UTN uW Translation Notes:

1 Peter 3 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

1. How believers should act toward other people (2:11–3:12)
2. How believers should endure suffering (3:13–4:6)

Some translations set each line of poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to make it easier to read. The ULT does this with the poetry that is quoted from the Old Testament in 3:10–12.

Translation Issues in This Chapter

“the spirits in prison”

3:19 states that Jesus went and proclaimed to “the spirits in prison,” but does not mention what Jesus proclaimed or who those spirits are. 3:20 states that these spirits disobeyed God during the time of Noah. Many scholars think that this means one of the following three meanings, each of which will be discussed in the notes for verses 19 and 20: (1) The spirits are demons who were imprisoned by God because they did something evil during Noah’s time (See: 2 Peter 2:4–5; Jude 6–7; Genesis 6:1–4). 3:19 then means that Jesus went to the place where they are imprisoned and proclaimed his victory to them at some time between his death on the cross and his return to heaven. (2) The spirits are sinful human beings who died during the flood in Noah’s time, and the prison is the realm of the dead. 3:19 then means that Jesus went to hell and proclaimed his victory to those dead people there at some time between his death and resurrection. (3) The spirits are sinful human beings who died during the flood in Noah’s time, but 3:19 refers to the pre-incarnate form of Jesus indirectly preaching the gospel to them through the preaching of Noah.

“Baptism now saves you”

In 3:20 Peter refers to the story of God rescuing Noah and his family from the flood “through water.” Then in 3:21 he states that the water is an “antitype” for baptism, which is a Christian ritual by which a person publicly identifies as a Christian. Then Peter makes the statement that baptism “now saves you.” Since the New Testament authors repeatedly state that God alone saves people and that no one can do any work to be saved, Peter’s statement cannot mean that a person can be saved by being baptized. Rather, Peter uses the word “baptism” to refer to the faith in Jesus that a person publicly confesses when that person is baptized. Peter indicates later in 3:21 that he is not referring to water baptism, which he describes as “the removal of dirt from the flesh.” Peter further states that the baptism he is referring to saves “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” which means that a person is saved by faith in Jesus, because Jesus rose from the dead.