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More I Peter commentaries

I Peter 1:1-8
Our Guaranteed Reservation in Heaven

I Peter 1:9-12
Experience Heaven’s Glory in the Midst of Suffering

I Peter 1:13-16
Living a Disciplined Life in Christ

I Peter 1:17-21
It is the Blood That Sets Us Free

I Peter 1:22-25
True Love is Easily Seen

I Peter 2:1-3
Children in God’s Family

I Peter 2:4-8
Stones in God’s Temple

I Peter 2:9-10
Who Christ Says we are as Christians

I Peter 2:11-12
As a Believer we do not Belong to This World

I Peter 2:13-17
Submission to Government

I Peter 2:18-20
Submission to Masters

I Peter 2:21-23
We Are to Emulate Christ’s Example

I Peter 2:24-25
Peter Takes Us to the Cross

I Peter 3:1-6
How Christian Wives can Win Unsaved Husbands

I Peter 3:7-7
Admonition for Christian Husbands

I Peter 3:8-9
Sharing in the Joy of Others

I Peter 3:10-12
How to Have a Really Good Day

I Peter 3:13-17
Always be Ready to Witness

I Peter 3:18-22
Be Faithful and Leave the Results to God

I Peter 4:1-6
Following Christ May Bring Persecution

I Peter 4:7-11
Hospitality Includes Ministering to One another

I Peter 4:12-14
Every Christian can Expect Persecution

I Peter 4:15-19
Suffering for God’s Glory

I Peter 5:1-7
Leaders Are Not to Lord Over God’s Heritage

I Peter 5:8-14
The Holy Kiss Was a Mark of Innocent Affection

Be Faithful and Leave the Results to God

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I Peter 3:18–22
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)

We missed him. Our chance to change things came and passed and we did not know it was there. A dark-skinned little boy sat through Sunday School classes for three years at a great Baptist Church (First Church, San Antonio) but someone missed him. His name was Si … More

Opportunity

In looking through various commentaries we find many different interpretations of this passage.  Probably when Peter wrote this section of his letter he had no idea it would be classified as one of the most diffi­cult portions of the Word of God. Some think the phrase  “spirits in prison” (v.19) refers to Jesus descending into Hades (in the heart of the earth) after His  death on the cross to preach to the spirits of the dead. Some think He preached only to the fallen angels and then it was not salvation but an awful doom. Others think this refers to the people living in Noah’s day and that in the spirit Christ preach­ed to those who were disobedient when the ark was being built because of the reference to Noah in (v. 20).

This is one portion of Scripture we will not all agree on until we get to heaven. However, there are some practical lessons that Peter was sharing that we can agree on:

  1. Christians must expect opposition - If Jesus who was perfect had to suffer like He did, how do we who are imperfect think we can escape suffering?
  2. Christians must be faithful and leave the results to God- Noah preached  and served God for many years but only seven people were saved from the flood.
  3. Our baptism is important - It is not a means of salvation but a pledge to God that we will obey Him after we are saved.

Application

Peter makes it very clear that difficult days will give me multiplied opportunities for witnessing. The big question is - Am I taking advantage of these opportunities?

I Peter 3:18-22 (English Standard Version)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »

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