Be Faithful and Leave the Results to God
January 3, 2022
Commentary
Believer are called to suffer. We shouldn’t fear men or circumstances, but instead we should consider it a high privilege to suffer (vv. 13-14). God is working in our lives to teach us something. Just as parents discipline their children to teach them, so God sometimes disciplines believer through suffering. Every Christian should be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in them (v. 15). This witness should be given in meekness and respect and not with a know-it-all attitude. We won’t reach people by running over their feelings (vv. 16-17). We must remember that it is the Holy Spirit’s conviction, not our condemnation, that causes a person to accept Christ as Savior.
In looking through various commentaries we find many different interpretations of these next verses. Some think “spirits in prison” (v.19) refers to Jesus descending into Hades after His death on the cross to preach to the spirits of the dead. Some think He preached a message of doom to the fallen angels. Others think this refers to the people of Noah’s day, that the Spirit of Jesus preached to those who were disobedient when the ark was being built (v. 20). We may never agree on these verses until we get to heaven, but there are still some practical lessons that we can agree on: (1) Christians should expect opposition: If Jesus, the perfect one, had to suffer, why do we, who are unperfect, expect to escape suffering? (2) Christians should focus on being faithful and leave the results to God: Noah preached and served God for many years, but only seven people were saved in the end. (3) Baptism is important: It’s not a means of salvation but a pledge of obedience to God.
Application
When was the last time I had an opportunity to share my faith with an unbeliever? What happened? Am I satisfied with how I went about it? In what ways could I do better next time?
1 Peter 3:13– 22 (NET)
13 For who is going to harm you if you are devoted to what is good? 14 But in fact, if you happen to suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. But do not be terrified of them or be shaken. 15 But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. 16 Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, than for doing evil.
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.