1 Peter 3:8-22--Suffering for Righteousness' Sake

​1 Peter 3:8-22 English Standard Version (ESV)
Listen:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/1Pet.3.8-1Pet.3.22
Suffering for Righteousness' Sake
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
    and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
    and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
    let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
18 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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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. 21 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, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

---

Again, we seem to return to the Beatitudes and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount about how Christ's disciples are to be different than the world and that being a kingdom citizen and in submission to the King of  Kings is the only way to experience the blessings of being a kingdom citizen.  Peter reminds us that it is God who sees all and will judge all, and we are not to repay evil for evil.  This is important with the passages we just read where we are many times asked to be in submission to ungodly authorities.  We should not use this as an excuse to stop being who God has called us to be.  Our weapon we have been given is prayer so that God will hear the prayer of the righteous man and will do great works that only God can do--whether that is changing men's hearts and minds by bringing conviction and revival, or by executing righteous judgement himself or through the hands of His servants in the government (many times they are probably unaware they are helping execute God's plan).

Peter then shifts gears to talk about the reality that some, maybe many, of the Christians he's talking to will be arrested, tortured, and brought to trial by the very governors, kings and emperors that he's just told them to submit to.  We need to trust God that He sees all and will reward the faithful and we should be ready to use any such opportunity as a platform to share defense of the gospel because we will probably be asked to recant or justify our faith to the governing authorities, and we are reminded once again to be gentle and respectful when doing so--be shrewd as serpents but harmless as doves.  Also, don't call it persecution when you're simply being punished when you do evil.  Don't sully God's name and God's people by trying to make regular old criminal justice into religious persecution and don't expect to be rewarded for enduring such suffering--suffering unjustly when your conscience is clear and you know you've done nothing wrong is a different story.

Once again, we are made to remember that Jesus suffered greatly and since the world hates Him, it will also hate us and we shouldn't expect to be treated any better than they treated.  If they didn't respect the King and the kingdom, why would they respect the citizens of that kingdom that is not of this world?  Then an interesting thought....Christ's death was not only to set those free who find their identity in Him, but to make the judgement of God righteous against all who rebelled against God.  Jesus apparently declared victory over the evil spirits who were imprisoned--I'm assuming these are lost souls that were in Hades awaiting their eternal punishment, but it could also be angels who God has locked away until the end times.  I take this to be people who had the gospel preached to them and were told of the coming judgement and the way of escape that God had provided and they willfully chose their sin, just like everyone in the days of Noah who refused to believe the gospel that Noah shared with them and refused to enter the ark for salvation.  God would have made room for all who repented, but only Noah and his family were chosen and God sealed them inside the ark and kept them safe.  This is a picture of how all of us can find salvation and safety in Christ because it is God who calls us to enter and shuts the door behind us to keep us safe.  Once the door is closed, no one else is going to enter behind us.  As they say in advertising, "This is a limited time offer."  We will read in Hebrews some time in the future that "Today is the day of salvation" because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.

Peter then gives a coupe of final thoughts.  One is about how baptism symbolizes the cleansing of our souls but also how God has brought us through the judgement and made us to walk in newness of life.  Jesus finished His work and is now seated at the right hand of God.  There's a lot said there that some might miss so let me try to unpack it.  First, if you study the Old Testament Tabernacle and temple, you'll notice a lot of furniture but you'll never see designs for any chair or places for the priests to sit down and relax?  Why is that?  Because they needed to constantly be busy making atonement for the people as their sins were only temporarily covered and there needed to be constant sacrifices as guilt offerings and sin offerings and fellowship offerings and as first fruits from the flock--you get the idea.  Christ did it all and can now sit down and say "It is finished."  No more work needs to be done to continue to make atonement for us.  Also He's seated in heaven which shows that God accepted His work and He's not just anywhere but in the position of power and privilege at the right hand of God. We'll see this at the beginning of the Great Commission that Jesus says "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."  All spiritual, political and other powers are now subject to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We should take great comfort in this that nothing can touch us unless Jesus permits it and He has the power not only to save our souls but to keep us as His covenant people to be presented one day before the Father as the Bride of Christ.  "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus."  (Philippians 1:6).  Therefore we have no need to fear any earthly authorities.  We need only to submit to every earthly authority to give them no cause to punish us and take our punishment for being followers of God if that's what happens to us and allow God to be the Judge of the living and the dead and to get ultimate justice for Himself and those He loves and has made both His family and citizens of His eternal kingdom.