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It Is Better to Suffer for Doing Good, If That Is God’s Will
1 Peter 3:17-22
Introduction: Please consider the title carefully – taken from verse 17. If you are like me, there are times when you have gotten in your mind that unless you are suffering all the time for the sake of righteousness, somehow you are not living up to your calling. However, there are scriptural principles we need to consider that do not fit that paradigm:
- Not all persecution or suffering means actual physical abuse. In this letter, Peter talked primarily about insults, reviling, and public shaming. Indeed, this may have also crossed over into some economic stresses, but we aren’t talking about physical beatings.
When Jesus talked about persecution in the Sermon on the Mount, he spoke of, “when others reviled you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matt. 5:11). - In verses 13-14, Peter gives the general rule that a Christian may avoid suffering by being zealous for what is good and not evil, even though that isn’t always the case.
- Verse 17, which introduces the last section of chapter three, suggests the same principle: “It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will…” The words, “if that be God’s will,” suggest that such suffering may or may not take place depending on the will of God. I have certainly dealt with times of insults, etc. within my life, sometimes more or less, but usually nothing I would consider serious or that upsetting.
- Much of our “suffering” is self-imposed limits on worldly pursuits.
- The key is,
- We must not get complacent (as if it won’t happen), but always be prepared mentally, knowing that this may be necessary to serve the Lord.
- We must not get lax in our mission to save others (hoping to continue to avoid suffering). Obviously, our biggest present-day threat is the Lord’s teachings on morality. Some today get very angry and even violent against those who differ with them. Jobs have been lost just because of a person’s position on gender, homosexuality, or abortion. We must not fear, but teach God’s word with gentleness and respect. (Cf. Mark 8:38)
- Seeing the Primary Point of the Text
- Our tendency is to see the details but miss the message. It is easy to get hung up on Jesus preaching to the “spirits in prison” talk about verse 21 and “baptism saves us.” But in so doing, we miss the whole reason the text. The spirits in prison and salvation are details that illustrate the greater lesson.
- The subject is suffering. The example of suffering that Peter presents to us is Jesus. Notice the beginning statement of vs. 18: “For Christ also suffered…” The connection goes back to vs. 17 and the idea is, “It is better to suffer for doing good than doing evil for Christ also suffered…” In other words, the reason it is better to suffer for doing good is because Christ also suffered and look at the end result of what He did!
- Therefore, what we want to look for in the text are parallels between Jesus preaching in the days of the Noah and and God’s salvation of eight souls. Then, we can connect those illustrations to suffering for us.
- Looking at the Illustrations
- Peter has just told these Christians to prepare for suffering. In verses 18-22 Peter is teaching, approach the possibility of suffering by seeing the eternal goal. In other words, you can see how Jesus and Noah were in a similar condition as you. They also suffered in fulfilling their mission, and the result of salvation and glory.
- Further, look beyond the suffering itself to what Jesus and Noah were doing that put themselves in the position of having to suffer: they were fulfilling God’s mission of saving a lost world. Over and over again Peter has come back to this mission. The suffering is worth the souls of the world. Paul does the same when he wrote 2 Corinthians. The entire letter is about giving up our lives to death so that others may have life.
- Okay, what did Jesus do in this text besides suffering? After suffering and being put to death in the flesh, He was made alive by the Spirit (NKJV, ESV margin). In other words, in spite of His suffering and His death, God raised Him. God had the final say. What’s the lesson? God will also have the final say when it comes to the suffering of His people.
- I know what you are thinking: But I don’t want to suffer. Can’t I just live a comfortable life and not have to go through all this hard stuff? Okay, this is what I had to tell myself when I thought that. (1) Quit being a Corinthian. That’s the way they were thinking, and the false preachers were encouraging it. (2) A life without suffering is not the path to glory. “To this you were called…” Much of our younger generation is putting their head in the sand. They have the idea that life and prosperity will always be good and that nothing can change that. But that’s not history and that’s not what God teaches! “Gird up the loins of your mind!”
- This leads Peter to talk about a second analogy by speaking of what Christ did “by the Spirit.” What He did by the Spirit was go and preach to the spirits in prison who were disobedient in the days of Noah. Now what does that mean?
- Begin with Gen. 6:3. Notice that God’s Spirit is “striving” with man. But God says that will not continue forever because of the fleshly, carnal nature that man is exhibiting. In other words, there is a limit to God’s patience; He will give them 120 more years before judgment would come.
- Next, look at 2 Pet. 2:5. Noah was preaching in the days before the Flood. How did he do that? He did it because he was a prophet and the Spirit of God was speaking through him.
- Further, look at Jude 14-15. Enoch was also preaching and warning the ungodly of the coming judgment of the Flood. God’s Spirit was also striving through Enoch and possibly through his son Methuselah – some believing his name means, “when he dies, judgment.”
- So what do we have? By the Holy Spirit, in the days of Noah, the Son of God preached to that world of unbelievers concerning the coming of the Flood. Jesus did so through Noah, Enoch, and any other godly prophet of those days. But they were disobedient and as a result are now referred to as “spirits in prison.” Thus, our choice: either suffer for righteousness or disobey and end up as “spirits in prison!”
- The parallel is being in an extreme minority but still preaching to a world of ungodly, who for the most part don’t obey.
- After speaking of the unbelievers, Peter turns to those who were saved, who listened and obeyed. Can you imagine being one of eight in a world “filled with violence”? Can you imagine the ridicule, the insults? In other words, Peter says, “If you think you exiles are in the minority, think of Noah. If you think your preaching goes unheeded, think of how Jesus in the Spirit preached to these people and they still disobeyed. Your situation is tough, but think of theirs!”
- Next, Peter ties the reader and us even more closely to the eight souls in the days of the Flood. These exiles had a similar salvation. We have a similar salvation. The thought is that God is doing for them/us just as He did for Noah. If you think Noah’s salvation was great, realize that God is giving you a similar salvation. Notice the parallel:
- Noah and his family were saved through water. The same water that put to death the world of sinners, was the water they passed through to their salvation.
- These exiles, along with all Christians are now saved in similar fashion – through water – in this case, the water of baptism. The same waters of baptism in which the old sinful life is put to death are the waters of salvation for the Christian.
- However, notice that Peter does not say that “baptism saves us” – period. In other words, Peter makes clear that it is not the act of being immersed in water that is the power to salvation. Instead, Peter makes a disclaimer and a statement of the source of the power of salvation:
- “Not the removal of filth of the flesh” has often been understood as, “not taking a bath.” I think this is too simplistic. These Jewish exiles would not have considered baptism to be a bath. But they might have considered it to be a ceremonial cleansing as under the Jewish system. I think this would be more accurate: baptism is not an outward ceremonial cleansing of uncleanness as taught in Leviticus when there was a washing of the whole body after uncleanness. Thus, your passing through the waters of baptism was a saving experience, not an outward cleansing.
- Now, where is the source of the power of this salvation? Read the verse without the parenthetical: “Baptism now saves you…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” The moment of salvation is baptism; its power is the resurrection of Jesus. The same power that raised Him to life, raises us to spiritual life from being spiritually dead.
- It is important not to simply say, “Baptism saves us.” That leaves the wrong impression as if we are saved simply by some act of our own. No, baptism saves through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a “death, burial, and resurrection that connects us to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. But get this! Baptism is the moment of that salvation. It can’t be prior to it!
- One other thing. Baptism is not a ceremonial cleansing, but it is “an appeal to God for a good conscience.” Ananias had told Saul of Tarsus, “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Baptism is a calling on the power of God to cleanse sins; to save. It is an appeal to God to cleanse us so that we have a clean conscience.
- Heb. 10:22 states, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Same picture.
- Heb. 10:1-2 tells us that if the blood of animals would have cleansed us, there “would no longer be any consciousness of sins.” We are appealing to God for a clean conscience through the resurrection of Jesus.
- Okay, so here is the big picture and the reason for this text. These exiles are suffering as a result of their faith. They are in the minority. It is somewhat of a helpless feeling; a feeling of being out of sorts with the present world. Peter says, you aren’t alone. This has happened before and thus gives the admonition: “It is better to suffer for doing good than doing evil” because:
- Jesus preached to a world of disobedient and they rejected Him.
- Only eight souls were saved is an extreme minority in their world, far greater than their condition or our condition.
- Their salvation was through water (a trial), just as yours was through water, and the result was their deliverance.
- Though Jesus died at the hands of sinful men, He was resurrected to give you the power of salvation. And further, He is victorious having gone into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God with all authorities and powers being subject to Him. Now that’s encouragement!
Conclusion: Consider our choices. We either suffer for Jesus or we become the disobedient “spirits in prison.”
Berry Kercheville