Summary of 1 Peter 3:8-22:
Peter tells his listeners/readers to live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, compassionate, and humble, and love each other as brothers. Do not repay an insult with an insult but with blessing for that is what we are called to do. For Psalms says if you want good days and the eyes and ears (attention) of the Lord you must keep your tongue and yourself from evil and live righteously.
You are blessed if you suffer for good. Set Christ apart in your heart. Always be prepared to credit Christ for the hope you have in gentleness and respect (basically give no reason to support slander against you). Better to suffer for doing good than evil.
Christ died to bring you to God. He preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed God in the days of Noah and saved eight through water, the same water that now saves you through Christ’s resurrection.
BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 10, Day 3: 1 Peter 3:8-22
6) Part personal Question. My answer: to live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, compassionate, and humble, and love each other as brothers. Do not repay an insult with an insult but with blessing for that is what we are called to do. For Psalms says if you want good days and the eyes and ears (attention) of the Lord you must keep your tongue and yourself from evil and live righteously. All of them are hard to be honest.
7) Do not repay an insult with an insult but with blessing for that is what we are called to do. For Psalms says if you want good days and the eyes and ears (attention) of the Lord you must keep your tongue and yourself from evil and live righteously.
8 ) Personal Question. My answer: If Jesus, who was perfect, suffered, then it makes sense that I should suffer who is a sinner. It’s easier to accept suffering in my life.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 10, Day 3: 1 Peter 3:8-22
The spirits were not asked about in this lesson, which they were in 2012.
End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 10, Day 3: 1 Peter 3:8-22
Other translations have “be of one mind,” which is omitted here in verse 8. We need to be of the mind of Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:16). Be of unity, but be diverse in opinions.
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Jesus did not command us to like our brothers and sisters in Christ. But we are commanded to love them; and once we start loving them we will start liking them.
The greatest challenge to our love for others comes when we are wronged. At those times we are called to not return evil for evil, but to give a blessing instead. The real test of love is to demonstrate compassion to our enemies (Matthew 5:44-47).
Evil is rewarded immediately and the reward of doing good is often delayed. But the rewards of good are better and far more secure than the rewards of doing evil. God promises this in the passage quoted by Peter.
Though Peter says that Christians should always answer evil with good, he also lived in the real world and he knew that people often repaid good with a response of evil.
God will care for us, especially when we suffer unjustly.
Jesus spoke of the same attitude: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
Peter knew how important it was to give a defense to everyone who asks you. He had to do this in the situations described in Acts 2:14-39, Acts 3:11-26, Acts 4:8-12, and Acts 5:29-32. In each point of testing Peter relied on the power of the Holy Spirit and was able to give a defense.
Jesus is a perfect example of suffering for doing good. He, the just, suffered for all of us who are the unjust – and the purpose of it all was to bring us to God, to restore our broken and dead relationship with Him.
Verse 19 has at least 18 major theories to explain Peter’s meaning in verses 18-22. It mostly has to do with what “spirits in prison” refers to. Were the spirits people in some intermediate state of death, or giants or fallen angels in Genesis 6:1-4. No one knows for sure. Peter uses this obscure reference to make a point about the ultimate good that comes from the suffering Jesus endured.
Apparently this work was done in the period after Jesus’ death but before His first resurrection appearance to the disciples. Jesus went to Hades – the abode of the dead – and preached to the spirits there.
Though some have regarded these spirits as human spirits, it is more likely that they were demonic spirits. We know that their disobedience was in the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:20). We have evidence that this was a time of gross sin for both demons and humans, when there was an ungodly mingling of humans and demons (Genesis 6:1-2).
“Apparently, the oldest identification of those imprisoned spirits understood them as the fallen angels of Genesis 6. That view was widely known and generally taken for granted in the apostolic era.” (Hiebert)
We also don’t know exactly why Jesus preached to these imprisoned spirits. In all probability this was preaching (the proclamation of God’s message), but it was not evangelism (the proclamation of good news). Jesus preached a message of judgment and final condemnation in light of His finished work on the cross to these disobedient spirits.
Why Noah?
The water of the flood washed away sin and wickedness and brought a new world with a fresh start before God. The water of baptism does the same thing, providing a passage from the old to the new.
What really saves us is the answer of a good conscience toward God, a conscience made good through the completed work of Jesus.
The example of Jesus proves Peter’s point in 1 Peter 3:9: when we suffer for doing good, we will inherit a blessing.
Jesus has gone into heaven, and it is better for us that He is there.
We can’t see Jesus enthroned in heaven, but we can certainly feel Him pull us toward Himself.