Published: May 3, 2026 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: 1 Peter - Part 32 | Scripture: 1 Peter 3:18-22
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prison who once were disobedient when the patients of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the
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water and corresponding to that baptism now saves you not the removal of dirt from the flesh but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the
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resurrection of Jesus Christ who is at the right hand of God having gone gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him.
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Let us pray. Our father, again we do ask that by your holy spirit you would teach us and you would implant in us the the word and the
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things and which we ought to meditate and the way in which we ought to walk. We ask that you would enlighten us to these hard passages. And yet, Father,
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that we might glory in what we see of our Lord Jesus Christ and the joy and the the renewal of our faith that it ought to give us. We ask that you would
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do these things in Christ's name. Amen.
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First of all, just to remind you of the setting of this passage in First Peter since it's been four months. Um, it's the third of Peter's christoologgical
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passages. Christ's suffering and death seems to be uh the theme in each of the chapters one, two, and three talking about um that which we just sang
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about the power of the cross, the redeeming power of the cross. In chapter one, he speaks of that freeing power of
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Christ's sacrifice. He says it re removes you from your feudal way of life that you had before Christ. And in chapter two, it speaks of the
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redeeming power of Christ's crucifixion. He says that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
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And now in chapter three, we see the conquering power of the cross, the conquering victory uh that Christ won by his death and resurrection and
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ascension. And so so Peter is reminding all of his readers that it's uh that just as believers sometimes suffer, Christ also suffered.
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But I want to again remind us that Christ's suffering unique. It's distinct.
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It's distinct. It's singular. It's singular. It's exclusive. It's exclusive. Um these things can't be said of our suffering. But I think again the main
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theme of what Peter is saying in this part of the passage is look at Christ. Look at his suffering. When you face suffering, he his was
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unique. His suffering and sacrifice for sins was for others. Though he was without sin, he suffered in the place of others. It
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was distinct in that his suffering was once for all time. Again, as one of the commentators say, once for all time and once for all sin,
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not to be repeated in history, not to re be repeated in symbol, but it was also singular.
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His sacrifice was vicarious, substitutionary, and sufficient. and sufficient. Peter says, "The righteous for the
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unrighteous." His death was no defeat. His death was victory. But it's also exclusive because Christ suffered to bring you to
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God. We may approach the throne of the Almighty to worship. Christ died for believers. Again, the righteous one dying for the
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unrighteous. So, it's not about us. It's all about God's grace. As Thomas Shriner wrote in his commentary, the theme of the text,
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therefore, is not the imitation of Christ, but his victory over evil, a victory believers will share since they belong to him.
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By his suffering, Christ brings us to God. We the believers are first of all we're his possession.
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He bought us. The scriptures say that he paid for us. We are his and no one will snatch us out of his hand. But I think he also says
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because we are his possession. He presents us to God. We're in God's presence. And that's a glorious fact. And this, I
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think, is where Peter grounds what he's saying in this passage. Remember his death until he comes.
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Well, we'll do that today when we celebrate communion. We'll remember his death until he comes. We don't just remember his humiliation.
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We also remember his exaltation. Paul writes in similar vein in 1 Corinthians 15.
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Corinthians 15. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ
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at his coming. And then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to the God and father. when he has abolished all rule in all authority and all power.
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That's the main thing. Don't lose sight of that fact. Don't lose sight of the power of the cross and the victory that Christ won. And so when we go to these
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mysterious things, who are these mysterious spirits in prison? H how did did Christ did Christ in the spirit preach to those who were
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in the days of Noah? These these are things that make our heads spin. At least mind does. They they they bring up questions in our mind. How could these
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things be? But don't lose sight of the main theme main theme that Christ suffered to bring us to God. Christ won the victory over evil.
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In verse verses 18 through the first part of 20 again we read something very hard. For Christ also suffered for our sins once for all the just for the unjust in order to bring us to God
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having been put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. And then verse 19, in which he also went and made proclamation to the spirits now in
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prison, who once were disobedient when the patients of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through the
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water. I mean, this this passage brings up at least four questions that want an explanation or at least I hope some direction. Where did Christ go?
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When did he go? To whom did he speak? And when he got there, what did he say?
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Well, 318 Well, 318 has a series of what are called participles. They're basically verbs turned into adjectives. Christ was put to death.
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Christ was made alive. And Christ went. Christ was the one who was put to death. He was the one who
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was made alive. He was the one who went. And then we have these contrasting phrases in the middle in the flesh and in the spirit. But they're going to
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qualify the purpose. The purpose statement is in order that he might bring us to God.
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Again, don't lose fact sight of the fact of what Christ has has done. We we see all these fancy words, these participles
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in these phrases and these uh adjectives, but the purpose is that he might bring us to God. And in the context here, two things I
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think are are clear that these words in 18-2 are grounded in the claim of 13-17.
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It is better to suffer for doing good than to suffer for doing evil, Peter says. And so what we're reading here again, don't lose sight of that context.
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This is a confessional section. This is how we live. This is how we act. This is how we say things and do things in the Christian life on a
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daily basis. daily basis. And then we have the repeated participle in verse 22. The the went of the previous verse is is answered or
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compared to verse 22. And having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to him. It
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it ties all this stuff together. Again, glorifying Christ here. It ties the elements of his victory together. We
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have seen his death. He was put to death in the flesh. But he was made alive in the spirit. He his resurrection. And now what we see is
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having gone into heaven, his ascension,
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ascension to the father or the triumph of his victory. The suffering brought victory. And what is that victory? It's over all
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the angels, all the authorities, all the powers had been subjected to him.
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And what we see and this is where again I don't see full agreement in all the commentaries but there is this se section of in the flesh and in the spirit and it's hard to
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know whether spirit should be capitalized the holy spirit or lowercase s his spirit. But I agree with with John Owen.
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Everything that Christ did was in the spirit. From his conception, as we said in Sunday school, all the way through to his ascension, he is walking in the
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spirit. He's keeping in step with the I think the words could be translated in the realm of the flesh and in the realm of the Holy Spirit. Christ died in the
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realm of the the natural body in the natural sphere of existence
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but he was given life in the spiritual realm of the Holy Spirit. Christ's ministry was always in the power of the spirit and his resurrection I believe was as well. Paul writes in
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Romans 1, who uh speaking of Christ, who was declared the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness.
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But what about Christ preaching to imprisoned spirits? imprisoned spirits? There are several interpretations, possible, and then spin-offs.
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I thought these all had names and then I realized that not every commentator uses the same names. But I'll tell you a few of these things.
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There's one called the dissensus view. I grew up in a church that recited the Apostles Creed. And I this was part of the Lutheran understanding
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that Jesus descended into hell and preached to the spirits of those who died in the flood in the time of Noah. Some say that he proclaimed the gospel
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and offered them repentance. Others say that he proclaimed release to the righteous dead at that time. perhaps between his death and his resurrection.
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The view of Augustine was that Christ was not personally present but preached by means of the Holy Spirit through
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And there is um a majority of you, at least some think it's a majority. I guess they're in it, that he preached doom to the angels, the evil angels of Genesis chapter 6. Remember when it's
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written that the sons of God came down to the daughters of men and they produced an offspring that were said to be demons
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be demons and they were said to be imprisoned because they were eternally condemned. And so the idea was that as Jesus ascended to heaven or perhaps during the
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40 days between his resurrection and his ascension that Jesus confronted the principalities and the powers of the world, showing them his victory and
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power over them. As you can imagine, all of these interpretations have their own difficulties and unanswerable questions,
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but I'll offer my understanding. I came across a translation of this um in the commentary of Wayne Gruden and he
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writes or translates verses 19 and 20 of this passage. He went and preached to those who are now spirits in prison when they disobeyed formerly when God's
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patience was waiting in the days of In answer to those who believe that these are the evil angels,
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I don't see where the scripture says that those evil angels were quote in the days of Noah, but they were existed before that time.
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God's patience in the days of Noah was directed toward sinners of Noah's generation.
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to those whom Noah, as we read of in second Peter chapter 2, Noah, that preacher of righteousness, preached repentance.
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preached repentance. This is the generation of humans who were disobedient. were disobedient. And that's what the word that Peter uses, disobedience, as in disobedience
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of unbelief. I don't believe the evil angels are those spirits in prison.
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But those who disobeyed in unbelief in they heard the gospel, the preacher of righteousness preaching
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And in no way do I believe that Jesus preached to those who were physically dead. and gave them a second chance. Nor do I believe in universal salvation
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as some do, as if God excuses those who die in disobedience of unbelief.
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But if we take Peter's idea of the imprisoned to mean dead, those in their present state, present state, then the then the spirits that Peter refers to in chapter three are condemned.
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And that Jesus going can be as Augustine said his preaching through Noah by the power
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of the Holy Spirit telling them telling them to repent and yet they did not. And that's why I think Grudam's translation
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helps us. He went and preached to those who are now spirits in prison. They are condemned. they are doomed when they disobeyed formally
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disobeyed formally when God's patience was waiting in the days of Noah. And again, Peter will remind us in another place, God is not impatient as some say. He is
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patient. He wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
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And God's patience waited and waited and yet judgment came.
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on because he doesn't leave his readers without assurance. Christ is the victor. Christ conquered death. But what we read here, yes, it's very
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difficult. In the second part of verse 20, he says those who uh during the construction of the ark in which a few and that is eight
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persons were brought safely through the water and corresponding to that baptism now saves you.
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It's a typology of scripture. Remember that typology is an analogy between events or between people where the former is the type and it
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foreshadows the latter which is the anti-ype and it does it in a very definite way. And and in scripture we we could say
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that it it gives us a hint of what is to come. We look at the type and it tells us something about what is to come. And in the scripture
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generally the type tells us that what is going to come is greater and more glorious than what is.
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typology. In fact, In fact, the translation in the New King James Version uses the actual Greek word that the New American Standard does not. New
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American Standard says, "And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you." The word that is used there that New King James translate is there is
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also an antitype which now saves you. Baptism. It tells us that what we're looking at with with Peter, he's showing us a type
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and he's telling us the antitype was more glorious and greater and more
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And the scholars agree that it is typology, but not all of them agree what is the type. I see the antitype, but what is the type
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and how are we to take it? And that's where the foreshadowing or the prefiguring gets harder. God was patient in the days of Noah, but
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judgment, as I said, eventually came in the form of a flood. And Noah and his family were saved
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because during the flood they were in the ark. But is this the type? Is the flood the type? Or is the ark the
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type? Is the water the type? Were they saved by the flood?
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I was looking at uh Chuck's plumline notes from Hebrews 11:7 in which we read, "By faith Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen
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in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."
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to faith." and chunk in his notes quoted this sentence from William Lane. The experience of Noah shows us that judgment and salvation are simultaneous
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events. The waters of the flood were a judgment. People died. People died. Everyone died except for eight people.
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But the waters of the flood were also the salvation the salvation for Noah and his family. Through the waters, they were saved.
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prefiguring. It was real. People were judged and they were doomed. But it was also a real deliverance of
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Edmund Clowney wrote, "Those who reject the gospel put themselves under the judgment that will come when Christ comes. But those united to Christ are saved by the same promise that delivered Noah and his family."
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Again, remember that this is a confessional context. He's talked, Peter has up in verses 14 and 15, if you should suffer for the sake of righteous,
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he says, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense with gentleness and with fear, keeping a good conscience.
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There is a sense I believe if we think of type and antitype that Noah could be the type
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which means that the antitype could be us. Noah stood his ground. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
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The writer to the Hebrews says being warned by God in reverence mean it's fear in fear he prepared the ark
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and by his righteousness he condemned the world. He kept a good consciousness. He kept the faith. He looked to something that wasn't yet. But by faith
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he greeted it and he believed it and he built the ark and through the waters he was saved. And now Peter says
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there is an antitype. It is that which now saves us. It is baptism. He uses an Old Testament symbol to tell us about a New Testament symbol.
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As Noah was saved through the waters, so Christians are. But listen to that through the waters. Listen to Peter's explanation in verse 21. This water also
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symbolizes baptism. We could read which now saves you. Not putting off the filth of the flesh, but an appeal to God for a conscience through
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conscience through through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our existence is new. All things are made new through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's a
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putting off there. There is in baptism, in Christian baptism, there is a judgment, a judgment of your sin. Go
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back to chapter one. From the feudal way of your former life, but there's a putting on. There is a salvation, a judgment and salvation. As Lane says, in
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the same event,
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Christ. I think Paul says something very similar in Romans chapter 6. Therefore, we have been buried with Christ through baptism into death. Being buried, that is
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judgment. And yet so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life. This is not as as some
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would call it a mechanical event. We put someone under the water and bring them out and somehow that water magically transforms them. It's not a mechanical
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event. It's not something, you know, sometimes you see on the news there will be somebody doing baptism and it's one after the other in and out and in and out as as if it was some kind of
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Christian assembly line. That's not what Peter means when he says baptism now saves you because it is through the resurrection as the water through which
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Noah and his family passed and it is a newness of life. But Peter goes on to say that baptism is a is something more. Yes, I I'm not
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denigrating Ro Paul in Romans 6. [snorts] Baptism is a union of a believer with Christ. And it's a mystery and it's wonderful and it's wowy.
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But Peter says there is also this element of an appeal. The New American Standard uses appeal. Some of the other plan translations use
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pledge and the word can be looked at either way.
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I'm not sure exactly where I land, but I'll give you the explanations that I see. Baptism that saves doesn't remove filth from a Christian once and for all time.
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I think Peter is saying we need to care how we live. In 1 Peter 2, he says, he's already said, "Lay aside all malice and evil and deceit and hypocrisy and envy
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and all evil speaking against another." So Christian baptism I think is an appeal to God
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on the basis of the death and resurrection of Christ to cleanse and retrain my conscience.
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I pray I appeal to God. And by the way, I think this word conscience also includes consciousness
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which is a sense of awareness about my moral and spiritual life. How am I living? How am I thinking? How am I
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But this word can also be translated as a pledge. a pledge. And I all I could think of was sitting in the lawyer's office last week and we were not pledging to him. But
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basically what he does is he hands you the paper and as you sign basically this is the legal contract. You I am demanding that you pay your
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mortgage. And that's the idea here. It is a legal contract. It is a pledge given to a demand. Well, hasn't God already demanded
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something from us? You shall be holy as I, the Lord your God, am holy. And so that appeal, I look at it as an appeal because I know
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within me there is no holiness. I appeal to him for a good conscience. But there is standing in the waters of baptism
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in union with Christ in the sacrament that that he has asked us to do as believers, commanded us to
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do that. We remember as as we face temptations, as we face perhaps as as Peter says, if the Lord should will it so that you would suffer because of your
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faith in Christ,
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that he would train your conf conscience, that he give you that good conscience that he would give you that newness of life.
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that it wasn't ours our doing but it was Christ who is at the right hand of God having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and powers have been subjected to him. He
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has won the victory. On that basis, we know our appeal and our pledge is
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certain. Let us pray. Our heavenly father, we thank you for the words of the Holy Spirit uh that Peter wrote
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and that he is trying to give us assurance and hope and joy that Christ is the victor.
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And even though these words are difficult to understand, we know that we can follow the command of scripture.
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of scripture. That as we remember the death of Jesus Christ, we not only remember his humiliation, his laying down his life for his friends, we also remember his
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exaltation. That great and glorious day when he rose from the dead and all authority has been given to him in heaven and on
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earth. We exalt him. Thank you for the passage. Thank you that you will teach our hearts. Thank you that we are gathered together in his name. In
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Christ's name we pray. Amen.