Christ suffered once, and it was enough

Observe. Verse 18 is plain: Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. Then Peter says something about Christ proclaiming to imprisoned spirits from the days of Noah, mentions the eight people saved through water, connects that water to baptism, and ends with Christ at the right hand of God with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Interpret. Verses 19 to 21 have been read several ways by careful Christians for centuries, and honesty requires saying that. What is not in doubt is the frame. The paragraph starts with the cross and ends with the throne. Whatever the proclamation to the spirits means, it sits between a death that was once for all and an exaltation that is total. Peter's readers were suffering under powers that seemed unbeatable. He tells them the powers are already in submission. Baptism, he says, is not about removing dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God, and it saves by the resurrection, not by the water.

Apply. When a passage is difficult, hold on to what is clear. Christ suffered once, for you, to bring you to God. He is alive. He is enthroned. Everything that frightens you is under his feet.

What difference does it make that Christ suffered once rather than repeatedly? Where are you tempted to treat baptism or another outward act as the thing that saves, rather than the resurrection it points to? Which power in your life most needs to be reminded that it is in submission to him?