1 Peter 3:18

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

This verse, and the rest of chapter 3, are complex, so I’m going to look at them in small bits.

Verse eighteen — Peter, in verse 17, stated that it was better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. In verses 18-22 he shows that blessing always follows suffering for well-doing. He says that Christ also suffered for well-doing when He died on the Cross to make a way of salvation for sinful humanity … The word “for” [first usage] is the translation of a Greek conjunction which means “because.” The resurrection of Christ and His consequent glorification in view of His suffering for sinners are presented as proof of the fact that suffering for well-doing on the part of [believers] is also followed by blessing and reward in their lives.

The word “suffered” is not in the best Greek texts, instead, the word “died.” Peter says that Christ’s death, thus His sufferings, were in relation to sin, and that the sufferings of these [believing] Jews were in relation to sin. His sufferings were vicarious. That is, He, the innocent One, died in behalf of the guilty. … The words “just” and “unjust” are not preceded by the definite article in the Greek text, which is indicative of the fact that the writer is emphasizing quality or nature. The idea is, “a just Person in character in behalf of unjust persons in character.”

The word “bring” in the Greek text means literally “to lead to.” It was a technical word used of one who gained an audience at court for another. — Wuest, pages 92-93.

Wuest makes a case that the word “spirit”should not be capitalized because it doesn’t refer to the Holy Spirit but to Jesus’ spirit. He says the phrase should read “having in fact been put to death with respect to the flesh, but made alive with respect to the spirit.” But he also says that the Holy Spirit made Christ alive again, so at most, it’s two ways of looking at the same thing. He goes on …

To make alive Christ’s human spirit presupposes the death of that human spirit. Our Lord on Calvary’s Cross cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The Greek word translated “forsaken” means “to abandon, desert, leave in straits, leave helpless, leave destitute, leave in the lurch, let one down.” The cry was addressed to the two other members of the Triune God. God the Father had abandoned and deserted Him. This is clearly seen by the fact that our Lord asks the question and also in that no answer to our Lord’s question comes from the Father. The fellowship had been broken. Our Lord’s prayer was unanswered. This unanswered prayer was predicted in type in Leviticus 5:11 where an offerer too poor to bring a blood offering could bring the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour, just enough to bake one day’s supply of bread, the giving up of the flour typifying the giving up of life, thus pointing to our Lord’s death. But he was forbidden to include frankincense with the flour. Frankincense is a type of answered prayer. Flour without frankincense speaks of our Lord’s death and His unanswered prayer.

[Christ was also forsaken by the Holy Spirit.] This is predicted in type in Leviticus 5:11 where the offerer is forbidden to include oil in the flour. Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit. No oil in the flour speaks of the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit’s sustaining presence while our Lord was suffering on the Cross. He ceased keeping alive in divine life the human spirit of our Lord.

Psalm 22 … [was] uttered on the Cross by our Lord. In verses 1-13, our Lord describes His heart sufferings, in verses 14-18, His physical sufferings. In verses 19-31 we have His prayer for resurrection. It was while our Lord was uttering the words found in verses 1-18 that His human spirit was devoid of the life-giving ministry of the Holy Spirit. And this latter was a matter of hours, for our Lord cried out to God in the day time, 9-12 o’clock in the morning, and in the night season, 12-3 in the afternoon, and God the Father would not hear Him.

But then when He prayed that He might be raised from the dead, the Holy Spirit had already returned to make alive again His human spirit, for that prayer was answered. Sin had been paid for. The atonement was looked upon as complete. The fellowship between God the Father and God the Son was restored before the Son died on the Cross. This is what Peter has reference to when he says, “but made alive with reference to the spirit.” — Wuest, page 96-97.