1 Peter 3

Jehovah

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 1 Peter 3:12

Peter quotes Psalm 34, where 'the Lord' is Jehovah, the premortal Christ, who watches over the righteous and hears their prayers.

How we know: the chapter heading names Him

• quotes Psalm 34:15-16 — 'The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry'

The Lord God

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 1 Peter 3:15

Peter adapts Isaiah's 'Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself', the same passage he applied to Christ in 2:8, and asks the Saints to hold the Lord sacred in their hearts, ready to explain their hope.

How we know: the chapter heading names Him

• alludes to Isaiah 8:13 — 'Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear'

Christ

Christ — the Anointed One

Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 1 Peter 3:16

A disciple's good way of life is lived 'in Christ', in union with Him.

How we know: the verse itself names Him · the chapter heading names Him

The Atonement

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: 1 Peter 3:18

Christ, the sinless one, suffered once for all for sinners so He could bring us back to God. He died in body but lived on in spirit, and rose again.

How we know: the verse itself names Him · the chapter heading names Him · a footnote points to Him · a Church study aid lists it

• the same event in 2 Nephi 2:8 — the Messiah 'layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit'
• the same title in James 5:6 — 'the just' who was killed

Christ's Ministry in the Spirit World

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 1 Peter 3:19–20

Between His death and Resurrection, Christ went to the spirit world so the gospel could be taught even to those who rejected it in Noah's day. President Joseph F. Smith's vision in D&C 138 came while he pondered this verse and explains that the Lord organized righteous messengers to carry the gospel to them.

How we know: the chapter heading names Him · a Church study aid lists it

• quoted by D&C 138:8-9 — President Joseph F. Smith reads and quotes 1 Peter 3:18-20
• interpreted by D&C 138:29-30 — the Lord did not go in person among the wicked but organized His forces to preach to them
• fulfils Moses 7:38-39 — a prison prepared for those destroyed in the Flood, who suffer until the Lord's Chosen returns to the Father

Noah's Ark

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 1 Peter 3:20–21

Peter calls Noah's ark saving eight people through the Flood a 'like figure' of baptism. As the ark carried Noah through the waters to a new world, baptism brings us through the water into new life, and it saves only because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

How we know: the verse itself names Him · the chapter heading names Him · a Church study aid lists it

• interprets Genesis 7:23 — Noah and those with him in the ark alone survived the waters
• alludes to Romans 6:4 — buried with Him by baptism, raised like Christ from the dead

Ascension and Exaltation

Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. 1 Peter 3:22

The risen Jesus ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, ruling over every angel and power.

How we know: the chapter heading names Him · a Church study aid lists it

• fulfils Psalm 110:1 — 'Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool'
• the same event in Acts 1:9-11 — Jesus taken up into heaven
• the same event in Ephesians 1:20-22 — set at the Father's right hand, all things put under His feet