Christ's suffering vindicated

2 Peter 3:ll – l8, Romans l0:8 - l5 l Peter 3:l7 - 22

Christ’s sufferings were relevant to the people Peter was writing to. Christ’s unjust suffering resulted in witness and vindication through his resurrection and ascension, like Noah. Noah bore witness to a hostile world, he had to put up with ridicule. Peter told his readers to endure and witness by baptism. The detail is very complex. This is a hard passage to interpret and apply. Luther said he wasn’t sure what it meant. ‘we may not be able to determine with absolute certainty who these spirits in prison are, and when, and where, and how, and for what purpose, Christ went and preached to them, but whatever opinion we adopt as most probable, no Christian doctrine or duty is affected by it.
HOW DO WE FACE DIFFICULT PASSAGES?
a) Know we are in good company. 1 Peter 1:10, 2 Peter 3:14-16 The prophets searched eagerly and tried to understand. 2 Peter 3:ll – l8, Paul wrote things that Peter found hard to understand. His letters were often distorted.
b) We cannot have a satisfactory solution for all. The tough parts of the Bible remind us we cannot fathom the mind of God, that we are ignorant and fallible. We do not need to know everything.
c) Problem passages are not the basis for novelty. We must not use isolated passages for new teaching. We need matters supported by other passages. This can lead to bizarre doctrines if we do not follow this rule.
d) Difficult texts need broad historical acceptance. 2 Peter 2:20. The church developed over 2000 years. It is the result of godly learning and study. We must learn from this and ensure that teachings conform to all of God’s word.
e) We should not be overly assertive about conclusions. We must accept it when other believers do not accept what we say. We must never make isolated reading a test of orthodoxy.
f) It is foolish to be obsessed with the gnats of the texts and thus miss the camel. Some like solving problems and miss the main lessons. We are called to understand the great, basic, foundational teachings.
g) See if there are any parallel or similar passages. Do they give the key to the difficult passages.
h) Know the issues, the options and choose what be fits the context, the argument of the book and biblical theology.
CHRIST DIED AND SUFFERED.
The letter is about dealing with difficult times. Jesus the greatest, most loving, caring, truthful, holy man that ever lived suffered unjustly. He was vindicated and sat at God’s right hand. So we will be vindicated if we live as God says out of love for him and our brothers and sisters and we suffer for him. How did he suffer?
a) It was a horrible death, it was dreadful and brutal, he suffered in his soul.
b) It was sacrificial, it was for our sins.
c) It was unrepeatable, it was once for all time.
d) It was substitutionary, once for all the righteous substituted for the unrighteous. He died to take our punishment.
e) It was reconciling. It made the enemies of God the family of God and allowed us to experience God’s love. It was an unparalleled and purposeful suffering of one who was innocent.
CHRIST PREACHED AND WITNESSED Matthew 4:23
He preached in the Jews’ synagogues. He preached throughout his life. Peter takes this up. Who did he preach to? Who were these spirits in prison? There are a number of possibilities – let’s examine them in turn:
a) Christ descended into the abode of the dead where their spirits were imprisoned. There is a problem: why this group of unbelievers? They had 120 years of preaching from Noah. This idea is not acceptable.
b) Christ proclaimed His victory to the spirits, who cohabited with women in Noah’s day. This is supposedly supported from Genesis 6 and Jude 6. This is a very tentative interpretation of these passages. It is out of context – what is it to do with suffering?
c) Christ preached, at his death, in his human soul, in a place called ‘Limbus Patrum’. This is Roman Catholic teaching on purgatory, where else does Scripture support this teaching? It is downright dangerous, you can be prayed out of Hell.
d) Christ preached at Pentecost by his Spirit, he spoke to men bound by sin. Augustine, Edward Clowney and Norman Hopkins (this preacher) hold to this view. In the Spirit Jesus preached through Noah to the disobedient people of Noah’s day, they are now ‘on remand’ awaiting the judgement day. This fits the context of the passage. There were many ‘Christophenes’ – appearances of the pre-incarnate Christ – in the Old Testament. Many people refused to listen to Noah and they perished. Only 8 persons were saved – a tiny minority as believers were in Peter’s day. Today we are as today. We are to be witnesses as Noah was. Christ speaks through us.
e) Christ preached by His Spirit through Noah to the people of his day. This is the view of Augustine. This view assures us of the greatness of Christ. It is better to obey him and suffer than to disobey and be cast into the inescapable prison. This tells us it is no disadvantage to be a small rejected minority.
CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD
Jesus rose to bring salvation. No one took Noah seriously. Noah and the ark explain the great salvation Christ brings. The water brought judgement, Noah’s family was saved through water which destroyed those not in the ark. The water only ‘saved’ them because they were already in the ark. Baptism by itself cannot literally save anyone. Baptism is pledging allegiance to Christ. It is crucially important. By a pledge he means the promise believers make to stay in the fellowship of the church all their lives. In Peter’s day people seem to have made a pledge before they were baptised. Peter may be referring to this. It was a sign. The act of baptism is seen in Islamic countries as a sign of becoming a Christian, it can bring persecution down on believers. As we obey like this we attain deeper peace with God. We can know dark times but we can know this peace as we obey him.
CHRIST ASCENDED – verse 22
The right hand is the place of honour and authority. Jesus stands at God the Father’s right hand. Believers and everyone else are lined up under him. We worship the victor. Jesus is the victor. Noah survived, Jesus ascended and was vindicated as we shall be. Christians need to remember both the humiliation and the exaltation of Christ. Under girding everything we do and suffer is the suffering and resurrection of Christ. We have all we need from Christ if we are believers if we trust him.