Bible Strands
1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered 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 in the Spirit,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Peter writes to believers in Asia Minor enduring unjust suffering; v.17 has just affirmed that suffering for doing good is better than for doing evil, and this verse grounds that claim in Christ's own work.
The words — ἅπαξ (hapax), "once," is the hinge: it marks Christ's suffering as a single, non-repeatable event rather than a recurring pattern.
The thread — Hebrews 9:26–28 develops the same "once" motif (appeared once to bear sin, offered once for many); 2 Corinthians 5:21 supplies the substitutionary logic (the sinless made sin for us).
Why it lands — It asks the reader to locate their own suffering under Christ's once-for-all act, which is what "brings you to God" — not their endurance itself, but the finished work behind it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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:
Cross-references
- Hebrews 9:28 so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
- Hebrews 9:26 Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- 1 Peter 4:6 That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
- Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- Romans 5:6 For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
- 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
- Romans 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.
- Romans 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,