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Easter Season · Sixth Sunday of Easter · Year A

1 Peter 3:15-18

Ready to Give an Answer

May 10, 2026

Christ's Descent into Limbo, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hans Rottenhammer
Christ's Descent into Limbo, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hans Rottenhammer, 1597Mauritshuis, The Hague
Christ walking into the mouth of hell with the banner of the resurrection, the dead crowding up out of the dark towards him and the fires still burning behind.He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison.Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hans RottenhammerBrueghel painted the landscape and the fires, Rottenhammer the figures, which is how the two of them often worked.Mauritshuis, The HagueThe Mauritshuis, The Hague.Mauritshuis, The Hague
Roman Lectionary
GospelJohn 14:15-21Jn 14:15-21Alt. GospelJohn 17:1-11aJn 17:1-11a
Second Reading1 Pet. 3:15-181 Pt 3:15-18Alt. 2nd Reading1 Pet. 4:13-161 Pt 4:13-16
First ReadingActs 8:5-8, 14-17
Responsorial PsalmPs. 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16+20 (1)Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16+20 (1)

Overview & Insights

“Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15)

The instruction to be ready with a defence uses apologia, a courtroom word, and the accompanying phrase about anyone who demands an account suggests real interrogation rather than casual conversation. Yet the manner prescribed is gentleness and reverence, and the assumption throughout is that the addressees are a suspected minority whose reputation is their only argument. The reading closes on a Christological formula of the kind that seems to have circulated independently of any one letter, “put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (v. 18), a flesh-spirit antithesis close to Romans 1:3-4 and 1 Timothy 3:16. The lectionary stops there, just short of the descent to the spirits in prison (vv. 19-20), which is what that formula introduces. In the Easter season the sequence of suffering and vindication is heard as the pattern the readers were baptized into.

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Commentary

Commentary on 1 Peter 3:13-22Commentary on 1 Pt 3:13-22 Working Preacher (Luther Seminary)

Lutheran commentary on the full unit, including the call to be ready to give a defense for the hope within.

1 Peter 3:13-22 Commentary1 Pt 3:13-22 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed commentary tagged specifically for this Sunday, on Christ's suffering and 'the reason for the hope we have.'

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A Agape Bible Study

Catholic walkthrough of this Sunday's readings including Peter's call to gentle, reverent witness.

The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A Catholic Productions (Dr. Brant Pitre)

Mass Readings Explained episode covering this Sunday's epistle alongside the other readings.

1 Peter 3 Commentary: Submission and Suffering1 Pt 3 Commentary: Submission and Suffering Enduring Word

Full-chapter commentary on suffering for doing good, including verses 15-18.

Background & Word Study

Book of 1 Peter SummaryBook of 1 Pt Summary BibleProject

Overview video on 1 Peter's design and its theme of hope amid suffering.

1 Peter 3 Interlinear1 Pt 3 Interlinear BibleHub

Greek interlinear for the chapter, useful for 'sanctify Christ as Lord' and 'defense' (apologia) in verse 15.

The Church Fathers

Catena on 1 Peter 3Catena on 1 Pt 3 Catena Bible

Patristic comments verse by verse on suffering for righteousness and Christ's example.

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