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The MacArthur Study Bible
John F. MacArthur, Jr., General Editor
WORD
BIBLES
Copyright 1997, Word Publishing. All rights reserved.
For quotation requests not covered by the above guidelines, write to Nelson/Word Publishing Group, Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P. O. Box 14100, Nashville, Tennessee 37214-1000.
Interior charts and maps used by permission. Copyright Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee.
Chronological charts are used by permission of John C. Whitcomb, Jr. and James L. Boyer.
“Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s Time” on page 662 is taken from The Illustrated Bible Dictionary and is used by permission. Copyright 1980 by The Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship.
“Second Kings, Jeremiah, and Lamentations Compared” on page 1139 is taken from A Biblical Approach to Personal Suffering by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. and is used by permission.
“A Harmony of the Gospels” on pages 1378–84 is taken from A Harmony of the Gospels With Explanations and Essays by Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry and is used by permission. Copyright 1978 by Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry.
Published by Word Publishing
Contents
Introduction to the Pentateuch
Chronology of Old Testament Patriarchs and Judges
A Harmony of the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles
Chronology of Old Testament Kings and Prophets
Introduction to Song of Solomon
Introduction to the Intertestamental Period
Chronology of the New Testament
A Brief Overview of Christ’s Life
A Brief Overview of Christ’s Ministry
The Passovers of Chist’s Ministry
Introduction to 1 Thessalonians
Introduction to 2 Thessalonians
Read Through the Bible in a Year
The Character of Genuine Saving Faith
Index of
Charts and Maps
Book | Title |
Genesis | |
Exodus | |
Leviticus | |
Numbers | |
Deuteronomy | |
Joshua | |
Judges | |
Ruth | |
1 Samuel | |
2 Samuel | |
1 Kings | |
2 Kings | |
1 Chronicles | |
2 Chronicles | |
Ezra | |
Nehemiah | |
Esther | |
Job | |
Psalms | |
Proverbs | |
Ecclesiastes | |
Song of Solomon | |
Isaiah | |
Jeremiah | |
Lamentations | |
Ezekiel | |
Daniel | |
Hosea | |
Joel | |
Amos | |
Obadiah | |
Jonah | |
Micah | |
Nahum | |
Habakkuk | |
Zephaniah | |
Haggai | |
Zecariah | |
Malachi | |
Matthew | |
Mark | |
Luke | |
John | |
Acts | |
Romans | |
1 Corinthians | |
2 Corinthians | |
Ephesians | |
Colossians | |
1 Thessalonians | |
1 Timothy | |
2 Timothy | |
Jude | |
Revelation |
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The IVP New Testament Commentary Series
1 Peter
I. Howard Marshall
Grant R. Osborne
series editor
D. Stuart Briscoe
Haddon Robinson
consulting editors
InterVarsity Press
Outline of 1 Peter
1:13–2:10 The Basic Characteristics of Christian Living
2:4–10 The Spiritual House and the Chosen People
2:11–12 Strangers in the World
2:13–17 The Ruling Authorities
2:18–20 Slaves and Their Masters
2:21–25 The Basis for Christian Living
3:13–5:11 The Christian Attitude toward Hostility
3:13–17 The Blessings and Opportunities of the Persecuted
3:18–22 The Significance of Christ’s Victory
4:1–6 Maintaining a Christian Lifestyle
4:7–11 The Life of the Christian Congregation
4:12–19 Suffering, Joy and Judgment
5:1–5 Leadership in the Church
5:6–11 Concluding Practical Advice and Encouragement
☐ When did Christ go? The most commonly accepted view is that the event described in this passage took place at the time of the death and resurrection of Christ. He performed the task in the Spirit before he finally went into heaven (3:22). There are, however, two possibilities. The older interpretation (views 1a and 2) posits that between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Christ descended into the temporary abode of the dead (Hades not hell), where disobedient spirits are imprisoned, to make his proclamation. The more recent interpretation (view 1b) is that Peter is referring to a visit made by Jesus after his resurrection in connection with his ascension to the right hand of God in heaven. Christ visited the prison of disobedient spirits that is situated in the heavens.
Over against this view is the suggestion (view 3) that the passage refers to Christ’s preaching in and through Noah to the latter’s contemporaries. The spirit of Christ was active in Noah, as it was in the prophets (1:11), and empowered him to be a preacher of righteousness (2 Pet 2:5). A final decision between these views can be made only in the light of other details in the passage. View 3 has in its favor the parallel of Christ/Noah and Peter’s readers as fearless preachers to hostile audiences. It also preserves continuity between the references to the flood and baptism. Second Corinthians 13:3 demonstrates that the idea of Christ speaking in somebody is not impossible.
View 3 faces insuperable difficulties. The passage most naturally refers to an incident that took place after Christ had been made alive. The spirit of Christ inspiring the prophets is not the same thing as Christ himself going and acting in Noah, and there are no other parallels to Christ temporarily inhabiting Old Testament characters. Above all, this view requires a double reinterpretation of verse 19. After having read it once in terms of the spirits and Christ, the readers must then reinterpret the spirits in prison as the people in Noah’s day (see below) and he as “he in the person of Noah.” The major weakness of this view is that Noah is not named as the one through whom Christ preached.
☐ Where did Christ go? If we must decide between views 1a and 1b, several considerations are relevant.
On 1a: The belief that the abode of the dead is under the earth is found in the Old Testament, which speaks of going down to Sheol (Ps 30:3; Is 14:15; compare Lk 10:15), and in Revelation 20:1–3, where the prison of Satan is in the abyss. Jesus is said to have been in Hades (Mt 12:40; Acts 2:27, 31), but it is not said that he preached there (Mt 16:18; Rom 10:7; Eph 4:8–10; and Rev 1:18 must be understood otherwise). On this view the spirit of Jesus was active while it was separated from his body.
On 1b: The Jews believed that there were several levels or divisions in heaven, a view shared by Paul, who relates how “a man in Christ” ascended to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2). Some Jewish writings locate the place where the evil powers are kept in subjection until the final judgment in one of these divisions of heaven. We may observe how Satan himself is in heaven until he is thrown down to the earth (Rev 12:7). So it is possible that the reference here is to a visit paid by the resurrected Jesus to a prison in heaven. (There was a story that Enoch visited and toured the heavens. See note below.)
The ideas that the spirits were imprisoned down below or up above were both current. R. T. France points out that the text says nothing about Christ going down, and that the event took place after he had been resurrected. He also argues that the abode of the dead to which Christ went (as in the Nicene Creed) should not be confused with the prison of the spirits. If we have to choose between these two possibilities, the latter has the better case.
☐ To whom did Christ go?* Again we have to deal with the three different interpretations:
1. The spirits are evil supernatural beings. The word “spirits” can certainly be used in this sense, both of angels (Heb 1:14; 12:9; Acts 23:8 ) and evil beings (Mk 1:23; Lk 10:20; Acts 19:15–16). The story of the “fallen angels” who seduced mankind in the days before the flood (Gen 6:1–4) was a popular one in New Testament times. Furthermore, the story of their being kept in prison until the day of judgment was well known (2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6).
2. Christ preached to the spirits of dead people, kept in the abode of the dead until the last judgment. More commonly we would speak of the “souls” of the dead, but the word “spirit” can be used in this sense (Num 16:22; 27:16; Heb 12:23). The thought that they are in prison is found in early Christian writings. Because the contemporaries of Noah, who spurned God, were proverbial for extreme wickedness, we can readily understand that they represent the wicked in general.
3. If Christ preached in the person of Noah, then spirits in prison describes the human beings who were disobedient during the building of the ark.
Let us now assess these different interpretations:
In favor of view 2, some scholars note that when New Testament authors use the word “spirits” to denote spirits of dead persons, it is always qualified in such a way as to make this clear. They then claim the description in verse 20 of the disobedience of the spirits to whom Christ preached fits human rather than supernatural beings.
There is, of course, no dispute that humankind sinned at the time of the flood. The period just before the flood had become proverbial in Judaism for disbelief and indifference to God (Lk 17:26–27). The wickedness of those opposed to God was seen as all the more culpable because this was the time when God patiently waited for sinners to repent and through Noah proclaimed righteousness to them (2 Pet 2:5).
Noah’s construction of the ark should have made them turn to God. Here was a remarkable sign, a man aided by a few members of his family building a vast boat on dry land, far from the sea, because he had been warned about a coming flood, but they did not pay heed to the warning. “Disobey” is essentially the same as “disbelieve.” In the end only eight people went into the ark and were delivered from the flood. Scarcely could a more potent indicator be found as to how deliberately Noah’s contemporaries had turned away from God.
However, it is not certain that verse 20 implies that God was patiently waiting for the spirits of these disobedient persons to repent. In the last part of the verse the focus shifts to the human beings who actually were saved. The spirits may be regarded rather as preventing other human beings from responding to God’s patience. The spirits are not unambiguously identified as human beings.
Further, it is unprecedented to speak of the spirits of the dead being kept in prison. It may also be significant that when Peter speaks of the eight people being saved, he uses the word psychē rather than pneuma (see note).
There are also strong arguments against view 3. First, it is not clear why Peter would describe human spirits so unusually, in terms of their present imprisonment rather than their perishing in the flood.
A second point is that the reader is required to interpret spirits as “the beings who are now spirits but were then men and women.” Proponents of this view urge that the same phenomenon occurs in 4:6, where the gospel was preached also to the dead—that is, “to people who are now dead but were then alive.” A sufficient rebuttal of this parallel, however, is to point out that the odd use of the dead there is necessitated by the reference in 4:5. Peter is concerned with how people now dead will be ultimately judged, whether by human or divine standards. The two cases are not parallel.
It follows that view 1 is the least difficult. It corresponds to Peter’s reference to evil powers in 3:22. Angels, authorities and powers hangs on its own if not related to the spirits.
☐ What did Christ preach? Advocates of views 2b and 3 note that the Greek verb is normally used of preaching the gospel. Some defenders of view 2b have argued that Christ preached the gospel to the souls of the flood generation, giving them, in effect, a second chance of repentance. Those who take this view then tend to argue that this group of the dead represents all the dead (on the principle that if even the worst sinners are given a second chance, so too are the rest of the dead). Although this verse says nothing about the result of the preaching, some suggest that all who get this second chance will respond to it and be saved. They corroborate this conclusion with 4:6, which they interpret to mean that the gospel was preached to the dead so that they might “live in the spirit”—that is, “be saved.”
There are various objections to this universalist view. It is certainly not a necessary interpretation of the passage. The verb “preach” can mean no more than “make proclamation” (Rev 5:2; compare Jn 1:2; 3:2, 4), in contrast with the verb “to preach the gospel” in 4:6. Furthermore, 4:6 is most plausibly interpreted otherwise (see below). Above all, it is not clear what the point of the statement would be, unless it is to say that just as Christ preached the gospel to the worst of sinners, so Christians must be prepared to witness to their persecutors (supporting 3:15).
Much more likely is the view that Christ made proclamation to the evil powers, announcing his victory on the cross and confirming their defeat. They are now subject to him (3:22) and those who are persecuted need not be afraid of the evil spiritual powers who inspire their persecutors. Christ is Lord! Hallelujah!
If we interpret the passage in this way (view 1b), we see that Peter aimed to present Christ as an example of suffering for doing good, to show how his death brings believers to God, to stress the fact that though Christ died he was brought to life (as believers will be), to emphasize how Christ proclaimed his triumph to the spirits who corrupted the people of Noah’s time, and to stress that Christ, now enthroned along side God, is superior to all supernatural powers. Consequently, Christians can confidently stand up to hostility and bear a courageous witness (4:1–6), knowing that they will be vindicated just as Christ was.
☐ The Symbol and the Reality Before proceeding further with exposition of the passage we must pause to ask about the significance of what we have discovered. What exactly is Peter doing here? He knows that Christ did something during the period of his death and resurrection, but how did Peter come to know and to express it in this way?
Some say that Peter has expressed his point in mythological language. He is writing about a sphere of which he had no direct knowledge; therefore, he had to use existing imagery to convey his meaning to his readers. We note that what Peter says about Christ in some ways parallels what Jewish tradition said about Enoch, so that Enoch is the type to which Christ is the antitype. Peter appears to have expressed the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection by using imagery and language drawn from the Enoch story to depict dramatically Christ’s victory overall of the powers of evil. This way of presenting things may have come to Peter either by direct revelation or by meditation on the available scriptural and extracanonical materials. Either way, of course, the Spirit of God was active in the process, whether granting direct knowledge or working concursively with Peter’s mental processes. The interpretation may have been expressed here using concepts drawn from mythology, but it is nonetheless the true interpretation of the effects of the work of Christ in the spiritual realm. How should we understand what Peter says? As we have seen, there are two different interpretations of where Christ visited, somewhere “down” beneath the earth or somewhere “up” in heaven. Both directions should surely be understood metaphorically. We are speaking about spirits in any case, and they cannot be localized in the center of the earth any more than God can be localized in a heaven above the sky. Maybe it doesn’t matter if we aren’t certain where Christ went. Either way, Peter means that God’s power restrained the powers of evil, that this power was expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus and that, because of God’s omnipotence, Christians need not be afraid of persecution or the evil powers that promote it.
The Significance of Christian Baptism (3:21–22)* It now becomes clear why Peter introduced the disobedient spirits and the flood narrative. At the end of verse 20 he comments that, in contrast to the mass of the disobedient, only a few people were saved in the ark. He adds that they were saved through water, which probably means that they were brought safely through the flood because they were in the ark, without which they would have drowned.
This idea enables Peter to draw a further lesson by making a parallel between Noah’s family and his readers. He uses the word “antitype” (translated by the NIV with the verb symbolizes) to show the parallel between the events and people at the time of the flood and the events and people in his own time. The people in the ark correspond to Christians; the water of the flood corresponds to the water of baptism; the escape of Noah’s family from drowning corresponds to the spiritual salvation of believers. This Old Testament example is an actual saving event by God, which is now repeated in a new way in the case of Christians.
Whatever the precise construction, Peter says that Christian baptism saves Christians (see note). He clearly does not mean this in any material sense, as if an outward rite could convey spiritual salvation; or in any magical sense, as if the water possessed some spiritual power; or in any automatic way, so that anybody who is baptized is saved. We should not make the mistake of limiting the significance of baptism to the precise moment and action of being immersed or sprinkled with water. Rather, for Peter, the word “baptism” symbolically represents the whole process by which the gospel comes to people and they accept it in faith.
It is this last point which Peter emphasizes. He reminds his readers that baptism is not to be equated with the removal of dirt from the body. This protest against mere outward washing was necessary in a society that was only gradually realizing that outward defilement was not spiritually significant—that is, outward removal of dirt or contamination due to contact with sinners is not the same thing as inward spiritual renewal. Still today, of course, people think that outward acts like coming to church and receiving communion somehow make them acceptable to God even if their hearts are guilty of evil. It is curious how people who rarely attend church still want baptism of their infants, church weddings and Christian funerals. Peter’s attitude rejects all such ideas in principle.
On the contrary, baptism must represent or express the pledge of a good conscience toward God. The translation in the NIV text suggests either that we come to baptism with a good conscience (the marginal note, the response of a good conscience, offers much the same sense), or that we pledge ourselves to maintain a good conscience by not sinning. The former of these possibilities is unlikely. We come to baptism not because we have a good conscience—one that does not accuse us of having done wrong—but precisely because we feel guilty and in need of forgiveness and renewal. We should either adopt the latter possibility—namely, that the pledge is one to break with sin for the future—or side with those commentators who take the Greek word to mean an “appeal” or “petition” to God for a good conscience. It is thus a prayer for forgiveness and cleansing.
Baptism saves us not by any virtue in itself but by the effects of Jesus’ resurrection. The significance of this fact is brought out in verse 22, which reminds us that the risen Jesus is in fact the exalted Jesus who occupies the seat of power beside God and is superior to all the hostile powers.
By what he says in verses 21–22 Peter has made three things clear. First, just as Noah and his family escaped despite the disobedience of the evil spirits in their day, so too Christians will be saved and not be overcome by the evil forces behind persecution. Salvation is not just from sin but also from the powers that threaten us and our salvation. In fact, nothing “in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Rom 8:38).
Second, although baptism is the normal means of Christian initiation, salvation is not the result of merely submitting outwardly to baptism. It is for those who come to God with a longing to be set free from sin and to have a pure conscience.
Third, the one source of spiritual victory is the crucified and risen Jesus. Peter concludes the section with encouragement for the persecuted: “Do not be afraid. The Christ whom you accept as your Lord truly is Lord over all the opposition that you may face.”
https://biblia.com/books/ivntc1pt/1Pe4.1-6
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