Right Conduct: Conquering The Old Self Series

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NORTH PINE BAPTIST CHURCH

Sunday 24th August 2025

1 Peter 3:18-4:6

“Right Conduct: Conquering the Old Self”

In a moment we are going to read 1 Peter 3:18-4:6.

When Martin Luther wrote his commentary on 1 Peter he described these verses as …

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 certainty just what Peter means.

But Martin Luther is from the 1600’s, so maybe modern commentaries have a better idea.

There is little question that these verses constitute the most difficult passage in the entire letter ~ Paul Achtemeier (1996)

(These verses) are by all accounts the most difficult to interpret in 1 Peter—some say the entire New Testament ~ Daniel Doriani (2014)

Few passages have so many themes and different ideas intertwined. It is no wonder that commentators have shaken their heads in despair ~ Scot McKnight (1996)

Those scholars … Paul, Dan and Scot … they have more biblical scholarship in their little pinky than most pastors have in their whole bodies.

So if people like this

… and they are joined in their assessment by many other highly regarded scholars.

… if people like this are saying these are really difficult verses.

… then we want to approach these verses with an abundance of humility, and caution.

With those boundaries in place let’s read the text.

1 Peter 3:18-4:6

18 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. 19 After being made alive, He went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 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, 21 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, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him.

These are the verses which are the most difficult. But we keep reading

Why keep reading? Because of the opening words of 1 Peter 4 1

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body …

Whatever is going on in 1 Peter 3:18-22, in the mind of Peter, there is a connection between those verses and the next verses in chapter 4.

We have a “therefore” connection. Which means 1 Peter 4:1-6 are expressing a consequence, or a sequence of events, or an application, of what has been said in 1 Peter 3:18-22. That is the “therefore” connection.

We also have a thematic connection. 1 Peter 3:18 talks about the suffering of Christ – then there is a description of an action that resulted from the suffering of Christ. Then 1 Peter 4:1 again connects in a “therefore” fashion, to the suffering of Christ, with another description that results because of that suffering.

So that is why we keep reading and see 1 Peter 3:18-4:6 as a single unit.

4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the Gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

Let’s work towards some sort of understanding.

Peter opens this section with a motivation.

18 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.

This motivation flows out of, and underpins, what Peter has just said in 1 Peter 3:17

17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins