Christ Suffering for Sins.
I. Observe that St. Peter says, "Christ suffered for sins" not merely suffered, but suffered for us that is, clearly for our sins, for the sins of mankind. These were, in some way, the cause of His sufferings. If the sins had not been, His sufferings had not been. However strange the connection may seem, a connection undoubtedly there is between the sins which have been committed from the time of Adam until now and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross under Pontius Pilate. Perhaps the connection between the sins of mankind and the sufferings of Christ is made more striking by the word "once." Christ hath oncesuffered for sins. Sins may be committed often, nay, are being committed continually, but Christ died once and for all; that one event stands by itself; it is unique in the world's history; it can never be repeated; it need never be repeated.
II. A wonderful efficacy is attributed to Christ's sufferings. We are accounted righteous for the merits of Christ, and not for any merits of our own. Teacher and Example was Christ; but He was something more than this. Our sense of need and infirmity teaches us that, in order to be the Physician of souls, in order to supply a cure for the great universal disease of humanity, Christ must be something different from, and entirely beyond, a Teacher and Example. We want to hear of something concerning pardon of sins, something concerning reconciliation, something concerning being brought back to God. And this the Apostles preached in the name of their Lord; peace through the blood of His cross was their message, a propitiation for sin, a ransom from slavery, salvation for the lost, life for the dead this was what they had to announce as the Gospel for mankind.
Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons,vol. v., p. 305.
References: 1 Peter 3:18. Homilist,2nd series, vol. ii., p. 416; F. Wagstaff, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 179; Preacher'sMonthly,vol. vii., p. 369; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. v., p. 29. 1 Peter 3:18-20. Ibid.,vol. vii., p. 114.