1 Peter 3:18 - Sufficient

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the spirit…”

The sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice is the bedrock of the Christian faith. Christ died for all sins, once and for all – that is all that needed to be done. Which is why the Apostle Paul got so angry when the churches began to believe that to be saved, they had to believe in Jesus AND be circumcised (discussed in Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, among others).

To add circumcision, or anything else, to the sacrifice of Christ means that His death and resurrection wasn’t enough to save. Paul vigorously defended against that teaching, as should we. Which leads to a question: Is there anything that you feel is necessary to add to the sacrifice of Christ for your salvation?

Are you sure? What about church attendance, bible reading, tithing, helping the poor, praying… anything at all? Whether we articulate the thought or not, we often feel we must do something to earn God’s favor. The things “we do for God” – going to church, reading the bible, and sharing our faith – are often ways we try to appease God instead of being our response to the love He has already offered us.

It’s a very human need, to be good enough to merit at least a little bit of God’s good graces. But we cannot be good enough, we cannot earn the smallest mote of God’s favor – salvation is a free gift of God because that is the only way salvation can happen. God must give it because we cannot earn it. That is the freedom of Christ – we are wholly accepted because of Him! If we could understand that – really understand it – it would revolutionize our lives…

On to the final statement in this verse…The Romans killed Jesus’ body, but He lived on in the spirit and by the spirit. My grandmother gave me the best picture of the difference between body and spirit. We were eating dinner one evening several years ago and she said,

“You know, I guess it really is our spirit that keeps on living because while my body is old and breaking down; I still feel like I’ve always felt on the inside.”

Even though she is old, she’s 92 now, her spirit, the essence of who she is hasn’t aged – she feels the same as she has always felt. That comment has always stuck with me…

Our spirits are eternal and our bodies are temporary. These bodies we walk around in are temporary shelters that will wear out one day. But our spirit will live on, in eternity with Christ if you believe in Him, in eternity without Christ if you don’t.

Everything that Jesus went through – the arrest, the mock trial, the beatings, the mocking, the crucifixion – were to bring you and me to God. He did the work already – it is our job to believe it and obey Him. When was the last time you thanked God for sending His son to die for your sins? Today might be a good time for that…as is every day.