08 What Does “Spirits in Prison” Mean in 1 Peter? (1 Peter 3:18-4:6)

Krisan Marotta: Hello, this is Krisan Marotta, welcoming you to today's Wednesday in the Word podcast. Thanks so much for listening. Well, today we are in 1 Peter chapter 3, 18, and we're going to go to 4-6. This is, as Susan said, this is one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament. Martin Luther said of this passage, quote, This is such a mysterious text and dark saying, as only one of a kind in the New Testament, that I'm not sure what St. Peter means. Well, I have to tell you, I'm not either. So it's a hard passage to understand. It's a hard one to explain, so be patient with me. I'm going to give it my best attempt. And what how we're going to do this, I'm going to kind of go through the parts that are clear and then go back and say, okay, so if those are the parts that are clear and kind of straightforward, then let's go back and we'll look at the difficult parts and see how they might fit in. And I'll tell you, I'm relying very heavily on Ed Clowney's commentary on 1 Peter. He has one of the best summaries and uh write-ups on this passage I've found anywhere. So if you want more detail, I would recommend his commentary. And as with every text, remember context is king, so whatever we think 319 means, it has to fit into the flow of thought of the entire letter. So we know that Peter's been writing to Christians who are facing persecution, and so we wouldn't expect him to suddenly, you know, start talking about duck hunting in East Jerusalem or something. So whatever it means, it has to fit into this context of what comes right before it, and then what like its far context, the more remote, the preceding uh chapters of the book. So let me just back up a little bit to 314. I want to read you 314 through 17 again, just to remind you what the immediate context is. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord is 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, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good if it should be God's will, than doing evil. Okay, so that ought to be a familiar theme. He's been talking about that throughout the letter. And that theme, I think, is continuing in our passage today. So we are believers in an unbelieving world. The unbelieving world is hostile to us because we're different because of our faith, and therefore we're going to suffer for doing what's right. So the more we look like Christ, the more we follow him, the more we will be different than the world, and the more that will bring about suffering and hostility. So Peter starts this section using Christ and his suffering as our model for, uh as a model for us. So however we understand this section, 3.19 through 20 especially, we have it has to be related to enduring suffering for the sake of another. So that that's kind of the starting point. So we're just going to jump in. So let's read 3.18 through 22. 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 the 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. Okay, so the one thing that's clear about this section is that Peter is using the suffering of Christ as a model for us and our sufferings. So Christ willingly suffered for the sake of us sinners. He willingly endured people persecuting him and mocking him, and we're called to follow the same path. So his example is that he suffered even to the point of death for the sins of others, and now we are called to suffer in the same way. We endure for the sake of another, and our suffering has a loving, redemptive purpose. So for Christ, that purpose was to bring his people to God to pay the penalty for our sins. And as he's been saying from 2.11 on, likewise our suffering has a redemptive purpose. It reveals the grace and mercy of God to others. So we patiently endure it for the sake of another. And also, Christ's suffering was temporary. He died in the flesh, that is, in the human body, but ultimately he was made alive in the spirit. And I think that phrase refers to his resurrection. And I think he's saying it was it was temporary. There was a boundary to it. So that example is Christ, our Lord, willingly suffered for the sake of sinners who were persecuting him, and we're called to follow the same path. So he follows 318 with this truly difficult comment in 319, which I'm going to skip for now because I want to jump through the passage and try to hit the clear points and then go back and say, okay, if that's the clear points, how does how do the hard points fit in? So, in general, why would he bring up Noah? And I think we can at least agree that Noah is a great example of being an alien and a stranger in a hostile world. So Noah was living in the midst of people who were incredibly disobedient, and he was the lone, godly man in the hostile world. God decided to bring judgment on the earth, and yet he held back his judgment and waited patiently while Noah constructed the ark. So the ark was a mean the means by which God saved Noah and his family from judgment, and Peter's drawing analogy to that, and he's saying, you readers are in a similar situation. Just like Noah lived in a hostile world, you live in a hostile world. Noah needed to be saved from the judgment that is coming, and for him, salvation came through the ark, but Christ is the means of our salvation from the judgment that is coming. So there's a there's a parallel there, and we're going to talk about what that means. He describes it in 321. He describes baptism and the salvation associated with baptism as an anti-type of the ark and the salvation associated with it. Okay, so that's real helpful, right? Let's figure that one out. So he says, baptism, which corresponds to this, or uh baptism, which is a type of this, now saves you, not as a removal of the dirt from the body. Okay, so there are two words you have to understand here to unpack this. And they are uh type and anti-type, or it's tupas and antitupas in the Greek. And what we have is anti-tupas here. And the way to understand them is to think of a you guys probably play with play-doh with your kids, you know, and you have these play-hough molds, and you stuff the play-doh in, and then when you open it up, you take out the little figure. So you have the mold and then you have the figure that came out of it. That's the type and the anti-type. So they are mirror images of each other, where one is convex, the other is concave, and vice versa. They are like in that they bear the same image, but they are mirror opposites. So one is the type, the other is the antity. So, like a statue of King David, you could say, is a type of the real living, breathing person who is the anti-type. So the statue represents the actual real person. It's not the real person, but it has the same image. It's a type or a shadow. Like if you're walking in the sun and you see your shadow, you could say the shadow is a type of the person casting the shadow. It's an image, it's not the real thing, but it is like or corresponding to it. So it's not a hidden symbol, but it is a type, it is a representation of the real thing. And Peter's saying the ark during Noah's time is a shadow of the baptism of the salvation that came through the ark is a shadow of the salvation that is represented by baptism. It's a representation of what was coming through Christ. So in Noah's time, judgment was coming, and yet God patiently waited until the ark was built and then brought Noah and his family safely through it. And that salvation that came through the ark is a shadow of the salvation that was to come. It teaches us something about God, it shows us something about his grace and his mercy and his patience and his forgiveness, but it's not the real salvation from sin that we all need. So, like, Noah, we live among a rebellious and disobedient people, as in Noah's Day judgment is coming, and God intends to save his people just like he did for Noah. But the means is not an ark, it's the suffering of Christ. And the salvation that we're being saved from is not drowning or worldwide flood, but it is the forgiveness of our sins. So that's the idea he's bringing up. So Christ's suffering turned into our salvation, and that ended in his victorious triumph over all the powers of heaven and earth. Ultimately, then we as his people can't be harmed because Jesus has triumphed over sin and death and all the powers of creation. So, in general, that's kind of his main point, that there's this analogy of what happened in Noah's day with the kind of salvation that we have. So, how do the spirits now in prison get us there? We're gonna talk about that. I'll give you the ideas. Okay, but let's go on and kind of pick out the clear parts in 4.1 through 6, and then we'll go back and hit these problem areas. So 4.1, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. Okay, so this has its own tricky phrases, but leaving them aside for now, you remember he's talking to believers who are living in a hostile territory. They're aliens and strangers in a world that's hostile to God, and he's been exploring how do you live in that situation. And now he's saying, in part, the unbelieving world hates you because you no longer live like they do. So you don't participate in their lifestyle anymore, as he says in 4-4. And that offends them. They find it strange that you no longer join in all that self-indulgence. So, you know, maybe they think, oh, you go to goodies, think you're better than we are, and they because you don't drink or carouse anymore, and so they hate you. And in general, his point is the more we follow Christ, the more we become like him. And the more we become like him, the less we want to pursue the previous lifestyle we had. So the less we pursue that kind of lifestyle, the more different we become, and the more different we become, the more the world will hate us and the more we will suffer. And so Peter's saying, don't be surprised when that happens. That's gonna happen. That's just part and parcel of the Christian life. Just be ready to show grace and explain your faith to them. And that has this very cryptic phrase, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. So, what does he mean by that? I'm gonna give you a couple of options for it. The one, this is not the one I lean to, but it is an interpretive option, that suffering brings about the result that you're less inclined to sin. And I think that is true in the sense that suffering does bring about maturity in our faith, and the stronger our faith is, the more likely we are to be obedient, but I don't think that's what he means in this particular context. Another way people interpret this phrase is that the he and for one is Christ. So that's Christ who suffered in the flesh. So Christ, while he was in his earthly body, suffered, and and then this ceased from sin, they would see the same way, like Paul talks about Christ dying to sin, which is, I think, in Romans, or Christ becoming sin on our behalf, so that language that he brought about victory over sin. And that's possible. That's a very metaphorical interpretation and it's a little abstract. But so what persuades me is what seems most likely is this he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, is that the less it's not that suffering leads to less sin, but that less sin leads to suffering. Because the more we become like Christ, the more hostile the world is to us, and the more likely they are to persecute us. So I would understand the one who has ceased from sin as the one who has stopped pursuing sin as a lifestyle, which is what he goes on to say in 4.4. You don't join them in the things you used to do. The time passes is for all of that. So because you have stopped wanting those things and longing for those things and spending your time and energy in pursuing them, you are different and they will hate you and you will suffer for it. So we don't have to run after sin like we used to, and that opens the door to the world hating us. So the idea is the one who suffers in this life as Christ suffered in this life is is the one who's stopped pursuing sin as a lifestyle. Now I know there there's a lot of questions you probably still have about that, but I I want to spend most of our time on what's going on with the spirits now in prison. So I'm kind of going through these pretty fast. So in general, in 4 1 through 6, he's basically saying we're called to pursue the will of God, not to pursue sinfulness, and so suffering is going to be our lot because the world's gonna hate us because we're different. So arm yourselves for it. Don't be surprised when it happens. They're going to be surprised at your new new lifestyle and mock you and revile you for it. Okay, so that's kind of the, I think, the overall flow of what's going on here and the main points. So let's go back and try to figure out what in the world is he talking about in through 18 through 20. 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 formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah. Okay, you have a chart in your book that looks like this. This is I'm gonna be using this. So it's on, I think it's on page 16 or 17. So you might want to bring that out because that's gonna get us through it. So the problems. To understand this verse, there are four main questions we need to ask, and then a fifth one that I'd ask. And that is who are the spirits? So who are these people that Christ made proclamation to? Where are they? So what does the in prison mean? When did he preach to them? So at what time period, and what did he preach to them? And those are the kind of main, if we're going to understand this, we have to answer those questions. And I would add, how did Peter know? So how did he come up with this? Now, with these questions, there are quite a few possibilities. And what I've tried to do in your chart is boil them down to the main interpretive options. So, again, Ed Clowney's commentary on 1 Peter has a great summary of this. Wayne Grutham also has a commentary on 1 Peter, who also has a great summary on this. So I'm borrowing from them, and you can look at them for more detail. So, what I'm gonna do is just kind of go through the options, and I'll just tell you right now: any path you could follow, any combination of options, there's someone who takes that view. So there people are all over the map. And you could accuse me of simplifying them, and that would be probably valid because for every one of these options, there are like nuances and you know, like variations on the theme. So I have tried to condense and simplify them because that's the only way I can understand it. So here we go. So who are the spirits? There are two main options. One is the people who died in the flood. So these are the souls of the people who died in the days of Noah from the flood, and they're now in hell. So that's one option. Hang on to your seats. The other option is the angels of Genesis 6 who left their proper abode, cohabited with human women, and created a demonic race of human beings. Got that one? Turn to Genesis 6. You think I'm making this up, but I am not. This is where it comes from. Look at Genesis, this is Genesis 6, 1 through 8, and this is in the Bible. When men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for in his flesh his days shall be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who died. These were the mighty men of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and the Lord was sorry that he had made men on the earth, and it grieved him. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals, creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Okay, so this has problems of its own. Who are the sons of God, who are the daughters of men, and who in the world are the Nephilim? But right in the days of Noah, Peter's talking about Noah, so these could be the people he's talking about, the spirits now in prison. So early Jewish interpretations of Genesis 6 were that the sons of God were fallen angels who cohabited with human females and produced this extraordinary offspring known as the Nephilim, and that is just a transliteration of a Hebrew word that is never used again in the Bible, and we have no idea what it means. So they just put it in in the transliteration. One of the best guesses is that it means giant or giant-like. So that's a possibility here. Another possibility, and you can tell this is the one eileen too, is that the sons of God are the descendants of Seth, that is, they are the line of faith, as opposed to the descendants of Cain, that is the line of unbelief. And the daughters of men would be the Canaanites or those outside the line of faith, and so the cohabitation is between humans and humans, but it's the line of faith and not the line of faith. Okay, so that's uh what I think is a more plausible interpretation than fallen angels. But that's also a possibility. So whichever one of those options you choose, Peter could be referring to these people, the people that are referred to in Genesis 6. I know I'm raising a lot more questions, but we're gonna we're gonna keep going on. So they are either the souls of the people who died in the flood, or they are this people referred to in Genesis 6, whoever they are. Now, where are they? Again, there are two main options. You can take it literally or metaphorically. So the in prison could either be metaphorically they are in bondage to sin, or literally they're in some physical restraint, some prison like Hades, hell, or purgatory. So that those are the again the two main options. When did Christ preach to them? You get three main options here. First is that Christ preached to them through Noah. So he would Christ was not physically present, but his spirit inspired Noah to preach the gospel of repentance to them the way any prophet was inspired to preach whatever message God gave them. So that this view would say God gave Noah the spirit of Christ just like he gave Isaiah his spirit, or he gave Habakkuk, or any one of the prophets in the Old Testament, and Noah explained to them why he was building the ark, that judgment was coming, this is who God is, this is what he's about to do, and they had a chance to believe. So through Noah is the first option. The second option is between Christ's death and resurrection. So the idea is that having been put to death in the flesh, but alive in the spirit, that phrase in 318, they would understand it's referring to the time after the cross, so Friday of the cross, but before the Sunday resurrection, that in that window, Christ in this disembodied state, descended into hell or purgatory to preach to those who were captive there. And then the third option is through after the resurrection. So this view would say that being my made alive in the Spirit is just a reference to the resurrection, so having been put to death. He was then raised, and in that state, he went to these people and preached either victory or something to them. So that's when. So then what did he preach to them? Is the last question we have to answer. And the first option is just repentance, just the straight old gospel through Noah, usually. So the idea is that he just went and preached repent and believe. The second option is that this was a proclamation of victory. So he basically went and said, It's over, it's finished, the cross has happened, I won, the judgment is coming, you know, the battle's over. So some kind of proclamation of victory. And the third option is that it was a second chance. So this they had these were the people in purgatory, and they had one more chance to repent. So basically pick any combination of those options and you'll find someone who believes that view. So how do we know? And I'm gonna ask one more question actually before we do the kind of the three main ones is how did Peter know this? So he's writing this, how did he figure it out? One option is that he read the Old Testament and he just figured it out because it's in the Old Testament. So that would be naturally, he just read it and understood. Um the third option I'm gonna skip over is skip over the middle one for a minute, is that he had supernatural direct revelation from God. So in the whatever, however inspiration worked, God told him this, he wrote it down, and this is what we have. My personal bias is that is not very likely, because every time there's direct revelation, the author tells us. You know, think of John in Revelation. He says, I had a vision, or the prophets say, The word of the Lord came to me, or they say, Thus says the Lord, or we even know Peter has his own vision about the Gentiles being included in the gospel, and he tells us he had a vision. So I kind of rule that one out. But then the really weird one is that he knew by reading extra biblical books like the book of Enoch. So there are very strong parallels between the book of Enoch and what Peter is saying right here. So who's Enoch? Genesis 5.24 says, and Enoch walked with God and was no more, for God took him. So you have to know that the Jews like to speculate what happened to Enoch after God took him, and they would write these fanciful interpretations, like Sherlock Holmes literature, there was Enoch literature, of what happened to Enoch after he took him. And the book of 1 Enoch comes up with the idea that the fallen angels from Genesis 6 cohabited with human women and produced this mixed race of giants, and that Enoch was called to go to these giants who were in prison waiting for the day of judgment and proclaim the victory of Christ to them. Not to confuse you too much, but the book of Jude quotes directly from the book of Enoch and then makes this comment. This is Jude 1.6. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal change under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. Okay, that helps. So we have Jude quoting Enoch in another spot and then commenting on exactly the kind of situation the book of Enoch describes. And if that's not enough, in 2 Peter, Peter says this, 2 Peter 2, 4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the day of judgment, and then he goes on to make his point. Okay, so neither Peter nor Jude say anything about angels marrying human women. So just be clear about that. But we could conclude that they are familiar with the book of Enoch. It was very popular literature at the time he's writing, and the book may be influencing their writing. So just because Peter might be quoting to it or alluding to it does not mean he endorses it. Or would I would, you don't have to go there and say, well, he thinks it's canonical. So we might quote, say, Desiring God, because it's such a popular book in our day, or we might quote other things because we expect our audience to know them because they're familiar with them, it wouldn't necessarily mean we endorse everything in it or agree with it. But so scholars speculate that because the Enoch literature was so popular that he is using it to say, wait, it's not Enoch who had this proclamation of victory. His mission, the mission of Christ far outstrips and transcends the journey that we have fictionally given to Enoch. It is Christ, not Enoch, who confronts the forces of hell and the forces of evil. So something like that. Okay, so now we've got all these options. We've got all these speculations about why Peter's saying what he's saying. How do we put it together? Well, I'm gonna give you the three most popular views and then um tell you which one persuades me. But I reserve the right to say next year I've changed my mind because this is really hard. Okay, so here are the three most popular views, and I hope you can see this. I'm gonna call this option 1A. So this is your chart. So if you pick the ones highlighted in yellow, this is one of the most popular views. And this is the one you would find the older the commentary, the more likely you are to find this view. And this view would say the spirits are the people who died in the flood. They are being held in hell or purgatory of some kind, that Christ went to them between his death and resurrection, and he gave them a second chance to repent. So Hades they would see as the prison. It's a holding area for the souls of people who are awaiting final judgment. Jesus preaches to them to give them a second chance at repentance. Now, closely related to that, I would call option 1B, which follows the same path, but the only difference is they would say the message was not second chance, it was a proclamation of victory. So this was a the war is over, it's finished, the battle is won, the victory's over, and it belongs to Christ. So those two you would find the older the commentary, the more you are. The main difference between them is was he offering a second chance or was he offering just a message of victory? The problem I have particularly with the second chance view is nowhere else in Scripture does it say we have a second chance. So if you leave out this verse, there is no other verse that suggests that we have a second chance in hell. In fact, there are a lot of verses that seem to imply this is it. The time to decide is now. Like repent now and believe. The kingdom of God is at hand in this earthly body is the time that you need to repent. And as for what I call 1B, the victory option, it doesn't make sense to me why Christ would proclaim victory to the people of Noah's day. Like, why did they, why are them in particular need to know what makes them different that they get an extra trip by Christ to say he won? That just doesn't make sense. Okay. So, option number two. This is the one you'll find in the most modern commentaries. So the newer the commentary, the more likely you are to find this. And this is the view that the people are the angels of Genesis 6 or the Nephilim, whoever they are, that it the time he preached was between his resurrection and his death. I mean, uh, that they're in Hades, this was after his resurrection, and he proclaimed victory. So they would say, based on Genesis 6, these are the spirits who were the fallen sons of God, the fallen angels who came to earth and produced this race of giants. And some even go so far to say those are the people of Greek mythology. Like, you know, Achilles and all those people. Okay, just I thought you'd like to know. Some people even go way out there. Like, you know, the mighty men of old. Who were they? Well, Greek mythology. Okay. That's a little too weird for me, but so that's the other, that would be uh, where am I? So the message Jesus preached was the victory song that he won. Okay. The third option, and this is the one I lean to, goes straight down the first column. I put it there that way on purpose. So the spirits are the people who died in the flood. Their prison is metaphorical bondage to sin. Christ preached to them through Noah, just like Christ would preach to them through Isaiah, that his spirit inspired Noah to say the right things and teach to them, and what he said to them was a message of repentance, repent and believe. That seems to me to make the most sense in the context, and let me tell you why I think so. Because I think the point he's drawing out of that is that the flood story teaches us that justice is served, that God is coming, he will vindicate his people, and he will do it on his terms and in his time. So Noah waited 120 years to be vindicated while he was building the ark. It looked like what he was doing was stupid. It looked like, you know, why build an ark at all? And yet God vindicated him. Similarly, Jesus was crucified. It looked like he was defeated, it looked like maybe the plan had gone along, but again, he was resurrected, and God vindicated him with the resurrection, and God did bring justice for his people. So the point being, you Christians who are suffering unjustly and you're being persecuted, it looks like all those around you are prospering. So the wicked are prospering, the righteous are suffering, it looks like things have gone astray. Like, where is God? Why is judgment being delayed? And yet you too will be vindicated. Justice will be served by a righteous God on his terms. So there was a final judgment coming just like the flood came and just as the resurrection came, and God will vindicate his people. Now, it is fair to say that I've simplified all these options and that there are a lot of variations on those themes. So if you take option 1A or whatever, there are probably 15 kind of nuances of it. So I have combined and condensed. So the other question I want to address with just our time we have left is how do you decide? So say you're studying this, you go through all this research, you make your chart, you get all your options, how do you look at them and say, well, that one's right and that one's wrong? How do you pick one? Well, I'll tell you the principles I use. And I think these are pretty standard Bible methodology. First is give priority to the clear passages. So clear texts carry more weight than unclear text. So I would never build a doctrine on 318 or 19. That's just too obscure, too weird. So if I, for instance, then assuming I'm right that this is the only verse that suggests there's a second chance to repent in hell, I would not use this one verse to overrule the 15 other or 100 other verses that suggest otherwise. See what I'm saying? So when we have a lot of verses that are very clear on a topic, we don't throw them all out because of one obscure verse. So the the clear takes precedence over the unclear. Second, I would build a theology on multiple verses of Scripture. So as much as possible, when you want to start building your principles and your doctrine, you want to do it on hundreds of passages. If your interpretation relies on one word, one phrase, one verse, that's not as sound to me as something that relies on, say, the whole sweep of scripture. Fortunately, the Bible's redundant, especially on the important stuff. And you can find the meaning of the cross, who Jesus was, what he did for us, you can find that everywhere in the Bible. You don't have to get that from one verse. So the doctrines that come from texts like that, where they're over and over and over again, those are the ones you want to stand firm on. So I wouldn't use this. Um you don't want to use one phrase, one verse, and um and you you want to build your your system or your theology on multiple verses. And third, then is always context is king, context is the determining factor. So regardless of what Peter means by these angels and Jesus preaching to them, it has to fit in how does this relate to someone who's suffering unjustly? How does this fit with the theme of his letter? So context can help us rule out. So for instance, I don't know what Jesus going into Hades to preach to whoever's there would have to, how that would encourage anybody who's suffering unjustly. I just don't see how that would fit in the context. But saying Noah was suffering unjustly, God vindicated him, the same will happen to you, that makes more sense to me. And then finally, the more confusing or obscure it is, the more I would hold my conclusions lightly. So, in other words, I can come up with a coherent interpretation of this passage, but I do not assume that I have the market cornered on the right one or the best one. I mean, the harder the text is, usually the more wide a variety there are of plausible interpretations and the more lightly we want to hold it. If somebody wanted to argue with me and say, you know, here's a better idea, I'd listen, because these this is just hard to understand. And it's just the case that good, sincere Bible students are gonna come up with different views on this text. And we just have to live with that. But when we get to heaven, I'm gonna ask Peter, what exactly did you mean? Can you explain that? Okay, so let me just kind of wrap it all up and try to say here's if I'm right about that goes straight down the first column is what he's saying. What does that mean in context and what are we supposed to learn from it? So the Christians to whom he was writing were suffering unjustly, and as part of that struggle, they're gonna be asking the question, where is God when it hurts? And isn't that the one we always ask? When life gets hard, when the suffering comes, the first question we ask is, why doesn't God step in and end this? Why doesn't God step in and handle this? Why do the wicked keep prospering and the righteous keep suffering? Why does he let this kind of stuff go on? And I think that's essentially what Peter is answering. He's answering that that question or that objection, and he's encouraging them to say, stand firm and be strong. Hold on to the gospel because God will vindicate you just like he vindicated Noah and just like he vindicated Christ. So he reminds them what God was doing in the Old Testament story of Noah, how God delayed his judgment in the days of Noah so that some might come to repentance, but ultimately judgment came and ultimately Noah was vindicated. Likewise, Jesus was put to death. It looked like he's maybe he suffered in vain or there was no point to it, but his suffering had a glorious, wonderful, redemptive purpose. Three days later he was raised, God vindicated him, and his suffering translates into our salvation. So likewise he's thinking, he's telling these suffering Christians in Asia Minor, wait, trust, God is in charge. In his time, he will judge those who are persecuting you, and you too will be vindicated. Meanwhile, like Noah, just continue to preach the gospel, tell them the truth. We're called to suffer for that purpose. We are called to pursue the will of God, to not pursue the sinfulness of man. So suffering's gonna be our lot, and we should just arm ourselves for it. Hang on, know that vindication will come. Don't be surprised when it's happened, but just keep responding with that gentle, gracious, loving spirit, and then follow the example of Christ. Okay? At least that's, I think, clear from the overall view of the text, if I'm I may be wrong about how we got there, but that's my best shot. Let me pray for us. Father, we just confess that these are this is a hard passage of scripture. I have no idea if I've gotten it right or even close, and I just pray that um you would continue to teach us. You'd give us the humility to keep studying your word, to keep asking questions till we understand, and to keep trusting you, that one day you will make it all clear and you will um teach us what is essential, what we need to know, and that you will get us through each day. I just pray that our time today would be a blessing and not confusing, and that you would use this to uh strengthen our faith and to teach us more about you. In Jesus' name. Amen.