Bible Study: 1 Peter 2-3
OK Men,
The truth about shame and one of the most confusing passages in the whole Bible! Chapters 2 and 3 are loaded! Let’s dive in!
Chapter 2:
What’s New: “For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame,’” (v6). Jesus is the precious cornerstone, and The Father will never put you to shame if you trust in His Son. That’s pretty incredible because I know I’ve felt shame. Perhaps I’ve only ever felt conviction from God, because I’ve sinned against the Holy Spirit within me, and it’s that evil deceiver that has turned it to shame.
Before the fall of humanity way back in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 2:25 says, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” It’s the one and only emotion that the Bible tells us was not a part of God’s original design for us. Shame wasn’t something that was intended for us to experience, and even now, it’s not something that the Lord God is causing us to feel. Recognize that feeling ashamed is something the enemy is an expert at exploiting.
Who is God: I think God cares for us more than we care for ourselves. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” (v9). The sons of God are a chosen, royal, and special possession! It’s hard to remember this when I’m experiencing shame, but perhaps that’s why the enemy fights so hard. When we remember who we are to HIM, we walk a little bit taller, shed a little more light in the darkness, and operate with a Spirit that has already defeated evil!
Chapter 3:
What’s New: It’s one of the most perplexing passages in the entire Bible: 1 Peter 3:18-20. It reads, “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. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits - to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.”
Let’s break it down:
Verse 18 makes sense. Jesus, the righteous one, suffered for our sins so that we might be reconciled with God.
“He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.” This one’s a little more interesting. His body was dead (obvious), but his Spirit was alive.
“After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits”.
While his Spirit was alive, he went somewhere, some speculate hades.
He “made proclamation”, meaning he gave an important announcement of some kind.
This proclamation was for “imprisoned spirits”. The term “spirits” is typically used throughout the New Testament to describe demons or “evil spirits”. Jesus also assures us that those who died, but had faith in God, are made alive in Matthew 22:31-32, “But about the resurrection of the dead - have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
Therefore, the term Peter uses, “imprisoned spirits”, most likely does not refer to human souls who rejected God before Jesus’ coming, who may be in hades. The “imprisoned spirits” are something else, confirmed in Peter’s final verse: “those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah.”
These spirits predate the flood. Some think that Peter is referring to the “fallen sons of God” mentioned in Genesis 6:2.
Yes, this is all a bit puzzling. What doesn’t help, is that no one fully knows what Peter is saying, we can only speculate. Even Martin Luther wrote, “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 a certainty just what Peter means.”
If it stumped Martin Luther, it’s perfectly fine if it confuses us a little bit! None of it changes the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord! I like to think that Jesus descended into some kind of dark spiritual world to personally announce to all the spirits, demons, and fallen angels that they had just lost.
Perhaps the real puzzler is how did Peter learn this? Firsthand from a resurrected Jesus, or by Spiritual revelation? It’s good to wrestle with this piece of scripture. It’s even better to go to God with it in prayer, and maybe he’ll reveal something to you. Someday we’ll be able to talk to Jesus and Peter about it personally.
Who is God: There is a big theme in this chapter about continuing to do good even through suffering. It’s the love of God that teaches us how to do that. God is love! But it’s the challenging verses 18-20 that really show me that Jesus is Lord and has dominion over all darkness. “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord,” (v15).
OK Men - What is new to you in these chapters? How are you seeing the characteristics of God on display? Leave a comment!
If you liked this Bible study, consider Donating a Diet Dew! (aka “Buy Me a Coffee”)
Additionally, upgrading to a Paid Subscriber on Substack will give you more content, tools and discussion questions for leading men’s groups, and a Call to Action in our weekly devotionals!
Yes go with that question and anything else we need to know, to God. We have not because we ask not. Seek and you shall find. If you lack wisdom, ask for it. God has invited us to learn from the eternal one. Perhaps Martin Luther as great as he was, tried to figure it out on his own. Perhaps not. But, "In all our/your ways acknowledge God, and lean not on our own understanding."