1 Peter 3:8-22
- What are the characteristics of believers listed in 1 Peter 3:18? Which of these characteristics do you find are most difficult/easiest to live out when under stress?
- What instructions are given to “whoever would love life and see good days”? (1 Peter 3:10)
- In what way are you blessed “even if you should suffer for what is right”? (1 Peter 3:14)?
- What did Peter urge believers to do in the face of suffering (1 Peter 3:15)? What does this mean? How does one do this? What is “the reason for the hope that you have”?
- When was the last time you had an opportunity to talk about your faith with a nonbeliever? What reasons did you give? Looking back what were the easiest and most difficult aspects of the experience for you?
- 1 Peter 3:18 is the key verse in this section. In what ways does the work of Christ make all the things listed 1 Peter 3:8-17 possible for the believer?
- Peter stresses that Christ’s suffering led to exaltation (1 Peter 3:22). How does Peter say believers should respond to this? (See Also: Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20-21; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3-9; Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 12:2)
- This passage explains that those who persecute the people of God will not have the last laugh. A day of judgment and perfect justice approaches. In what ways should this truth motivate believers? In what ways can you model God’s mercy as a way of pointing people to Christ before it is too late? (See also: Revelation 20:11-15; Romans 3:19; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10)
The sermon will not touch on the issue of Christ’s decent into Hell that is found in 1 Peter 3:19-22. To learn more about how to understand this passage please consider what the Lutheran Confessions say about it HERE. The WELS web site addresses the issues raised by this text HERE.
