Changed Lives Confuses Others

Charles Wendell Colson, commonly known as Chuck Colson, was an attorney and political advisor for American President Richard Nixon. He was one of the men involved in the Watergate scandal that led to the president’s resignation. Colson was tried and imprisoned for seven months for obstruction of justice. In the same years, Colson confessed to being an evangelical Christian who believed in Jesus Christ as Lord. Media and his enemies thought he was saying that to escape a prison sentence. Colson served his prison sentence and started two significant prison ministries: Prison Fellowship and Prison Fellowship International.

When people return to God and drastically change their lives, others find it odd and confusing. They even resort to accusing and insulting the Christians as if they had lost their minds. Peter’s audience faced the same.

“Sufficient is your former time doing the will of the Gentiles – walking in ungodliness, desires, drunkenness, carousing, drinking, and ungodly idolatries. Seeing you not running with them in these debaucheries and excessive living, they consider you as strangers and blasphemy against you.” (1 Pet 4:3–4)

Those Hebrews had left their uniqueness as God’s covenantal people and lived like the Gentile nations around them – in all kinds of sinfulness. But accepting Jesus as their Messiah changed their lifestyles. They no longer partied or joined in parties. Seeing their changed lives, their once friends found them as strangers and blasphemed them, i.e., spoke ill of them.

Peter, however, saw that their former lifestyle and their time in sinfulness were sufficient, a rare sense of humor. The Lord Jesus had taught him that he shouldn’t worry about problems that were yet to come because each day had “sufficient” problems of their own (Matt 6:34). Similarly, Peter thought their past sinfulness was sufficient; they didn’t have to return to it or do more of it!

Their blasphemers, however,

“must give an account to him who’s ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel was preached to the dead so although they might be judged in the flesh by humans, they might live by the Spirit according to God.” (1 Pet 3:5–6)

Connecting this verse with 3:19–20, some scholars think Jesus, during his burial, went and preached the gospel to the dead imprisoned people. Most likely, Peter meant the Christians who had died. They, too, like the present living Christians, faced insults from others (i.e., judged in their flesh by humans), but God made them live by the power of the Spirit, just like Jesus was put to death by humans and made alive by God through the Spirit (3:18).

While Christians are made alive, the blasphemers must give an account to God. What will that account be, Peter didn't expand.

When we become Christians, our former friends find it difficult to understand our changed lives. We no longer party with them, join in their mockery of others, get drunk, and do sinful and shameful acts. Some accuse us as demon-possessed or “got religious.” Some of us lose our spouses, families, jobs, and livelihoods. Unbelievers cannot understand us when our lives change so drastically and suddenly. They resort to blasphemy, saying bad things about us. But we shouldn’t fear people because God makes us alive by his Spirit, and that’s what matters.