1 Peter 3:18-20 For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh… "Who is gone into heaven." It is the correction of all that is carnal and all that is superstitious in our religion. It is the Christian application of "God is spirit." It bids us not to rest in forms; not to multiply services as services, not to rest in sacraments as sacraments, but to look through all to One who is not here, but ascended; and to be sought therefore as one deeply sympathising with human infirmity, but exercising that sympathy not in weak indulgence but in transforming strength. "Who is gone into heaven," and therefore can "fill all things." Such is St. Paul's argument in his Epistle to the Ephesians. He reminds us that the Saviour Himself, remaining below, must have been confined by earth's conditions. It is ascension which makes Him the Omnipresent. "Gone into heaven." There then seek Him, There, when you have found Him, with Him dwell. (Dean Vaughan.). Parallel Verses KJV: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: |
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