prosago<\/em> has technical legal meaning in classical Greek, \u201cwhere it can mean the bringing of a person before a tribunal, or the presentation of a person at a royal court\u201d (135). This usage is evident in New Testament passages where \u201cChrist brings Christians to God\u2019s merciful judgment seat, or, better, to the throne of the divine King\u201d (135).<\/p>\nThe \u201cmore interesting\u201d usage is found in both classical Greek and the LXX, where the verb \u201ccan mean the ritual act of bringing sacrifice to God\u201d or \u201cthe consecration of persons to the ritual service of God.\u201d The Vulgate read Peter thus: ut nos offerret Deo<\/em>. And Dalton thinks this fits Peter\u2019s theology. He has already described the church as a royal priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices (2:5) and thus \u201cit is quite possible that in the prosagage<\/em> of 3:18 we have an implicit reference to the consecration of the Christian priesthood\u201d (135). Jesus offered Himself as sacrifice not so we can avoid being sacrifices. He offered Himself to bring us to God as sacrifices.<\/p>\nDalton connects this with Peter\u2019s mysterious and controverted statement about Jesus\u2019 proclamation to the spirits. He argues that the opening relative clause of verse 18 (\u201cin which\u201d) refers to the pneumati<\/em> of the previous verse: He died in the realm of flesh, was raised in the realm of Spirit, and in that realm made proclamation. Or, more straightforwardly: He makes proclamation by the same Spirit who made Him live (zoopoieo<\/em>). That means that the proclamation to the spirits is a post-resurrection event. Jesus had to die in flesh before He could proclaim to the spirits. Dalton summarizes the point: \u201cChrist suffered to bring us to God, and the way he brought us to God was by being put to death in the flesh, and then brought to life in the spirit. The text continues in the next verse: \u2018and in this spirit he went and made proclamation. . . .\u2019 We are dealing with two aspects of Christ\u2019s saving \u2018story.\u2019 By his death and resurrection he brought us to God, and also as risen Lord, he proclaimed to the spirits what he had done\u201d (148). <\/p>\nThough Dalton does not quite say it, the import is that Jesus\u2019 proclamation in the Spirit includes the act of \u201cbringing\u201d or offering us to God. He makes proclamation to the spirits (in part) by offering us to God as sacrifices, righteous sacrifices. As Dalton says, the proclamation to the disobedient spirits (3:19-20) corresponds to the subjection of (implicitly) hostile spirits (3:22). Jesus rebukes the evil spirits by His resurrection and by offering us to the Father in His death and resurrection. The content of the proclamation is that \u201cJesus is Lord\u201d (159), and His Lordship is demonstrated in His consecration of a priestly people.<\/p>\n
Dalton notes the triple parallel implicit in the passage. In the immediate context, Christians are being attacked by persecutors; in the flood story, Noah was a preacher of righteousness mocked by his sinful contemporaries; in the gospel events, Jesus triumphs over evil spirits (159). We might press the analogy: Peter\u2019s readers can be confident in fact of persecution because Jesus triumphed over spirits, just as Noah was delivered from his adversaries. Or, more precisely, because Jesus died and rose to offer us to God, our suffering is caught up into Jesus\u2019 triumphant proclamation to the spirits.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter tells us that Jesus was the \u201cjust\u201d man who suffered for the sins of the \u201cunjust,\u201d and that the purpose of this suffering was to \u201cbring us to God.\u201d William Dalton (Christ\u2019s Proclamation to the Spirits) points out that the verb prosago has technical legal meaning in classical Greek, \u201cwhere it can mean the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-1-peter"],"yoast_head":"\n
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