salvation

God’s business

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“…he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison…”

Why do those supermarket tabloids always grab our attention? We easily see through their outrageous headlines and pasted-together photos… yet we still want to see what’s inside.

We can be just as easily drawn to spiritual nonsense, too, and this passage has more than it’s share of proponents for wild explanations and sensational revelations. How can you keep from being taken in? A good rule of thumb is to look at the context, both in the same paragraph and from the greater context of the entire Bible.

What is the context here? It’s something we see scattered throughout Scripture. God has been continually at work for the salvation of human souls. Peter brings it up here since he has been speaking of the suffering we encounter in our lives. He wants to emphasize that Jesus suffered as well, but for a far greater purpose. His suffering was for our sins that he might bring us to God.

It doesn’t help that the language here is somewhat less than crystal clear. We must be careful not to make inferences that cannot be supported by the clear teaching found elsewhere in the Bible. The best explanations I’ve read about this passage are also the least sensational and appealing to our thirst for “secret” knowledge. In the days of Noah, Jesus, being part of the Godhead with the Father and the Spirit, preached to the people through Noah. Those people are now dead, or imprisoned, since they did not heed the message.

The main takeaway is that the eight people who trusted God were brought safely through the water. The obvious comparison is to baptism. It’s not about soap and water and scrubbing behind your ears, but about dying to sin and being raised to newness of life. Jesus was resurrected from the dead and is now in heaven, where all angels, authorities and powers are subjected to him. And nothing can stop Him from bringing us along.

For more details, see 1 Peter 3:18-22. No UFO’s. I promise.

Copyright 2019 David J. Cooley

Deal with… who?

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“If you call on the Father…” In other words, when you pray, you need to keep in mind who you are dealing with. We can easily slip into the trap of thinking that something about us, what we do or say or what we give, somehow gets us in good with God.

None of this commands God’s attention when it comes to redemption. God sees all things and judges each man’s work and motives fairly and indiscriminately. Do you really want to place your soul before God on the basis of such things?

Rather, the basis for our salvation is what God has done through the giving of his Son as a sacrificial Lamb to remove forever the stain of our sin. Whatever we do is in response to God’s grace, and in fact fulfills his desire for us, as Paul declares in his letter to the Ephesians:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:8-10 ESV)

1 Peter 1:17-21

(c)2018 David J. Cooley

The search

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“…the prophets have enquired and searched diligently” 1 Peter 1:10

We have what others carefully searched for. It’s like a riddle that you puzzle over and can’t quite figure out. Once you know the answer, it seems incredibly simple and you wonder how you did not see it before.

The prophets of old did not have the full story. They knew and trusted that God had a plan, but did not know exactly how it would come about. They also knew they were writing for a future generation and would not see it for themselves.

Peter seems to recall the men on the road to Emmaus. Jesus met them and said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” and then explained what the prophets were saying. (Luke 24:26)

In those times, many expected a crusading savior that would free them from their earthly troubles. We largely expect the same today. But the primary concern lies within each one of us. Changing the outside circumstances does not change what is inside.

And what’s inside exacted a terrible price to remove. The sin that overtakes us required suffering and death, which Jesus Christ took on that we might be free of it. For this he enters into his glory. And we enter into eternal life.

Which is way better than trying to fix up the old place.

1 Peter 1:10-12

(c)2018 David J. Cooley