A person experiences spiritual transformation by participating in the death of Jesus through baptism. This transformation provides the power by which we can do good in the face of suffering (the subject discussed in the previous section of 1 Peter). The power comes by being in Christ, who himself did what was right in the face of suffering. This point is developed further in the first part of Chapter 4.

Christ died for our sins as a once-for-all sacrifice. This gave us the chance to have forgiveness and reconciliation with God. The reference to Noah allows Peter to make a parallel between the flood and baptism. Eight people were saved on the ark "through water" (1 Peter 3:20). This was a foreshadowing of how people are saved in Christ through the water of baptism. God saved those eight people in the time of the flood as he provided the plan for the ark and gave Noah and his family the chance to be saved. In the same way, God saves people through baptism as they make their appeal to him with a good conscience. Baptism saves because it gives a person the new life that God provided through the resurrection of Jesus. Just as God gave Noah and his family a second chance after the flood, God gives us a second chance to live with resurrection power.

The meaning of Christ having "preached to the spirits in prison" through the Spirit has generated much discussion. One view is that the Spirit of Christ preached through Noah, condemning the sinful generation of Noah's day. Those who disobeyed God were destroyed in the flood and their spirits went to suffer in the prison of Hades, the realm where all the dead go until the Judgment (see Luke 16:23). This view is supported by Peter's description of the Spirit of Christ being in the Old Testament prophets (1 Peter 1:11) and by his description of Noah in 2 Peter 2:5 as a "preacher of righteousness."

Another interpretation of the passage is that while Jesus was in the grave after the crucifixion, he went in the Spirit to the spirits of the disobedient then in the prison of Hades and proclaimed victory over sin and death through the cross and resurrection. This view is supported by the fact that this is the simplest way to understand the language Peter uses here. That there are conversations in Hades is shown by the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Some claim that Jesus was giving a second chance of salvation to the spirits of the disobedient. However, Peter does not say that Jesus evangelized the spirits, only that he preached to the spirits. Jesus could have proclaimed his victory to them without inviting them to respond.

Whatever Peter's meaning on this might be, his overall point is that both Jesus and Noah stood for what is right amidst those who were disobedient and unrighteous. This is what he is encouraging his readers to do. The fact that Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God is encouragement to Peter's readers that the Lord they followed was Lord of all, even those to whom they had to answer in this world. Just as God exalted Jesus, so he will exalt his faithful ones to be with him also.

1. If Christ died for sins (3:18), what does that say about how sin is inappropriate in our lives?

 

 

2. Why was Christ's physical death not the end of him (3:18)?

 

 

3. Which of the interpretations of this passage discussed above (or what other interpretation) seems best to you, and why?

 

 

4. The point of Peter's discussion about Noah is that eight people were "saved through water" (3:20), and that this is a symbol of baptism. How does baptism save?

 

 

5. This passage does not so much attempt to prove the necessity of baptism as much as it explains the meaning of the baptism that Peter assumes his readers had undergone. What is the proper balance in teaching baptism, emphasizing its importance and necessity while also pointing out that merely going through the motions without faith does not save?

 

 

6. Who is the main actor in baptism: the person being baptized, or God?

 

 

7. How is baptism related to grace?