Alive in Spirit

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF PETER

ALIVE IN SPIRIT

1 Peter 4:1-6

4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do — living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

NIV

Because Jesus suffered in his body, we should arm ourselves with the same attitude. That is the attitude that we are done with sin. Because Jesus died on that cross, suffering the worse type of pain and humiliation without saying a word against those who caused his death, in fact, he forgave them, for indeed they did not really know they were fulfilling the will of God. They thought they were fulfilling their own evil plot, yet they were doing the will of God, bringing salvation to the word. However, because Jesus took all our sin upon himself, and put it to death, then we too should put sin to death in our attitude. We may not be able to be completely free of sin in our body, but in our attitude, in our spirit, we need to put it to death. That is sin is not our desire, it is not our plan, nor our way of life. We do not live the rest of our earthy life for the purpose of our wicked human desires, but we live the remaining years of our life for the purpose of doing the will of God. It is all too true that we spent enough time living as the pagans choose to live. We were not always living for God, but we lived for our own carnal nature, doing whatever felt good. We had no conscience and we were not conscious of living in sin for we had no care for or about God. However, as we now stand forgiven of all our sin, righteous in the sight of God, we have taken on the attitude that sin is dead in us, and we live for the will of God. Those who still live in a sinful manner, not caring for or about God think we are a tad bit strange. Not those who we live with on a daily basis, for they know our life, they see our faith, and in some respect, accept that we are different. It is those who do not know us, the haters of God, their wicked and perverse generation who live for their wicked pursuits, they hate what we stand for. They do not understand why we do not plunge into anarchy or other human passions of their design. They heap abuse on us because we will not join in their cause of personal desires. However, make no mistake all mankind will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Those who are alive in their spirits, and those who are dead in their spirits, will stand judged. Here again, we have one of those statements which is difficult to find the meaning. Peter says that the gospel was preached to those who are now dead. Does he mean those dead in sin, or those who are dead in the grave? Does that fit with Jesus going to preach to those in prison? Again, it seems strange that only some people who were in the grave while Peter wrote this letter would get that second chance at salvation. So then would the best way to see this as the gospel has been and is preached to all who are dead in sin so that no man is without excuse, for what may be known about God is plain to them through that which is created. All of creation speaks of Christ, for nothing was made that was not made through Him. Therefore all who are dead have had the gospel preached to them, so when all stand before God, we all will be judged. The sheep and the goats. All believers will be invited into the peace of God, paradise. We will hear those words, enter in my faithful servant. But those who remained dead in their sins, will not be invited in, but rather cast out into utter darkness in the lake of burning sulfur. So let us not be judged according to men, but as we live in accordance to God in our spirit.