Page | 1

New Hope – November 17, 2013

Arming Ourselves for Battle

1 Peter 3:17-4:6

Ben Deaver

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Kyle and Carrie Beyer

REVIEW:

  • 1st Peter sermon series – Living as Hopeful Sojourners
  • Subversive Sojourners
  • Winsome Sojourners
  • Living in a way to be asked for the reason for the hope we have
  • Apologetics

BIG IDEA:

1 Peter 4:1a Since thereforeChrist suffered in the flesh,arm yourselves with the same way of thinking…

We are to arm ourselves for battle with the same way of thinking as Jesus.

Arm Ourselves with the Mind of Christ

  • How does Christ think? What was going through His mind before He condescended from the right hand of the Father to enter our pain? What was going through His mind before He ascended the hill of Calvary when He absorbed our punishment?
  • Paul speaks of dressing for battle in Ephesians 6. Here, Peter speaks of preparing the mind for battle.
  • Peter’s pre-battle speech – 1 Peter
  • This battle imagery may appeal more to the men.

300 pre-battle speech… (Crowd participation???)

Dilios: And so my king died, and my brothers died, barely a year ago. Long I pondered my king's cryptic talk of victory. Time has proven him wise, (LOUDER) for from free Greek to free Greek, the word was spread that bold Leonidas and his three hundred, so far from home, laid down their lives. Not just for Sparta, but for all Greece and the promise this country holds. Now, here on this ragged patch of earth called Plataea, let his hordes face obliteration! (Everyone: HA-OOH!!!)

Peter’s Pre-Battle Speech

1 Peter 3:17-20a 17Forit is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.18For Christ alsosufferedonce for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,that he might bring us to God, being put to deathin the flesh but made alivein the spirit,19in whichhe went andproclaimedto the spirits in prison,20becausethey formerly did not obey,when God's patience waited in the days of Noah,while the ark was being prepared…

1 Peter 3:20b-4:1a …in which a few, that is,eight persons, were brought safely through water.21Baptism, which corresponds to this,now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body butas an appeal to God for a good conscience,through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,22who has gone into heaven andis at the right hand of God,with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.4Since thereforeChrist suffered in the flesh,arm yourselves with the same way of thinking…

PRAY

WHAT??? TOUGH PASSAGE!

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

2 Peter 3:16b There are some things in them (Paul’s letters) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

  • C’mon Peter! What are you talking about? Peter, bro! Your letters have tough stuff in them too!
  • 180 different interpretations over the years.
  • Martin Luther says of 1 Peter 3:18-20, “A wonderful text is this, and a more obscure passage perhaps than any other in the New Testament, so that I do not know for a certainty just what Peter means.”

Interpreting Scripture

The Westminster Confession of Faith (from the 17th century) says the following, “All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.” – The Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter I. Section VII.

  • Scripture is sufficient but not exhaustive.
  • God intended His truth to be understandable to everyone. It’s often said, “The Bible is shallow enough for babies to wade in, but deep enough for elephants to drown in.”
  • Simple enough for a child yet complex enough to baffle scholars for thousands of years…
  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17 16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
  • “Ordinary means” are basic rules of interpretation. We’re trying to understand what Peter meant when writing to his audience back then and there before we apply it to us here and now.

The Westminster Confession continues, “The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which in not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.” – The Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter I. Section IX.

  • Scripture interprets Scripture.
  • Context, context, context!
  • There is one meaning to the text. That meaning is the author’s intention. Peter’s intention but more than that, God’s intention.
  • The Hermeneutical Spiral???
  • Let’s not just gloss over certain passages. Let’s work to understand them. Be patient though.
  • Love Your God with All Your Mind: The Role of Reason in the Life of the Soul by J.P. Moreland
  • Some of your eyes may roll back in your head during this talk. Some of you may be on the edge of your seat with your Bibles open, frantically searching for the right answer. Wherever you’re at on that continuum, give yourself grace and know that the Bible is for you.

Remember the Gospel!

1 Peter 3:17-18a 17Forit is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.18aFor Christ alsosufferedonce for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,that he might bring us to God…

  • The suffering of Jesus was the will of God. It wasn’t because of any evil that Jesus did.
  • Isaiah 53:10a Yet it was the will of the Lordto crush him…
  • Jesus endured suffering for a limited amount of time – once.
  • Jesus endured suffering to accomplish a specific purpose – to bring us to God.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sinwho knew no sin, so that in him we might becomethe righteousness of God.
  • We are to embrace temporary suffering by the will of God to bring others to God, similar to Jesus. Not just like Jesus. We don’t substitute our lives for theirs but we do bring the Good News of Jesus to them.
  • 1 Peter 3:21 21Baptism, which corresponds to this,now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body butas an appeal to God for a good conscience,through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…
  • God saved Noah and his family from a terribly wicked generation, a fallen world, and from the wrath of God. He used the water and the ark to rescue them. In similar fashion, God saved us from the wrath of God through the resurrection of Jesus. And, he will also rescue us from a fallen world eventually. Baptism doesn’t remove the dirt on your body, your sin, but it points to the substance of the symbol of baptism – which is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
  • So, remember the Gospel!

TOUGH PASSAGE!

1 Peter 3:18b-20

18b…being put to deathin the flesh but made alivein the spirit,19in whichhe went andproclaimedto the spirits in prison,20becausethey 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 water.

I have a few questions, Peter. Who? What? When? Where? Why?

We’ll take these questions in this order: Who? Where? When? What? And finally, Why?

  • Who are the spirits? Who did He talk to?
  • Are these spirits people or angels?
  • If people, are they unbelievers during Noah’s time? Are they people who repented just before dying in the flood? Are they Gentiles who are in a figurative prison of ignorance?
  • If angels, what kind of angels? Are they fallen angels?
  • Quote The Message here??? He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen.
  • Where is this prison? Where did Jesus go?
  • Hell?
  • The Apostle’s Creed – descended into hell
  • Gehenna?
  • Jesus uses this word 11 times in the synoptic gospels. Check out Mark 9:43-48 and Matthew 10:28.
  • Hell, the place or state of the lost and condemned. Many times the word hades is wrongly translated as hell or grave. (Zodhiates)
  • Sheol?
  • The place where the dead went in the OT.
  • Hades?
  • The Greek translation of Sheol in the NT. Check out Acts 2:27 and Psalm 16:10.
  • Abraham’s bosom is within hades.
  • Luke 16:19-31 19“There was a rich man who was clothed inpurple and fine linen andwho feasted sumptuously every day.20And at his gatewas laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,21who desired to be fed withwhat fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.22The poor man died and was carried bythe angelsto Abraham's side (bosom).The rich man also died and was buried,23and inHades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes andsaw Abraham far off and Lazarusat his side.24And he called out,‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water andcool my tongue, forI am in anguish in this flame.’25But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember thatyou in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’27And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—28for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’29But Abraham said, ‘They haveMoses and the Prophets;let them hear them.’30And he said, ‘No,father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’31He said to him, ‘If they do not hearMoses and the Prophets,neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
  • Tartarus?
  • What kind of hell is tartarus?
  • When did Jesus go there?
  • Did Jesus go during the time of Noah?
  • Did Jesus go after His death but before His resurrection?
  • Did Jesus go after His resurrection but before His ascension?
  • Did Jesus go after His ascension but through His apostles?
  • What did Jesus proclaim?
  • Did Jesus proclaim the Good News with a chance to respond?
  • Did Jesus proclaim victory over His enemies?

CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT!

Does Peter say anything else similar to this in any of his other writing? In fact, yes he does! Great!

2 Peter 2:4-5 4For if God did not spareangels when they sinned, butcast them into helland committed them to chainsof gloomy darknessto be kept until the judgment;5if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he broughta flood upon the world of the ungodly…

  1. Angels = spirits
  2. Chains of gloomy darkness = prison
  3. Noah = Noah
  4. Preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others = eight persons, were brought safely through water.
  5. They were in the minority too! Even more so…
  6. The ESV includes the footnote referring to Tartarus.
  7. Tartaroo found only in its verbal form in 2 Peter 2:4, meaning to consign to Tartarus (which is neither Sheol of the OT, nor Hades of the NT, nor Gehenna, nor hell, but the place where certain angels are confined, reserved unto judgment). This punishment for these angels is because of their special sin. (Zodhiates)

Jude 6 6Andthe angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

  1. Jude and 2 Peter

The Book of Enoch – 1 Enoch 12:1-2 refers to Enoch being taken from the earth to dwell with “the Watchers and the holy ones.” The tradition of the Watchers is an elaboration on the mysterious story of Genesis 6:1-4 which comes just prior to the flood. There are three books of Enoch.

  • Jude 14-15 14It was also about these that Enoch,the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,15to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they havecommitted in such an ungodly way, and of allthe harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
  • 1 Enoch focuses on the fall of the Watchers.
  • Genesis 6:1-4 1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,2the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.3Then theLordsaid,“My Spirit shall not abide inman forever,for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”4The Nephilimwere on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
  • the sons of God = angels
  • Genesis 6:5-8 5 The Lordsaw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
  • What did He proclaim?
  • 1 Peter 4:3-6 3For the time that is pastsufficesfor doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood ofdebauchery, andthey malign you;5but they will give account to him who is readyto judge the living and the dead.6For this is whythe 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.
  • Proclaimed – kerusso (3:19) vs. Preached (euaggelizo)(4:6)
  • Euaggelizo – to evangelize, proclaim the good news, almost always concerning the Son of God as declared in the Gospel
  • Kerusso – to preach, herald, proclaim; In 1 Peter 3:19 there is no reference to evangelizing, but to the act of Christ, after His resurrection, in proclaiming His victory to fallen spirits.

THE INTERPRETATION: Jesus proclaimed His victory to the fallen angels and the Good News to the saints who’ve already died after He rose from the dead.

SO WHAT?

Why is this in the Bible?

What’s the point for us?

1 Peter 3:22 22…who has gone into heaven andis at the right hand of God,with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. 4 1 Since thereforeChrist suffered in the flesh,arm yourselves with the same way of thinking…

  • 1 Peter 1:10-12 10Concerning this salvation,the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,11inquiringwhat person or timethe Spirit of Christ in them was indicatingwhen he predictedthe sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.12It was revealed to them thatthey were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to youby the Holy Spirit sent from heaven,things into which angels long to look.
  • 2 Peter 2:9-10a 9…thenthe Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,10aand especiallythose who indulgein the lust of defiling passion anddespise authority.
  • Jesus can and will rescue you from the trials you face.
  • Also, remember the picture of baptism.

Arm Ourselves for Battle with the Mind of Christ

BIG IDEA:

1 Peter 4:1-2 1 Since thereforeChrist suffered in the flesh,arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, forwhoever has suffered in the fleshhas ceased from sin,2so as to live forthe rest of the time in the fleshno longer for human passions butfor the will of God.

  • 1 Peter 1:13 13Therefore,preparing your minds for action,andbeing sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
  • Set your mind on the hope of subsequent glories!
  • The same was of thinking
  • Luke 9:51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
  • Hebrews 5:8 Jesus learned obedience through suffering…
  • Suffered in the flesh –
  • Ceased from sin – willing to endure suffering rather than sin
  • The rest of the time in the flesh – short time
  • No longer for human passions – Hebrews 12:1set aside sin and hindrances
  • Live for the will of God.
  • Do do good stuff.
  • Endure temporal sufferings for subsequent eternal glories.
  • The cross precedes the crown!

Peter’s pre-battle speech: