Does 1 Peter 3:18 teach that God punished Jesus?

We have been pursuing our Doctrinal Rethink for some time now. In the process of engaging it we have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern.

Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched? How did we arrive at our doctrines?

Today we revisit a topic we have considered before, the punishment of Jesus for our sins. The doctrine that Jesus was punished is is part of the tripartite reformist view of Jesus' sacrificial death: Penal Substitutionary Atonement. That is, according to PSA Jesus 

• was punished by the Father (P)
• died in our place, to (S)
• atone for our sins (A)

Frankly, we find the biblical defenses of these doctrines to be surprisingly weak, In fact, we would say that none of these concepts are taught in the Bible. We realize this is controversial. In fact, some consider it a dividing line between orthodoxy and heresy. Such characterizations are unfortunate, especially since we believe there is ample reason to question these doctrines. Again we refer the reader to our discussion.
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First, the passage in question:

1Pe. 3:17-18 It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

The reason we are revisiting this is because a self-styled "Bible teacher" named Michelle Lesley referenced this Scripture, and we have not considered it before in this context. She tells us her premise:

The gift God offers you is that, on the cross, Christ took the punishment you deserve for your sin. He will take away your sin and give you His perfect standing before God in exchange.

She then offers 1 Peter 3:18 to document her premise:

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.

So this author believes Jesus was punished instead of us, which of course means that Jesus took the Father's wrath upon himself, which means the Father punished Jesus.

Our first observation is that verse 18 begins with a conjunction "for" (hoti), which connects verse 18 to the previous thought in verse 17:

It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

So Jesus suffered for doing good; that is, His work on the cross was a good work. Peter's point that Jesus suffered for doing good is to illustrate that is is also better for us to do good even though we might suffer.

Second, let's look at one of the key words. "Suffered" is paschó, which means,

1. in a bad sense, of misfortunes, to suffer, to undergo evils, to be afflicted

There is no sense in the Greek that suggests that the Father must be the punisher. Indeed, Jesus experienced suffering at the hands of men:

Lk. 9:22, 44 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer [paschó] many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.... 44 Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.”

This helps clarify the issue. The suffering Jesus experienced was the abuse, the scourging, the crucifixion, and the heavy weight of willingly bearing the sins of man to His death. This suffering was not inflicted by the Father. The Father did not punish Jesus.

"For" ("for the unrighteous") is huper: 

2. ...for one's safety, for one's advantage or benefit (one who does a thing for another, is conceived of as standing or bending 'over' the one whom he would shield or defend...

So Jesus underwent evils perpetrated by evil men, and Him experiencing this evil went to our benefit. He went through this awful experience because it was necessary to open a way of access to the Father. His sacrifice on the cross did this.

Let's provide our own more literal translation of 1 Peter 3:17-18:

It is more excellent to experience evils and misfortunes and afflictions in accordance to the will of God, rather than for causing harm or doing sin. This is because Christ also experienced evils and misfortunes and afflictions, once for the sins of all; the righteous [one] for the sake of the benefit of the unrighteous [ones], so that he opens a way of access to bring you to God.

 Our conclusion is that there is nothing here that would indicate that Jesus received our punishment.