1 Peter 3:1-7
“Married to the Master (part 1)”
Chp.3:8-12 Blessed so bless
Chp.3:13-17 Prepared when persecuted
Chp.3:18-4:6 Changed no longer chained
Vs. 1 Threefold spiritual perspective
Intro
As noted last week, Peter’s words of encouragement have turned to strong exhortation that quite frankly may be difficult for us to hear, accept and apply. Today we take up yet another area where the believers’ newfound liberation and freedom in Christ would mandate responsibility in the believer and not a revolution to change their circumstances. It is Peter’s aim not to condone abuses but instead offer real solutions that through the transforming grace of God would change those that were their oppressors. The topic Peter takes up is one that any man, especially a pastor, cringes at having to share, namely marriages and specifically a woman’s role in the marriage.
A few years back we had a family come to our church who had left another fellowship here locally after over 10 years of being that fellowship. As I got to know them the wife told me how every year on “Mother’s Day no less” the pastor would teach on “submission,” hammering home the same blistering exhortation to all the wives, mothers and anyone else that he could. He did this, the woman told me, all the while regularly making fun of his wife from the pulpit and didn’t ever seem to strongly exhort the husbands of the fellowship to love their wives as Christ loved the church. I have no intention of following his example this morning, but I do intend by the Holy Spirit to teach this section as God intends me to do so! Before we get into the exhortation, I feel it necessary to address the amount of information Peter offers for wives when compared to husbands: 6 verses compared to 1 or 132 words compared to 34 words to husbands in my NKJV. The disparity in the volume of this exhortation must NOT cause us to assume two things:
That women’s lack of submission was somehow the major problem in first century Christian marriages.
Neither should we assume that Peter or the Bible is just some chauvinistic outdated document that only wants to suppress women’s freedoms and equality.
Instead, we need to first remember the context of the passage is our Great Salvation and how such Great Salvation mandates responsibility to live out “unmerited favor” especially towards those who oppress you! And second Christian women in the Roman empire had little if any freedoms and many if not most were married to unbelieving husbands which is clearly the case in this section where Peter says that submission was so the unbelieving husband “may be won” by the conduct of their wives. The disparity in the volume of the exhortation has everything to do with the situation at hand and nothing to do with women being the biggest problem or the chauvinistic attitude of the author. Peter is simply telling women who were being ignored or mistreated by their unbelieving husbands the best way to win them to Jesus. It seems that at this time in the early church that there were far more marriages that were unequally yoked in that manner. And just as we read above in the case of Christians in the era of the first century church as being oppressed by the government and masters mistreating their slaves, so too many wives were married to unbelieving husbands. This section can very easily be an easily misunderstood section so I’m going to take my time to break it down so as to make it clear what the Word is saying. For purposes of our further study this is how the section is divided:
Vs. 1-3 How not to win your husband
Vs. 4-6 How to win your husband
Vs. 7 Four truths husbands need to remember
This morning, we will only begin this section with a look at verse 1 but it will set the cornerstone on our study through this time in 3:1-7.
Vs. 1 Threefold spiritual perspective
Vs. 1 As we begin this section notice Peter’s second word “likewise” which is where we get our context as being from how to live out our great salvation during times that are extremely difficult like when the government is against you, you have a horrible work condition or as we are about to discover when you are married to a person who doesn’t know Jesus and doesn’t want to. To do so Peter is going to approach this from two different angles: The spiritual and the practical.
From the spiritual: Here Peter will point to three things that a believing wife will need to continually, (daily) practice in their relationship with Christ if they are going to be able to witness to their unsaved husband.
“Likewise,” Follow the Lord: Again, the word “likewise” points the attention of the reader back to the example of Jesus. These 6 verses are very specific, and we will take up those specifics in a moment, but the general truth is laid out that women who find themselves married to an unbelieving husband don’t have to blaze a new trail, all they need to do is follow Jesus’ example. The word being used “submissive” has become a buzzword that causes negative reactions but in the Greek the word means “subjection” and has nothing to do with “inferiority”. The example is Jesus who “subjected” Himself to humanity being the very nature of God in order that He may win them to the Father. So, when Peter is exhorting wives to be “submissive” he is telling them not that they are inferior he is telling them that they are equal and are willingly relinquishing their position in order that they may gain their fallen husbands. Jesus was submissive to the Fathers will, so should a believing spouse be to reach their unbelieving mate.
“Be submissive” Submit to the Lord: The only way people can subject themselves to an unbelieving spouse, or a believing one for that matter, is if they first and foremost are submissive to Jesus and have made Him Lord and Master over their life and not just Savior. People who struggle with submission have a “Lordship” issue and once they deal with submission to a loving God voluntarily relinquishing our control becomes a whole lot easier. This by the way isn’t a male-female problem, this a flesh problem as our flesh is always battling our spirit for control. Our flesh isn’t interested in surrendering any control for what it wants. Oh, it wants a savior for when what it craved begins to demand payment for the checks it has written. Our Born-Again Spirit wants to yield control over our lives and the truth is Jesus will only be your Savior to the degree you have allowed Him to be Lord. Does Jesus have control of all your life, including every aspect of your personal life, hopes, dreams, ambition etc.? When He has ascended the throne of your heart and has taken control over all the vast territories of your life you will have no problem voluntarily relinquishing your rights to you unbelieving spouse as a way to win them to Jesus.
“Even if some do not obey the word, they without a word” Abide with the Lord: This is very interesting as Peter will soon deliver the practical aspects of how that would look daily but first notice carefully the phrase “even if some do not obey” the word”. That indicates two things: First it indicates that these believing women were sharing the word of God with their husbands in an attempt to share the reason for the hope that lies within (1 Peter 3:15). But first and to the point before us it suggests that these women were abiding in the word of God themselves! The believing spouse cannot be trying to get their unbelieving partner to church, they need to be instead abiding in the word of God daily feeding on the word of God by the Spirit of God being transformed by it. Apart from the abiding presence of God’s word by His Spirit the believing spouse will become discouraged and fall into religious techniques and manipulation as a basis of trying to get their spouse to come to Christ. And over time they will become resentful and bitter towards their spouse and their rejection of their religious efforts to get them to come to Jesus. This is exactly what Peter is trying to keep from happening to start with.
From this we can see three truths about the “Submission” that Peter is writing about here:
Because we are following Jesus’ example: Submission is an obligation not an option!
Because we are submitting to Jesus: Submission is an opportunity not conformity!
Because we are abiding with Jesus: Submission is an ornament not imprisonment!
Next week we will move into the practical and how, as Peter writes, that “without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.” What is at issue here is what did Peter have in mind with regard to the wife’s conduct that could potentially be more effective than the words which the unbelieving husband clearly hadn’t responded to? To look at this we will divide it into two categories: what to wear and what not to wear: Vs. 2, 4 What conduct to wear, Vs. 3 What conduct NOT to wear.
1 Peter 3:2-7
“Married to the Master (part 2)”
Vs. 2, 4 How to win your husband
Vs. 3, 5-6 How NOT to win your husband
Vs. 7 Four truths husbands need to remember
Intro.
We started chapter 3:1-7 with the context of Peter’s letter dealing with how our great salvation continues to transform believers in the most difficult of circumstances. In so doing I couldn’t help but notice that Peter brings up three social influences that can adversely affect our life: Our government, our workplace, our home. And in each of these Peter’s point is how to affect change in others while being continually transformed by Jesus. Peter is not condoning the abuses in those institutions instead he is offering real solutions that through the transforming grace of God would change those that were their oppressors. In case you missed last week’s teaching I will briefly go over it to get the context of the rest of it this morning.
First, the amount of information Peter offers for wives when compared to husbands: 6 verses compared to 1 or 132 words compared to 34 words to husbands in my NKJV. The disparity in the volume in the exhortation has everything to do with the situation at hand and nothing to do with women being the biggest problem or the chauvinistic attitude of the author.
Second, Peter is approaching by two different angles: The spiritual and the practical. Our focus last week was what the wife can do for herself to maintain a right heart towards her unbelieving husband. I mentioned that Peter gave three things:
“Likewise,” Follow the Lord: Peter in exhorting wives to be “submissive” is NOT telling them that they are inferior he is telling them that they are equal and are called to willingly relinquishing their rightful position in order that they may gain their fallen husbands. Jesus was submissive to the Fathers will to reach fallen humanity so should a believing spouse be willing to do so to reach their unbelieving mate.
“Be submissive” Submit to the Lord: Peter is offering a way to deal with voluntarily relinquishing your rights when he says that a spouse first needs to do this to Jesus as Lord. Then once you have done so continually you are only giving your spouse what you have already given away to Jesus. I have found that when I struggle with submission to others it’s because I have a “Lordship” issue to a loving God and once I have surrendered to Him voluntarily relinquishing my control to others becomes a whole lot easier.
“Even if some do not obey the word, they without a word” Abide with the Lord: Peter’s point was that apart from the abiding presence of God’s word by His Spirit the believing spouse over time they would become discouraged and fall into religious techniques and manipulation as a bases of trying to get their spouse to come to Christ. This would lead them to become resentful and bitter towards their spouse and their rejection of their religious efforts to get them to come to Jesus.
Now we move onto the other aspect of this section and this deals with the practical and I found that I had a very easy time writing on this subject as I only need to reflect upon my 40-year marriage and how my wife loved me.
Vs. 2,4 How to win your husband
Vs. 3 How NOT to win your husband
Vs. 5-6 An example from Sarah
Vs. 7 Four truths husbands need to remember
Vs. 2 The context that Peter brings up is the unbelieving husband’s “observation” and Peter is saying that there were two ingredients in their observation that would cause the husband to take notice of their faith filled wife:
A chaste conduct: The word in the Greek is “pure” and in this case what Peter is saying is that the best communication that a wife can use to an unbelieving husband is her separation from Jesus. It is never a good idea for a believing spouse to be inconsistent in their witness to their husband where with their words they: Debate biblical truth or engage in arguments about how far their husband is to their ideal as a mate. Instead, Peter’s exhortation is that the wife’s personal transformation ought to be visible in her love, understanding, kindness and patience towards their unbelieving spouse just as Jesus is towards the wife.
These are not things that a wife can manufacture as they are fruit of an abiding relationship with Jesus. But make no mistake, they are without a doubt the most attractive part of any person. When a person loves you from what you give them it is temporary and conditional. Ah but when a person loves you from what God has given them it is unconditional and transforming towards all especially their spouse. I can tell you personally how much Donna’s agape love transformed me and how much I miss being loved that way!
A reverent heart: The word “fear” in the Greek is a word that means “reverence” and the word “accompanied” is italicized which means that it was added by the translators and the reason for this is that pure conduct goes hand in hand with treating a person with “deep respect” and “honor”. There ought to be in a marriage a place daily where the two have a crush on each other, but it must go further where it is accompanied by a deeper agape love where you know that your wife honor’s you and looks at you in such a loving way that she thinks of her husband as she does her own self. A husband that doesn’t know the Lord and is married to a woman like that is in the presence of Christ in her and all that witness her love and devotion to her husband will tell him what a blessed man he is. Peter’s exhortation to the believing wife is to demonstrate your great salvation by falling more in love with your husband even if he doesn’t deserve it as that is how Jesus demonstrated His love for us.
Vs. 4 Furthermore this love towards her husband is characterized by two more aspects that Peter describes and then gives the wife a great encouragement that even if the unbelieving husband doesn’t appreciate these characteristics they are “very precious in the sight of God”.
The hidden person of the heart: Peter is saying that a believing wife’s beauty must come from the heart in love with Jesus and not a jar or a store! This isn’t saying that a wife should neglect herself or her appearance, it is only saying that she shouldn’t major in it. The most attractive part of a believing wife is not something that comes from the outside, it is WHO she has on the inside! This reference in the Greek has to do with the transformed personality of the Christian woman who God’s word by His Spirit has made beautiful as she has Jesus in and through her life.
The incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit: Peter further qualifies this beauty as being “incorruptible” which means that it doesn’t spoil and is never going to go out of style. It goes much further than what clothing and fashion can as it doesn’t just appeal to what the eyes can see but to what only the heart can detect in a gentle unassuming way. Outward beauty can corrupt a person’s heart and cause them to be arrogant but inward beauty can only make them more and more attractive as time goes on. I personally find that a person’s most attractive features are only discovered once you open the gift, not on just seeing the gift and wrapping paper and that seems to be what Peter is suggesting as well. More importantly that is what God is saying as well.
Vs. 3, 5-6 How NOT to win your husband
Vs. 3 In verses 2,4 Peter exhorted the Christian wives to win their husbands by putting on Jesus Christ, now here in verse 3 he warns them not to follow the world’s example that Roman women were doing. Apparently, there were some of these believing women who thought that if they dressed like the world that this would please their unbelieving husbands and that this is the way in which they could influence them towards Jesus and away from the world. It is of further interest to note that the word “adornment” in the Greek is the word “Cosmos” which is by definition the ordered universe! But it is also the word where we get our word “Cosmetic” from! While I believe that a woman who puts on her “Cosmetics” or “make up” often causes them to look so beautiful that they look like they are “out of this world”! Oh but Peter’s warning is that they must never forget that the look they ought to be going for is one that cause their husband’s to realize that they aren’t just “out of this world beautiful” they are instead heaven sent as the beauty isn’t applied to the skin it is applied to the heart and that is what causes them to be God’s heaven sent gift! It is important to note that the translators put into the text the word “merely” which was added for context as Peter wasn’t excluding a woman making her outward appearance more attractive, by the application of “Cosmetics”, “fashion” or staying in good physical shape. What Peter is saying is that outward beauty must never be the sole focal point. The truth be told that there is a big difference between:
Glamour: Is artificial and external and is something that a person can put on and take off. It is because of this that it is corruptible, decays over time and fades away.
Beauty: Is internal and because of this it is real and lasting and is always present no matter what a person puts on or takes off outwardly. True beauty comes from what a person is in their heart and grows more wonderful as the years pass by. A Christian woman who understands this will cultivate the beauty of the inner person of the heart and will be more concerned about their values in their heart instead of the prices at the clothing store.
Peter mentions three externals that the Roman women used to capture their husband’s attention:
Arranging the hair: Roman women were obsessed with their hair styles each trying to outdo the other. They loved braids and curls and would pile them higher and higher and would put gold and silver in their hairdos to make them stand out all the more.
Wearing of gold: They also loved to show off their necklines, ears and wrists with elaborate jewelry.
Putting on fine apparel: Rome was in biblical times still a fashion center of dress and clothing as women spent enormous sums of money on clothing that would make them more appealing to men.
God doesn’t need to use the outward “glamour” of this world to win the “lost soul” ; instead, He uses what He has done in a person’s heart in true and lasting beauty.
Vs. 5-6 Peter draws on the inward beauty of Sarah the wife of Abraham who was so beautiful even in her 90’s that Abraham was afraid to call her his wife out of fear that other men would try to kill him in order to be with her. Peter’s point is that what caused her to be so attractive wasn’t merely outward! It was seen in the way she “adored” her husband and not in how she “adorned” her body! The word “obeyed” here in the Greek means over a long period of time, in other words Sarah didn’t find it demeaning to who she was to work with her husband as a team instead of competing against him. Sarah, called “Abraham” lord in this context, is affectionately recognizing and enjoying her relationship with Abraham and speaks of her security and love under her husband’s leadership in their marriage. I suppose it would be like a woman calling her husband affectionately: Love, honey, darling etc. as those just suggest that the woman feels secure in their husband’s affection, love and leading in their marriage. Women can experience the same as Sarah, Peter says, as they seek to practice biblical beauty and they need not be afraid of doing so.
Vs. 7 Four truths husbands need to remember
Vs. 7 Peter concludes with four areas of responsibilities for husbands in their relationship with their wives.
Physically, “Dwell with them”: Peter is telling husbands that marriage is far more than two people sharing the same address. Marriage is fundamentally a physical relationship that God has according to Eph. 5:31 has caused two to become one flesh. And in a Christian marriage this goes even deeper as they enjoy a spiritual relationship. A Christian husband will recognize his glorious privilege to fulfill his responsibility to “love his wife as Christ loves His church”. Too many Christian husbands are too busy in their careers and hobbies to spend any time with God’s gift to them in their wife. One survey revealed that the average husband only spent 37 minutes a week together talking! It’s no wonder many marriages fall apart after children are gone as the husband and wife are virtual strangers. “Dwelling with them” would also suggest providing physically as well as materially for their needs as 1 Tim 5:8 where Paul says that if any husband doesn’t provide for his own household, he is worse than an unbeliever.
Intellectual “With understanding”: It is amazing how two people can live together for years and know so little of each other. Ignorance is dangerous and perhaps it’s the most dangerous in a marriage! A Christian husband needs to become a life-long learner of his wife and study her intently, so as to learn her needs, fears, emotions and hopes and dreams. He needs to listen with his heart and turn off the ball game when she is trying to talk with him. No husband should ever have to confess to his wife that he “never knew that she felt that way”! Husbands are to be builders in marriages and not mere carpenters so that they can build bridges and not just walls! Husbands would find more support in their marriage if they demonstrated more love towards their wife!
Emotional; “Giving honor to their wife”: Peter’s words “as to the weaker vessel” has nothing to do with the wife being weaker mentally, morally, emotionally or spiritually in most cases it may have reference to them being weaker physically. The Greek word “vessel” refers to a priceless vessel used in service in the temple. What I believe Peter is speaking of here is that the husband is to treat his wife as someone he treasures as being:
- So rare, he would never be able to find another
- So useful, he could never do without her
- So expensive, she could never be replaced
- So beautiful, he could never look at anyone else
In so doing he is treating her as a vessel that he would defend, protect, support and love more than anything or anyone! When a husband “gives honor” it doesn’t mean that he gives into her every whim, it means that even if he disagrees, he does so by showing her respect for what she thinks, feels and desires. A husband many times is a thermostat in the marriage. Setting the tone and spiritual temperature but it is often the wife’s thermometer, letting the husband know what the actual temperature is!
Spiritual; “that your prayers may not be hindered”: Peter’s assumption is that the husband would often pray with his wife as well as for his wife. Often this lack of prayer is the reason for unhappiness in the home. I believe the prayer life of the couple is an indication how the marriage is going and if something is wrong prayers will be hindered. They need to pray as “heirs together of the grace of life” in mutual submission to each other, in joint surrender to the will of God in their life and marriage. As partners not competitors, helping each other grow closer to Jesus, growing closer to each other as they grow closer to Jesus, sensitive to each other’s needs and feelings.
1 Peter 3:8-12
“Blessed so bless”
Vs. 8 Love each other
Vs. 9 Love your enemies
Vs. 10-12 Love life
Intro.
Peter has written to these persecuted believers the encouragement about what our great salvation has given us in a difficult world 1:3 “a living hope”. Peter then gave his readers the practical exhortation of how such a “living hope” would manifest itself in three primary relationships between Christians and non-believers: Government, employer (master and slave), and family (marriage). The exhortation now moves to a threefold attitude that ought to be visible in the Christian in all three of those primary relationships. The world needs to see Christians loving in three spheres! It is this loving that will cause them to realize that we are different from everyone else who is looking towards things they love as the basis of their happiness instead of a Living God who has loved them as the basis of their joy in spite of adverse circumstances! This section was written during a time of extreme uncertainty in the church and Peter writes this upbeat letter to tell the believers how best to prepare for the worst! Because of God’s proven love for us we can:
Vs 8 Love each other
Vs. 9 Love our enemies
Vs. 10-12 Love life
Vs. 8 The word “finally” doesn’t indicate the end of the letter but the end of the exhortations. The context of verse 8 is the love towards fellow believers that ought to be visible from those in the world as the phrase “one another” indicates. Verse 8 gives us five characteristics of “loving one another” that those who have experienced such a great salvation ought to manifest:
“Be of one mind”: The Greek word means to be “like minded” but doesn’t express uniformity only unity. The character of a person is determined by what they give their mind and attention towards. Followers of Christ ought to be united in our common outlook on life and our common passion for Jesus. We are also “Like Minded” as we should share the “mind of Christ”. Paul wrote extensively about the church being the “body of Christ” and how we were all a part of the same body but with different parts yet working together for the benefit of the whole body. In the physical body our individual parts have great differences both in purpose and function but serve together in perfect unity and service and so should the body of Christ.
“Have compassion”: The Greek word is where we get our English word “sympathy” from and is made up of two words “to be affected” and “to feel” literally it means to “to have fellow-feelings towards another” as we share in their sorrow or their joy and have the same feelings as they do. As believers in Jesus, we need to be able to “rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those that weep”, Rom 12:15.
“Love as brothers”: The Greek has this as “be brethren who are loving” and speaks of the human affection and fondness that places two in the same family and makes us realize that “blood is indeed thicker than water”. How differently the world would see Jesus if they would see believers from different fellowships exhibit behavior towards each other that indicated that they belonged to the same family. This doesn’t mean that we have to see everything eye-to-eye but that even when we disagree, we would do so in a way that values the person far above the disagreement. When those who don’t know Jesus criticize those that are family members, do we defend the family member or join the criticism?
“Be tenderhearted”: In some translations the word is “pitiful” but that is outdated and should be better translated as “tenderhearted.” The truth is that the continual effect of the Love of Jesus upon our hearts ought to have a tenderizing effect upon our hearts towards others especially in the same family. A lack of a tenderhearted attitude towards others is an indication that the heart of that person has yet to be tenderized enough to love others the way in which they have been loved! In the Roman empire this was not an admirable trait as it was a sign of weakness and not strength. Over the years the influence of the church that has become tenderized has been seen on the countless hospitals, missions etc. that have been established based upon the work that Jesus has produced in their hearts.
“Be courteous”: The word in the Greek here is one that means “humble-minded” and reflects the heart behind the action of being “courteous” towards others. A humble person demonstrates this by putting others first. It’s the attitude of the heart that always sees oneself as the worst sinner they have ever met and is so grateful to God for His lovingkindness that they are on a mission to share these in demonstrations of courteous actions.
Vs. 9 Love your enemies
Vs. 9 The second way in which the world needs to see the difference in how we Christians love is how we behave towards those who hate us, what the world calls their enemies. Saint’s listen up as this is something that we need to remember regularly we only have two enemies:
- The person who is called a liar and the god of this world, who Peter will describe in 5:8 “who walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
2. The person I see in the mirror every day, whose flesh will never improve and must die daily in order to live for Jesus.
The readers of this letter were being treated horrible by the citizens of this world and Peter was warning them the worst was still yet to come so they needed to prepare not by:
Seeking to hide themselves from those that hate them
Seeking to arm themselves to attack those who hate them
But by seeking to arm themselves in love to love those who hate them
As Christians the world is watching to see how we love those who hate us, and it will be seen in one of three ways:
We can return evil for good, which is on the demonic level
We can return good for good and evil for evil, which is on the unregenerate human level
We can return good for evil, which is on the Jesus level and what we are called to do as His followers.
We are not to treat our enemies on the basis of justice which would be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, instead we are to treat our enemies as God has treated us in mercy and not justice. The follower of Christ must not strike back when they have been struck or rail on a person when they have been chewed out. Jesus told us how we are to behave in Matt. 5:44 when He said that we are to “Bless those that curse you”.
The world is watching how we love those who hate us and disagree with us and when we give “blessings” instead of “cursing” they take notice of why we do so, and the answer is that is what Jesus has done for us. Peter goes on to say a remarkable truth that when we are called to do this and in so doing we inherit a blessing. The persecutions we undergo today where we chose to bless instead of cursing will only add to our blessed inheritance in glory. Wow, what an amazing way to save for our permanent retirement! By sharing a blessing today to those who don’t deserve it we receive a blessing both now and in eternity! The Christian that blesses when cursed will be enriched in their relationship with Jesus like none other.
Vs. 10-12 Love life
Vs. 10-12 The last way the believer demonstrates that they are different from the world is in the way they “love life”! Here were believers that were heavily persecuted having “bad days” and for the citizens of the world they don’t love life when life is falling down around their hopes but we Christians are called to a “living hope”. There are three choices people can make about their lives but we Christians can make one real choice during our lives! We can change them any time and any way which we like but they have consequences and for me there is only one way to go:
We can “ENDURE LIFE”: We can see life as a burden full of hardships and heartaches. We can adapt a “grin and bear it” mentality and pull ourselves up each day to take on the next beating that life will dish out to us.
We can “ESCAPE LIFE”: We can see life as something to avoid and escape, running from the battle and the grind to the bottle, pill, experience or person just trying to outrun the feelings of despair and desperation.
We can “ENJOY LIFE”: We can choose to see life as God’s gift and know that no matter what He will never leave us or forsake us and that He is in control and that “all things work together for good for those that love Him”.
Peter quotes Psalm 34 and some think that this was a part of an early church hymn. The Psalm doesn’t refer to a person who wants to live “LONG” but rather a person who wants to live “WELL”. And to this Peter in psalm 34 points out that a person who wants to live life well will have three aims:
Vs. 10 They will refrain their tongue from evil, and their lips from speaking deceit: Jesus said in Luke 6:45 that “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. If you want to love life you will avoid making drama, both by speaking evil as well as speaking deceitfully about others. I’m not big into social media as it seems that folks just aren’t very happy and don’t love life instead they love to be loved and liked. Many of the problems in our lives are a direct result of wrong words spoken in the wrong spirit. Peter, like all of us, knew what it was to open mouth and insert foot. If we want to enjoy life, then we ought to seek to build people up and make them smile and laugh. There is no one to better laugh about than yourself and the great truth is you will never run out of material.
Vs. 11a They will turn away from evil and do good: Next if you want to love life then you will need to turn away from things that will only bring death (separation of the enjoyment of a relationship with Jesus). But it is not enough to just not plan to do evil, you must plan to do good! So often you hear Christians ask God to bless them but if you want to enjoy life stop asking God to bless you apart from asking Him to allow you to be a blessing.
Vs. 11b They will seek peace and pursue it: Finally, if you are loving life stop looking for a fight and start looking for peace! But don’t just look for peace, Peter says make it your quest, your pursuit. Pursuing peace is hard work at times, it may mean you will have to alter your lifestyle from people or activities that get you all worked up. It may mean that you need to put yourself in a “timeout”, but I highly recommend that you seek peace and pursue it each and every day.
Vs. 12 Peter finishes this section still in psalm 34 where we realize that not only is there a direct benefit to applying these three practices to love life, but that God will look upon those that do favorably. God will bend down to hear what we have in our hearts and listen closely and will be more eager to answer what is on our heart than we were to ask it in the first place. Christian, we have no far-off God where we have to plead and beg by chance He might hear or answer our hearts cry. The Christian that makes a difference in this world will be the one that “Loves others, loves those that hate them and loves life”. Such a life is ours if we so choose it but it is not a pampered sheltered life that has no wants or difficulties instead it may have far more than most but what the Christian has discovered is that we don’t rely upon favorable circumstances to create our happiness we look upon the living God who is always present with us to bring us joy in the midst of a world devoid of it!
1 Peter 3:13-17
“Prepared when persecuted”
Vs. 13-14 Being loved is better than being liked
Vs. 15-17 How to be effective in your witness
Intro.
These verses start another section and this one deals with God’s grace in the midst of severe suffering of persecution and it is all a part of Peter’s words to believers about how to prepare for the worst. Throughout these verses Peter is going to convey an extremely important but difficult principle that we Christians need to hear, but struggle in the reality of it. The principal is that: In God’s sovereign will for you individually and corporately for His church it may serve His and our purpose that we may suffer both in persecution and hardships. Our Westernized American culture often has been guilty of teaching a false gospel that says the opposite and it has wrecked the faith of many a Christian. But the early church writers never taught such lies and neither did they live in the personal luxurious benefits that these lies have produced for these false teachers. Christians from the time of the early Church to today have needed to hear the words that Peter writes to these dear saints “scattered abroad”, 1:1. We here in America have lived an extremely blessed life free from much of what other Christians throughout the world have suffered and been martyred for.
Vs. 13-14 Being loved is better than being liked
Vs. 13 There are times in our study of the word of God that we read over simple words and fail to understand the connection that they make in the context and such is the case here with the word “AND” as this little three letter connective word is linking about what he has just said to what Peter is about to say, which is verse 12 and “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers…” It’s Peter’s way of getting the reader to stop a moment and say, “Seeing that God takes such great care of you and will always be there for you…who is it that can harm you?”
This is what Peter wanted them to know up front in view of their persecution and suffering. Because of the transforming work of the gospel and their great salvation they are now on God’s side and though the enemy of their souls will howl and lay his blows upon them that may cause them to think that God has abandoned them and forsaken them it is a lie because “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers…” Oh dear Christian we must never interpret the reality of our lives by the lies of our situations and circumstances. Instead, we must interpret the lies that Satan tells us through our circumstances by the truths of God Word! The Greek word for “followers” is translated elsewhere as “zealots” and describes someone who “burns with zeal” and here it is not tied to a movement, nor a religion but to an action towards others, “GOOD”. The principle that Peter is establishing is that the “fear of the Lord conquers every other fear”.
Vs. 14 Peter quotes Isa. 8:12 and the setting of this quote is extremely important in light of the context of the persecution and suffering these believers were about to endure. This was the time when Ahaz was the King of Judah, and they were facing a crisis because of the impending invasion of the Assyrian army. The kings of Israel and Syria wanted Ahaz to join them in an alliance, but Ahaz refused; so those two nations threatened to invade Judah. Behind the scenes Ahaz made a deal with Assyria and Isaiah warns Ahaz against making deals with the world for deliverance instead of simply trusting that God IS our only help and deliverer. The quote in its entirety “Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread.” Peter’s admonition is don’t let the fears of the future cause us to give into making wrong decisions instead let the truth of who God is guide you. We never have to fear men or circumstances when we are in Christ. Those who hate us may hurt us, but they can never harm us. The only harm that can be done to us is by ourselves if we turn away from trusting His goodness. Generally, people don’t oppose us if we do good to them but even if they do, it is better for us to suffer for righteousness sake than to compromise for Satan’s sake. Peter says that when this occurs then we are “blessed” in the midst of suffering, a concept that the world can never understand but followers of Christ can and do. When we are in Jesus every “opposition” becomes an “opportunity” to demonstrate what he says in verse 15 “the reason for the hope that is in you” which is a part of what Peter said in 1:8 the “rejoicing with joy inexpressible and full of glory”.
Vs. 15-17 How to be effective in your witness
Vs. 15-17 How can the believer ready themselves in the face of such opposition to allow it to become an opportunity? Peter says that there are six things the believer can do to be effective:
Vs. 15 “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts”. Saints we need to realize that during times of crisis when we run to Jesus as our refuge during the storm that He wants us to not just hunker down to avoid the coming storm, but He also wants us while we are there to realize that this would be a great time to renew our trust and surrender and recommit our lives to Him. The reason for this is so that they will “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks.” The believer may need to retreat in Christ but it is always so we can gain the comfort for us to advance in Christ!
Vs. 15 To be “Ready”: The equipping of the believer is the joint responsibility of both the church and the individual Christian, but this also points back to the fact that the best thing that a believer can do is set your heart right with God. The biggest problem in our witness of God’s goodness is never who we need to share with but with not having our heart in the right place! Readiness is often equated with our being equipped to share based upon biblical truth and knowledge, but I have found that my biggest problem with readiness is not what I don’t know, but that what I do know isn’t a part of my heart’s application in my own personal life!
The words “give a defense” in the Greek is a legal term that means to present a verbal defense. It is where we get our English word “apology” from, but it means answer and not to say you are sorry. It is also where we use the Christian word “apologetics” where we make a defense of our faith. It is the responsibility of every Christian to know why they believe what they believe about the hope they now have in Christ especially in “hopeless” situations. With every crisis of faith, there is an equal and even more powerful truth; it also creates opportunities for us to share with those who don’t have the same hope we do so that they will ask us to share with them why we are not living in fear but instead in faith.
Oh, dear saints, dark days never shut out the Son of God, let the brightness of His living hope pierce your weak soul and lift up your head for your redemption draws close! Could it be that God in His sovereign work has allowed your stormy seas to be lighthouses for others so that by the brightness of His glory they will find their way home?
With meekness: Our witness must be done in such a manner that what people hear is filtered through a heart that respects and loves the one they are sharing with more than they do winning an argument. No soul will be won to the kingdom of God by a duel of wits and intellects, instead the greatest witness towards those who do not share our love of God and His Son, is to let them “see” the wisdom and love of God before they “hear” the truth about it. It was this that the Queen of Sheba mentioned of Solomon in 1 Kings 10 as in verse 1 she had heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord and came to test him with hard questions, but in verse 4 after her arrival to Jerusalem she “saw” the witness of God’s wisdom displayed and said in verse 6-7 “it is a true report which I heard…however I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me.”
And fear: The fear here is a word in the Greek that means “respect” and though the respect refers to the individual you are making your defense of the living hope before, I also believe that there is no better way to demonstrate your respect before the lover of your souls than to love those whom He has sent His Son to save by showing them respect! Our words spoken in love and respect will carry far more to those that hear them than if they are absent those two ingredients.
Vs. 16 Having a good conscience: The Greek has this that our “good conscience” would be impaired, which indicates that it can be if our witness doesn’t follow the above 5 characteristics. It has well been said that the biggest deterrent to the reception of the gospel is Christians! Our “good conscience” has to consider that it is before the Lord that we want to have this conscience. Saints, the best thing we can do before we share the living hope that we have towards others that don’t, is to get our heart in the place that this isn’t about us, it’s about Jesus and loving those He loves! And in doing this those that don’t share this living hope and revile our faith will by our love for them in spite of their treatment become ashamed. Oh, how many could we reach if the Christian and the church spent far more time on this kind of evangelism to the lost than what we now do.
It is for this reason Peter summarizes that “it is better” if it is God’s will, “to suffer for doing good than doing evil”. Our perspective must not just be reaching the lost but to glorify God by where our heart is at while we share the love of Christ to others. Followers of Christ are not called to create problems and be the cause of problems; they may reveal them because that is what truth does but love does more than reveal problems it delivers “THE SOLUTION” in Jesus!
1 Peter 3:18-22
“The benefits of suffering (part 1)”
Vs. 18 Four things about Jesus death
Intro.
The section that we are about to examine is one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament. As such it would be extremely easy to spend our time trying to understand what Peter is trying to say while missing out on what he did say which is based upon the context. The context is clearly the verse above in verse 17 where Peter says, “For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”
It is then that in verse 18-22 Peter goes on to show the blessings that always follow “suffering for doing good”. The primary example Peter uses to illustrate this is Jesus, who suffered for doing good when He died on the cross to make the way of salvation for fallen sinful humanity. Because of that Jesus was raised from the dead in verse 21 and given a place in glory verse 22. Many bible scholars have debated and disagreed on the interpretation of this passage, and we will do our due diligence to unravel these difficulties by looking at the original Greek and other passages but let us NOT FORGET that what Peter wrote was meant to be a practical encouragement to Christians who were facing suffering and persecution. Peter weaves his way through two examples (Jesus and Noah) but we will only start looking at this in the example of Jesus as they are scattered amongst each other that we will need to untangle in order to get a better look at them.
Vs. 18 Four things about Jesus’ death
The ministry of Jesus: Here Peter reveal to his readers four things about Jesus’ ministry:
Vs. 18 His death: Here Peter mentions four things about Jesus’ death:
The duration of His suffering: The word “suffered” is not in the best Greek manuscripts, but it is implied as Jesus’ death did involve suffering. Peter is saying that Jesus’ suffering and death was for “sin” but were vicarious!
The purpose of His suffering: That is His suffering and death for “sin” was an innocent One, dying on behalf of those who were guilty. The words “just” and “unjust” speak of the character, that being Jesus the “JUST,” in character dying on behalf of the “UNJUST” humanity.
The outcome of His suffering: Peter says that it was, “that He might bring us to God.” The Greek places an article in front of the word God which makes it God the Father that Peter is speaking about. The word “bring” in the Greek is “to lead to” and is a legal term that speaks of gaining audience to a King on behalf of another. Jesus brought us into the good graces of His Father! When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we also received God as our Heavenly Father! And because of surrender to Jesus, we received from the Father the robes of Jesus royal righteousness. Our Lord Jesus has alone provided all who trust Him continual entrance into the presence of God.
The confidence we now have because of His suffering: Peter presents these two facts that He wants His readers to know. First that Jesus really died in the flesh, in a human body on the cross. Second, that “made alive by the spirit” this phrase is set in contrast against Jesus’ being put to death and the flesh is in contrast to the spirit. The Greek phrase is correctly interpreted “made alive” as it doesn’t mean “energized” because when you merely energize something it doesn’t mean that it was dead but when you “made alive” it presupposes that it was completely dead otherwise it didn’t need to be “made alive”.
The translators have missed by capitalizing the “S” in the word spirit as Peter’s word here is about Jesus’ human spirit against his human flesh. Though it is true that by the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus was raised from the dead, Peter is not teaching that truth here. To make alive Jesus’ human spirit presupposes that the death of His human spirit and that now clarifies Jesus’ words on the cross in Matthew 27:46 where He said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” The Greek word forsaken means to “abandon, desert, leave helpless and destitute.” And the cry of Jesus was addressed to the other two members of the Triune God. God the Father abandoned and deserted Jesus. It is also seen not only in the question by Jesus to the Father and the Holy Spirit but in the fact that Jesus receives no reply to His inquiry. The fellowship had been broken, Jesus’ prayer went unanswered for the first time! The unanswered prayer of Jesus was predicted in the typology of Leviticus 5:11 where the person who was too poor to offer a blood sacrifice offering was told they could bring one tenth part of fine flour, enough for one day’s bread which was equal to the giving up a life or in this case the life of Jesus. But the person offering was forbidden to include “Frankincense” and what is interesting is that “Frankincense” was seen by the Jews as a type of ANSWERED PRAYER and here we see that no “Frankincense” depicts the fact that Jesus sacrifice and question went unanswered by the other two of the Godhead.
The reason for this answer was that all sin from all humanity for all time had been placed upon Jesus as He was made a curse for us. Jesus’ earthly spirit had been energized by the Holy Spirit during His earthly ministry and the result of that was that every prayer and miracle uttered by Jesus was completed by complete dependence upon the energy of the Holy Spirit and complete truth in the Father. He lived a sinless life and was the only perfect sacrifice being fully God and fully man. But in the hour of His need, when our sin was placed upon Him who knew no sin both the Father and the Holy Spirit left Him. The Holy Spirit leaving Him was also predicted in Leviticus 5:11 where the cofferer was forbidden to include oil in the flour and oil is a symbol to the Holy Spirit and no oil speaks of the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit’s sustaining presence while Jesus was suffering on the cross with our sins placed upon Him. So, if we lay over this the messianic Psalm 22 where we find this quotation of being forsaken chronologically Verse 1-13 describes Jesus’ heart sufferings, 14-18 Jesus’ physical sufferings and 19-31 we have Jesus’ prayer for resurrection. And it was during the time when Jesus was uttering those words that His human spirit was devoid of the life-giving ministry of the Holy Spirit from 9 am to noon and 12 pm to 3 in the afternoon that God the Father would not hear Him.
And according to Psalm 22 when Jesus prayed that He might be raised from the dead the Holy Spirit had already returned to make Him alive again in His Human Spirit as the prayer was answered and our sin was paid for. The fellowship between God the Father and God the Son was restored BEFORE the son died on the cross…this is what Peter is making reference to when he says, “but made alive by the spirit”.
As mentioned last week this section that we are about to examine is one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament. And it would be extremely easy to spend our time trying to understand what Peter is trying to say while missing out on what he did say which is based upon the context. The context was an encouragement to endure suffering by which in verse 17 Peter quotes “For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” Peter uses the example of Jesus, who suffered for doing good when He died on the cross to make the way of salvation for fallen sinful humanity. Peter weaves his way through the two examples of Jesus and Noah that are scattered amongst each other:
The ministry of Jesus: Peter revealed four things about Jesus’ ministry:
Vs. 18 His death: Here Peter mentions four things about Jesus’ death:
The duration of His suffering: That Jesus’ suffering and death was for “sin” but were vicarious, as they were not for His own!
The purpose of His suffering: That is His suffering and death for “sin” was an innocent One, dying on behalf of those who were guilty.
The outcome of His suffering: “That He might bring us to God.” The word “bring” in the Greek is “to lead to” and is a legal term that speaks of gaining audience to a King on behalf of another.
The confidence we now have because of His suffering: The fellowship between God the Father and God the Son was restored BEFORE the son died of the cross…this is what Peter is making reference too when he says, “but made alive by the spirit”.
Now we move on to take on yet another difficult part of this passage still in the ministry of Jesus when we look at verses 19-20. At issue here are Four questions most readers of this section want to know about Jesus as it relates to these verses:
- When He preached
- Where He preached
- To whom He preached
- What He preached
And so that we all can understand we are NOT talking about His message while he was alive but after He was dead on the cross.
Vs. 19, 21a-22 Preaching to the spirits in prison
Vs. 19-20 First we will take two of those questions that are clarified in the Greek:
“When” He preached and “Where” He preached: Difficult Bible passages require the student of God’s Word to love investigation, and we must not skip through the process. Little words shouldn’t be overlooked as it relates to understanding, the words “by whom” are in the Greek a preposition combined with a relative pronoun all of which when examined would make the interpretation of this “by means of which spirit” making the word “SPIRIT” in verse 18 even more unlikely to be the “Holy Spirit”, but instead referring to Jesus’ human “spirit”; so….
First,“WHEN” Jesus preached is covered in the word “went” which speaks of a person who is travelling or going on a journey. This speaks of Jesus in a state prior to His resurrection and after His words of the cross in Luke 23:46 where He said, “Father, into Your hands and commit My spirit” and you will notice that the word “spirit” is with a lowercase “s”! As Jesus’ human body was laying in Joseph’s tomb, the man Christ Jesus who possessed a human soul and human spirit went.
That takes us up to the second question “WHERE” was this place? In the Old Testament this place is known as Sheol where at that time the departed dead went. Sometimes in the New Testament that word is translated “Hell”, but hell is the translation of the word hades not Sheol. Peter then describes that “by means of Jesus’ human spirit made alive by the Holy Spirit” that Jesus proceeded to “Sheol” to preach.
To “Whom” He preached and “What” He preached: Here our Bible study requires us to uncover the answers to the questions by the process of elimination.
The question as to “WHOM” did Jesus preach is a bit more complicated! The word “spirits” in the Greek is “pneuma” and the difficulty in proper interpretation is that there is no place in the entire New Testament in which that word is translated as a designation of a human being! Peter under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit “DID NOT” have a dead human in Sheol in mind when he wrote this! Without the Holy Spirit inspired Greek there can only be two possibilities as to “WHOM” Peter is referring to as there are only two “free moral agents” besides humans that can fit this: Angels (Heb 1:7,14) and demons (Matt. 8:16). There is a difference between these two as the Jews clearly understood. Demons can take up residence in human bodies and have no rest until they do just that according to Matt. 12:43-45 where Jesus speaks on this saying that “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So, shall it also be with this wicked generation.” What this suggests to us as far as identifying to “WHOM” Jesus preached is that at one time they had physical bodies and that they went through some judgement of God for trying to satisfy their quest for a physical body and existence which is not true of angels.
To help us further on this to determine that these are not angels is the clarification as to the locations of Jesus preaching as Peter says that they were in “prison” angels would not be in prison! There are two words in the Greek that are used to describe an unseen world where evil spirits are confined “Tartarus,” “HELL” as seen in 2 Peter 2:4 and the “bottomless pit” Rev. 9:1-12. The Greek word here is Tartarus and Peter links these spirits and fallen angels with the pre-flood saying that they sinned at that time. Based upon this it seems as that after Jesus death on the cross and His resurrection in Joseph’s tomb, Jesus took His blood passed through the heavens (Heb 4:14) as our Great High Priest and presented His own Blood and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies completing our atonement; then preached to the fallen angels in Tartarus.
Now “WHAT” did Jesus preach? The Greek word preached is Kerusso and the word was used for an “official announcement or proclamation made by a representative of a government”. Peter didn’t say that Jesus “preached” or “evangelized” or even brought a “message” instead that Jesus brought an “official proclamation” to these fallen angels, and it was not intended to be the gospel message nor could it have been as they are not included in those who Jesus died on behalf of. Heb 2:16 tells us that “For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.” God in perfect justice and infinite mercy and glorious righteousness passed over fallen angels to purchase fallen humanity by His own blood! We need to look at verse 20 to get a better picture as to what Jesus’ official proclamation was.
What we see is that they were disobedient at the time of the flood and in Peter’s second letter 2:4 he mentions that they sinned, and that God did not spare them but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. There is no reason to think that Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is making reference to a different group in his second letter than the mention of the one in his first letter. In fact, the use of the word “FOR” in 2 Peter 2:4 is a connective word and associates these two; the fallen angels of the antediluvian world of Noah’s time in which we are told Noah’s family of 8 souls were saved from and the angels were reserved to judgment. Gehenna is the place of dead apostate Jews whereas Tartarus the place of fallen angels.
Jude 1:6-7 shed a little more on this where we are told that “the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” It appears that the sin of these fallen angels was fornication as they went after human females, a different class of creation stepping beyond what God had designed. It appears that this produced a genetically altered order of being that mixed these two different orders of creation into what Gen 6:1-4 describes “When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so, his days will be one hundred twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came into men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” This mixed race partly human partly fallen angelic warranted the destruction and extermination of all but 8 humans. So, after Jesus official proclamation between His death and prior to His resurrection was for the purpose of this angelic apostasy of the divine plan of God in which Satan trying to make it impossible for Jesus to be fully man as humanity’s seed would have been polluted by demonic seed making human atonement impossible. So, this official announcement was that Satan, and this plan was forever thwarted!
Peter will continue his look at Jesus’ ministry by bringing up two more aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry.
Vs. 21b His resurrection: Here the point is the finality of Jesus suffering which resulted in our permanent transformation.
Vs. 22 His ascension: The main point here is that Peter wants to show that when we suffer for “doing good” your victory is a complete victory!
Vs. 20b-21a Noah’s ministry
Vs. 20-21a The ministry of Noah: Peter wants to show the readers in case they thought that the illustration of Jesus as an example of “suffering for doing good” was too difficult of an expectation that Noah also suffered for doing good. In speaking of Noah Peter also brings up his family that was also safely delivered through the flood and the phrase “saved through water” is literally “were brought safely through” and isn’t talking about their spiritual salvation. The article in the Greek is not on the “Ark” saving Noah and his family but rather upon the water saving Noah and his family. The very waters that were the extermination of the human race were life to the inmates of the ark. Those who drowned did so because they were not related properly to the waters and Noah and his family were. The righteousness of God judges all who are not correctly related to Him, and it is faith in God’s provision of His Ark Jesus that enables us to sail upon God’s goodness. The Greek grammar again serves the student of the word in determining the “antitype” as it is the water in view here not the ark.
Water baptism is clearly on Peter’s mind as the illustration is back to the water being that which delivered Noah and his family. But the saving isn’t eternal salvation instead it is the counterpart to that like the First Testament sacrifices were only a typology of the true sacrifice of Jesus. Water baptism is like a wedding ring: a ring on the finger isn’t the wedding; it only symbolizes that you are married. Peter is careful to make sure that he isn’t teaching “Baptismal regeneration” as he says, “not the removal of filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God”. Ceremonies cannot affect the conscience nor transform a heart; only trust in Jesus’ finished work can do that. Peter wanted to show them that in the ministry of Noah that they shared some common expectations beyond the difficulty of the times in which these believers lived, and Noah lived:
- Both are called to be preachers of righteousness in wicked times.
- Both are called to be people of faith even when it looks like what they were doing wasn’t making any difference.
- Both need to make sure that they remember the work of God’s salvation through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus as seen in Noah in the Ark and us in the symbol of baptism.
This will lead us FIVE APPLICATION POINTS that Peter wished to convey to these two dear suffering saints in the first century church. These two examples should cause the Church to understand it in regard to: The ministry of the Church! Here is what I believe the purpose of this difficult passage was all about as these five conclusions were some that his readers should have been able to notice as we should as well:
- Christians looking at Jesus and Noah: Must expect opposition.
- Christians looking at Jesus and Noah: Must serve God by faith and not by sight in the results.
- Christians looking at Jesus and Noah: Must realize that we can have joy because the victory is certain. We do this because our identity is in God’s faithfulness and not our effort.
- Christians looking at Jesus and Noah: Must understand the importance of identifying with baptism and our death to self-centeredness and trust in only God.
- Christians looking at Jesus and Noah: Must realize that Jesus is the only reason we are still breathing earthly air as God wants us to be a “living hope” to everyone we meet.