The First Letter of Peter- 16
Pastor Marty Friday, March 13, 2026 at 4:31PM Subtitle: Our Witness before the World- Part 8
1 Peter 3:18-22. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, March 8, 2026.
Peter once again points us to Jesus and the example of how his suffering was used to accomplish our salvation. You could say 1Peter 2:21-25 uses the example of Jesus to show us how to go through suffering. In our passage today, Peter points to Jesus again. He uses the suffering of Jesus to show us why suffering happens.
Following this, Peter will then challenge believers in Jesus to follow his example by having the same mindset towards suffering. If we will join him in his suffering, then we will also join him in his coming glory.
Let’s look at our passage.
What Jesus accomplished through suffering (v. 18-22)
Jesus faced many threats of suffering in his years of ministry leading up to the cross. Yet he embraced the suffering because of what it would accomplish. This section walks through what was made possible through the suffering of Jesus.
We are first told that he was suffering for our sins (the just for the unjust). This is clearly talking about his suffering on the cross, but it can be extended to the suffering of his whole mortal, human experience. In fact, Peter emphasizes that Jesus suffered just once for our sins.
Unlike the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, the Lamb of God only needed to die once in order to atone for the sins of humanity.
Of course, lambs have nothing to say about being sacrifices. Jesus did have something to say about it. He could have refused, but instead, Jesus went through the suffering of the cross, of death, in order to cover our sins.
Though God uses suffering in our life, it is not His plan that we should only experience suffering. Suffering has its season, but God always intends it to be followed by glory. Think of it this way. Is Jesus suffering today? Of course, not! We can make a case for an internal pain to watch so many refuse his offer of salvation, but that is another matter.
If we run away from suffering and expect God to remove it from our life, we are not paying close attention to the way Jesus made salvation possible for us.
It wasn’t fair for the “Just One” to be sacrificed for us unjust ones. It wasn’t fair, but it was love. In fairness, God would not help us. In fairness, God would not become a man. In fairness, He would not suffer in our place. None of this is fair, but it is love!
When we are tempted to complain about suffering for the sake of doing what is righteous, it is usually the unfairness of it that fuels our protest. Yet Jesus was perfect, sinless. I on the other hand cannot say that about myself. What excuse do I have to reject the call of Jesus to pick up my cross and follow him?
How am I using my forgiven life? Am I trying to get comfort and ease, or am I trying to bring sinners to repentance? Am I suffering the painful things involved in sharing the Good News with others?
Jesus embraced the suffering of the cross in order to bring us to God (v. 18). Mankind had been separated from God in the Garden of Eden. Originally, God had put humanity upon the earth to have dominion over it, in a way that imaged Him. This imaging was based upon relationship. This is why God would come down in the cool of the day and talk with them. The Fall of chapter three fractured that relationship. It put sin between us and God and affected our ability to image him.
Jesus becomes a means for healing that breech. His suffering makes it possible first to be brought to God as spiritual children through a new, spiritual birth. However, we are also going to be brought into the presence of God when we die. Our souls will be allowed to enter into the presence of God as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:8. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
This is the picture at the end of the book of Revelation. It pictures God the Father dwelling with Jesus and the saints, never to be separated again. This relationship could not be possible without the suffering of Christ.
Jesus was put to death to his mortal flesh, but then, made alive to his spiritual, resurrected life. The emphasis here (v. 18) is on the heart of what Christ is doing. He is not just dying for our sins. He is making a new mode of living possible for humanity, at least those who put their faith in him. Jesus made the way and showed the way to right relationship with God. However, he also paved the way to a resurrected life in a spiritual body (see 1 Corinthians 15:35f.
It was suffering that moved Jesus from a mortal life to an immortal life. Of course, this was not done instantaneously. He suffered many things. Even his suffering on the cross did not happen until the timing of the Father. It also happened in the way that the Father intended.
We are called to follow this pattern. Embrace whatever suffering we may have to face in this life for following Christ in order to be brought into a glorious, spiritual body at the time of God’s choosing.
We are next told (v. 19) that it was in this new state that Christ could go and preach to the disobedient spirits that were held in prison. Some versions interpret “spirit” at the end of verse 18 as the Holy Spirit. Thus, they open verse 19 with “by Whom.” They emphasize that Jesus went to do this act of verse 19 by the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe this is what Peter is saying. As a mortal, Jesus could not go into the grave (Sheol/Hades). However, he could go as a spirit being. In fact, all human spirits would go into the grave at death and await the judgment. So verse 19 should open with the phrase “by which.”
Who are these spirits in prison? Verse 20 makes it clear that these were disobedient in the time leading up to The Flood of Genesis during Noah’s time. Peter flies right on by the statement in verse 19 because the people of his day would know exactly what he is referencing. Let me clear up a couple of things first.
The NKJV says that Jesus “preached” to the spirits in prison. This makes it sound like they are being offered salvation. However, the word is better translated as proclaimed or made a proclamation. Jesus made some proclamation to these disobedient spirits held in prison. A proclamation can be anything. We will come back to this because I don’t want to lose sight of all that Jesus accomplished. Let’s just say Jesus was able to proclaim something to some criminal spirits in the underworld because of his suffering.
Because this connects to the time of Noah, Peter makes another point about how our present salvation connects to the salvation that happened for Noah and his family. The waters that destroyed others are the same waters that lift up Noah and his family to a new world. This is all done by God’s wisdom. Peter describes the waters of The Flood as being a picture of the waters of baptism that new followers of Jesus go through. We will come back to this later as well.
Finally, in verse 22, Jesus in his resurrected, spiritual existence could now enter into the heavens, sit at the right hand of the Father, and have all angels, authorities and powers subordinated to him. This doesn’t mean that none of them are still in rebellion, but that his presence at the right hand signifies his power and authority over everything, whether in the heavens or on the earth.
The angels are clearly spiritual beings. The words “authorities” and “powers” are terms that speak to varying levels of position in a hierarchy. This would clearly apply to other spiritual beings that were of varying levels of authority and power. Yet these words can also be used of human authorities and powers. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, ““All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” The only authority that would not be subordinated to Jesus is the Father Himself. Think of it. A human sits at the right hand of God the Father exercising authority and power in the Father’s place (imaging Him perfectly).
None of this could have been accomplished without a mindset that accepted suffering for what it was: the path to the salvation of God! We cannot lose sight of this in our lives today. Salvation is not possible without embracing a certain amount of suffering (emotionally and physically). We can willingly choose to suffering things in order to reach our friends and loved ones for Christ. Instead of complaining about the unfairness of it all, we are challenged to join Christ in this great purpose of saving “whosoever will.” Of course, the suffering is not forever. It will come to an end, and we will enter into the glory of those who suffered with Christ!
Two issues that need explanation
Let’s circle back and deal with these two issues that need further explanation. First, let’s look at the flood and how it points to water baptism today (the end of verse 20 and all of verse 21).
Verse 21 opens with a statement that water baptism is a “figure” (KJV), “antitype” (NKJV), “symbolizes” (NIV) of The Flood. These are all good interpretations. A symbol always corresponds to something (singular or plural). We have to ask ourselves how the waters of the Flood are picturing water baptism.
The Flood waters were a judgment upon all mankind. They brought destruction. However, God’s grace used this same thing to save Noah and his family who represented the believing remnant at that point. This is a key point. The same thing used to destroy some is used to save some. The waters were bad for the wicked and good for Noah and company.
We can question God’s grace when we are going through suffering. We can only see how it is destroying our life. However, if we trust God, our suffering can be used to save us and others, just like Jesus.
In this sense, Jesus is the Greater Noah. The seven family members symbolize the complete remnant of believers who are the family of Christ spiritually. New believers are also new members of the family of Christ. All new members are baptized in water.
Water baptism is a picture of several things. Spiritually, it is a picture of dying to our old way of life and being raised up to live a mortal life like Jesus did, in obedience to the Father, the Word, and through the power of the Spirit. Yet it is also a prophecy that my body will one day die. The water is a symbol of being buried (put under the ground). Jesus has the power and has promised to raise us up into spiritual, glorified bodies. Water baptism declares that death will not be a destruction to us because we are going to be raised up in glory like Jesus was.
Death will take all humanity. It will be destruction to many, but it will also be the path to the New Heavens and the New Earth that God is going to create. It is the path into a new relationship between God the Father and all of remnant humanity.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 even points to the Red Sea crossing as a type, symbol, of water baptism. The people of Israel were baptized by God when they went through the waters. This was a path of life to Israel, but a path of death to those bent on wickedness, namely Pharaoh and his army. On top of this, Paul also points to the cloud (water vapor) that followed them through the desert. It too was a picture of water baptism. The cloud becomes a protection to them in order to bring them to the Promised Land.
It may seem odd that Peter speaks of water baptism in this way, “which now saves us.” Some have even taught that it is only the act of water baptism that regenerates a person. However, Peter is not saying that the act of water baptism can save anybody by itself. Look at the very next words: “not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.” It is not the physical act that makes us belong to Christ. It is the internal faith that we have placed upon Jesus. We have responded to God’s raising up of Jesus to be our Savior. We believed. Because we have believed, we are then water baptized as a declaration to the world and to those rebellious spirits that we are leaving them behind and following Jesus! Death will be our promotion, but it will be their undoing.
Let’s deal with the proclamation that Jesus made to the spirits in prison. What is this.
We know that this is not an offer of salvation because they are in prison for their disobedience in the period leading up to The Flood. Peter does not say that they are in the grave (Sheol/Hades), but rather, that they are in prison. This seems to be the same thing that he mentions in his second letter (2 Peter 2:4). “For God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to [the Greek is literally “Tartarus”] and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment…” Jude also mentions something similar in Jude 1:6. “And 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…”
The picture given of the underworld is that all human spirits go into the Grave (Sheol/Hades) which is a holding place for the human spirits until the judgment. The Greeks pictured Tartarus as a prison that was as far below Hades as Hades was beneath the earth. Tartarus is a prison for angels or spiritual being who rebelled in the days before The Flood. This is was connected to the strange passage in Genesis 6. The sons of God was a class of spiritual beings who took human wives and created giant offspring, an offspring that was part angel and part human. They were imprisoned by God for this.
The Book of Enoch was a popular book in the days of Peter. It was never considered to be Scripture, and there is no need to try and elevate it to that status.
In the Book of Enoch, these imprisoned spirits want to be pardoned. They talk Enoch into asking God for a pardon. God’s response is that they are going to stay in prison until the time of the judgment, aka, “No!” Enoch then goes down to these spirits and proclaims to them God’s judgment.
Peter seems to be connecting Jesus to a similar, even greater, proclamation. Jesus is the Greater Enoch proclaiming to the spirits in prison that their rebellion has not only failed, but that he has now secured the salvation and redemption of mankind. In short, he proclaims that they have lost.
This is a common theme in Scripture. Jesus is the Greater Adam, the Greater Enoch, the Greater Noah, the Greater David…ad infinitum. Their lives were a fuzzy picture of the power and work that Messiah Jesus would do to save us.
Jesus not only proclaims defeat to the spirits in prison, but he also proclaims victory to the righteous human spirits stuck in the good side of the Grave. He could now lead them into the presence of God the Father because he has paid the price for their redemption. The rebellion against God’s plan with humanity had failed. The perfect man had redeemed the inheritance for humanity. The judgment of these spirits is sure and the salvation of those they sought to supplant is sure.
All of this was obtained because Jesus embraced the suffering that came from staying true to God the Father. His is the glory of a victor and the glory of One who brings many sons with him into glory! May God help us to line up in his wake, choosing to work for him through the suffering that may come our way. We can overcome the threats of the wicked and the fears of our own flesh. “Blessed are those who overcome because they will stand with the Great Overcomer, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the end!