1 Pedro 3:18

18 ( a ) Quando Seus sofrimentos culminaram na morte (lendo ἀπέθανεν para ἔπαθεν) foi a eliminação do pecado (περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν) de uma vez por todas (ἅπαξ), cf. Romanos 6:10 ; 1 Pedro 2:24 ; 1 Pedro 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. Efésios 2:13; Efésios 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. Romanos 6:10, “the death that He died He died unto sin once (ἐφάπαξ).” Again in Hebreus 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 Romanos 6, and the idea here seems to be that Christ’s death was the termination of the regime of sin, cf. 1 Pedro 2:24; 1 Pedro 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 Pedro 2:21; 1 Pedro 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. Gálatas 1:4; 1 João 2:2; 1 João 4:10. Elsewhere ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν is used. περὶ ἁμαρτίας is used in the LXX.

for “the sin-offering,” cf. Hebreus 10:6; Hebreus 10:8; Romanos 8:3.

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

προσαγάγῃ probably means present, give access to the presence of God, cf. προσαγωγή Romanos 5:2; Efésios 2:18; Efésios 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 Pedro 2:5; 1 Pedro 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. Efésios 2:13.

O TR e ambos AV e RV lêem ἡμᾶς que inclui todos os cristãos.

θανατωθείς. O verbo é usado para os judeus condenando nosso Senhor à morte, Mateus 26:59 ; Mateus 27:3 ; Marcos 14:55 .

ζωοποιηθεὶς é contrastado com θανατοῦν em 2 Reis 5:7 “Sou eu Deus para matar e vivificar?” No NT é usado em João 5:21 de Deus e o Filho ressuscitando e vivificando os mortos, cf. Romanos 4:17 ; Romanos 8:11 ; 1 Coríntios 15:22 ; Gálatas 3:21 .

Em 1 Timóteo 6:13 , TR é usado para Deus vivificando todas as coisas. Em João 6:53 o espírito é descrito como “vivificando” em contraste com a carne, e em 2 Coríntios 3:6 o espírito dá vida em contraste com a antiga lei da “letra”.

Neste versículo, o TR lê τῷ πνεύματι evidentemente significando “o Espírito Santo”, então AV “vivificado pelo Espírito”. Para esta tradução, podemos comparar Romanos 8:11 .

Mas aqui, como em 1 Pedro 4:6 , σάρξ e πνεῦμα são contrastados e o significado é que pela morte de Sua carne humana o espírito humano de Jesus foi, por assim dizer, nascido em uma nova existência espiritual. Esteve vivo durante toda a Sua vida terrena, mas foi limitado pelas restrições da carne até ser libertado pela morte, cf.

Lucas 12:50 , “Tenho um batismo para ser batizado e como estou apertado até que seja cumprido.” Mesmo o corpo do Senhor Ressuscitado era um corpo espiritual (πνευματικόν), como nossos corpos ressurretos serão, cf. 1 Coríntios 15:44 , mas São Pedro parece considerar a nova atividade espiritual de Cristo como começando imediatamente após a morte e mesmo antes de Sua ressurreição.