Christ’s Victory
1 peter 3:18-22
Main Idea: Christ has accomplished complete and total victory, powerfully pictured in baptism.
I. The Victory of Christ (3:18-19, 21-22)
Christ’s victory that accomplished our salvation is told in 4 chapters:
1. Death (3:18a): “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God..”
Peter reminds us here of the “great exchange” that lies at the heart of the gospel; unlike the OT sacrificial system that required repeated sacrifices, Jesus suffered once for sins on the cross (Heb. 10:11-14), as the perfect “lamb of God” (Jn. 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:19) to bring us to God.
2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2. Descent (3:18b-19): “... being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison”
The “spirits in prison” are likely fallen angels (cf. 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Gen. 6), being held in the “place of the dead” where evil spirits reside (‘Tartarus’). Christ went either between his death and resurrection (on “Holy Saturday”) or after his resurrection from the dead to declare his victory over evil, sin, and death (cf. Col. 2:15).
Revelation 1:17-18: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
3. Resurrection (3:21): “... through the resurrection of Jesus Christ..”
4. Ascension (3:22): “... who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”
While Peter has been talking about “subjection” throughout his letter (2:13, 18; 3:1), the tables are now turned: because of Christ’s finished work, all things have been subjected to him (cf. Phil. 2:9-11).
“Jesus is Lord of all… all kings and princes upon earth, all leaders of thought, and all controllers of human movements, are subject unto him. Do not be afraid of this or that form of anarchy; nothing can shake the eternal throne of the Prince of Peace. Monarchs may die and crumble back to dust, and their empires with them; but the throne of the Son of David shall endure for ever and ever. No acts of senators, nor decrees of despots, nor ragings of the multitude, nor foamings of rebels, nor deliverances of sages, can interfere in the least degree with the supreme power of Jesus of Nazareth. Be cheered by his reign… for the Lord has given Jesus the kingdom, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
~ Charles Spurgeon, “Our Ascended Lord”
II. The Waters of Baptism (3:20-21)
Peter draws a connection between the situation of the early church with the righteous in the days of Noah:
Noah and his family were a minority of the faithful surrounded by hostility and unbelief
Noah witnessed to the world around him through his faith in building the ark
Noah knew that judgment was soon to come upon the world, and that there was a way of escape and salvation
Noah lived in a time where God waited “patiently” for repentance before bringing his righteous judgment (cf. 2 Pet. 3:8-10)
This passage tells us three things about the nature of baptism:
1. Baptism pictures our union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection (Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:12)
Romans 6:3–5: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
2. Baptism symbolizes our rescue from God’s judgment
“The waters of baptism, like the waters of the flood, demonstrate that destruction is at hand, but believers are rescued from these waters in that they are baptized with Christ, who has also emerged from the waters of death through his resurrection. Just as Noah was delivered through the stormy waters of the flood, believers have been saved through the stormy waters of baptism by virtue of Christ’s triumph over death.”
~ Tom Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude
3. Baptism represents our cleansing from sin: “not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience.”
