1 Pet 3:18–4:6

3:18
Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit.
19
In it he went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20
after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in the days
of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is eight
souls, were delivered through water.
21
And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you – not the washing off of
physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God – through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22
who went into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and
authorities and powers subject to him.
4:1
So, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the
same attitude, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has finished
with sin,
2
in that he spends the rest of his time on earth concerned about the will
of God and not human desires.
3
For the time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the
non-Christians desire. You lived then in debauchery, evil desires,
drunkenness, carousing, drinking bouts, and wanton idolatries.
4
So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood
of wickedness, and they vilify you.
5
They will face a reckoning before Jesus Christ who stands ready to judge
the living and the dead.
6
Now it was for this very purpose that the gospel was preached to those who
are now dead, so that though they were judged in the flesh by human
standards they may live spiritually by God’s standards.

 

One thought:

 

Some Scripture is like wagyu beef – it’s easy to chew and melts in your mouth. Other parts are like lobster – got to do some work to get to the gold.

 

 

 

Three questions:

 

What similarities might there be between Noah’s situation and Peter’s first audience?

 

How do you feel about hard passages of Scripture?

 

What do you do with hard passages? Do you just skip them? Do you have a study Bible to help you?

 

Prayer:

 

Acknowledge God as author and inspirer of Scripture.

Give thanks that we have His words to us and that they are manna from heaven.

Ask God to help you do the work to understand His words and apply them to your life.

0