1 Peter 3:18

1 Peter 3:18

Because Christ also suffered once for sins, a righteous one for the sake of the unjust in order that He should lead you all to God – in one case after putting the flesh to death and in another case after making the spirit alive…

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Once more Peter comes back around to his overarching point.  Christ suffered for sins.  He’s the one who suffered.  He’s the one who paid the price.  He’s the one who’s sacrifice actually counts.  We struggle with sin.  We struggle with the consequences of our sin.  But only His sacrifice actually wipes away our sin.  Only His sacrifice restores our relationship with God.  He is the one that matters!

When it comes to salvation, do you focus more on what you’ve done or what Christ did?  Why do you focus where you do?

Second Thought:

Peter is also really simple with respect to why.  Did Christ come to show us how much better He was than us?  Of course not!  Did Christ come to make a demonstration of His power?  No.  He came and died so that we can be in relationship with God once more.  He came because He knew that the only way we could find our way back to God is if He showed us the way.  He came for our sake, not His own.

What does it say about God and His love that He sent His Son for our sake?  Why is this a wonderful testimony of love?  Where can you reflect this attitude into the world around you?

Third Thought:

How did Christ do what He did?  He put the flesh to death and made the spirit alive.  Quite literally, that’s what He did!  He died.  The flesh died.  His body was put into the grave.  They pulled His lifeless form off of the cross.  Yet His spirit lived on.  We’ll get to evidence of that in the next few verses.  But leaving those aside, we definitely know that He was raised and lived again!  He was changed!  His resurrected form was different, unique, and superior to the fleshly existence He had before He died.  He literally died.  He literally lived.  The God-made-man came, put the flesh to death, conquered death, and made the spirit alive.  That’s what God does.

Do you comprehend this? Do you even think it is possible to comprehend this fully?  Even though we might not be able to understand how Jesus put the flesh to death while at the same time making the spirit alive, how can we believe it is true?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Peter 3:19-22