1 Peter 3:18

18. Christ also As well as yourselves.

Once Once for all; perhaps also intimating that their suffering might be in like manner, once, or at least that soon they would look back upon it in that light.

Suffered On the cross, freely, voluntarily, doing the will of God, and for no fault of his own.

For sins On account of, or in relation to, sins, that is, in expiation of them. The preposition περι , for, radically signifies around, in the relation of circumference to centre, the action being from above. (See Curtius, 466, 5.) It represents Christ throwing himself down upon and around sins in such a manner that the falling curse of the broken law would surely strike him. In the Septuagint, περι αμαρτιων is used more than sixty times to represent sin-offerings. Its use here shows that Christ made atonement for sins, by suffering in the stead of those for whom he offered himself a sacrifice.

The just Rather, A just person for unjust persons; one righteous man for a world of the unrighteous. The terms just and unjust express a relation to law, and are exact opposites. Christ, the innocent and guiltless, died as a condemned criminal in the stead of the wicked and guilty. The preposition υπερ , here rendered for, is used to represent a bending over one to protect, defend, and avert injury. (Winer, 47, 5, 50.) Christ did this by letting the injury fall upon himself, interposing between the stroke of justice and the sinner, and receiving in his own person, in the stead of the guilty, a suffering on account of sin. This, surely, was most blessed suffering in well doing; and his followers may well take courage to suffer patiently in his cause. But a still more glorious view is presented, showing the intent of this suffering.

That he might bring us to God Does this mean that he might bring us, after the final judgment, together with himself into heaven? Or, that he might bring us into a state of reconciliation and communion with God in this world? Dean Alford, quoting Bengel, adopts the former view, as though it were the only possible one; and it evidently accords with his interpretation of what follows. It is true that Christ will bring all saved souls to heaven; but it does not seem to be taught here. We prefer the second view, as bringing the death of Christ into close connexion with its results, as in 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Colossians 1:21, and elsewhere. It also precisely accords with the use of the noun προσαγωγη , access, in Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12; and, further, sustains the parallel in 1 Peter 2:21. Indeed, it is what our Lord said, (John 12:32,) that if he were lifted up he would draw all unto himself.

Being put to death Aorist: Having been put to death. The participles θανατωθεις and ζωοποιηθεις are connected with bring us to God, as explanatory of the means whereby we, unjust, alienated, and afar off, are brought into peace with him. Besides the antithesis between them, there is another between σαρκι and πνευματι . The clause literally reads, put to death indeed in flesh, but quickened in, or by, spirit. As to put to death, there is no difficulty.

Flesh If this word means Christ’s body, then spirit must mean his human spirit, which, as we shall see, the word quickened will not allow; yet the assumption that as only the body died, σαρξ must perforce signify body, has led to the wildest vagaries in both interpretation and theology. The word is a common one to designate our Lord’s entire humanity, embracing both body and soul. “The Word was made flesh.” John 1:14. “Of his loins according to the flesh.” Acts 2:30. “Of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Romans 1:3. “In the likeness of sinful flesh.”

Romans 8:3. “God was manifest in the flesh.” 1 Timothy 3:16. “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.” 2 John 1:7. Compare John 17:2; Acts 2:17; Romans 3:20; Ephesians 2:15; 1Pe 1:24 ; 1 John 4:2, for a similar use of the word. Christ was put to death as a man. Death dealt with him as with any other man, separating, in the usual way, the soul from the body, and subjecting him to all the conditions of dying. No reason appears, therefore, for a specific statement that he died in his body, leaving as true in his special case the universal fact that the spirit did not die. The meaning, then, is, he was put to death in his human nature.

Quickened The word so translated is used in eleven other places in the New Testament. In seven, John 5:21, (twice;) Romans 4:17; Rom 8:11 ; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Corinthians 15:36; 1 Corinthians 15:45, it refers to the resurrection of the dead; in three, Joh 6:63 ; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 3:21, to giving spiritual life; and once, 1 Timothy 6:13, to God as the life-giver. In every case it means to make alive, to give life where it before had ceased to be, or had not been, which, indeed, is the exact signification of the word. Those expositors who understand by πνευμα the human spirit, are compelled here to invent new definitions for this word. Some, like Steiger and Bloomfield, understand preserved alive, which the word never means; and which would only make St. Peter record a fact common to all who die, as a singular phenomenon in the case of Christ. Wordsworth says, “His human spirit, being liberated by death from the burden of the flesh, acquired new life by death; it gained new powers of motion,” etc. This is undoubtedly true, and no less universally true of all souls on their escape from the body; but the word never means an increase of life where life already exists. Alford correctly insists that the word means “brought to life;” but he explains, Christ “ceased to live a fleshly mortal life, began to live a spiritual resurrection life,” which, true enough as to the first half, has no foundation in fact for the second half until the morning of the third day. The plain and necessary meaning of quickened is, that something pertaining to our Lord, which had once lived, was restored to life, or that something that had never lived was brought into being and connected with him. Of the latter we have no intimation, and the former was realized in his resurrection from the dead. Any other meaning destroys the antithesis.

The Spirit This refers (1) to our Lord’s human spirit, (2) to the Holy Spirit, or (3) to his divine nature. As to the first, the human spirit of Christ had not died; it, therefore, was, not made alive. Doubtless on its emancipation from the body by death it became more free and untrammelled; but neither this nor any supposed change in the mode or sphere of its existence fulfils the condition required in made alive. It follows that spirit is not the object of the participle quickened. Nor had Christ’s human spirit any power to raise him from the dead, which, as we have seen, quickened signifies. (2.)

It would not be dogmatically erroneous to understand the word of the Holy Spirit, although no express passage ascribes the resurrection of Christ to him. For, though God raised him from the dead, it is a well-known truth that God’s works are wrought by the Holy Ghost; and we are taught that Christ “cast out devils by the Spirit of God,” (Matthew 12:28;) gave “commandments unto the apostles through the Holy Ghost,” (Acts 1:2;) and by his Spirit inspired the prophets, chap. 1 Peter 1:11. But, (3.) we prefer to understand Christ’s divine nature, partly because it fills out the contrast, and partly because whatever is done by the Holy Spirit is in reality his work. Thus he will raise believers at the last day, (John 6:40; John 6:44; John 6:54;) but St. Paul teaches that it will be done by the indwelling Holy Spirit in them. Romans 8:11. This rounds out the double antithesis: put to death indeed as to his human nature, but made alive by his divine nature. It is urged, (as in Lange,) as a grammatical objection to this view, that the two datives are evidently parallel, and must have the same sense. The reply is, that this is a begging of the whole question that compels quickened to take a meaning which it never has; and that the true rule is, that the force of the datives is fixed by the meaning of the two participles. The resurrection is referred to again in 1 Peter 3:21, but in another connexion and for another purpose, namely, to show how baptism saves; and, besides, it is too remote for the present inquiry as to how the suffering of Christ brings us to God. Our Lord was put to death, and thus made atonement, but his dying simply expiated sin. As God-man he was dead; and, though his human soul still lived in union with his divine nature, while held in the bonds of death he was powerless to apply the benefits of his dying. By his resurrection he became “Lord both of the dead and living,” (Romans 14:9,) and won that power. An exact parallel is, “Was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:25. Thus St. Peter and St. Paul agree.