Christ Our Model
3:18-22
Peter again shows that Christ is our model. He also suffered. And he suffered for righteousness. He suffered for our sins even though he was righteous, that he could bring us to God. (18) This is substitutionary atonement. Jesus died for our sins.
Jesus’ death was not a defeat, because he was resurrected. We will follow him to the same destiny. Jesus was raised from the grave and ascended to heaven. Heaven is also our destiny after physical death, so we do not need to fear it. The troubles of this life are temporary because Christ has triumphed.
Now for the difficult part. Even Martin Luther said he could not be sure what Peter meant here.
Peter said Christ was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. (18) The ESV does not capitalize the word “spirit”, interpreting the verse as meaning Christ’s spirit lived although his body was killed.
The NIV, KJV and CSB say Jesus was made alive by the Spirit, capitalizing the word “Spirit”, meaning the Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead.
I believe the NIV is correct here. The contrast is between Jesus’ death and his resurrection. It is not about some interim period between death and resurrection. The resurrection is where the victory is. And, Jesus was raised bodily, not just in the spirit. The Holy Spirit was the agent of the Christ’s resurrection.
Jesus’ spirit did not need to made alive. His spirit, like ours, would continue alive after death of the body regardless of the work of the Holy Spirit. It is that Christ’s body that must be “made alive”, just as ours will be made alive at the Resurrection.
This is why it is a hope for us to anticipate. Paul made this same statement in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 when he contrasted our “natural” bodied with our “spiritual” bodies. Natural bodies are the bodies we live in now. Spiritual bodies are those we have after the Resurrection.
We may be persecuted, tortured, or even killed in the body. But we will be raised with a new, glorified body for eternity, as Jesus was.
There is a similar thought in 1 Timothy 3:16. It says Jesus was “manifested in the flesh”. He took on human flesh at his incarnation, his birth as a human being. And, he was vindicated by the Spirit (and the ESV capitalizes here). How was he vindicated? He was resurrected (“taken up to glory”).
Peter then says that Christ, in the Holy Spirit, went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. (19) They were in prison because they did not obey in the days before the flood. So, the question is, who are these spirits in prison? There are several views.
Here is the one I think is best. The spirits in prison are fallen angels. The word “spirits” in the New Testament refers to angelic beings in almost all cases. (Matthew 8:16; Luke 10:20; Acts 19:12; Hebrews 1:14)
The “time of Noah” seems to refer another difficult passage, Genesis 6:1-4, which describes corrupt behavior of the sons of God with the daughters of men. The Hebrew word translated “Nephilim” literally means “fallen ones”. This interpretation of Genesis 6 was the standard interpretation in Peter’s day.
We see a similar thought in Jude 6, which refers to angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling. These angels God kept in eternal chains (bound) in gloomy darkness (prison) until the the day of judgment. Jude also compared them to the residents of Sodom who “likewise” indulged in sexual immorality. And, finally, Revelation 20:7 speaks of Satan being released from his prison after the thousand years are ended. The word “prison” is never used as a place where human beings reside after death.
Peter himself used this terminology in 2 Peter 2:4 when he wrote “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…”
So, the resurrected Christ proclaimed his victory over Satan and his fallen angels. We see this proclamation of victory in verse 22, which says Jesus Christ is the one who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Knowing Christ’s victory over persecution and death gives us the strength and hope to face persecution.
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