I Peter 3:18-22

 I Peter 3:18-22

This passage offers some unique and challenging issues for interpretation. As with any such passage, some teachers will use it to proof text their own ideas, even to the point of saying the very opposite of what is stated in the text. With difficult passages, we must proceed with care and remember a couple of key principles of interpretation. First harmony: scripture never contradicts itself. Second, historically, we must interpret scripture in view of what was happening with the original audience. The first principle keeps us from bad ideas, and the second helps narrow in on the correct one.

The disciples to whom Peter wrote are about to face increasing persecution. In this passage he is going to give them great assurances. First, by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they are saved. Second, in the same way their salvation was offered to all men, in the Ark during the days of Noah, salvation was offered to all men. Third, as certainly as the waters of the flood of Noah separated the saved from the lost, now baptism offers the same kind of separation. Fourth, most are lost, but a few will be saved. Fifth, Christ is now at the right hand of God with all the power of the universe having been made subject to Him.

The original readers must have felt like the world was crashing all about them in the persecution and suffering. In that historical context we see how the type, picture, or symbol of judgment and salvation would have been encouraging. There was no need for a fanciful picture of Jesus preaching to fallen angels or men in the time that he was buried. Jesus did preach to them by His Spirit in the person and ministry of Noah. They rejected that warning and were destroyed. Today Jesus preaches to the world by His Spirit in the people of the church. Baptism is the indicator of those who have appealed to God for a good or clean conscience. Those of us who have had our sins washed away in baptism can be confident come what may. Like the eighth person inside the Ark, we are safe. There will be sounds of the storm outside, but we need not be afraid. In the Ark, we are safe. That doesn't minimize the painful reality of persecution, but it does give us confidence and safety.

“Lord, help me to live in the confidence of the finished work of Christ. AMEN”