who disobeyed long ago
This phrase refers to those who lived in the time before the flood, specifically the generation that was characterized by widespread wickedness and rebellion against God. The Greek word for "disobeyed" is "ἀπειθέω" (apeitheō), which implies a willful refusal to be persuaded or to comply with divine instruction. This disobedience highlights the moral decay and spiritual blindness prevalent in that era, serving as a warning to future generations about the consequences of turning away from God.

when God waited patiently
The patience of God is a recurring theme throughout Scripture, demonstrating His longsuffering nature and desire for repentance rather than judgment. The Greek word "μακροθυμία" (makrothymia) is used here, indicating a long-suffering endurance. This patience is not passive but active, as God provides opportunities for repentance and salvation. It underscores His merciful character, even in the face of human rebellion.

in the days of Noah
This phrase situates the narrative in a specific historical context, referring to the time period described in Genesis 6-9. Noah is a pivotal figure, known for his righteousness and obedience amidst a corrupt generation. The "days of Noah" symbolize a time of impending judgment but also of divine grace, as God provided a means of salvation through the ark. This period serves as a typological foreshadowing of the final judgment and the salvation offered through Christ.

while the ark was being built
The construction of the ark was a tangible expression of faith and obedience. The Greek word for "ark" is "κιβωτός" (kibōtos), which denotes a vessel or chest. The building of the ark, as described in Genesis, was a lengthy process, during which Noah preached righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). This period was marked by both divine patience and human perseverance, illustrating the partnership between God’s provision and human response.

In the ark a few people, only eight souls
The specificity of "eight souls" emphasizes the remnant theme prevalent in Scripture. The Greek word for "souls" is "ψυχαί" (psychai), referring to the entirety of a person. This small number highlights the scarcity of righteousness in Noah's time and serves as a reminder of the narrow path to salvation. It underscores the importance of faith and obedience in the face of widespread unbelief.

were saved through water
The phrase "saved through water" is rich with typological significance. The Greek word "διὰ" (dia) indicates the means by which salvation was accomplished. Water, which brought judgment upon the earth, simultaneously became the means of deliverance for Noah and his family. This duality prefigures Christian baptism, where water symbolizes both death to sin and new life in Christ (Romans 6:4). It serves as a powerful reminder of God’s ability to use elements of judgment as instruments of salvation.

(20) Which sometime were disobedient.--The absence of the definite article here in the Greek (contrary to St. Peter's usage in participial sentences--e.g., 1Peter 1:5; 1Peter 1:7; 1Peter 1:10; 1Peter 1:17) makes it possible to think that the spirits mentioned in this verse are not co-extensive with those in prison. It is, literally, to men who once upon a time were disobedient. Our Lord preached to the whole class of spirits in prison, of all times and races; and then, to magnify the bounty of this act, St. Peter instances a particular group of them, who were the most marked criminals of any, and whose case suggested a useful application. He has a reason for using the word "disobedient." It would not describe all sinners, but those who had heard and been convinced by the word of God, but refused to accept it. (See Note on 1Peter 3:2.) This was the case with those to whom Noah preached (2Peter 2:5); and, in spite of their "disobedience," Christ, after His innocent and sacrificial death, went in spirit and preached a gospel to them. Now, let it be recollected that St. Peter's object through the whole of this section is to encourage the Hebrew Christians to be ready, through a good conscience, for a brave martyrdom, if need be. They are to think how their deaths, like Christ's, may bring their persecutors to God. Nay--he seems to imply--their very spirits going forth into the world of spirits may conceivably carry a gospel of some kind even to Hebrew relatives who have passed away, like those Antediluvians, in the "disobedience" which was characteristic of the Jews. St. Clement of Alexandria, who derives the notion from the Shepherd of Hermas, gives his belief that the Apostles also, when they died, preached to those who had died before them; and though there is little that throws light on our occupation in the intermediate state, it can hardly be pronounced impossible for some spirits to be allowed to follow Christ's example there by preaching to spirits in prison. Many expositors, afraid of the consequences of admitting that there could be a possible gospel for men who died impenitent, have supposed that the imprisoned spirits to whom Christ went were the less wicked people destroyed by the Flood; others that they were those who had some motions of penitence when the rain began to fall; but these ideas are foreign to the text, which only tells us that they "were disobedient," and adds nothing to extenuate their crime. They are a typical instance of men who died "as evil doers" (1Peter 3:17). . . . Verse 20. - Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. Omit the word "once" (ἅπαξ), which is without authority. Wherein; literally, into which; they were saved by entering into it. The last words may mean, "they were carried safely through the water," or, "they were saved by water;" that is, the water bore up the ark (Genesis 7:17, 18). The argument of ver. 21 makes the second interpretation the more probable. The verse now before us limits the area of the Lord's preaching: without it we might have supposed that he preached to the whole multitude of the dead, or at least to all the ungodly dead whose spirits were in prison. Why does St. Peter specify the generation that was swept away by the Flood? Did they need the preaching of the Christ more than other sinful souls? or was there any special reason why that grace should be vouchsafed to them rather than to others? The fact must have been revealed to the apostle; but evidently we are in the presence of a mystery into which we can see only a little way. Those antediluvians were a conspicuous instance of men who suffered for evil doing (see ver. 17); as Christ is the transcendent Example of one who suffered for well-doing. It is better to suffer with him than with them: they are in prison. His chosen are with him in Paradise. But St. Peter cannot rest in the contemplation of the Lord's death as an example; he must pass on to the deeper, the more mysterious aspects of that most stupendous or' events. The Lord suffered concerning sins, for the sake of unrighteous men; not only did he die for them, he did not rest from his holy work even while his sacred body lay in the grave; he went and preached to some whose sins had been most notorious, and most signally punished. The judgment had been one of unexampled awfulness; eight souls only were saved in the ark, many thousands perished. It may be that St. Peter mentions the fewness of the saved to indicate one reason for this gracious visit. It seems that the awful destruction of the Deluge had made a deep impression upon his mind; he mentions it twice in his Second Epistle (2 Peter 2:5; 3:6); he saw in it a solemn anticipation of the last tremendous judgment. Doubtless he remembered well how the Lord, in his great prophetic discourse upon the Mount of Olives, had compared the days of Noah to the coming of the Son of man (Matthew 24:37-39); those words seem to give a special character to the Deluge, separating it from other lesser judgments, and investing it with a peculiar awfulness. It may be that the apostle's thoughts had dwelt much upon the many mysterious problems (such as the great destruction of infant life) connected with it; and that a special revelation was vouchsafed to him to clear up some of his difficulties. These spirits, in prison at the time of the descent into Hades, had aforetime been disobedient. The Greek word (ἀπειθήσασι) means literally "disbelieving;" but here, as in 1 Peter 2:7 and elsewhere, it stands for that willful unbelief which sets itself in direct opposition to the will of God. They were guilty of unbelief, and of the disobedience which results from unbelief. Noah was a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5, where the Greek word is κῆρυξ, the substantive corresponding with the verb ἐκήρυξεν here); the vast structure of the ark was a standing warning as it rose slowly before their eyes. The long-suffering of God waited all those hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3), as now the Lord is "long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). But they heeded neither the preaching of Noah nor the long-suffering of God; and at last "the Flood came, and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Eight only were saved then; they doubtless suffered for well-doing; they had to endure much scorn and derision, perhaps persecution. But they were not disobedient. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house." The eight were brought safe through (διεσώθησαν); they were saved through the water; the water bore them up, possibly rescued them from persecution. But the rest perished; the destruction of life was tremendous; we know not how many thousands perished: they suffered for evil-doing. But the degrees of guilt must have varied greatly from open pro-faulty and hostility to silent doubt; while there were many children and very young persons; and it may be that many repented at the last moment. It is better to suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing; but even suffering for evil-doing is sometimes blessed to the salvation of the soul; and it may be that some of these, having been "judged according to men in the flesh," now "live according to God in the spirit" (1 Peter 4:6). For it is impossible to believe that the Lord's preaching was a "concio damnatoria." The Lord spoke sternly sometimes in the days of his flesh, but it was the warning voice of love; even that sternest denunciation of the concentrated guilt and hypocrisy of the Pharisees ended in a piteous wail of loving sorrow. It cannot he that the most merciful Savior would have visited souls irretrievably lost merely to upbraid them and to enhance their misery. He had just suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust: is it not possible that one of the effects of that suffering might have been "to bring unto God" some souls who once had been alienated from God by wicked works, but had not wholly hardened their hearts; who, like the men of Tyro and Sidon, Sodom and Gomorrah, had not the opportunities which we enjoy, who had not been once enlightened and made partakers of the heavenly gift and the powers of the world to come? Is it not possible that in those words, "which sometime were disobedient," there may be a hint that that disobedience of theirs was not the "eternal sin" which, according to the reading of the two most ancient manuscripts in Mark 3:29, is the awful lot of those who have never forgiveness? The Lord preached to the spirits in prison; that word (ἐκήρυξεν) is commonly used of the heralds of salvation, and St. Peter himself, in the next chapter, tells us that "the gospel was preached (εὐηγγελίσθη) to them that are dead." The gospel is the good tidings of salvation through the cross of Christ. The Lord had just died upon the cross: is it not possible that, in the moment of victory, he announced the saving power of the cross to some who had greatly sinned; as at the time of his resurrection "many bodies of the saints who slept arose"? There is one more question which forces itself upon us - What was the result of this preaching? Did the spirits in prison listen to the Savior's voice? Were they delivered from that prison where they had been so long confined? Here Scripture is almost silent; yet we read the words of hope in 1 Peter 4:6, "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." The good news was announced to them that they might live; then may we not dare to hope that some at least listened to that gracious preaching, and were saved even out of that prison by the power of the Savior's cross? May we not venture to believe, with the author of the ' Christian Year,' that even in that dreary scene the Savior's eye reached the thronging band of sou]s, and that his cross and Passion, his agony and bloody sweat, might (we know not how or in what measure) "set the shadowy realms from sin and sorrow free?" It seems desirable to add a brief summary of the history of opinion on this much-controverted passage. The early Greek Fathers appear to have held, with one consent, that St. Peter is here speaking of that descent into Hades of which he had spoken in his first great sermon (Acts 2:31). Justin Martyr, in his' Dialogue with Trypho' (sect. 72), accuses the Jews of having erased from the prophecies of Jeremiah the following words: "The Lord God of Israel remembered his dead who slept in the land of the tomb, and descended to them to preach to them the good news of his salvation." Irenseus quotes the same passage, attributing it in one place to Isaiah, in another to Jeremiah, and adds that the Lord's purpose was to deliver them and to save them (extrahere eos et salvare cos). Tertullian says that the Lord descended into the lower parts of the earth, to make the patriarchs partakers of himself (compotes sui; 'De Anima,' c. 55). Clement of Alexandria quotes Hermas as saying that "the apostles and teachers who had preached the Name of the Son of God and had fallen asleep, preached by his power and faith to those who had fallen asleep before them" ('Strom.,' 2:9). "And then," Bishop Pearson, from whose notes on the Creed these quotations are taken, continues, "Clement supplies that authority with a reason of his own, that as the apostles were to imitate Christ while they lived, so did they also imitate him after death, and therefore preached to the souls in Hades, as Christ did before them." The earliest writers do not seem to have thought that any change in the condition of the dead was produced by Christ's descent into Hades. The Lord announced the gospel to the dead; the departed saints rejoiced to hear the glad tidings, as now the angels rejoice over each repentant sinner. Origen, in his second homily on 1 Kings, taught that the Lord, descending into Hades, brought the souls of the holy dead, the patriarchs and prophets, out of Hades into Paradise; no souls could pass the flaming sword till he had led the way; but now, through his grace and power, the blessed dead who die in the Lord enter at once into the rest of Paradise - not yet heaven, but an intermediate place of rest, far better than that from which the saints of the old covenant were delivered. In this view Origen was followed by many of the later Fathers. But St. Peter says nothing of any preaching to departed saints. Christ "went and preached," he says, "unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient." Hence Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and others were led to suppose that the Lord not only raised the holy dead to a higher state of blessedness, but preached also to the disobedient, and that some of these believed, and were by his grace delivered from "prison." Some few, as Cyril of Alexandria, held that the Lord spoiled the house of the strong man armed (σεσύλητο τῶν πνευμάτων ὁ ᾅδης), and released all his captives. This Augustine reckoned as a heresy. But in his epistle to Euodius (Ep. 99 and 164) Augustine, much exercised (as he says, "vehementissime commotus") by the difficulties of the question, propounded the interpretation which became general in the Western Church, being adopted by Bode, Thomas Aquinas, De Lyra, and later by Beza, Hammond, Leighton, Pearson, etc. "The spirits in prison," he says, "are the unbelieving who lived in the days of Noah, whose spirits, i.e. souls, had been shut up in the flesh and in the darkness of ignorance, as in a prison [comp. ' Paradise Lost,' 11:723]. Christ preached to them, not in the flesh, inasmuch as he was not yet incarnate, but in the spirit, i.e. according to his Divine nature (secundum divinitatem)." But this interpretation does not satisfy St. Peter's words. The hypothesis that Christ preached through the instrumentality of Noah does not adequately represent the participle πορευθείς; the word φυλακή cannot be taken metaphorically of the flesh in which the soul is confined. If, with Beza, we understand it as meaning "who are now in prison," we escape one difficulty, but another is introduced; for it is surely forced and unnatural to make the time of the verb and that of the dative clause different. The words ἐν φυλακῇ must describe the condition of the spirits at the time of the Savior's preaching. Some commentators, as Socinus and Grotius, refer St. Peter's words to the preaching of Christ through the apostles. These writers understand φυλακή of the prison of the body, or the prison of sin; and explain St. Peter as meaning that Christ preached through the apostles to the Jews who were under the yoke of the Law, and to the Gentiles who lay under the power of the devil; and they regard the disobedient in the time of Noah as a sample of sinners in any age. But this interpretation is altogether arbitrary, and cannot be reconciled with the apostle's words. Other views are - that our Lord descended into hell to triumph over Satan (on which see Pearson on the Creed, art. 5.); that his preaching was a concio damnatoria - an announcement of condemnation, not of salvation (which is disproved by 1 Peter 4:6); that the spirits in prison were holy souls waiting for Christ, the prison being (according to Calvin) "specula, sire ipse excubandi actus;" that they were heathens, who lived according to their light, but in idolatry. We may mention, in conclusion, the monstrous explanation of the heretic Marcion, that they were those who in the Old Testament are called ungodly, but were really better than those whom the Old Testament regards as saints.

Parallel Commentaries ...


who disobeyed
ἀπειθήσασίν (apeithēsasin)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Dative Masculine Plural
Strong's 544: To disobey, rebel, be disloyal, refuse conformity. From apeithes; to disbelieve.

long ago
ποτε (pote)
Particle
Strong's 4218: At one time or other, at some time, formerly. From the base of pou and te; indefinite adverb, at some time, ever.

when
ὅτε (hote)
Adverb
Strong's 3753: When, at which time. From hos and te; at which too, i.e. When.

God
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

waited
ἀπεξεδέχετο (apexedecheto)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 553: To expect eagerly, wait for eagerly, look for. From apo and ekdechomai; to expect fully.

patiently
μακροθυμία (makrothymia)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3115: Patience, forbearance, longsuffering. From the same as makrothumos; longanimity, i.e. forbearance or fortitude.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

[the] days
ἡμέραις (hēmerais)
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 2250: A day, the period from sunrise to sunset.

of Noah,
Νῶε (Nōe)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3575: (Hebrew) Noah. Of Hebrew origin; Noe, a patriarch.

[while the] ark
κιβωτοῦ (kibōtou)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 2787: A box, i.e. The sacred ark and that of Noah.

was being built.
κατασκευαζομένης (kataskeuazomenēs)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 2680: From kata and a derivative of skeuos; to prepare thoroughly; by implication, to construct, create.

In
εἰς (eis)
Preposition
Strong's 1519: A primary preposition; to or into, of place, time, or purpose; also in adverbial phrases.

[the ark]
ἣν (hēn)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

a few [people],
ὀλίγοι (oligoi)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3641: Puny; especially neuter somewhat.

[only]
τοῦτ’ (tout’)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

eight
ὀκτὼ (oktō)
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3638: Eight. A primary numeral; 'eight'.

souls,
ψυχαί (psychai)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 5590: From psucho; breath, i.e. spirit, abstractly or concretely.

were saved
διεσώθησαν (diesōthēsan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1295: From dia and sozo; to save thoroughly, i.e. to cure, preserve, rescue, etc.

through
δι’ (di’)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

water.
ὕδατος (hydatos)
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 5204: Water. And genitive case, hudatos, etc. From the base of huetos; water literally or figuratively.


1 Peter 3:20 NIV
1 Peter 3:20 NLT
1 Peter 3:20 ESV
1 Peter 3:20 NASB
1 Peter 3:20 KJV

1 Peter 3:20 BibleApps.com
1 Peter 3:20 Biblia Paralela
1 Peter 3:20 Chinese Bible
1 Peter 3:20 French Bible
1 Peter 3:20 Catholic Bible

NT Letters: 1 Peter 3:20 Who before were disobedient when God waited (1 Pet. 1P iP i Pet)