How to Understand and Teach 1 Peter 3:18-22
Since “all Scripture is God-breathed,” we ought to teach the whole counsel of God… including those passages we are tempted to avoid because they’re so tricky. We want to give a few examples about how to teach tough passages in order to encourage you to teach the whole counsel of God. Read the rest of the series here: Teaching Tough Passages.
1 Peter 3:18-22 is among the most challenging passages in the Bible to interpret.
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” (1 Peter 3:18–22, NIV)
Anytime we teach a difficult passage to our students, it is helpful to address the “elephants in the room” up front and humbly remind them that there are other faithful Christians who may see this passage differently. However, even in humility, we should confidently teach our understanding of the text, offering reasons why we believe our interpretation to be in line with the original meaning.
The big questions surrounding this passage are:
Does this passage teach Jesus descended into Hell?
Who are the “spirits in prison?” Are they angels or human beings? Did he offer humans another opportunity to hear the gospel after death?
How is Noah related to this passage?
Is Peter teaching baptismal regeneration?
As we seek to navigate challenging passages like 1 Peter 3:18-22, I want to offer three practices to implement. These practices assume that you have already done the necessary work of prayer, exegesis, and application in your study and preparation before teaching the lesson to your students.
Context is King
When teaching a challenging topic or passage, isolating the difficult doctrine from the context is easy to do. However, just as we must understand any passage in its context for proper interpretation, it is no different with 1 Peter 3:18-22.
Historically, Peter wrote to a group of elect exiles dispersed throughout Asia (1:1). These believers were facing immense persecution in the foreign lands where they lived. In his letter, Peter reminds the church of their identity in Christ (1 Peter 1-2) and then calls them to suffer for righteousness’s sake and follow the example of their Savior (1 Peter 3-5).
1 Peter 3:18-22 follows Peter’s call to the exiles to “suffer well” for Christ. On the heels of this call, Peter gives them the perfect example of suffering well: Jesus on the cross (v. 18a). He then reminds them that victory and glory will eventually follow their suffering because Jesus triumphed over death and proclaimed victory over all powers and dominions.
This context helps us see why Peter mentions Jesus’ proclamation to the spirits in prison. He wanted to encourage his audience that since Christ has proclaimed victory over the evil forces in prison, they, too, have this same victory over their persecutors.
Also, Peter seems to be connecting Noah to his immediate audience as an example of a few people (eight) who were exiles and suffered unjustly. Since God saved them from judgment through the ark as they suffered, God will also save Peter’s readers who suffer unjustly. Baptism symbolizes this salvation from the waters of judgment (just as the ark did). It is not the physical act of baptism does saves them, but their faith in Christ and His resurrection. In context, we see that Peter cannot be teaching baptismal regeneration because the Scriptures teach that salvation is by grace through faith. (Gen. 17:5; Rom. 4:1-8; Eph. 2:8-10; Gal. 2:14-22).
Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
One mistake we can make when teaching difficult passages is overemphasizing the gray areas and minimizing the clear points the author wants to communicate. We need to understand the main point the author is trying to convey. This will also help us see why he may be making a point that, on the surface, seems unclear.
Peter is referencing Jesus as an example to follow for his audience because He, too, suffered unjustly for our sins. Jesus, being perfectly righteous Himself, laid down His life for the unrighteous. In doing so, He demonstrated the epitome of what it meant to bless those who persecuted Him.
These verses remind Peter’s audience of the triumph of Christ over all sin, evil, and death, all angels, authorities, enemies, that He is now seated at the right hand of God. Because Jesus has triumphed over these things, Peter’s readers can be encouraged as they suffer to know that Jesus has overcome their enemies as well and won their victory. They will eventually triumph over their enemies through trusting in Him. This truth and hope should give them the grace to persevere through their suffering.
Address Opposing Viewpoints
When teaching difficult passages, we shouldn’t dodge the major issues. Instead, we help our students understand how to interpret complex texts by showing them which views are plausible. However, for time’s sake and for our students’ attention span, we cannot go over every viewpoint. Focusing on the main point will help with this, but also knowing our audience will aid us in narrowing down the issues we need to address and how deeply to explain them.
For example, I highly doubt that most of my students were asking if there is a second chance to hear the gospel and be saved after death from this passage. Although that is a live option in the academic field (one that I deny), it is not a question my students are asking. I narrowed my focus on answering three questions: “Who are the spirits in prison?” “Did Jesus descend into Hell between his death and resurrection from this passage?” and “Does this passage teach baptismal regeneration?”
I already mentioned the issue of baptismal regeneration above, so below is how I explained the other two questions to my students.
Concerning the “spirits in prison,” I believe these are fallen angels that are mentioned as the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2, who cohabitated with the daughters of men and brought about God’s judgment in the flood. This interpretation also fits into why Peter mentions Noah in the next few verses. I don’t believe the “spirits” are humans because “sons of God” refer to fallen angels in other New Testament passages (2 Pt. 2:4-5; Jude 6-7). This is the case for two reasons. First, there is only one reference to the use of “spirits” that relates to humans in the New Testament (Heb. 12:23). All other instances refer to evil spiritual beings. Second, the Greek word for prison (phylake) never refers to the place of the human dead, but to the location of Satan and his demons (Rev. 18:2; 20:7; 2 Pt. 2:4).
Regarding when Jesus made this proclamation to the spirits in prison, I believe this event occurred during His ascension into heaven, not during the time of His death and resurrection. The verb phrase in Greek for “He went” (poreumai) in verse 19 is also used in verse 22 to describe Jesus’ going into heaven. If Peter wanted to describe Jesus’ descent into hell, he would have most likely used the more common Greek word (katabaino) that describes Jesus’ descent in other passages (Rom. 10:7; Eph. 4:9-10).
Lastly, our study notes are usually much more in-depth than our lessons allow for. We can never teach our students everything we learned in our exegesis. Therefore, when teaching through tricky passages like 1 Peter 3:18-22, consider offering your students access to your study notes and insights from commentaries. This can aid those who want to go deeper or have more questions that most of your students are not asking. This also will be a way to indirectly teach your students how to properly study the Bible when preparing to teach.
Sample Teaching Outline
Below is an outline of how I taught this passage last Fall. I hope it can be a resource as you study it for yourself and teach it to your students in the future.
Title: Suffering Well: The Example of Jesus (1 Peter 3:18-22).
Key Point: We can be strengthened to suffer well, knowing that our suffering will lead to glory, victory, and vindication by looking to the example of Jesus.
We can be strengthened to suffer well because Christ suffered for the unrighteous and was raised from the dead to bring us to God (v. 18)
We can be strengthened to suffer well because Jesus proclaimed victory over demonic spirits (v. 18b-20)
We can be strengthened to suffer well because Jesus is the resurrected, ascended, and exalted Lord (v. 21-22).
Response:
Through Christ’s Death, Resurrection, and Ascension:
Christ has suffered for our sins once and for all and saved us from God’s wrath to bring us to God.
Christ has triumphed over every enemy, suffering, persecution, or evil we will face.
Our baptism reminds us of our victory and the assurance of our triumphal resurrection when Christ returns.