Week 5 - 1 Peter 4:1-11 - Today!

The ordo salutis starts with election, calling, and . . . regeneration.  It should not be any surprise then that Jesus Christ would descend into Hades (1 Peter 3:18-20), after having completed the sacrifice that would make salvation possible, to evangelize the dead (1 Peter 4:6).  That is how it always works!

Paul wrote of God waiting patiently for that sacrifice, for without it and without  that patience, we would all be dammed. 

Romans 9:22-23

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

Job too speaks of this patience, this waiting until God’s wrath has passed.

Job 14:13-15

Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,

    that you would conceal me until your wrath be past,

    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

If a man dies, shall he live again?

    All the days of my service I would wait,

    till my renewal should come.

You would call, and I would answer you;

    you would long for the work of your hands.

Elihu, Job’s fourth friend (yes fourth!) rebuked Job and explained that it is God’s choice who are redeemed by giving a clear description of the ordo salutis.

Job 33:22-28

His soul draws near the pit,

    and his life to those who bring death.

If there be for him an angel,

    a mediator, one of the thousand,

    to declare to man what is right for him,

and he is merciful to him, and says,

    ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;

    I have found a ransom;

let his flesh become fresh with youth;

    let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;

then man prays to God, and he accepts him;

    he sees his face with a shout of joy,

and he restores to man his righteousness.

    He sings before men and says:

‘I sinned and perverted what was right,

    and it was not repaid to me.

He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit,

    and my life shall look upon the light.’

In stark contrast to this patience are the words of Jesus to the thief on the cross.

Luke 23:42-43
And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The thief would not have to wait!  That thief would descend with Christ into Sheol (šᵊ'ôl in Hebrew) or Hades (hadēs in Greek).  It is said in the Greek renditions of the Apostle’s creed, that “Κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα” or “He descended into the lowest parts”.  This is spoken in the superlative (“lowest” parts) meaning Hades, unlike Ephesians 4:9, where it is merely spoken comparatively (“lower” parts) meaning earth.   

There the thief watched as Jesus Christ called those who are His and led them into Paradise (paradeisos in Greek) to await the resurrection.  By the time of Jesus, this was called Abraham’s side (Luke 16:22-23).

No, Jesus Christ did not empty Hades, but He gave the Gospel call to all those that are His and led them out the door!

No, Jesus Christ was not punished or enter Hell or Gehenna (geenna).

No, the thief did not experience resurrection, which must wait for the new Heaven (ouranos) and the New Earth.

Week 4 - 1 Peter 3:8-22 - Our Defense

Peter instructs us that we should have a ready defense for our faith, while our actions should never need to be defended.

From my youth, the defense for my faith has been creation, more specifically, life.  While our solar system and as far as we can tell, the universe is filled with inanimate planets, moons, asteroids, and comets, life appears to be unique to the Earth.  While some may take probabilistic offense at that statement and argue that with the number of galaxies and planets out there, there must be life somewhere else, there is, as yet, no signs of life found anywhere else.

The probabilistic argument for spontaneous life falls flat because the mechanism that provide those opportunities, is reproduction and if you study reproduction, you will find both mind-blowing complexity and order.  It is filled with mechanisms to both produce variety and but also prevent it from deviating from the pattern.  Generations of fruit flies are still fruit flies.  Generations of bacteria are still bacteria.

And when you look deeply at something as small as bacteria you don’t see evidence of random acts, you see the evidence of design.  Something as small as a single-celled bacterium was given a tail (flagella) that allows it to move toward food and away from danger.  

Recently, on the YouTube channel “Smarter Every Day”, Destin Sandlin met with the scientists who explored the intricacies of its design (See Episode 300) and documented it down to the molecular level.  it is hard to conclude anything else than it was designed at the hand of the Creator.