|
Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
Living
Conscientiously
(1 Peter 3:16-22)
by
Karl J. Forehand
and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are
slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to
shame. For it is better, if God
should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for
doing what is wrong. For Christ also
died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might
bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the
spirit; in which also He went and
made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept
waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a
few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. And
corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from
the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, who is at the right
hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers
had been subjected to Him. (1 Peter
3:16-22)
In this passage are two difficult
passages. Because they are
illustrative of the main point and not the main point of the passage, I won’t
spend too much time on them. In some
areas, it is okay to disagree.
Augustine said, “In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials,
freedom; in all areas, charity.” What
is the main point in this passage? It
is this:
A
good conscience comes from living conscientiously, specifically of the work
of Jesus Christ.
That also applies to our Bible study. When we are looking at difficult passages,
we have to have some conscientious way to study. We have to know how we come to our conclusions. These are some basic rules, among many,
that we follow:
·
If a doctrine is essential, it will be
very clear in Scripture
·
Let the clear passages interpret the
unclear ones
·
Analyze Scripture as a whole – one verse
doctrines are dangerous
·
Interpret the Bible literally, not
woodenly (figures of speech, grammar, context)
Scripture cannot be interpreted
allegorically. The trouble with
allegory and “hidden meaning” approaches is we have to ask whose “story” or
“hidden” meaning is right. It brings
us back to the question, “How did you arrive at that conclusion?”
Preached to the Spirits
I believe these are the fallen angels,
because Peter uses the term “pnuema,” which means spirit and not souls. The main issue with this part of the
passage is not who He preached to anyway.
The issue is why he preached (proclaimed). After his death and before His resurrection, he proclaimed to
them. Angels are not like God – they
are not omnipresent. He had to tell
them, “I’m still here – I’m not gone.”
He crashed their party.
Baptism now saves you
When interpreting Scripture, we have to
consider the whole of Scripture.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” We are not saved by any work, including
baptism. The passage even bears that
out. It say that this baptism is not
“the removal of dirt from the flesh” (or physical baptism). Rather, it is the pledge of a good
conscience toward God. Your faith and
God’s grace is what saves you (baptizes you by His Spirit).
Living Concientiously
You will never have clean conscience based
on what you do. We are never good
enough to achieve that. It must be
based on something greater – the finished work of Christ. We have to be conscientious of Christ’s
Work. The more you fully understand
what Jesus did, the better you will DO at keeping a good conscience.
- The Death of Jesus
Jesus death was “once and for
all.” He doesn’t need to redo what He
already did. He doesn’t need to be
resurrected or sacrificed again. The
sacrifice is complete. Our actions
won’t even help the sacrifice be any better than it already is. He did it once and for all.
His death is described, in this
passage, as “the just for the unjust.”
He paid a debt He didn’t owe – we owe a debt we couldn’t pay. The sinless sacrificed Himself for the
sinful.
What was the purpose? It was to “bring us to God.” God desired that we be reconciled. The death of Jesus, the sinless, perfect
sacrifice, brings us to God to be made right (righteousness).
All of this was accomplished
because He was “put to death;” but we
must also realize that our sins were put to death with Him. That means that our sin is a past
issue. It also means that we don’t
have to be controlled by sin. Did you
know that we don’t have to sin in the present or future. Not only are the sins of the past in the
past; but we don’t have to sin in the future. The devil can’t make us sin unless we choose to do
it.
If we have truly died with
Christ and realize what he did with our sins, we won’t keep on sinning.
2. The proclamation
Between His death and
resurrection, Jesus preached to the spirits in prison. Allow me to imagine what He said for a
minute. Remember, He has just been
crucified and is waiting to be resurrected.
His Spirit goes to preach the best “Bet you didn’t expect to see me…”
speech ever. He crashed the party before
it ever began. Before they got the
first “whoooop” out, they must of gasped in amazement.
We often have a love/hate
relationship with our past sin. Jesus
proclaimed “it is finished on the cross” and, I suppose, the same thing to
these “spirits.” We should be locked
in the past, lamenting over our past sins that God has forgiven. Satan will use that “guilt” to keep us in
bondage.
If we were observing this
proclamation from the outside we may have noticed: The tear would have just begun to trickle down our cheek, when
a smile would have broke out – The spirits were just beginning to rejoice,
then their faces became downcast. The
moment Jesus body ceased to live, His Spirit moved to proclaim the truth that
to be “absent from the body” is to be present with the Lord.
Because of Christ’s work, we can
live spiritually. We shouldn’t be walking
around like we are dead. The
proclamation said to Satan “Forget about rejoicing.” To the believer the proclamation said,
“Forget about weeping.”
3. The Resurrection of Jesus
Without the bodily resurrection
of Jesus, we have no hope. He was
spirit before His life and spirit after; but the bodily resurrection of Jesus
allows us to be “raised” as well. The
power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us. We have the power to live with God, but
also to live like Jesus. When we say
“I can’t keep from sinning” we are speaking grave talk. When we rely on our flesh, we are relying
on the part of us that is dead, not the part that is alive and powerful. We have to learn to live the resurrected
life.
A Savior that can overcome death
can heal our marriages. A Savior that
can overcome death can help us fulfill the Great Commission. A Savior that can overcome death can make
a church out of a bunch of misfits.
We have to be conscientious of
what is dead, that the proclamation is and what a resurrected life can
be. But Jesus also ascended into
heaven.
4. The Ascension of Jesus.
Jesus is
not just an honored saint. He is more
than just a good teacher. He is more
than just a miracle of God. Because
of the ascension, He is MASTER!
God make
Him a little lower than the angels for a time, but now has exalted Him (Phil.
2). Jesus is more than just a way to
heaven – He is comfort to us, knowing that we serve the Master of the
Universe – He gives us a purpose and a mission because our instructions are
from the Master. We must learn to
submit.
A clear
conscience comes when we conscientiously accept the finished work of Christ
and apply it to our lives.
Karl J. Forehand, 2002
|