Sunday School Lesson

1. 1 Peter 3:13-22
“ALWAYS READY”
October 9, 2016
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
1 Peter 3:15 ESV
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to
make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and respect,
What’s the number one thing?
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The glory of God!
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1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
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2. October Memory Verse
Colossians 3:16 ESV
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one
another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with
thankfulness in your hearts to God.
References
• Missler, Dr. Chuck. “The Book of First Peter, Chapter 3, Session 4, May
2016”; YouTube Video.
• ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Publishers, 2008).
• MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Nelson
Publishing, 1997).
Introduction to 1 Peter 3
• Letter written to Christians living in provinces under Roman occupation
(modern day Turkey).
• Christians were being persecuted because of their religious practices –
considered enemies of the state.
• Peter was in Rome when writing in 64 AD, shortly before his upside down
crucifixion.
• The Roman government was under Nero who was a ruthless ruler.
Themes of 1st Peter
• How are Christians to live and act in an environment that is hostile to you
because of your religion?
• How do you deal with religious persecution?
• Jesus answered these questions by His example when He was on earth.
Summary of 1 Peter 1:1- 3:12 (Prior Lessons)
• Christians are only sojourners and exiles on earth because our citizenship
is in heaven.
• Live your life in such an extraordinary way to please God, that people will
see that you are different.
• Use Christ as your example for how to behave while suffering.
• Christians have a “living hope” for eternity in heaven because of Christ.
Peter is describing for us a “Christian World View” in his letters.
• Looking at the world and responding as Christ would.
• Truth is based on the Holy Scriptures.
• Decisions are made with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

3. What does Peter mean when he talks about persecution, suffering and
slandered?
• Christians were not looked upon with favor by non-believers.
• Christians could be victims of assault, discrimination, torture, robbery and
murder with no justice from the Roman government.
1 Peter 3:13 ESV
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
• The government and people are less inclined to persecute you if you are
doing good.
1 Peter 3:14 ESV
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have
no fear of them, nor be troubled,
• “even if” – Suffering and persecution can come even when you are doing
good.
• “you will be blessed” – Rewards in heaven.
How are we to face suffering for righteousness’ sake, even when we are
innocent?
1. Do not fear man.
Matthew 10:28 ESV
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather
fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
2. Do not worry.
John 14:27 ESV
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives
do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
1 Peter 3:15 ESV (Preparing your answer)
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to
make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and respect,
• Begin by having a Christ centered heart.
• Your life is so obviously different that others want to know why.
Being prepared to give an answer (give a defense).
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has
no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
• Apologetics – the systematic defense of the faith.

4. Peter explained the “living” hope within you earlier.
1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great
mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is
imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's
power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time.
What should be your attitude when sharing your answer for your hope?
• Gentleness – Soft answers, kind words.
• Respect – Never condemning or judging; loving.
1 Peter 3:16 ESV
16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile
your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
• The best defense against slander is to be innocent!
“when you are slandered”
• If suffering for doing evil, you brought that hurt upon yourself.
• If suffering for doing good, praise God! You can use that hurt as an
opportunity to share Christ.
• Justified hurts (someone purposefully slanders you) are the most
dangerous and hardest to forgive.
Justified Hurts: What to do.
• Hanging on to hurts become resentments that bind you to that person.
• Carry those hurts to the foot of the cross and leave them there.
• Consider that God has probably forgiven you more than you are asked to
forgive in others.
1 Peter 3:17 ESV
17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for
doing evil.
• It can be God’s will for you to suffer for doing good.
• Peter reminds us in the next verse that Christ suffered unjustly because it
was God’s will.
1 Peter 3:18 ESV
18 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,
• Christ (righteous) died for all of our sins (unrighteous) so that we can face
the Holy God as clean and righteous.

5. Paul teaches resurrection for the believers also.
Romans 8:11 ESV
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his
Spirit who dwells in you.
1 Corinthians 15:52 ESV
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
What is GRACE?
G – God’s
R – riches
A – at
C – Christ’s
E – expense
1 Peter 3:19-20 ESV (Interpretive Challenges)
Two questions to answer in these verses:
1. Which spirits?
2. When did Christ proclaim (ESV, NIV) or preach (KJV, NKJV) to these spirits?
Which spirits - Supernatural or Human?
• “pneumasin” – usually refers to supernatural beings, but it is also used to
refer to human “spirits”
Hebrews 12:23 ESV
23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to
God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
Interpretation of “proclaim” vs “preached”
• Greek word is “kerysso” which means “to proclaim or to make known”.
• 1 Peter 3:19 indicates this is to proclaim or declare the victory over death
and not an offer of salvation in Christ.
1 Peter 3:18b-20 ESV
18b being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit 19 in which he
(Christ) went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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.
• Let’s review Genesis 6:5-8 for Noah’s connection.

6. Genesis 6:5-8 ESV
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord
regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
7 So the Lord said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the
land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am
sorry that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
How does Noah factor into these verses?
• Peter uses Noah as an example of someone who suffered for doing good.
• Imagine the ridicule Noah suffered for the 120 years he had a boat
building operation in his front yard.
• God gave the people in Noah’s day 120 years to repent before the earth
was flooded (Peter writes “God’s patience waited”).
Let’s Read Again 1 Peter 3:19-20
1 Peter 3:19-20 ESV
19 in which he (Christ) went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 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.
One Early Interpretation
• Clement of Alexandria in 200 AD taught that Christ was sent to Hades in
His spirit after the crucifixion and before the resurrection to proclaim the
message of salvation to the souls of sinners who were imprisoned for their
sins before the flood.
• Problem: Scripture does not teach conversion of the soul after physical
death.
The Apostles’ Creed – began in 4th century.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus
Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the
virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell. On the third day He rose from the dead. He ascended
into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty…

7. What do we mean by Hell?
• Hell, Hades and Sheol refer to the place where lost souls go after death
awaiting final judgment.
Revelation 20:13-14
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave
up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them,
according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown
into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
What would Christ do in Hell (Hades, Sheol)?
1. Some believe that Christ had to experience Hell (Hades) for the price of
our sins to be paid.
2. Some believe that Christ witnessed to those souls in Hades to offer
salvation.
3. Some believe that Christ went there to proclaim His victory over Satan and
His authority.
4. Some believe that Christ released some souls to go to heaven.
Another interpretation for 1 Peter 3:19-20 that ties the Holy Spirit to Christ and to
Noah.
• During the 120 years while Noah was building the Ark, Christ “preached”
through Noah via the Holy Spirit to the people.
• The “spirits in prison” were the lost souls living in sin during Noah’s day.
• In Christ’s time on earth those people who died during the Flood were
spirits in Hades awaiting the final judgment described in Revelation 20.
Another interpretation related to Noah’s time.
• The “spirits in prison” are the fallen angels of Genesis 6 who consorted with
the daughters of men as Jude 6 explains.
• Between His death and resurrection, Christ visited the fallen angels in
prison and announced His victory over Satan.
• Jesus announced their doom and His victory over angels and His authority
over them (1 Peter 3:22).
Genesis 6:1-4a ESV
1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born
to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And
they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not
abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." 4a The Nephilim
were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God
came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them.

8. Verses that support this interpretation.
Jude 6 ESV
6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left
their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until
the judgment of the great day—
2 Peter 2:4 ESV
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and
committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
Had Enough??
1 Peter 3:21 ESV
21 Baptism, which corresponds to 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,
• Baptism is used as an “Antitype” – An earthly expression of a spiritual
reality; a picture of a spiritual truth.
• Baptism as an antitype of the resurrection.
Christ is the ark of your salvation.
• Eight people were in the ark and went through the judgment of the Flood,
and were unharmed.
• The Christian will go through the final judgment unharmed because Christ
paid the price for your sins and you placed your faith in Him.
Parallels between the Flood and Baptism.
• As the Flood wiped away the old sinful world, baptism pictures one’s
break from his old sinful life and entrance into a new life with Christ.
• It is not the going into the water that saves you, but that to which the
baptism speaks – the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
• “Buried with Him in baptism and raised to walk in a new way of life.”

9. 1 Peter 3:22 ESV
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels,
authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
• “Session of Christ” – seated at the right hand of God the Father.
• Christ has power and authority over all things.
Take Home Messages from 1 Peter 3:13-22.
• Suffering & persecution, both just and unjust, will come to the believer in
life.
• Christ set the example of how to respond – Follow Him.
• Remember that our life on this earth is temporary and our citizenship is in
heaven.
• Be prepared to share your story of the hope of eternity when asked.
Next Sunday, October 16 is Special!
“All In Sunday”
Goal of 1700 in Sunday School
Food in Elevator Area 8:30am -8:55am
Please invite those you have not seen lately!
The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 ESV
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 14:6 ESV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.”
Romans 3:23 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a ESV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
 Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
 Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sins.
 The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in
Revelation 21:8.

10. Revelation 21:8 ESV
8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the
sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the
lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Romans 5:8 ESV
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.
Romans 6:23b ESV
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 21:7 ESV
7 "The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will
be my son.”
 Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be conquerors.
Romans 10:9-10 ESV
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart
one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:13 ESV
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
If you have questions or would like to know more, please, contact First Baptist
Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/