A good conscience to face accusations
Context: After the preceding verses focused on marriage, the second half of this chapter addresses how to face accusations (or worse) by those opposing Christian faith, an experience shared by many, especially if they were married to ungodly spouses. They were therefore encouraged to follow the example of Jesus who accepted suffering to save the unrighteous. For also in Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit witnessed of salvation in Christ, although in types such as the ark which saved the few who believed, and not without suffering rejection for the testimony of their faith.
Warm-up: When you feel offended by someone, how do you typically cope and/or respond?
Read: 1 Peter 3:13-22
1) v16: Why would anyone speak maliciously against good behavior of Christians?
- What if that happens to someone by his/her spouse (v1)?
- v13: Should Christians be surprised if they face that kind of opposition? Why not? cf Jn 15:20-21
2) vv13-15: How did Peter instruct Christians to deal with the fear of abuse?
- v13: Did he suggest that no one can physically harm them? cf v14
- v14 is thought to be a quote from Isa 8:12. Who was addressed there by Isaiah?
- What did their fear tell about them?
- How were they advised to overcome fear?
- v15: What does it mean to (lit.) “…sanctify (or: set apart) Christ as Lord in your hearts”?
- How is that of help?
- vv15-17: What did Peter identify as an even greater danger than sufferings?
3) v18: What is the reason for the hope that Christians have, and why should they be prepared to talk about this hope?
- v18: What are we to learn from Jesus and his suffering about how to share and defend the gospel?
- What does it take to ‘be always prepared’ for this task?
- Why did Peter emphasize that the righteous suffered for the unrighteous? What promise is there in following this example?
5) v19-20: Since Jesus only came to reconcile sinners with God at the ‘end of times’ (v18, cf Heb 9:25-26), does this mean that people living earlier had no chance to be saved by faith in him?
- Could OT believers (only) hope to fulfill the law through works of the law? Why not?
- v19: Did Jesus preach to ‘imprisoned spirits’ after they were imprisoned, or rather before?
- Some think v19 speaks of fallen angels: Does the text say that? Or would it fit the context?
- Is there any evidence at all in Scriptures that angels might benefit from or need any preaching? cf 1 Tim 3:16 “…seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world…”
- If v19 means that Jesus also preached to people who lived before he came ‘in the flesh’, is that interpretation more consistent with the context?
- What possible reasons led Peter to even mention Noah’s contemporaries? What did these people have in common with the recipients of Peter’s letter?
- Hint: What does the baptism of Christians have in common with Noah’s experience?
- Baptism as a symbol of suffering: Lk 12:50 But I have a baptism to be immersed in, and how am I pressed until it is done!
- What possible reasons led Peter to even mention Noah’s contemporaries? What did these people have in common with the recipients of Peter’s letter?
- How then did Jesus (in the Spirit) proclaim anything to anyone even before the flood?
- Read 2Pet 2:5. In what sense was Noah a preacher of righteousness’?
- Did Jesus in the Spirit visit that generation through Noah’s testimony? If not, how else?*
6) vv21-22: Why did Peter refer at all to the story of the flood? —> why was it relevant (and still is) to understand how even these ancient people had the chance to hear Jesus (through Noah)?
- Hint: Why mention that (only) eight were saved? [The first Christians must have wondered too whether the generations before could hear Christ, and if so how, and how many believed (Q5). Peter answered that they all heard, but few believed – even fewer than in the days after Jesus]
- What did Peter infer from that story about how anyone can get saved, and what salvation is, and what it is not?
- Why stress that not even all the waters in the world can make us ‘clean’ in God’s eyes?
7) Personal & application
- What helps you to remain kind and gentle even when you are accused (or worse)?
- According to vv16 and 21, how are we to keep a good conscience? Do you see this in any way connected to the resurrection of Jesus?
- Do you think your own experience (and our tradition) how we baptize still conveys the same meaning that Peter associated with baptism? Why or why not?
* Interpretations that Jesus visited the dead after his death beg the question of what this could have accomplished (if anything at all), and why the Bible nowhere else says anything about that.
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