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"All Better"

     For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,  and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (I Peter 3:17-22)

          The key to this passage is not Christ’s preaching to imprisoned spirits. But we are so easily side-tracked. I’m not going to suggest that this didn’t happen, but since this seems to be the only passage that refers to it, it’s wise to avoid taking the speculation too far. According to one source, the passage does not refer to Jesus going to Hell and preaching to the folks there. It refers to Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, using Noah to preach to the people for the 120 years before the flood. Because it is only mentioned here and isn’t clear, we simply should not make a major doctrinal claim out of that aspect of what’s said.

          The key to this passage is that suffering for doin good is better than suffering for doing bad.  People suffer. Even Jesus suffered. Salvation comes through suffering – through the flood, through the Red Sea (being pursued by enemies.)  through the cross. This is why we do no favors to a person by presenting the Gospel as a solution to suffering. It limits the suffering. It gives us someone to walk through the suffering with us, but it does not make everything magically “all better.”

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