13Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” ¹⁵But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, ¹⁹through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison ²⁰who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, ²¹and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also— not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand— with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (1 Peter 3:8-22 – NIV)

Peter wrote this letter, 1 Peter, to believers, to God’s elect, strangers in the world. In speaking about it, I am speaking as to believers in Jesus—to those who trust Jesus—to God’s elect. That’s the way I have been speaking right along. If you don’t believe in Jesus—if you don’t trust him for your salvation—all I can say is that what we are talking about is a matter of life and death—really, much more than a matter of life and death—much more than a matter of physical life and death, at any rate. And if you are a believer—if you do trust in Jesus—it’s still a matter of life and death—not your life and death, but the life and death of those around you who don’t know Jesus—those who are rejecting him. It’s a matter of life and death.

As I’ve already mentioned, today I’m going to talk about verses 18 through 22 of the passage we just read. The NIV translators gave the entire passage, verses 8 through 22, the title Suffering for Doing Good. Jesus Christ not only suffered for doing good, but suffered to do good. He gave up his life as a ransom for many—as a ransom for us! The first verse of today’s part of the passage, verse 18, says, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

The fact that Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God, is possibly the most important thing you can know. Christ was (and is) the ‘righteous,’ we were the ‘unrighteous’ for whom he died. As I pointed out last week, once for all means once for all time. He, the righteous one, only had to die once for all of us, the unrighteous. We could not come to God in our former unrighteous condition, but now we can. Christ, the righteous, died for us, the unrighteous, to bring us to God. And it worked. He brought us to God! Amen!

From there, Peter goes on to say that Christ was put to death in the body (literally, in the flesh), but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison. (verses 18b-19) First of all, this tells us again that Christ died for us and also that he didn’t stay dead. He was made alive! Through him, we too are made alive. We have a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (1 Peter 1:3)—which is also a very important thing to know. Beyond that, Peter tells us that Jesus went and preached to the spirits that are in prison.

I believe that, as the text says, the spirits in prison are those who disobeyed God in the days of Noah before the flood when God waited patiently while the ark was being built. Question 2: When did Jesus preach to them, before or after he was put to death? Jesus preached to them before the flood. Question 3: How did he preach to them? Jesus preached to them through the Holy Spirit who spoke through Noah in the same way he spoke through the Old Testament prophets as Peter points out in 2 Peter 1:21 (which says, “For prophecy never had it’s origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”). 1 Peter 1:12 says: “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” Also, we ourselves have received the message of the gospel through Peter and others who wrote the New Testament Scriptures when the Holy Spirit spoke through them. Also, in 2 Peter 2:5, Peter says: “...he (God) did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;” Peter referred Noah as a preacher of righteousness. I believe that Jesus preached through Noah by the Holy Spirit.

What did Noah preach (question 4)? What did Jesus preach through Noah? He preached righteousness! They were disobedient to God, so Noah preached what they needed to hear, while God waited patiently for them to repent. But apparently none of them repented before the ark was closed and it started raining.

So (question 5), how is this connected with baptism? Peter says, “In it (the ark) only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also— not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.” First, when Peter says that eight people were saved through water, he is not saying that water was the means of their salvation, but that the ark carried them through the flood so that they were not drowned as everyone else was. Peter says that this symbolizes baptism that also saves us now (The NIV says, ‘this water symbolizes baptism,’ but the text does not have the word water. It just says, “This symbolizes baptism.” I think that Peter, when he says, “This symbolizes baptism,” is referring to the entire event of Noah and the seven others being kept safe through the flood). At any rate, Peter seems to be saying that baptism now saves us.

But we know that we are saved by God’s grace through faith and not by works (that is, outward actions such as baptism – Eph. 2:8). And, in fact, according to the apostle Paul, if we think we need to be circumcised (a ‘work’), Christ will be of no value to us at all (Gal. 5:2), which would be a very serious thing. It would mean that we would have no possibility of salvation, because salvation is only through Jesus and through faith in him. And Peter, himself, tells us that we were given the new birth into the living hope (1 Peter 1:3,) and refers to our salvation as the grace that was to come to us. (1 Peter 1:10) We are saved by grace, not by ‘works’ so that no one can boast. So how are we supposed to understand ‘baptism that now saves you’?

The apostle Paul gives, in Romans 6:4, the symbolism that we are buried with Christ ‘through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might have a new life.’ Noah was a righteous man before the flood. How do we Know? God says so: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” (Gen. 6:9) (He walked with God means he trusted God. And we had the new birth and were new creations in Christ before baptism, but baptism symbolizes the fact that God has done this for us. Our old self is dead and buried, but our new self has been raised to life just as Christ was raised to life.

Peter says that baptism is not for the removal of dirt from the body, which is probably not too amazing to any of us, but for the pledge of a good conscience toward God. The NIV gives an alternate translation for the word ‘pledge’ in the footnote as ‘response.’ The literal meaning is what has been asked or requested. Some translators have translated this word as appeal—the appeal of a good conscience.

We are not baptized in order to pledge to God that we will have a good conscience. Have you ever pledged to God that you would not sin ever again? If so, how did it go? In any case, we definitely have the desire for a good conscience toward God. That desire was placed in us by the Holy Spirit. It (the desire for a good conscience symbolized through baptism) saves us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand— with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (verse 21b) “He is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” (Jude 24,25)

In this section of 1 Peter (verses 8 through 22—“Suffering for Doing Good” in the NIV), we are admonished to ‘always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks us to give a reason for the hope that we have’ and to do so with ‘gentleness and respect’ and with ‘a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against our good behavior may be ashamed of their slander’ (verse 15).

Now, there probably isn’t anyone who has attempted to dramatize the story of Noah and the flood who hasn’t portrayed Noah as having been ridiculed by all of those around him for preaching that God was going to judge the world by a flood while he was building the ark. (And that’s suffering for doing good, by the way.) So, think about how people would react if you started preaching the end of the world by God’s judgment and started to build an ark (or a space ship or some other thing that you said would save you and your family). It’s hard to even think about the possibility because we would call anyone who would do anything like that crazy! Nevertheless, it says in the account of the flood that Noah walked with God. God spoke to him and he knew what was going to happen and what God told him to do about it!

Noah walked with God. But we also are walking with God. And just as God spoke to Noah, he has also spoken to us. Here is what God has told us: Through Peter in 2 Peter 3:3-7 God says to us, “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

Jesus, himself, also said this: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matt. 24:37-39) And I’m not sure that things are not worse than they were in the days of Noah. For one thing, people are, to a large extent, not even bothering to marry or be given in marriage any more.

But Peter wants us to follow the example of Noah who was a preacher of righteousness and knew that God was going to destroy the earth, so he continued to do what would bring about salvation for him and for seven others. So we also must preach the righteousness of Christ who is our salvation, and continue to do the work that God requires—the work that brings salvation, which is to believe in the one he has sent, Jesus. (John 6:29) As God spoke to Noah and told him what was going to happen and what he had to do about it, so he has spoken to us. And as Noah did what God had commanded him, so must we do also. Noah preached righteousness. So must we! We must preach it not only with words, but by our lives!

When we do these things, the world will speak maliciously against us. But Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God. When we do these things, he will bring others to God also. Paul asked for prayers this way: “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. … Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” (Eph. 6:19,20) Let’s pray for each other that way also.

Now I want to review this passage and what I’ve said about it for the last several weeks. The first two verses in the passage, verses 8 and 9, says, “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” Jesus, when he lived among us, was sympathetic, loving, compassionate and humble. He did not and has not repaid evil with evil or insult with insult. Jesus was beautiful and is beautiful. Repaying evil with evil and insult with insult makes you ugly! Pray for us to do the things that made Jesus beautiful—the things that will make us beautiful, also—and to never do what makes us ugly.

‘Do not fear what they fear’ is a quote from the Old Testament, from Isaiah 8:12b-14a. The full quote is, “Do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary.”

So, if you want to be blessed, even when you are being persecuted, if you want to be blessed especially when you are being persecuted, if you want to not fear what they fear, set apart Christ in your heart. He is Lord. Regard him as holy—as the one you are to fear—as the one you are to dread—and he will be a sanctuary! Let’s pray to have in our hearts and minds, more and more, who Jesus really is—and to know that he is our sanctuary. He is our Lord. He is our God. He is our Savior.

Verse 15a says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” Verse 15b says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” Pray for us to, in our hearts, set apart Christ, who is Lord. Pray for us to always be prepared to give the reason for the hope we have in him. Pray for us to do this with gentleness and respect.”