1 Peter 3:18

1 Peter 3:18. Because also Christ died once for sins, a righteous one for unrighteous ones, in order that he might bring us to God. There are two varieties of reading to notice here. Documentary evidence is pretty evenly balanced between the verb ‘suffered' and the verb ‘died.' Although the Revised Version retains the former, the latter is preferred by the majority of textual experts (Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, Gebhardt). Instead of ‘bring us to God' (which is accepted by the Revised Version and most critics), ‘bring you to God' is adopted by Westcott and Hort. Christ's suffering or dying is represented to have taken place on account of sin, in the matter of sin, or in respect of sin; for the preposition used here has this general sense. It is said to have taken place also ‘once,' once for all and no more (cp. Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:28). This may possibly embody the idea that this suffering or dying superseded the necessity of all further suffering or dying of the same kind, either on the part of Christ Himself or on that of Christians (so Schott). It is rather introduced, however, to suggest the difference between the suffering or death, however bitter that was, as finished shortly and once for all, and the continuous power and blessedness of the life which was its issue. Still greater force is given to this by the use of the simple historical tense ‘died,' which throws all that was painful in Christ's instance completely into the past. But Christ's suffering or dying is also described as that of ‘a righteous One for unrighteous ones.' A different preposition is now used for the ‘for,' one meaning in behalf of or, to the advantage of. It is possible that in the present connection, where the righteous and the unrighteous are set so decisively over against each other, this idea of suffering in behalf of others may pass over into, or imply, that of suffering in the place of others. Weiss, e.g. (so also Huther), recognises the idea of substitution at the basis of the statement, in so far as ‘the contrast, which is made so prominent between the righteous and the unrighteous, necessarily produces the idea that the suffering which was endured in behalf of these, ought really to have been endured by the righteous themselves' (Bib. Theol. of the New Testament, i. p. 232, Clark's Trans.). The more general idea, however, is the one distinctly in view here, and thus there is warning mingled with the encouragement which is conveyed by Christ's case as Peter here presents it. If it is right to speak, as Besser does, of the little word ‘once' as letting ‘a beam of comforting light fall on the sufferings of Christians,' this clause reminds them of the necessity of making sure that their sufferings be not of the kind which their own fault induces, but rather of the kind righteously borne with a view to the good of others. The particular good which Christ set before Him as the object of His suffering or dying was the bringing us to God; by which is meant introducing us to God, giving us admission, or the right of direct access, to God. This is the sense which the cognate noun has in the few passages in which it is found, viz. Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12; and here, too, the idea is neither that of presenting us an offering to God (so the Vulgate, Luther, etc.). nor that of simply reconciling us to God, but (as it is rightly understood by Huther, etc.) that of introducing us to actual fellowship with God. This verse, therefore, establishes a certain analogy between Christ and Christians, in so far as He was made subject to suffering not less than they, and was made so not for His own fault but for that of others. This analogy is used, however, in support of the previous statement as to its being a better thing to suffer for good than for evil. Hence, having immediately in view the advantage or good which suffering for righteousness' sake brings with it, Peter goes at once (as formerly in chap. 1 Peter 2:22, etc.) beyond the elements of similarity which might present the suffering Christ as an example to suffering Christians. He touches on more than one thing which gave Christ's sufferings a value all their own. They were of the unique order which (as the ‘once' implies) neither required nor admitted repetition. And the gain which they secured, by which also they pre-eminently illustrate the good which suffering for righteousness' sake yields, and how preferable it is to suffer, if suffer we must, for well-doing rather than ill-doing, was the otherwise unattainable boon of a direct approach for sinners to God, a free intercourse with God.

put to death indeed in flesh, but quickened in spirit. Two things are here affirmed to have taken effect on Christ, when He suffered or died in order to bring us into this fellowship with God. These, however, are so balanced that the one appears simply as the preliminary to the other, and the attention is concentrated on the latter. The one is rightly given as a ‘being put to death;' for the term does not mean, as some suppose, merely being condemned to death (compare its use, e.g., in Matthew 26:59; Matthew 27:1; Romans 8:36; 2 Corinthians 6:9, etc.). The other is correctly interpreted not as a ‘being kept alive' (which idea is expressed in the New Testament by different terms), but as a ‘being quickened' or ‘made alive;' the word being that which is elsewhere (John 5:21; Romans 4:17; 1 Corinthians 15:22, etc.) applied to the raising of the dead to life. To the two things are added definitions of two distinct spheres in which they severally took effect. These are conveyed each by a single noun, which has almost an adverbial force here, viz., ‘in flesh,' i.e fleshly-wise, or, as regards the natural, earthly order of life; and ‘in spirit,' i.e spirit-wise, or, as regards the higher spiritual order of life. Those two terms are analogous to other antithetical phrases which are applied to Christ, such as ‘according to the flesh' and ‘according to the spirit of holiness' (Romans 1:3), manifest ‘in the flesh,' and judged ‘in the spirit' (1 Timothy 3:16). They point to two different forms of existence, a natural, mortal form of existence associated with flesh, and a supernatural, immortal form of existence associated with spirit, in other words, a perishable, corporeal life, and an imperishable, spiritual or incorporeal life. As regards the one, He ceased to live it by being put to death. As regards the other, He continued to live it, and to live it with new power, by being quickened. The A. V., therefore, is entirely at fault in rendering the second clause ‘by the Spirit,' as if the reference were to the Holy Spirit and to Him as the Agent in Christ's resurrection. In this, too, it has deserted the versions of Wycliffe, Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva, and Rheims, which all give ‘in spirit' or ‘in the spirit.'