This life of knowing that God is good, and what He calls me to is good, and I want to follow His commands, and I want to be morally prepared, and I want to have a good conscience from Him, can really go in a wrong direction if it isn't rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ and all of the comforts of the gospel. My hope is never my independent righteousness. My hope is the righteousness of Jesus lived on my behalf. And so, immediately after this tough set of directives, that's where Peter goes.
He reminds us of Christ, our example, and our substitute:
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they 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. Baptism, which corresponds with this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Now I know, you've heard me read this passage and you're thinking, "What in the world is this talking about? About Christ's speaking to the spirits in prison and days of Noah, and..." Well, you're in good company. Martin Luther said, "This is the one passage in scripture he absolutely did not understand and did not how to know make sense of." Calvin said many of the same things. John Calvin offered some possibilities.
What I want to say about this passage is you don't want to get trapped in the mystery of portions of the passage and miss the point. The point is that Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Here in seven words, He presents to us a Savior who is the ultimate example and substitutionary hope. "Jesus also suffered once for sins." Jesus also suffered once for sins; Jesus conquered sin in His life and His death and His resurrection. That's why on the cross He was able to say, "It is finished," the work is done on our behalf.
And so, as we're struggling to obey Him, as we're falling down and failing, as we realize that in this moment we do not have a good conscience to God, we don't have to beat ourselves up; we don't have to hide in shame because Jesus suffered once for all for sin. I love the phrases here that explain saving grace, "...the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, to put to death the flesh but made alive in the Spirit..." (Paraphrased.) What beautiful phrases, the righteous One gave Himself for the unrighteous. Why did he do that? So that He might bring us to God. And this One who actually died for us, was made alive by the power of the Spirit. What amazing grace!
My understanding of the mystery part of this passage is that He is actually talking about the days of Noah, that earlier Peter talked about Christ's speaking to the prophets, Christ speaking through Noah. But I want to say again, don't let a confusing part of a passage detract you from Peter's point, your hope is not your obedience! Your called to obey, but your hope is not in your obedience; your hope is in your substitute Savior who gave Himself for your sin, to bring you to God and rose again, conquering sin and death so that we would rest in the righteousness of Christ given over to our account.
