The First Letter Of Peter- 21

Subtitle: How Suffering Ties To Our Future Hope- Part 3

1 Peter 5:6-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, April 26, 2026.

We ended our sermon last week at 1 Peter 5:5. Peter quoted Proverbs 3:34, “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  He is not just passively opposed to the proud.  Just as He actively gives grace to the humble, so He actively opposes the proud.

Today, we are going to continue with this exhortation to stay humble in the humble circumstances of suffering.  As we do so, we will find that there is more than just suffering.  There is also the grace of Jesus.

Let’s look at our passage.

An Exhortation to all Christians (6-11)

The statement, even the revelation, of Proverbs 3:34 challenges us to trust God.  Do you really believe this?  If you do, then you will always choose the humble path because you do not want God to oppose you.

True humility is staying lowly in your attitude towards others, but at the same time, understanding that God has a purpose for you.  You can do what God has given you to do without becoming proud.  In fact, the humblest thing we can do is to say “yes” to God’s purpose even when we feel that we are not up to it.

In verse 6, Peter commands believers to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt us at the proper time.

Depending on your attitude, the mighty hand of God can be viewed in two ways.  If you stay humble, then God’s hand will be mighty in assistance.  He gives grace that aids us mightily in the ways that He knows we need.  However, if you are not humble, then His mighty hand will come against you in discipline and judgment.

We should not lose sight of the reality that the Hand of the Lord is an Old Testament metaphor that points to the Messiah, Jesus.  Thus, we need to humble ourselves under the Mighty Jesus who was sent to lead us to God.  Humble yourself by trusting the way of Jesus, and his way leads through suffering.

Notice that exaltation is at the bottom of this.  The proud and arrogant of this world fight and claw in order to exalt themselves.  We can even exalt others as a way of “hitching our wagon” to theirs.  However, God only exalts “at the proper time.”  Have you ever thought that you might not be ready for exaltation?  Shouldn’t we trust God’s timing in this?  Shouldn’t we have faith in Him?

It is good for us to learn discipline in this time in which we deal with our own sin and the sin of others.  Much of the suffering of life is a result of sin.

Even though Peter is talking about the ultimate exaltation of the Kingdom of God led by His Messiah, King Jesus, it is also true on a smaller scale within this life.  Most times of suffering have a season or period.  When we are dealing with trials, we can know that God will bring us through it.  He does not intend to let us be tested forever.

In order to do this, Peter tells us to cast our worries upon Jesus because He cares for us.  Our true problem is not the theoretical question of whether or not God is for us.  It is all those worries and anxieties that that we have going on in our heart and mind.  I might not get what I want.  Someone else might get what I want instead.  It is this multitude of worries that divide our heart against an allegiance to God, if we are not careful.

We are told to cast our worries upon Him.  This is a picture of what happens in our heart as we talk with God in prayer.  We don’t cast our worries at Him as an accusation.  Rather, we cast them upon Him.  We put the heaviness of the worry upon Him and let Him figure it out for us. 

We can do this because He cares for us.  That is, we are His concern.  God knows what we need and will provide it at the proper time.  Will I live refusing, rejecting, and ignoring His care for me?  Or will I lean into His care and rest in it?

Psalm 55:22 reads, “Cast your burden upon the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”  Pride leads to wickedness which leads to being shaken by God’s judgments.  However, humility leads to righteousness which does not lead to being shaken by judgment.

It is important that we do this because of what Peter says next. We have an enemy, the devil, who is on the prowl, seeking someone to devour.  First of all, there is a contrast here.  The devil devours everyone that he can.  However, God is only opposed to the proud.  Second of all, it is pride that makes us vulnerable to the devil.

This picture of the devil like a prowling lion connects to Job 1 and 2. Satan appears before God and is asked what he has been doing.  Notice that he doesn’t say why he is traveling to and fro throughout the earth.  This gives us a fuller picture.  He wants to devour those who are not able to stand against him.  He wants to devour your soul, your life, your ability to image God.  He wants to devour God’s purpose for you and make you a captive to his self-serving purposes.

When we walk in humility before our fellow man and before God, we will find all the resources of God’s grace available to us in that time of need.

Peter then tells us to be sober in spirit.  Yes, God is for us, but the devil is really against us.  We need to be able to deal with this reality.  We need to be on the alert for his tactics and schemes.  We also need to be on the alert for how our foolishness can set us up for him.  Our envy, fears, and hunger for recognition, can open access points in our life for his devouring work.

Thus, in this sober and alert state, we are to resist him.  Resist here is the sense of taking our stand against the devil and his schemes.  We are to oppose what he is trying to do in our lives and in the lives of our family and friends.  We do this by firmly putting our faith in Christ, not letting ourselves be pulled into trusting the ways of pride and the ways of the world.

Peter reminds us about the reality that other Christians are going through these same things around the world.  In fact, some of them may be going through worse suffering than we are.  Yet, Peter does not simply say they are going through them.  It is often translated as “being accomplished” by them.  They are going through them victoriously in Christ.  Their faith is not being overwhelmed and extinguished.  They are more than conqueror through Jesus Christ who strengthen them.  Thus, so can we be strengthened to face our enemy.  This is nothing unique to me or you.  All who want to follow Christ will face these things.

Even though we have suffering in this life, remember that God gives grace to the humble.  He doesn’t just do this after we die.  He gives us grace in the midst of our trials.  He has purpose in us that He will accomplish as we trust Him.  This is important.  God is helping us in this life against our enemy.  We don’t have to be afraid and shrink back.  We can humbly step up and stand our ground in Jesus.

Verse 10 says that we have been called to His eternal glory in Christ.  Dwelling within the glory of God is our destiny.  Yet, it is “in Christ.”  Christ is the ground, or foundation, that gives us standing before God.  We are called to His eternal glory, but the way to this glory is through times of suffering on this earth.

Peter mentions that this time of glory is “after you have suffered for a little while…” We can contemplate this “little while” in a couple of ways.  Life is generally not suffering all the time.  It may come in seasons, now intense, and now not.  It is very common to see that God brings us through times of difficult testing and into times of rest.  Those difficult times always feel like they will never end, but this too shall pass.  Knowing this can help us to keep faith in times of testing.

Yet, our lives are also “for a little while.”  We are grass and our time fleeting.  Even if my life is lived suffering under the boot of a tyrant until the day I die, this cannot change God’s calling upon my life.  When the suffering is over. Then I will see how God has used it to do some things within me that are eternal.  This is true throughout our life, and it will be true at the end of our life.

Peter states that God will “perfect you.”  This is the idea of making you complete, lacking nothing.  We can think of being completely equipped with all that we need, but we should also think of His ability to heal our wounds and make us whole, complete.

This doesn’t mean we do nothing.  We are called to be perfect as He is perfect, but none of us can do this on our own.  In this life, He is perfecting us through imperfect things.  Yet, in the end, we will be like Him because of His grace.

Trials and sufferings are one of the ways that God builds His character and righteousness into us.

Not only will He make us complete, but He will firmly equip us.  The firm part of this phrase has the idea of being set in a way that is not easily moved.  We might picture how construction uses braces to keep a structure from falling over.  God is making us to be a people that the devil cannot defeat and devour.  He is making us into people who cannot be pulled onto foolish paths.

He will also strengthen you.  There is strength that comes from bracing (external), but there is also strength that is more internal.  The Spirit of God uses trials and suffering to strengthen our faith in Him.  This is a spiritual strengthening.

Lastly, Peter says that He will establish you.  This is the idea of having a firm foundation.  Of course, Jesus is our firm foundation.  However, God is working to firmly set us upon His foundation, unable to be toppled.

Think of it.  Each trial you go through will also see God doing these things within you until that day you stand before Him completed.

This leads to Peter’s celebratory declaration.  To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever, amen.  Some versions don’t have the word glory.  Regardless, this is the language used of the Messiah’s Kingdom.  The Son of Man will be given dominion over all the nations of the earth.  Why should we remain humble at all times?  We should do so because the day is coming when Jesus will come in glory and take up his dominion.  The power, rule, and dominion are all his, even if he invites us into it and allows us to exercise it with him. 

This ties back to the earlier statement, “Let him who boasts boast in the lord!”

Peter does that here by declaring that all of this belongs to Jesus forever, Amen!

Suffering Future Hope 3 audio

The First Letter of Peter- 19

Subtitle: How Suffering Ties To Our Future Hope- Part 1

1 Peter 4:12-19.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, April 12, 2026.

Though Peter continues talking about the suffering Christians may encounter, he now connects this suffering to a future glory that is before believers.

Let’s look at our passage.

Suffering and our future hope (12-16)

Suffering was very common among Christians in the first three centuries.  Yet, it has always been common to some degree down through the centuries.

We see this today in regard to where you a person lives.  Some places have heavy persecution to the point of martyring Christians, whereas other places see persecution at much lighter levels.

Many early Christians had expectations of a kingdom in which Christ would come back and rule over the world, casting out the wicked rulers.  However, this expectation did not come to past.  We all have expectations.  When they don’t happen, we can struggle with cognitive dissonance.

We are used to seeing this with the Jews of the first century.  However, it would be just as easy for Gentiles to expect the time of persecution to end much faster than history has shown.

The difficulty of understanding that the Kingdom of God is here but not yet fully can be hard on us.  Why are we still suffering?  Isn’t the Kingdom of God here?  We even see this with John the Baptist when he was taken to prison.  At some point, he begins to think that he may have misunderstood who Jesus was.

Of course, the Kingdom of God is not how many people claim to be Christians.  It is not the number of acres owned by churches and Christians.  It is not the number of nations that claim to be structured on the teachings of Christ.  The Kingdom of God right now is in the hearts of men, and it impacts the world through their lives.

In verse 12, Peter emphasizes that we must not think that fiery trials we face are strange.  We must be careful with the expectations we put in front of us.  Fiery trials, both spiritual and natural, are going to come.  This is par for the course here on earth.

So why are we suffering?  Peter tells us that these trials come upon us for our testing.  In fact, the offer of salvation itself is a testing of the quality of our person.  Will we choose Jesus or will we choose the world?  Having taken the hand of Christ, we are then further tested.  What is the quality of our faith in Jesus?  Will we remain with him?  Will we endure the trials and continue in faithfulness?

Yet, they don’t just test what you are but also what you will let the Lord build in your life.  It tests your ability to follow Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Of course, there are two sides to the fiery trials we face.  The devil intends evil by the trials you encounter.  He wants to destroy your faith in Christ and separate you from God.  Yet, God doesn’t just intend good for us.  He promises that He will work all things to the good for us.

We should recognize that not all evil is caused by the devil.  Humans are quite capable of evil from our own desires.

Nevertheless, Peter then tells us that we should keep rejoicing in the midst of our trials so that we may rejoice at the revelation of Christ’s glory.  Most likely, Peter is thinking of the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:11-12.  “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

We should be ready for fiery trials, but even if we end up in the belly of a great fish, God’s grace is still there to help us.

Jesus focused his disciples on two things: the great reward that they have in heaven, and the good company that they are following.

Peter has learned this lesson.  Don’t just rejoice in the good times.  Keep rejoicing even during trials because the Lord is working them for your good.  In fact, there is a greater rejoicing that some will experience at the “revelation of his glory.”

In some ways, the glory of Christ has already been revealed, but a greater unveiling is going to occur at the Second Coming of Jesus.  All the world at that time will see his glory shining in the sky as he returns to take possession of the nations.

When this happens, his followers will still be rejoicing, but the wicked will not be rejoicing. 

What am I rejoicing in now?  And will the things I am rejoicing in result in rejoicing at the coming of Christ?  There are many people rejoicing in riches and power right now, but what will it be when Christ comes?  Peter is saying that if we will rejoice in the times of suffering (like Jesus commanded us to do), then we will also rejoice when his glory is revealed to the world.

In verse 14, Peter points to a condition of being reviled by people for the name of Christ.  He tells us that such a person is blessed.  How can I be blessed when men are saying evil things against me because I am following Christ?

This is tying back to what Jesus said.  You are blessed because you have a reward in heaven, and you are in the company of all the saints that have come before you. 

Peter adds to this that the Spirit of Glory and God rests upon you.  Just as the Holy Spirit rested upon Christ in a glorious demonstration of God’s favor, so we have the Spirit of God resting upon us as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus. 

Yet, we are not to suffer as a sinner but as a Christian (v. 15). Peter warns us against this.  No believer should “suffer” for being a murderer, thief, evildoer, or a busybody.  Such a person is only suffering the just consequences of their sin.  But if you suffer as a Christian, as one who follows the righteous activity of Christ, this is not something that should make us ashamed.

This does not mean we are called to make suffering happen or attempt to provoke it.  If you follow the righteousness of Christ, then suffering will find you in some form or another.

It is possible that other “Christians” may be your worst persecutors.  Regardless, we should cling to Christ knowing that it is testing us, bringing us glory at the coming of Christ, and accompanied with the blessing of God’s Spirit.

Judgment has begun with the House of God (v. 17-19)

Peter tells us that it is time for judgment to begin with the Household of God.  We can immediately jump to thinking of Israel, the forty years of testing they were given following the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Notice that judgment is in the land, but it is accompanied with grace.  “Choose this day whom you will serve!”

However, Peter is also talking to Gentiles.  The Church age has a similar effect among the nations who hear the Gospel.  The nations are given a particular amount of time to hear the Gospel and make a choice (grace).  Those who believe will be tested and tried by that choice.  We Christians have stepped into the judgment of God that Jesus stepped into.  Why would God let Jesus suffer?  This question is parallel to why God let’s us suffer.  He does so to save people who are lost.  Of course, we do not die on crosses for their sins, but we do suffer in order that they may hear and believe.

If Israel was judged, how will it go for the nations?  It might be better that we think of it this way.  If God tests Christians in order to show their faith as true, then how is it going to go with those who disobey the call to serve Christ?  How will it go with those who made a short attempt at following Christ but then turned back?

This is a rhetorical question.  It will clearly not go well with them.  At God’s timing, judgment will come upon individuals, particular nations, and eventually all of the nations.

Thus, Peter quotes the verse to which he has been alluding, Proverbs 11:31, in verse 18.  Sometimes this is interpreted with the idea of scarcely being saved.  However, the word at its root means to be paid or recompensed.  This has a double meaning.  It can refer to a good payment for good things done, but it can also refer to being paid back, or punished, for doing bad things.  If God pays the righteous what they deserve, what will be come of the godless man and sinner who deserves a great pay back from God?

What is the end of this matter?  Verse 19 tells us to entrust our soul to a faithful Creator.  Entrusting your soul is yielding to the difficult decisions of God.  It is placing your life and soul into the hands of God as an act of worship.  It is declaring that He is worthy of anything we may face in this life.

We are able to do this because God is a faithful Creator.  He has the power and the character that we can trust.

It is interesting that Peter points out that our suffering is “according to the will of God.”  It is not so much God’s desire for us to suffer as it is not a coach’s desire to see his athletes suffer.  However, knowing that certain people and the devil will not like our faith in Jesus, God has purposed to allow that suffering that we face.  He has also purposed to work that suffering into great glory for us.

Jesus did the Father’s will, and men crucified him for it.  However, he also entrusted his soul to the Faithful Father in Heaven.  And so must we if we want to join him in his glory!

1 Peter 19 audio

The First Letter of Peter- 17

Subtitle: Our Witness before the World- Part 9

1 Peter 4:1-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, March 15, 2026.

Having looked at what Jesus accomplished through the things he suffered, Peter now calls us to have the same mind that Christ had when he did these things.  We can rejoice in having Jesus at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.  We can rejoice in salvation and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  However, it happened because Jesus was willing to suffer.  He embraced suffering for what it would accomplish.

Let’s look at our passage.

Arm yourself with the same mind Jesus had (v. 1-4)

The word translated as “arm yourselves” was typically used to prepare for battle.  It has the sense of equipping or providing yourself with what you need for a task.

So, who or what are we battling?  We can think about those who persecute and cause suffering in our lives just for doing the right thing.  I can imagine early Christians being challenged to recant their belief that Jesus was Lord, and instead, declare that Caesar is lord.  This may be true to some degree, but to a greater degree, we are arming ourselves with a mentality.  This mentality is something that is going on inside of us.  It is a mental and spiritual battle with our own flesh that can only be won when we think like Jesus did.

Our flesh is looking for any excuse to avoid suffering and obtain pleasure.  If we do not have the mentality of Jesus, then we will be overcome by the desires of our flesh.  The devil knows this and uses it for his purposes.  We can be intimidated away from the work that God has for us.  We can be shamed by social pressure to shrink away from the call of Jesus.  If you are going to follow Jesus, you will need to approach suffering the same way he did.

Now let’s be clear.  Jesus didn’t relish suffering and rush towards it with glee.  He wasn’t bored in heaven and decided to come to earth for some extreme experiences.   He wasn’t on a field trip.  On the other hand, Jesus is not trying to get everyone to like him.  He is not obsessed with getting the Pharisees and Sadducees to like him.  He is thinking about doing the will of the Father.  This is why Jesus prayed and sought God for that purpose he should pursue in the things that he faced.

Jesus did not let the threat of suffering cause him to shrink back from the good and right thing that God wanted him to do.  Yet he also knew that God had a timing to those right things he needed to do.  This timing will also affect our level of suffering.  Jesus could have been stoned to death earlier in his ministry, but it wasn’t God’s timing and way.

Here in America, our suffering is at a low level.  We are not being physically persecuted for our faith, though that does seem to be changing.  Yet there is a mental and spiritual suffering that we carry in our relationships.  Parents who are raising their children for Jesus will find that it is not easy.  Their flesh wants to quit.  It may not want to quit being a parent but at least being a parent for Jesus.  We can shrink away from the right thing that we know we should do. This is our flesh.

Peter then states that those who suffer in the flesh have been made to cease from sin.  The verb “to cease” is actually passive.  We have been made to cease from sin.  This doesn’t mean that we are perfect and never sin. Rather, sin has ceased to be the willing choice to obtain what our flesh desires.  It is no longer our target or focus.  Instead, we are focused on something else.  We have stopped going after sin through the lusts of our flesh and we have been going after something else.  Something has changed within us.  We think and act differently in life because our purpose in life is now led by Jesus.

Peter fleshes out the idea of ceasing from sin in verse two.  Peter refers to the “rest of his time” here.  Each of us have a period of our life that is before becoming a follower of Jesus and another that is after we have followed him.  This is what he is referencing.  How much time do I have left?  Whatever it is, I should use it for the will of God.

The rest of our time is, of course, hard to know for sure.  Psalm 90:12 reads, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  Wisdom recognizes that I am not guaranteed tomorrow.  How will I spend the rest of my time?  We can have a good desire to follow Jesus but be derailed by the threat of suffering.  Suffering can dissuade us from following Jesus.

Peter speaks of not living for the “lusts of men.”  It means the lusts that are common to men.  Of course, the strong desires of our flesh can be different from one person to another.  I need to particularly avoid and reject the lusts of my own flesh so that I can live for the will of God.

The will of God may lead us down a path that has suffering on it.  We can complain about it, but we lose sight of the fact that God has something good in it for you.  First, He intends to accomplish some things through the work that you do.  Second, He intends also to accomplish some things through the things you suffer.  We can forget that God is working to draw people to Christ through the things we suffer.  When wicked people persecute us for doing what is good, there is always something in the back of their head that they have to avoid or silence in order to keep going.  This is the mercy of God working to bring them back from the edge of a moral cliff.

We may want to avoid suffering.  We may even pray for God to take us to heaven.  However, who is going to influence your children, grandchildren, etc.?  Maybe you don’t have such relationships.  Regardless, our only ability to affect this world is while we are in these bodies.  Jesus is asking us to use our mortal life in order to help people come back to what we were made to do.  We were made to image God in relationship with Him.  Jesus has made that possible for those who will turn away from sin and follow him.

Listen, Jesus isn’t in heaven having a party while we suffer down here.  He is pouring out the Spirit into our lives as we seek him.  The Spirit of God is helping us to go to war against what the devil has done in people’s lives.  He is telling us today, “Pick up your cross.  If you do that, then I will fill you with the Holy Spirit, and He will help you do some powerful things.  It will have some suffering in it, but O the glory!”

Even if you don’t get to see the fruit of your suffering, that isn’t the point.  The point is that you laid down your life like a seed into their life.  I may not see it in this life, but God will keep using it in their heart and mind through the rest of their life.

Adding to this argument, Peter tells us that we have spent enough of our past life pursuing the “will of the Gentiles.”  There were Gentiles who knew God, but this is being used of the Gentiles as a whole.  They were separated and foreigners to God.  They only knew the false religions of Satan and his angels. 

What is the will of the Gentiles?  Peter gives us a partial list of such things.  Sensuality or lewdness has the sense of a person with no restraint.  That can be in speech, dress, or activity.  Lust is basically strong desires of our flesh.  Drunkenness is literally excess wine.  When we imbibe too much alcohol, it leads to sin.  The next two words go together, carousing (revelry) and drinking parties.  If you can imagine people eating and drinking to the point that everyone is drunk and then going out into the streets to do whatever comes to your pickled mind, this is what these things describe.  Finally, Peter lists abominable idolatries.  Abominable means hated which is true of idolatry.  God hates it.  However, he literally writes “lawless idolatries.”

This list is not 100% of the things we need to avoid.  In fact, many of these are easy to quit doing.  Many people can “clean up their life” and make the outside look good, but these things beg the question of why we choose them.  What is going on inside of my heart that I keep choosing to go after these things?  Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount does this with murder.  It should be easy to cut off contemplating murder.  But it is much harder to cut off the anger that leads to murder.  The harder things to cut off in our lives are things like anger, jealousy, selfish ambition and slander.  This is what James is talking about in chapter four of his letter.  Jesus is leading us away from these things and towards the will of God.

The world around you thinks you are strange for not joining them in this pursuit of pleasure.  The excess of dissipation is an overflowing of unsaved living, unhealthy, unspiritual living.  Like a flood of water surging down the course of a canyon, they can’t imagine doing anything else.  The Christian is the fish who is swimming up stream while the world around them plunges along with the water downstream.

And thus, we end up back at suffering.  Because you are strange to them, then you are viewed as a threat or a source of guilt.  You are viewed as someone who can’t be manipulated and therefore can’t be trusted.  This leads to those who will malign you for following Jesus instead of the world.  Some “Christians” may even malign you for following Jesus instead of their traditions about Jesus.  Regardless, the word for “malign” is literally to blaspheme.  We are used to that being used about God, but we can blaspheme one another when we say things that are not true about one another.  It may stop there, but maligning people opens the door to abusing them further.  People are first called evil and then it is okay to persecute, even to kill, them.  The malign statements, the blasphemies against Christians, then become justification for more sinful actions that cause suffering for God’s people.

Let us remember that Jesus faced such men, and he put his trust in the Father’s will in the moment and in His purpose through it, even though it led to his death.

God will judge those who malign you (v. 5-6)

Verse five reminds us that those who persecute us will not get away with it.  They will be judged.  All people will be brought before Christ and give an account for their life.  I do not suspect there will be much speaking on their behalf.  The emphasis is more on being held accountable for one’s life.  Those who have rejected his salvation and persecuted his followers will be found guilty on that day.  It may not look like this is the case, but this is God’s promise, warning, to humanity.

When a person is going through suffering, this may not seem very comforting.  We want God to stop it now or even before it happens.  Regardless, we are called to have faith in God.  The example of Jesus and God’s answer of resurrection makes this a well-founded hope.

By the way, Peter doesn’t explicitly say that Jesus is this one who will judge, but this is the clear teaching of the apostles and Jesus.  See John 5:22-23, Acts 17:31, Romans 2:16, among many others.

Christ is “ready” to judge the living and the dead.  This may sound like it is about to happen in a matter of days.  But the meaning is more that Christ has been given the place and authority of judging those who are alive and those who are dead.  He is ready to judge whenever the Father chooses.  Jesus was ready to sacrifice his life on day one of his ministry.  However, it was the Father’s will that this did not happen until three and a half years of ministry had occurred.  Similarly, Jesus is ready to judge now, but will not do so until the Father says it is time.

Let us remember that this is true for us as a world and for us as individuals.  When we lay down our mortal bodies in death, our judgment before Christ will be evident.

Why does the Father delay?  Particularly, why does He delay while I am suffering?  This ties into God’s purpose to send the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  This is a period of time in which the nations are given grace through Jesus.  The way that we suffer (like Jesus did) is one of the goads that God uses to prick the conscience of lost people.  If they repent, then they become a brother or sister in the Lord.  We should forgive them and love them.  If they do not repent, then they will be held accountable by Jesus. 

If you had been ripped off by a big corporation and sued them, how would you feel if you went into court and found out that the judge owned a similar big corporation?  The opposite is true with Jesus.  The One who will judge humanity on that day is One who was unjustly and wickedly treated by people.  He is not on the side of the elite.  However, he will not pervert justice for the poor.  Jesus will judge in absolute truth.  This is a sobering thought.

This brings us to one of the most disputed verses in this letter.  Peter turns from the readiness of Christ to judge the living and the dead and states that this is why the Gospel “has been preached” to the dead.  Most translations have interpretations affecting their end result.  It literally says, “For this purpose even the dead were evangelized (given the Gospel).”  It begs the question of when the evangelizing occurred.  Was it while they are alive, being dead now or was it while they were in the grave?

We will come back to this question.  Let’s continue the flow of Peter’s argument.  The coming judgment of Christ is the purpose, or reason, for this evangelizing.  Yet, Peter states that this evangelizing was done so that something else might happen.  This is what the second half of verse 6 reveals.  Let’s look at the statement first and then come back to how this all fits together with evangelizing even the dead.

The second half of verse 6 has a clear symmetry that contrasts the first clause with the second one.  It uses the phrase “on one hand” there is this bad thing, “but on the other hand,” there is this good thing.  These clauses are in the subjunctive mood which emphasizes that this is God’s desire or purpose, whether men cooperate with it or not.  Let me lay out verse 6 in a clumsy literal interpretation.

“For this reason, even the dead were evangelized in order that, on one hand, they may have been judged according to men in flesh, but on the other hand, they may be living according to God in spirit.”

God’s purpose in this evangelization is to overcome the judgments of men in this world that have sent many to the realm of the dead.  They may have been put to death in their flesh according to the judgments of men, but God intends to make them alive in spirit.  This is some of the same verbiage that was used of Jesus in 1 Peter 3:18. Jesus was put to death in his flesh but made alive in spirit.  God does not always stop persecution.  However, He always overturns it.

We can understand that God’s purpose is to change a person’s destiny any time the Gospel is preached to them.  Instead of removing death from our experience, He makes possible a greater life following that death for those who trust in Jesus the Christ.

So what is this evangelizing even the dead?  There are really two good ways to interpret this, though I know there are endless variations in them.

The first is to see this as people who are now dead, but the evangelization happened while they were alive.  God’s purpose in the Gospel is not to make us invincible to the wicked in this life, but that when we die (whether naturally or at the hands of persecutors) this will not be the last word.  They live in spirit.  Unlike Jesus, believers do not immediately receive a spiritual body.  Their spirits are with Christ at the right hand of the Father awaiting the day of resurrection when they will obtain glorified, spiritual bodies like Jesus.  Even before the cross, righteous believers like Noah, Abraham, David, and all the rest, went into the good side of the Grave (Sheol/Hades) awaiting the day when Messiah would make it possible for them to be released into the presence of the Father.

One of the fears of early believers is mentioned by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4.  They worried that somehow believers who had died were going to miss out on the good things that were expected at the Second Coming of Jesus.  Paul explains that those who are dead will not miss out on God’s plan.

In this situation, it is speculated that Peter is encouraging them that, even though we may be put to death in flesh, we are alive in spirit.  God’s judgment makes the judgments of men irrelevant.  In fact, this being alive in spirit occurs while we are still in this mortal flesh.  This is generally what is meant by eternal life.  It is the life-giving-principle of Jesus Himself working within us, no matter what state we are in (mortal flesh, body dead but spirit with Jesus, and finally a glorified spiritual body).

This is a good, scriptural understanding.  However, Peter may have been saying something more than this.  The second interpretation actually sees this as an evangelization by Jesus after his death to those who are in the grave.  Some oppose this because it sounds like they are getting a second chance at salvation.  However, this is not necessarily the case.

Scripture does appear to be clear that we are given this mortal life to make and to demonstrate our choice regarding Jesus.  Once we die, we are held accountable to that choice.  Hebrews 9:27 states, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…”  2 Corinthians 6:2 states, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”  Clearly, we are called to accept God while He has opened a door for salvation.  If we wait, the time may close and be missed.  Death is equated with facing our judgment, not an extension of a season of salvation.

That said, there is a plausible way to see this in the second sense (Jesus evangelizing the dead after his death) without teaching that people get a second chance in the Grave.

In 1 Peter 3:18, we saw that Jesus went into the Grave and then to Tartarus (a prison for rebellious angels/spirits).  There he proclaimed his victory to them and the finality of their defeat.  There is no sense in that passage that he “evangelized” them.  That word is not used.  Also, it is not hard to see that while he was in the Grave where the departed human spirits are held in two compartments, one good and one bad, Jesus may do some more declarations.  Thus, we can see Jesus proclaiming his victory to those “in torments in Hades,” which would accentuate that they had chosen the wrong side.  We could also see him sharing the good news (the real meaning of the word evangelize) of his victory and what it means for those human spirits in Abraham’s Bosom, or Paradise, which is the good side of the Grave.  He is not so much giving them an offer of salvation but explaining what has happened and how they have been saved.  This makes sense because though they had a sense of the good thing God was doing, they were just as much in the dark as the disciples were to how God was going to do this.

The foundations of the Gospel were laid down in Genesis three as God pronounces judgments on the serpent, Eve and Adam.  Notice that He promises that a Seed of the Woman would come forth to crush the Serpent’s head.  He would no longer have dominion over humanity.  This is a kind of proto-Gospel.  Through the Old Testament more and more definition is given to what and how God would save humanity.  We can imagine David coming into Abraham’s Bosom and sharing with those who were there all that God had revealed in his day.  Isaiah would enter one day and share what God had showed him.  Yet Jesus coming into Abraham’s Bosom would not just lead the spirits into heaven without some kind of explanation of what had happened.

The New Testament even speaks of Abraham and Israel having the Gospel preached to them in the sense of a proto-Gospel.  Galatians 3:8 says this about Abraham, and Hebrews 4:2 expresses this sense about Israel in the wilderness.

This second view sees that sharing good news with even the dead is not the only thing in view.  The whole dynamic of Jesus going into the grave in order to bring the righteous spirits held in the grave (awaiting the price to be paid for their sins and justification) and lead them into the presence of the Father is part of the purpose of God.

This faithfulness that has happened already is part of the confidence we can have in the midst of suffering.  God will not and has not left us at the mercy of wicked men, treated as lambs for the slaughter.  Instead, God wants to use our suffering and especially how we do it in order to make peace possible with his enemies, our enemies.

The spiritual life we have in Christ while we are in the flesh will not cease when our bodies die.  Our spirits will then live before the Father in heaven until the time of resurrection comes.  Then, we will have glorified, spiritual bodies in which we will be “like the angels.”  This is the sure, proven hope that believers have when facing suffering in this life.  May God strengthen us as we live for him in this lost world.

Our Witness 9 audio

The First Letter of Peter- 14

Subtitle: Our Witness before the World- Part 6

1 Peter 3:8-12. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, February 22, 2026.

Peter has been looking at specific relationships that Christians would have in those days.  In each one, he gives specific instructions. Today’s passage sums all of this up.

Let’s look at our passage.

All of you should be of one mind (v. 8-12)

Peter uses a phrase that is generally translated as “to sum up” or “finally.”  Having reached the end of the relationships he wanted to address specifically, Peter now gives advice on how, as believers in Jesus, we ought to approach our relationships regardless of whether or not we are in the strong or the weak position.  This would include our relationships with other believers and those who are unbelievers.  However, unbelievers are not going to be hearing Peter’s instructions much less adhering to them.

The first thing we run into is to be “harmonious” (NASB).  The word is literally “same-minded” and has the sense of operating from the same thinking.  Though it is not specifically stated in this verse, it is the mind of Christ and the example that came from it that Peter has in mind (see 2:21-25).  To further support this, Peter will use some phrases in this section that were used earlier regarding Jesus.  Thus, it is particularly the mind of Christ that we are to have.

Our approach in our relationships needs to start with the question, “What would Jesus have me do?”  “Jesus, how can I be a boss, an employee, a husband, a wife, etc. that is following your mind?”

Paul says it this way in Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”  Relationships are better when both parties are thinking like Jesus.  We should be focused on the purposes of God rather than on the purposes of our natural desires.

To be clear, we are not talking about trying to be a good boss as defined by lazy employees, nor are we trying to be a good employee as defined by harsh employers who expect all of your time, even when you are off the clock.  It is defined by Jesus and the trusted Word that we have written down for us in Scripture.

I can have the mind of Christ even when the other person doesn’t.  God will help us to be a witness for Jesus to them by how we act and respond.  No matter what people may do to get ahead of you and push you down, we can entrust ourselves to God.  Will they get away with it?  It may look like it to us, but they haven’t gotten away with it.  God is our defense and reward.

Let’s be clear.  What Jesus experienced was bad.  You too will go through things that are not right.  It is not that God wants these bad things to happen to us but that He promises to work them to the good for us and others.  This is what it means to have the mind of Christ.  It means that we cease using the sin of others to justify our own sin.  Rather, we choose to honor the righteousness of God in the situation and entrust our future into His hands.

Peter continues with a list that describes what it means to have the mind of Christ.  “Having compassion for one another” involves being able to identify with the suffering of another person.  It touches us deeply.  The opposite would be to have a hard and insensitive approach to others.

He then mentions “loving as brothers.”  This refers to the familial love that we should have for one another.  This is best understood within the family of believers.  Of course, familial love has lots of ups and downs, especially in our spiritual infancy.  Brothers will get on each other’s nerves, step on each other’s toes.  Yet we are family.  You don’t kick people out of the family.  You work to reconcile.  Thus, spiritual parents are important.  Mature believers have a duty to help immature believers embrace the righteous path of asking for forgiveness and giving forgiveness.  Yet, in the end, our Heavenly Father will ultimately hold us to the reality of learning to love our brothers and sisters.

We are to be “tender-hearted.”  Similar to compassion, this has the idea of having deep feelings toward one another.  Our love should come from the depths of our heart.

With the last description, we have a manuscript issue.  Some of the early manuscripts have “humble in spirit” and others have “friendly.”  We won’t go into the details of all of that.  I think we can agree that both could be attached to this list without inserting error.  Whether Peter meant humility or friendliness, I would say that they are both good.  The humble person approaches others without arrogance or thinking of yourself as more important than others.

Peter then moves to a couple of negative issues, i.e., things from which to refrain.   He uses the wording about Jesus from 2:22-23.  Jesus did not respond with evil for evil, nor did he revile those who reviled him.  We mentioned back then that reviling has the sense of strong verbal abuse to it.  We are quickly becoming a society that is treating verbal abuse as more and more acceptable.  A Christian must refrain from this activity, even if the other person is abusing us.

In fact, even Christians can have misunderstandings or see things differently from one another.  We are to restrain ourselves from the natural inclinations of our flesh and take hold of the same mind that Christ had when he restrained himself.

Instead of returning evil for evil and reviling for reviling, we are to return a blessing to them.  This a clear allusion to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:44. “Love your enemies and bless those who curse us, pray for those who spitefully use you…”

Yes, this may seem unfair, but unless the other person repents, they will be in a world of hurt in the Judgment.  Don’t let the tragedy of another person’s spiritual destruction pull you down into that destruction as well.

So how can I bless someone who is “cursing” me?  Ultimately, we are seeking to be a good thing in their life, whether they see it as that or not.  We should start by praying for them.  “Lord, I know that you don’t like what they are doing.  I pray that you help me to speak your words, draw them away from their sin and towards you.”  If done well, we can be a good thing in their life by warning them of the judgment that hangs over their actions.  Lastly, we can find something that is tangible to do for them.  In all of this, we need to ask for the wisdom and leading of the Holy Spirit.

We cannot do this in a fake and superficial way.  It must be real and sacrificial.  It must come from the heart of God.

Peter mentions that those who do this “will inherit a blessing.”  He basically says, “If you want to inherit a blessing, then live your life in such a way as to be a blessing to others.”

There is a certain inheritance in this life.  It is up to us how much like Jesus we want to be and therefore the ways He will bless us in this life.  Yet our full inheritance will not come until the Resurrection.  Any blessing in this life is only a bitter-sweet foretaste of something that will have all the bitterness removed in the future!  To dwell with God and His goodness for eternity in immortal, imperishable, bodies is a great inheritance indeed!

Peter then quotes Psalm 34:12-16.  He is essentially showing us that Scripture backs up what he has been saying.

This psalm was written by David when he pretended to be insane in front of the Philistine king in order to save his life.  What was David doing in the Philistine territory?  King Saul of Israel accused David of disloyalty and sought to kill him.  This eventually drove David out of Israel into the enemy’s territory.  This isn’t just about people, but about the devil and his angels too.

It was the fear of the Lord and the desire to be blessed by God that helped David to restrain himself.  Yes, David was not as good as Jesus, but he would be an example from the Old Testament that they could remember.  More than an example, the words of David (the lessons that he discovered in this time) are instructive to us going through something similar.

This section challenges those who want the truth.  Do you desire life, to love and see good days?  If you do, then you must restrain yourself from doing evil and choose to do good, seeking and pursuing peace with others.  Why?  God is watching all that happens.  He will ultimately judge our actions in these things.

God’s eyes are depicted as being towards the righteous.  This is a reference to being favorable to Him.  He is watching us and hearing our prayers in order to “attend” to them.  However, the face of God is against those who do evil.

David simply trusted God.  Saul’s evil actions meant to kill David.  They even pushed David into dangerous territory.  It would be easy for David to justify evil actions toward Saul.  However, David had the mind of Christ (at least in this situation).  David knew that he could not kill Saul and remain guiltless.  God had raised up and anointed Saul, and therefore, God would remove Saul in a way that David could remain pure (see 1 Samuel 26:8-12).

It is difficult to trust God and wait upon Him.  God is far more gracious than we would be.  King Saul didn’t deserve all the grace that God gave him, but David recognized that God would eventually deal with him.

This brings up a powerful question in all of our relationships.  God is watching me and the other person.  The way we treat one another is making a case to God for good or for bad.  We are choosing to be on the side of the righteous or on the side of the wicked.

It is better for us to do what is right (even if the evil continues to be poured out on us) and receive the blessing of God, then to come under the curse and judgment of God.  We all need His grace.  God’s delay of judgment with the wicked is a grace to them.  They may even yet repent.

Perhaps you repented at one point and chose to follow Jesus.  That is great!  Yet repentance needs to be a present attitude with you and me.  We are continually ready to judge when God is not.  It is not just the external enemies who threaten to pull us away from Christ.  It is the internal enemy of our own sinful nature that really threatens to pull us down.

Can we simply be a repenting people who sacrifice themselves in order to pursue peace with others?  Can I serve the purpose of God in the situation rather than the purpose of me?

Others may think that you are foolish, but it is never foolish to stand with Jesus and live out his righteousness.  Of course, we can only do this by the help of the Holy Spirit, through keeping our faith in the mind of Christ, and when we entrust ourselves to the truth that God is our vindication.  Our greatest times of witnessing to the greatness of Christ is when we lay down our desires and pick up his.  This is when the world truly sees Jesus in us!

Our Witness 6 audio