“For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to
those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may
live in the spirit according to the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:6, NASB95)
People judge us. They base their evaluations upon their own
standards, and we rise and fall according to how we align with those standards.
What we do in the flesh before them is how we are judged by them. When we walk in
step with them we are accepted, and when we don’t we incur their wrath. But as
those who have trusted in Christ we are to continually be reminded that they
are not our judge. They may be able to harm our flesh, but they have no control
over our spirit and our eternal hope.
In this light verse 6 is a reasonable continuation of the
verses immediately preceding it, and it is for this reason that in most
translations that break passages into paragraphs they include verse 6 with the
first five verses of chapter 4. It is the capstone of hope.
“Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm
yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh
has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer
for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is
sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having
pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties
and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run
with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they
will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For the
gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that
though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit
according to the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:1–6, NASB95)
By the time of Peter’s writing of this letter, which was
most likely thirty plus years after Christ’s crucifixion, persecution of
Christians had become commonplace. While we know of historical events that made
this persecution more focused and even legal, Peter does not point here to any specific
action. Rather, he points to their persecution as a generally present and even
widespread evil. The reality is that there were those who had heard the gospel,
responded in faith for salvation, and who subsequently were put to death
because of it. This did not speak to the entirety of those who had died, but it
did speak to some with whom they could relate.
Peter was encouraging his readers with the same truth that
had sustained those who had gone before them into eternity. Regardless of their
cause of death, physical death is the most that man can bring on other men. No
man can destroy that which God has made alive. One of my favorite passages in
this regard is found in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 where we read,
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the
surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are
afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying
about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to
death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our
mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit
of faith, according to what is written, “I believed,
therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we
also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with
Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that
the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of
thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, but
though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by
day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of
glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are
temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians
4:7–18, NASB95)
Paul referred to the powerful treasure given to us by God as
being contained in earthen vessels. God did not choose to make us impenetrable
in the face of persecution, but to make us fragile so that in our fragility His
power might be demonstrated. It doesn’t matter what man does, we have Christ in
us, and when we are persecuted for His sake it is His power that is seen in our
human frailty. Paul went on to encourage his readers to not lose heart knowing
that as these bodies in which we are housed fall apart, that what lives for
eternity—our inner man—is continually renewed every day. Paul went so far as to
call the worst of what man can do to us “momentary, light affliction.” It may
in reality be very intense and seemingly unbearable, but what lies beyond is beyond
all comparison. Everything we see and everything that others can touch is
temporal or limited in time and space, but that which we cannot see and in
which we hope is eternal.
Peter’s words point to this same truth and unite his readers
currently undergoing persecution with those who had gone before them. Their
vessels may have been broken, but what was released in the process is the glory
of God so that they would all live according to the will of God. Even for us
today this truth is still the same. We live with the same hope and we can be
encouraged with the same knowledge that just as God was faithful to bring to
Himself those who have gone before us, so is He faithful to bring us as well.
“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for
the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the
flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” (1 Peter 3:18, NASB95)
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