1 Peter 3:18

18 (a) When His sufferings culminated in death (reading ἀπέθανεν for ἔπαθεν) it was the, doing away of sin (περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν) once for all (ἅπαξ), cf. Romans 6:10; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 4:2.

(b) Death was to Him an opportunity for wider and more fruitful service. He Himself said “I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitened until it be accomplished.” Again when certain Greeks desired to see Him He replied “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” So it was only by dying that Christ could atone for the unrighteous (ὑπὲρ�), only by dying that He could present you Gentiles (reading ὑμᾶς as W.H.) to God. Cf. Ephesians 2:13; Ephesians 2:18.

(c) The reason of this was that the death of His flesh was the quickening of His Spirit, a setting of it free for a new and wide-reaching activity.

18. ὅτι καὶ Χριστός. The καί suggests that Christians are only called upon to do what Christ also did, namely, to suffer innocently. But St Peter at once expands the idea by shewing the blessed results of Christ’s sufferings.

ἅπαξ means “once for all” not “once upon a time” which would require ποτέ. Cf. Romans 6:10, “the death that He died He died unto sin once (ἐφάπαξ).” Again in Hebrews 9:26 Christ’s sacrifice for the doing away of sin once offered (ἅπαξ) is contrasted with the oft-repeated sacrifices of Judaism.

There are numerous coincidences of thought between this section of St Peter and Romans 6, and the idea here seems to be that Christ’s death was the termination of the regime of sin, cf. 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 4:1.

Christ’s death was “suffering for evil-doing” because it did pay the inevitable penalty of sin, not His own but that of others. Your sins, says St Peter, were included in Christ’s death and it was intended to set you free from sin. Therefore “suffering for evil-doing” is no longer a necessary penalty for you if you are in Christ, but at the same time suffering for well-doing may help to make your freedom from sin more real.

ἀπέθανεν is read by אAC and all the VSS. and is adopted by W.H. and R.V. marg. instead of ἔπαθε, which is read by BKLP, A.V. and R.V. The MSS. evidence is fairly evenly divided. If ἀπέθανε was the original reading it might be altered to ἔπαθε to match the preceding πάσχειν, cf. also 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter 4:1. On the other hand ἔπαθε might be changed into ἀπέθανε to match θανατωθείς which follows. Either reading would give a good meaning but ἅπαξ suits ἀπέθανε best.

περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν. Cf. Galatians 1:4; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10. Elsewhere ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν is used. περὶ ἁμαρτίας is used in the LXX. for “the sin-offering,” cf. Hebrews 10:6; Hebrews 10:8; Romans 8:3.

δίκαιος is used as a special epithet of Christ in one of St Peter’s speeches, Acts 3:14, cf. 1 John 2:1, “Jesus Christ the righteous,” and James 5:6, ἐφονεύσατε τὸν δίκαιον may possibly refer to Christ.

προσαγάγῃ probably means present, give access to the presence of God, cf. προσαγωγή Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12. In the LXX. προσάγειν is frequently used of presenting victims as an offering to God. So here Christ in offering Himself as our sin-offering might be regarded as offering us to God. Again in the LXX. it is used of presenting Aaron and his sons for the priesthood, and this idea would also suit St Peter’s conception of Christians as “a royal priesthood” 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9. But in all these O.T. passages the primary idea of the verb is “to bring near,” and in this verse the context is not sufficiently explicit to shew that the word is used in a sacrificial or priestly sense.

ὑμᾶς is read by B. 31. Syr. Arm. and W.H. and probably means “you Gentiles,” cf. Ephesians 2:13.

The T.R. and both A.V. and R.V. read ἡμᾶς which would include all Christians.

θανατωθείς. The verb is used of the Jews condemning our Lord to death, Matthew 26:59; Matthew 27:3; Mark 14:55.

ζωοποιηθεὶς is contrasted with θανατοῦν in 2 Kings 5:7, “Am I God to kill and to make alive?” In the N.T. it is used in John 5:21 of God and the Son raising and quickening the dead, cf. Romans 4:17; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Galatians 3:21. In 1 Timothy 6:13, T.R. it is used of God quickening all things. In John 6:53 the spirit is described as “quickening” in contrast with the flesh, and in 2 Corinthians 3:6 the spirit giveth life as contrasted with the old law of “the letter.”

In this verse the T.R. reads τῷ πνεύματι evidently meaning “the Holy Spirit,” so A.V. “quickened by the Spirit.” For this rendering we might compare Romans 8:11.

But here, as in 1 Peter 4:6, σάρξ and πνεῦμα are contrasted and the meaning is that by the death of His human flesh the human spirit of Jesus was, as it were, born into a new spiritual existence. It was alive all through His earthly life but was limited by the restrictions of the flesh until it was set free by death, cf. Luke 12:50, “I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitened till it be accomplished.” Even the body of the Risen Lord was a spiritual (πνευματικόν) body, as our resurrection bodies will be, cf. 1 Corinthians 15:44, but St Peter seems to regard Christ’s new spiritual activity as beginning immediately after death and even before His resurrection.