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Easter Season · Sixth Sunday of Easter · Year A

1 Peter 3:13-22

Christ Suffered Once for Sins

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 went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey.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
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelJohn 14:15-21Jn 14:15-21
Epistle1 Pet. 3:13-221 Pt 3:13-22
Old TestamentActs 17:22-31
PsalterPs. 66:8-20Ps 66:8-20

Overview & Insights

“Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous.” (1 Peter 3:18)

The paragraph begins with a rhetorical question about who can harm those zealous for good, then qualifies it at once by allowing that suffering may come anyway. Verses 14-15 are a close reworking of Isaiah 8:12-13, where the prophet is told not to fear what the people fear but to regard the Lord of hosts as holy, with the Lord of that oracle becoming Christ here. The second half of the reading contains the passage that has generated more debate than any comparable few verses in the New Testament. The proclamation to the spirits in prison who were disobedient in the days of Noah has been read as preaching to the dead and, on many accounts more probably, as an announcement of victory to the rebellious angels of Genesis 6:1-4 in the idiom of 1 Enoch. Baptism is then set as the antitype of the flood water, saving not by washing but as an appeal to God for a good conscience.

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Commentary

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

Lutheran academic commentary on suffering for doing right and giving a reason for hope.

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

Verse-by-verse evangelical commentary on the chapter.

1 Peter 3:13-22 Commentary1 Pt 3:13-22 Commentary Precept Austin

Detailed word-study commentary compiling multiple conservative scholars.

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

Catholic walkthrough of this Sunday's Mass readings, including 1 Peter 3.

1 Peter 3:13 Commentaries1 Pt 3:13 Commentaries BibleHub

Collected classic commentaries on the verse.

Background & Word Study

1 Peter 3:13 Interlinear1 Pt 3:13 Interlinear BibleHub

Greek interlinear for the opening of the passage.

The Church Fathers

1 Peter 3 - Catena1 Pt 3 - Catena Catena Bible

Patristic comments including on the descent to the spirits in prison.

Study Hub

1 Peter 3 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary1 Pt 3 - Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary StudyLight

Index of verse-by-verse commentaries for the chapter.

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