the difference between jail and prison. Somehow, I actually never knew the difference before I started volunteering at the jail, but it turns out that most of the people in jail actually haven’t been convicted of any crime. They’re simply being charged with a crime and are awaiting trial. Then, if they’re convicted at their trial, they’ll go to prison. So, a jail is a kind of holding tank for inmates who are on their way somewhere else—such as prison if they’re convicted. Similarly, it seems like God’s established a “jail” of sorts for demonic spirits who have been especially evil and destructive in order to restrain them from further evil until the time comes for him to judge them in a climactic way at the final judgment. 

By the way, this is also probably what the demons were talking about in Luke 8:31 when they referred to the “abyss.” Some of you may recall the story. There’s a man who’s possessed by numerous demons, and the demons beg Jesus not to send them into the “abyss” but instead to send them into a nearby herd of pigs. What is the “abyss”? It’s probably the “prison” Peter refers to in our main passage. And this “prison,” as we said, is actually more of what we would call a jail since it’s designed to simply be a temporary holding tank. 

So, continuing to unpack this passage, Peter refers to these “spirits in prison” and tells us that Jesus went and “proclaimed” to them. That word “proclaimed” is the Greek word κηρύσσω and is also translated quite often in the New Testament as “preach,” often in the context of preaching the gospel. However, the most basic meaning of κηρύσσω isn’t preaching any particular religious message but simply the act of proclaiming in general. It was actually a term that was used frequently in the Roman Empire outside of Christian circles to refer to a government representative who would enter a town, go to the public square, and raise his voice in order to make a public announcement. 

Nowadays, of course, if a government official wants to make an announcement about something, they just call a press conference. Or I guess what’s becoming even more common now is for officials to simply post their announcement on X. But back in ancient times, of course, they didn’t have press conferences or social media platforms, so they’d send out messengers to go to all the town squares throughout the empire and verbally proclaim this or that message. It could be news of a military victory or a new law or anything. And κηρύσσω was the verb used for that act of proclaiming. Similarly, according to Peter, Jesus went to these “spirits in prison” and “proclaimed” to them. What did he proclaim? Well, not the gospel, since that wouldn’t make any sense in this situation. It’s not as though these demons could be saved. Rather, Jesus “proclaimed” his victory over them. 

So, to bring it all together, here’s what happened. If you kind of checked out mentally or maybe found all of that a little difficult to follow, feel free to come back now. Here’s the summary: Jesus victoriously rose from the dead and then went to the demonic “spirits in prison” who had disobeyed back in the days of Noah and proclaimed his victory. Jesus went to the vilest demons of all—the worst of the worst—and announced his triumph over them—the triumph he had won through his death and resurrection. Again, the main idea: Jesus is triumphant. That’s the point Peter’s making. Jesus is triumphant over everyone and everything that’s opposed to the good purposes of God, even over the vilest of all demons. 

Peter then explains what's necessary in order for us to share in this triumph. After describing in verse 20 how Noah and his family were saved from the waters of judgment through the ark God provided, Peter states in verse 21, “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.” 

Now, at first, that might sound as if he’s saying that the act of baptism saves us. Yet if you look more closely, Peter’s actually teaching something quite different. He says that, in a certain manner of speaking, baptism saves us, but Peter then immediately clarifies that statement by saying “not as a removal of dirt from the body.” In other words, we’re not saved through the physical act of baptism itself. Instead, according to Peter, we’re saved by “an appeal to God for a good conscience.” That is, we’re saved by directing our confidence toward God and appealing to him to cleanse us from our sins through the blood of Jesus so that we can have, as Peter says, “a good conscience.” Essentially, we’re saved through faith and then subsequently receive baptism as a symbol of our salvation. 

By the way, this interpretation is confirmed in Ephesians 2:8-9, which clearly teaches us that we’re saved by grace alone and through faith alone and specifically says that we’re not saved by any kind of good work that we do, such as baptism. 

So, the only way the physical act of baptism has any significance is as a representation of saving faith—that is, as an outward sign of an inward reality. Baptism itself doesn't save us any more than a birth certificate makes us alive. Instead, we’re saved through faith and faith alone—or, in Peter's words, through the “appeal to God for a good conscience.” Just as Noah and his family were saved through the ark God provided, we likewise are saved through faith in Jesus Christ.

Peter then reaches his climax in this passage in verse 22, where he states that Jesus “has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” This picks up on the theme of this passage described so powerfully in verses 19-20, which, as we just saw, featured Jesus going to the “spirits in prison”—the vilest of all demons, the worst of the worst—and proclaiming his victory over them. And now, verse 22 expands on that idea and tells us that every kind of creature and every kind of spiritual power and authority are all now subject to Jesus. He rules over them all. 

And brothers and sisters, what a glorious message that is—especially for Christians who find themselves in the midst of a culture that’s increasingly unfriendly and at times hostile. We might be surrounded by evil and at times even victims of evil, but we know that, ultimately, evil won’t prevail. 

It’s kind of like watching the recording of a football game that’s already taken place and that you already know the result of. As you watch that game, you’re not wondering what’s going to happen or who’s going to win. You already know how things are going to turn out. In a similar way, we know with just as much certainty how things are going to turn out in this world. It’s not like good and evil are struggling against each other, and we’re left holding our breath as we wonder which side is going to come out on top. Instead, we already know with absolute certainty that Jesus will be triumphant. In fact, as we see in 1 Peter, he already is triumphant. He’s already won the victory over sin and death and all the forces of evil. 

So, even though we as Christians might increasingly find ourselves facing social exclusion and at times being shunned and ridiculed and perhaps one day, if things continue on their current trajectory, even experiencing outright persecution, we can nevertheless rest assured that we’re on the winning team. As the saying goes, we’re on the “right side of history”—and, we might add, the real “right side of history.” Jesus has already triumphed over evil. 

This means that we can have both joy in the present and peace about the future. That’s what everything we’ve discussed this morning means for our lives—joy in the present and peace about the future. There’s no need for us to be discouraged or anxious or uncertain because victory has already been won. And just as Jesus triumphed over his enemies, we likewise will one day triumph over those who mistreat us. So, the triumph of Jesus isn’t just something we can read and learn about—it’s something we actually get to participate in.