1Pe 3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
One of the shortest and simplest, and yet one of the richest summaries given in the New Testament of the meaning of the Cross of Jesus.
Christ died for sins. However, once for all is clearly a contrast with the Old Testament yearly sacrifice on the Day of Atonement and declares the complete sufficiency of Christ’s death. The substitutionary nature of Christ’s death is indicated by the phrase the righteous for the unrighteous. Christ, the “righteous One, uniquely qualified to die as the substitute for the “unrighteous ones”. The divine purpose for Christ’s sacrificial death was man’s reconciliation, to bring people to God.
Peter concluded his summary of Christ’s redemptive work by referring to His resurrection. Though Christ was put to death in the body, He was made alive by the Spirit.
