“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, 2 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. 3 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. 4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 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.”
In the HBO mini-series “Band of Brothers”, which tells the story of Easy Company of the Airborne Rangers during WWII, there is a scene in which a young soldier tells one of his lieutenants that he is so frightened that he freezes into inaction in a battle situation. The lieutenant’s counsel to him is that he should reckon himself dead. He tells the soldier the only way to make it through is to just forget about ever going home and consider himself dead already.
Now that may sound cynical. But there is wisdom in it. In the story of the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, Frodo Baggins has accepted his role as the only one who can successfully carry the one evil ring to the mountain of Mordor and destroy it by dropping it into the molten lava.
The farther into his journey he goes and with each form of resistance he encounters, he becomes more and more convinced that this is a one way trip for him. He is certain that he will never see his home in the Shire again and his entire focus becomes centered on accomplishing his task.
SUFFERING IN THE FLESH
What incentive could be more compelling, what conviction could be more focus-sharpening, than the belief that there is nothing to go back to, indeed no possibility of going back, and the only available and open path is the one that lies ahead, and that it must be taken whatever is to be found around the next bend?
Isn’t this the picture we get of the Lord’s Christ in the Messianic prophesy of Isaiah 50 when he writes:
“I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord GOD helps Me, therefore, I am not disgraced; therefore, I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.” (vs 6-7)
And in Luke’s Gospel we find; “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem” (Lk 9:51) The word Luke used there that the NASB translates ‘determined’ means to ‘fix’, or to ‘steadfastly set’. He was going to Jerusalem with full knowledge of what would happen there and He would not be turned to the left or the right.
You may remember that in the account of the transfiguration on the mountain we were told that He was discussing with Moses and Elijah the departure He was going to ‘accomplish’ at Jerusalem. This was His task to perform and He was the one in full control; no one else.
In Peter’s statements previous to this - the reason he once again begins with the word, ‘therefore’ - he has established that Christ won the ultimate victory on the cross of Calvary.
He died, says Peter, once for all so that He might take us to God, and then He went to the most evil of the demonic spirits that rebelled in Heaven and then attempted to corrupt the God-ordained provision of marriage and through that the future generations of mankind, spirits now kept in prison awaiting their destruction, and He proclaimed to them His triumph over death and the grave and Satan and evil for all time and eternity, through going down into death to set men free from sin.
Peter then draws that thought to a conclusion by announcing that as a result of that victory Christ has been granted a place at the right hand of the Father, far above all angels and spiritual authorities and powers.
Jesus Himself said this to His disciples after His resurrection when He commissioned them to spread the Gospel. He began with, “All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth” Matt 28:18
Now Peter goes on, in what we call chapter 4, to remind his readers that this great victory was won as a result of suffering and dying.
He used the term, ‘suffered in the flesh’, which means He died.
We have to be very clear on that. It does not mean simply that He had it rough down here. It doesn’t mean He was mocked and ridiculed.
It means He suffered to the point of dying, and let’s not forget that unlike we, He did not deserve to taste of death, since He was without sin and entirely pleasing to the Father.
We have to be clear on that point because of what Peter says next.
“…arm yourselves also with the same purpose…”
Gee, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to just dance the wide step around this one?
THE MAGNIFICENT PURPOSE OF CHRIST
Referring back to our previous installment in this series, and my comments a minute ago, we remember that Jesus went and proclaimed His triumph to the evil spirits now held in prison, who had committed the most heinous and perverted acts in an attempt to thwart God’s plan of salvation.
When we fail to study this part of theology, or more specifically, angelology and the work and destiny of angels, we miss a large part of the significance of the purpose and plan of redemption.
While it is accurate for us to say that Christ died to pay for our sins and purchase us back for the Father, and that He rose again from the tomb to give us life, it is ultimately not ‘all about us’, as we in our audacious pride tend to think of it.
Yes, we are important to God and He loved us so much that He sent His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. And we know also that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should repent and receive eternal life. And we know also that while we were still helpless, sinful enemies of God Christ died for us.
But on the entirely spiritual side of the equation was a rebellious Lucifer and his host of fallen angels waging a demonic war against the purposes of a Holy God and challenging His authority and power. The Prince of Peace went out to make peace between God and men, but more importantly He went out to bring Glory to the Father and crush the rebellion for eternity.
When we are conscious of these things it adds a whole other dimension to His steadfast determination to go to Jerusalem and carry out the Father’s will.
And doesn’t it give fuller meaning to the words of Jesus in His High Priestly prayer in John 17?
4 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
It was all for the glory of God. His coming to earth through the virgin womb, living among men a life of absolute sinless devotion to His Father, shedding His blood in atonement for sin and purchasing our redemption, rising bodily from the tomb so that we too might have everlasting life, ascending back to Heaven and entering into His glory…it was all for the glory of God.
SHUNNING THE DESIRE OF PAGANS
Peter has presented his readers, us, with a startling challenge in this portion and in response to the accomplishment of Christ. But before we talk about that, let’s look at this middle part in verses 3-5.
“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. 4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
It’s almost humorous, the way he puts this admonition to us. ‘Haven’t you had your fill? Aren’t the past years before you knew Christ enough time to have gotten in all the partying and debauchery you sought after?’
When he says ‘the desire of the Gentiles’ he doesn’t mean just those who are not Jewish. He’s using the term in reference to pagans in general. Heathens. Those without Christ.
And indeed, anyone calling himself a Christian and continuing to find an interest in engaging in any of these things needs to reassess his commitment to Christ and in the light of the Biblical definition of a Christian, consider whether he really fits the bill at all.
Sensuality means engaging in vices that give immediate although temporary gratification to the flesh. Lusts are the inner desires that lure us to those acts of sensuality.
Drunkenness, carousals and drinking parties are terms that are pretty self-explanatory. Abominable idolatries would have to do with debauched worship of false gods. In light of the rest of this list he was probably thinking specifically of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine.
However let’s not get too boxed in here. This is a very short list of the vices of pagans, and it would be too easy for us to say ‘well, I don’t do those things so I’m ok’, when we might be far from ok.
Here’s the point, believer. Peter is talking about seriously, steadfastly, following the footsteps of Christ. So the bottom line is that any thing, any person, any activity, any attitude, any interest, any pursuit that turns us from that course or slows us in our forward momentum needs to be a thing of the past!
And what he says next is the thing we can use as a sort of spiritual litmus test to show us where we stand in relation to our pagan friends around us.
Are they surprised that you do not run with them into excess of dissipation?
Young people, do your peers malign you; that is, do they speak evil of you and even tell lies about you out of envy because you do not run with them into evil things?
Is there enough of a difference between you and them that they notice and respond badly? Or do you talk their talk and walk their walk because you don’t want to be uncomfortable or left out?
I ask you to think about these things because Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit says, “…but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead”. And friend, if you are like them, then you are among those Peter is talking about in verse 5 rather than those he was talking about in verse 2.
Peter says to shun those desires, and live the rest of the time in your flesh as one who has died and ceased to be mastered by sin, and live for the will of God.
This is what Paul was calling for in Romans 6:8-12
“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,”
THE PURPOSE OF THE TRUE BELIEVER
So now we go back to Peter’s startling challenge. I chose my words carefully. Do you know the dictionary definition of ‘startling’? It means to cause momentary fright, surprise or astonishment.
And due to the fact that we pretty much live our lives avoiding trouble, popping medications at the first indication of physical malady or pain, being careful what we say so that we do not incur the anger of those who might disagree with us, it is a startling thing, it is an astonishing prospect, to be told that we are expected to willingly put ourselves in the position to suffer and to bear it patiently.
But Peter’s words indicate more than a submission to persecution or a reconciliation of the mind to the fact and presence of suffering. He says “arm yourselves also with the same purpose”.
Now there is just no avoiding this. I know our minds want to tell us that this must be a misinterpretation somewhere along the line. Peter must be saying, ‘arm yourself with this purpose…’ and then somewhere in the following verses he gets to what this purpose is and it’s nothing as dreadful or threatening as suffering; especially to the point of death!
Nope. That’s exactly what he means so let’s deal with it.
The calling of the Holy Spirit to the Christian is to arm himself, herself, with a willingness to die.
The people who read Peter’s letter when he sent it out knew exactly what he meant by that, and it wasn’t taken by them as a symbol of self-depreciation or an attitude of humility. He meant that they were to be willing to physically suffer and die, many of them in just the same way Christ did, on a cross, which many of them did.
That term ‘armed’ means exactly what it implies; to take up a weapon. As a weapon against the lure of the flesh, against the desire of the heathen, against a silly, senseless lifestyle that mimics the spirit of this world and abandons Godliness, arm yourself with the mindset that Christ had when He set His face like flint for Jerusalem.
Why? Because ‘he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin’.
Now let’s be clear; Peter is not saying that by His own death Christ rested from sin.
Peter talks about Christ suffering in the flesh, dying, then he turns to the believer and says that the person of flesh who has died has ceased from sin. Pretty straightforward in meaning, isn’t it? If you’re dead you can’t sin.
Now let’s be clear about another thing. It doesn’t mean that if you are a believer you will never sin. We know that from 1 John. We know that because we know ourselves.
Peter did not mean that we will not sin again; he meant that we will not live a life of sin.
That’s not enough though. We’ve armed ourselves with a purpose and that purpose cannot simply be to not sin as much. The purpose of the true believer must be much higher, much nobler than keeping his nose clean.
It is not only to live the rest of our time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men. It is also, praise the Lord, so that we might live for the will of God.
So let’s tie these thoughts together. We are to arm ourselves to do the will of God. We are to arm ourselves with the purpose with which Christ was armed; to do the will of God. We are to arm ourselves with the purpose of a willingness to die, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
So can it be God’s will that we suffer? YES! When that next joker challenges you with the old, ‘A loving God wouldn’t allow anyone to suffer’ line, you tell him (or her) that He would indeed, BECAUSE He is a loving God.
Because suffering in the flesh removes us from sin, and even suffering to death is easier on us than sin ever was. Sin is a hard taskmaster, my friend, and the same one who rejects God because he doesn’t think a loving God would allow suffering is the same one who even as he says it is suffering sin’s wage and is headed toward sin’s goal, which is an eternity of unthinkable suffering.
It is a loving God who calls us to arm ourselves with the one weapon that defeats sin and accomplishes God’s perfect plan; a willingness, a mindset, a steadfast purpose, to suffer in the flesh.
Martin Luther is quoted. I couldn’t locate the source. Listen.
“If we consider the greatness and the glory of the life we shall have when we have risen from the dead, it would not be difficult at all for us to bear the concerns of this world. If I believe the Word, I shall on the Last Day, after the sentence has been pronounced, not only gladly have suffered ordinary temptations, insults, and imprisonment, but I shall also say:
‘O, that I did not throw myself under the feet of all the godless for the sake of the great glory which I now see revealed and which has come to me through the merit of Christ!’”
A FINAL ASSURANCE
Well finally, there is verse 6.
“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”.
There are two ways in which this verse can be taken; either one an encouragement.
One is that Peter is referring to those Christians who have already died under persecution. That as an encouragement to his readers, many of them friends and family of the unjustly killed, he wants them to know that they had the gospel preached to them beforehand so that even though they were unjustly judged by men and put to death, yet they are alive in the spirit and with God.
That is true and it is not a wrong way to apply these statements.
The second way to apply what Peter has said is that in keeping with the theme of suffering and in continuation of what he has just said in verse 5, that He, God, is ready to judge the living and the dead, the gospel therefore goes out to those who are spiritually dead for this purpose, that though their flesh must be judged, through the obedience of faith they may live in the spirit, and this is God’s will.
I personally lean toward this second application.
Believers in Christ, we have been called to take up Christ’s magnificent purpose. Though He was maligned and abused and rejected and crucified, He was obedient to the Father’s will, even to the point of death on a cross (as Paul says in Philippians 2) and as a result of His willingness and the accomplishment of the Father’s will that He suffer, many sons have been brought to glory and the minions of the enemy have been triumphed over through Him.
Even so, we are called to be so changed, and so different from the spiritually dead around us that many of them will be moved to malign and abuse and ridicule and reject us, because they do not understand spiritual things and they cannot understand our disinterest in running with them toward dissipation and silly, sinful living.
Why? So that the magnificent purposes of God can be accomplished in our lives.
Christians, even while they are doing the maligning and ridiculing we need to be telling them the gospel. Because like we, they live in fleshly bodies that are under the curse and the judgment against sin and must die. But some of them, if we are willing to suffer and are faithful to tell them the good news, after being judged in the flesh as men, will yet live in the spirit.
And this is the will of God.
