dildaysc
Puritan Board Junior
Poole's summary of interpreters on this very difficult passage:
Verse 19: By which also he went and (1 Pet. 1:12; 4:6) preached unto the spirits (Is. 42:7; 49:9; 61:1) in prison…
[In which, etc., ἐν ᾧ καὶ τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πνεύμασι πορευθεὶς ἐκήρυξεν] No passage in the New Testament is held to be more obscure (Beza, thus Gomar, etc.). That ἐν ᾧ, in that, is to be taken causally, as in Romans 8:3, because of which, on the grounds, for which reason (Œcumenius in Gerhard). Which also would be able to be accommodated to this, if it be here treated of the descent of Christ into hell. But in this sense the Greeks quite frequently make use of ἐφ᾽ ᾧ, as in Romans 5:12; 2 Corinthians 5:4. [Therefore, all the rest render it otherwise:] In the place of πνεύμασι/spirits some read πνεύματι/spirit. Thus Brugensis (Gerhard), and many [Latin] Codices and manuscripts (Estius). But all the Greek codices read πνεύμασι/ spirits (Gerhard, thus Estius), and also the Syriac, and the Greek and Latin Fathers (Estius), Cyril, Œcumenius, Augustine, Ruffinus (Gerhard). [Thus they render the passage:] In which (that is, spirit [Menochius, Zegers, Gerhard, Grotius, thus Beza, Piscator]: or, through which [Beza, Piscator]; or, according to which, or, with respect to which [Piscator]: Through which power, that is, the very same by which He was vivified [Beza]) et/also (or, etiam/also [Erasmus, Beza, Piscator, etc.]) to those (who, understanding, were [Erasmus, Tigurinus, Castalio, Vatablus, Vulgate, Arabic, Calvin]; or, were shut up [Syriac in Estius], which some Codices add here; but this is omitted by both the better Latin Codices, and all the Greek Codices save one, which appears to have been accommodated to the Latin Codices [Estius, similarly Gerhard]: or, οὖσι/being [Camerarius, Beza, Gerhard], who, understanding, are [Beza, Piscator, Gerhard]: For Peter does not have regard to the time in which it was preached to them, but in which he himself wrote [Beza]) in custody (or, prison [Erasmus, Castalio, Beza, Piscator, etc.], or, watch, as the word is often taken among the Greeks [Calvin]) having set out (or, when He had come [Tirinus], or, setting out, or, bringing Himself [Vatablus], or, proceeding, not from the body, or, from the earth; but as from heaven [Beza], after the resurrection [Vatablus]: or, coming to, as in Mark 3:13; 16:13; Luke 14:10; 23:33, πορευθεὶς/proceeding in the place of παρελθὼν, passing by or approaching, after the manner of the Hebrews, which we explained on Matthew 4:3; Mark 8:11 [Beza]) He preached (Montanus, Pagnine, Piscator, etc.). The whole question is, to whom and what did Christ preach (Estius). [This they explain in diverse ways:] 1. Christ descended into hell, and there by His preaching He converted and liberated some (certain interpreters in Estius). Which is false (Estius out of Bede, Gerhard out of Augustine and Epiphanius and others, Beza). For the whole Scripture declares that immediately after death judgment follows. And why would Peter mention this, or restrict it to the times of Noah (Beza)? 2. Christ according to His soul descended into hell, unto those who were either in the Limbo of the fathers, or in Purgatory, and preached to them; that is, He proclaimed Himself to be the Redeemer, and to have come for this, that He might free them from punishments and prison, and carry them together with Himself unto the heavenlies (Estius, similarly Lapide and Bellarmine and others in Gerhard). But it is objected, 1. that by spirit in this place is understood, not the soul, but the Deity of Christ, as it was proven on the preceeding verse (Beza, similarly Gerhard). And, that that spirit, through which Christ is here said to have gone forth to preach, is not the soul of Christ, could be gathered, 1. from the article, which Peter in the preceding verse set before the word πνεύματι/spirit, but not likewise before σαρκὶ/flesh, not without reason, but with deliberate intention: for he was evidently contemplating flesh according to the nature common to all flesh, which is to be weak, and liable to mortification or death; but the Spirit according to its proper nature, namely, Divine, in which alone is there the power of vivifying: and, 2. from this, that through that same Spirit Christ is said to have revived. Now, when anyone is said to have revived, either negatively, when life is not taken away from him, as in 1 Samuel 27:9; 2 Samuel 8:2; or, properly and positively, when life, which has not yet been had or has been lost, is implanted, Christ was vivified in the latter manner, not the former, that is, by resurrection; just as He is also said to have been put to death, not Metaphorically, but truly and properly, that is, to have been afflicted with death. Wherefore also to Christ’s death is never opposed the preservation of His soul in life, but always the resurrection, or His life following the resurrection, as in Romans 6:10; 14:9; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 13:4; etc. (Placæus). 2. In those passages the Papists maintain only the faithful to be (Gerhard); but here he treats only of the disobedient, as the following verse shows (Gerhard, thus Beza). Objection: Indeed, in the beginning they did not believe; but afterwards, when they saw the flood, they repented (Tirinus, thus Estius, Menochius). Response: This is not found in the context, but is rather repugnant to it, for eight only are said to have been saved, but the rest to have perished; which nevertheless could be taken generally and indefinitely, not separately and individually (Beza, similarly Calvin). Peter teaches that they were rebels at the time when the longsuffering of God waited. Is it possible, therefore, that the obedient escaped at a time when the longsuffering of God was not waiting? And, as he calls these rebels, so he shuts them up in prison, which is the place of rebels (Placæus). And if any of those had repented, he would not have called them ἀπειθεῖς/disobedient. Therefore, he treats not of those here (Gerhard). 3. There is no mention here of liberation, but only of preaching. 4. Nowhere in Scripture is prison used as a place in which blessed Spirits were enclosed (Beza). [Thus the second opinion.] 3. Christ, not by His real presence, the imagination of which Peter removes when he names the spirit, but by the manifestation of His grace, came unto the souls of the Old Testament pious, which he here locates ἐν φυλακῇ, that is, either, in the watch, in which vigils are kept, that it might signify that those souls were intent upon the hope of the promised salvation, as if considering it from distance; or, in prison, because to those souls the anxiety of expectation was, as it were, a prison, as was also their anxious desire after the death of Christ. It is objected that he recalls here not the faithful, but the unbelieving alone. Responses: 1. That he also treats of the faithful is evident from 1 Peter 4:6, in which this very thing is repeated, and that of the faithful. 2. He only makes mention of the unbelieving here, that he might address this most grievous trial, that the unbelieving occupied nearly the entire world, etc. Thus, says he, formerly the pious were nearly covered over by the multitude of the unbelieving, yet it did no harm to them, but they are made safe by the power of God. Thus he comforts the pious of his age, lest because of their own fewness they have a broken, or downcast, spirit (Calvin). But it is objected, 1. that he does not here treat of some mixture of the unbelieving and the faithful, but he calls those very Spirits, located absolutely ἐν φυλακῇ, in prison, and without distinction, unbelievers (Gerhard); 2. that the use of a watch and of vigils is not to look out for, but to guard and to watch, lest an enemy undertake an ambush (Estius, Gerhard). [These things concerning the third opinion.] 4. By spirits in prison he understands unbelieving Gentiles (Hessels in Gerhard, thus Vorstius, Grotius, Hammond), which he describes here as benighted, bound (Hessels), destitute of the hope of salvation; sitting, as it were, in the shadow of death, or, in Hell, or in the place of death and damnation, which here, as in Revelation 20:7 also, is called a prison. For these are those dead, to whom the Gospel was preached in 1 Peter 4:6, and who heard the voice of Christ, John 5:25. Compare also Luke 1:79; Ephesians 2:1, etc.; Colossians 2:13 (Vorstius); likewise Isaiah 42:7; 49:9 (Hessels). Therefore, Christ is called spirit, going forth to these in spirit (Vorstius), after He ascended into heaven, as next in verse 22; John 14:2, 3, 12, 28; 16:28 (Grotius), not indeed in His own person, but in His Apostles, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Vorstius). Or, πορευθεὶς, having gone forth, here is expletive, like ἐλθὼν, having come, in Ephesians 2:17. By spirit he understands that Divine power, by which He was raised from the dead, and by which His enemies, unless they repent, He will destroy, as He did formerly (Hammond). And to these He is said to have preached, inasmuch as the Apostles did it in His name and power, 2 Corinthians 5:20; Acts 13:47; Romans 15:16; Galatians 2:8; Ephesians 2:17 (Grotius). This exposition is favored as by the style, so also by the scope, of the Apostle. For he wishes to place before our eyes Christ’s highest glory, brought forth by death, and the fruit of that, which he teaches to have flowed effectually unto the most abandoned nations; which benefit he magnifies by Antithesis with the times of Noah, in which the same Nations, but taken in general, were called in vain unto repentance and salvation. What, therefore, immediately follows, that those spirits were formerly disobedient, is to be understood, not of the same spirits numerically, but of the same race of spirits, or men: that is to say, In a former time indeed the Nations of the whole world were called in vain through Noah, but now through the preaching of Christ they are not called in vain; inasmuch as many men everywhere are saved through the Baptism of Christ, but formerly only a very few were saved in that Ark (Vorstius). Peter here noted two sorts of men, that is, those that inflict persecution, and those that suffer it; and he shows that the latter are more blessed than the former, and that by an example taken from the times of Noah; that they, although they flourish for a time, yet only briefly, unless they repent, shall be utterly destroyed, while the pious are saved in the Ark, as it were (Hammond). Now, because Peter desired to add a similitude from the times of Noah, so that he might show how much better the matter succeeds now through Christ, than formerly through Noah, he takes the words from that history. For God says in Genesis 6:3, לֹֽא־יָד֙וֹן רוּחִ֤י בָֽאָדָם֙, my spirit shall not strive with man, where the Greeks have, οὐ μὴ καταμείνῃ, or οὐ καταμενεῖ, τὸ πνεῦμά μου, etc., my Spirit abides not, or shall not abide, etc.; but, if we follow the propriety of the words, it says, it shall not be, as kept in a sheath, so my Spirit in man: that is, the spirit shall not be useless which I gave to him (Wisdom of Solomon 12:1 ), like a sword in its sheath, which accomplishes nothing of that for which it was made. Φυλακή is wont to be used of a prison, as in Genesis 40:3, 4, 7; 41:10; Isaiah 42:7; Jeremiah 32:2, 8, 12; 33:1; Ezekiel 19:9, etc. Now, the Sheath is, as it were, the prison of the sword. To the Chaldeans נדנה is a sheath. In the same manner the Chaldeans call the body of a man, in Daniel 7:15, and often in the Talmudists. Thus also Tertullian, the flesh is the sheath of the breath of God, in his book Concerning the Resurrection of the Flesh (Grotius). That יָדוֹן in Genesis 6:3 others translate He shall not dispute, or contend, as if it were from דון, although it is actually from נָדָן/sheath, 1 Chronicles 21:27, and is to be rendered, He shall remain as a sword in its sheath. Thus also all the Ancients take it, and translate it, He shall dwell (Syriac, Arabic), He shall remain (Charldean, Septuagint, Vulgate). Hence also נָדָן is used of both a sheath, 1 Chronicles 21:27, and a body, Daniel 7:15, for both are repositiories, the former of the sword, the latter of the soul; now, רוּחִי, my spirit, is used of the spirit that God placed in man, Genesis 2:7, which is…a particle of divine breath. The sense is, therefore, that in man shall not longer remain my spirit, which lies hidden in them as in a sheath, useless for my worship, and immersed in carnalities; that is, I shall no longer allow those men to live, as he properly speaks in Genesis 6:7, 13. This he accommodates here to unbelieving Jews, and Gnostics soon to be destroyed (Hammond). But to this interpretation many things are objected, 1. that flesh and spirit here are opposed as two parts pertaining to the nature and constitution of Christ, to whom, as to one person, they are attributed; 2. that Scripture, although it sometimes calls living and whole men souls (Placæus), never calls them spirits (Placæus, thus Gerhard); 3. that men rebellious and unbelieving, concerning which it is evident that he treats here, Scripture nowhere calls spirits; neither does it call men spiritual, except in contrast to the flesh, Romans 8:7; Galatians 5:17, and natural men, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 15. 4. What men then does he here call spirits? Believers? why then does he not describe them except by prison and rebellion? Infidels persevering in unbelief? Did the Apostles then preach to those alone? And why does he say that they were formerly rebellious, who were at that time such (Placæus)? 5. Those, to whom the gospel is preached, were rebels ποτε/formerly, in the time of Noah (Placæus, similarly Gerhard, Hammond): whence it is manifest that those were not the nations in the time of Christ (Hammond). Objection: Peter here understands the nations as one people, or a body compounded from a long series of many generation, to which he attributes those things which were proper to some of its members; even rebellion, by reason of those parties that perished in the flood, but also conversion, by reason of those parties whom the preaching of the Apostles convert to God. Just as in Romans 11, it is said that to the same Jews, who were at that time rebels, it is granted that mercy would pass upon them after so many ages (certain interpreters in Placæus). Response: Before the flood there was no distinction between Jews and gentiles; at that time there was no people of the gentiles over against the people of the Jews: then all those disobeying were destroyed, and not from any of those has anyone derived the origin of the gentiles. How then were those able to come together into one with the gentiles of the Apostolic age, which, no less than the Jews, were descended from those eight souls which were saved on the ark, and are in this place set over against those disobeying? Finally, Peter does not so join those disobedient into one body with the faithful of his own age, that he teaches that they constituted not now a different people, but a different world, 2 Peter 2:5; 3:6 (Placæus). [These things concerning the fourth opinion.] 5. By spirits he here understands the unbelieving in the time of Noah (Beza, similarly Junius, Gomar, Gerhard, Piscator, Placæus, Hammond), whom he calls spirits because, when he was writing, they were not whole men, but souls separated from their bodies; which Scripture is wont to call spirits, as in Psalm 31:5; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Matthew 27:50; John 19:30; Acts 7:59; etc., but not souls: For by that name rather it signifies either the men themselves, as in Genesis 46:15, 26; Acts 7:14; 1 Peter 3:20; or even their corpses, as in Leviticus 19:28; 21:1, 11; Numbers 6:6, 11; 9:6 (Placæus). He used spirits rather than souls because of Antanaclasis (Piscator, Gerhard), because he had made mention of the Spirit in the preceding verse. Concerning these he says τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ, who in prison, indefinitely and indeterminately (Gerhard); where is to be supplied, not were, as if they were in prison at the time of the preaching (Beza), but are, that is, at this time in which Peter is writing (Beza, thus Placæus, similarly Scaliger, Piscator). For that ποτε/formerly/sometime Peter joins, not with the words ἐν φυλακῇ, in prison, but with ἀπειθήσασί, having been disobedient, in this manner, τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πνεύμασι, ἀπειθήσασί ποτε, to the spirits in prison, having been formerly disobedient, not obscurely distinguishing the times in which they are in prison, and had been rebels; and teaching that their rebellion preceded, and that their casting into prison followed (Placæus). The sense: a part of whom is now in prison, namely, as many as did not repent, for it is gathered out of 1 Peter 4:6 that some repented (Piscator): the rest are said to be kept, shut up in prison, just like the Devils are said to be kept, bound in chains of darkness, 2 Peter 2:4, unto judgment, with horror expecting the final sentence of judge (Beza). Prison in this place signifies hell, as in Revelation 20:7 (Gomar, thus Piscator, Gerhard, Beza), whence the Syriac rendered it by Sheol (Gerhard out of Beza), by which word is signified sometimes the grave, sometimes hell, as in Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27 (Beza). Compare Matthew 5:25; 18:30; Luke 12:58 (Gerhard). Christ is said to have proceeded unto these, not by a change of place, but by a certain singular testimony of His presence by His revelation and operation (Junius); just as יְהוָה/Jehovah, God, which was Christ there, is said to have descended, Genesis 18:21; Exodus 3:8. He is said also to have preached to these, even indeed by His Spirit, that is, by that very one, through which He was vivified in the preceding verse (Beza), that is, by His Divine nature (Gomar, Estius, Junius, Beza, Piscator, Gerhard); by that Spirit who is said to have preached in the Prophets, 1 Peter 1:11 (Beza); and here He preached, that is, through Noah, etc. (Junius, Beza, etc.). This going forth and preaching Peter attributes to Christ, as to the principium which produced that action; but to the Spirit as the principium by which, or through which, He produced that action (Placæus). For Christ at that time was not yet man, when He preached to those spirits through Noah (Piscator). This interpretation is confirmed by the scope of the passage (Gomar, Estius, similarly Beza, Placæus): which is to confirm the exhortation unto holiness of life, both in matters prosperous, and also (even indeed especially [Beza]) in matters adverse (Gomar, similarly Beza), or in those most grievous afflictions, which at that time were very much threatening the faithful (Beza). Now, he exhorts unto the sanctification of the name of God and patience, by the model and example which Christ displayed; both, 1. immediately in His own person (Junius), or when He was made flesh, and in it suffered, the just for the unjust, verse 18 (Junius, similarly Beza, Gomar); and, 2. mediately (Junius), before the incarnation (Gomar), thence from the beginning of the world (Gomar, thus Junius); in Noah and His other servants, whom He instructed by His Spirit, that is, He directed by His divine power, that they might furnished an example of holiness and patience no matter how depraved the age (Junius); at which time Christ taught holiness, both in speech, and in action, when He patiently endured the disobedient for a long time, and at last severely punished them, and on the other hand protected the obedient (Gomar). He wished to show that the same is the nature and condition of Christ, head and members, and has been so perpetually, and that Christ was the head of the Church, as today, even so in those most ancient and difficult times; and by an eminent miracle He liberated that Church entire, having been most grievously tried; which was also a type of our salvation (Beza). The Scope of the Apostle is to persuade the faithful to be willing for Christ’s sake to suffer persecutions however grievous, and that according to the example of Christ, who, says he, suffered, that is, death, the just for the unjust, the guilty, the enemies of God, so that He might lead us to God. Now, since the fewness of believers and the multitude of rebels was able to trouble the faithful, and since it was unbecoming that the obedient should appear to suffer from the disobedient, the Apostle goes to meet this, and teaches that there was formerly a prelude to this matter, even indeed from Christ Himself; who, by which Spirit He was vivified having going forth, even to those spirits who are now detained in prison, preached, although formerly they were disobedient, etc. In which He exhibited to us an illustrious type of that which is done in this time, etc. To the rebels in the time of Noah overwhelmed by the flood on account of the despised preaching of Noah answer the rebels in this entire time in which the Gospel is preached, whom the flood of divine anger overwhelms and destroys. On the other hand, to those few preserved in the water answer the faithful, who compared to the unbelieving are few, to be preserved through the death and resurrection of Christ. From this passage it is gathered that Christ was in the time of Noah, for He is said to have preached then (Placæus).
By which also; by which Spirit, mentioned in the end of the former verse, i.e. by, or in, his Divine nature, the same by which he was quickened. He; Christ. This notes the person that went and preached, as the former doth the nature in which, and so shows that what is here spoken of the person of Christ, is to be understood of him according to his Divine nature. Went; or, came, viz. from heaven, by an anthropopathy, by which figure God is often in Scripture said to go forth, Isaiah 26:21, to come down, Micah 1:3, and go down, Genesis 18:21; Exodus 3:8; which two latter places are best understood of the Second Person. This therefore here notes in Christ not a change of place, but a special operation, and testification of his presence. And preached; viz. by Noah, inspired by him, that he might be a preacher of righteousness, to warn a wicked generation of approaching judgment, and exhort them to repentance. Unto the spirits; souls of men departed, which are frequently called spirits, Ecclesiastes 12:7; Acts 7:59; Hebrews 12:23. In prison; i.e. in hell, so it is taken, Proverbs 27:20; compare with Matthew 5:25; Luke 12:58, where prison is mentioned as a type or representation of hell; and the Syriac renders the word by Sheol, which signifies sometimes the grave and sometimes hell. See the like expression, 2 Peter 2:4, 5; Jude 6.
Verse 20: Which sometime were disobedient, (Gen. 6:3, 5, 13) when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while (Heb. 11:7) the ark was a preparing, (Gen. 7:7; 8:18; 2 Pet. 2:5) wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
[Which, etc., ἀπειθήσασί ποτε, ὅτε ἅπαξ ἐξεδέχετο ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μακροθυμία, ἐν ἡμέραις Νῶε κατασκευαζομένης κιβωτοῦ] That ἅπαξ/ once is not found in the Latin, nor in the Syriac, nor in some codices, in which in the place of ἅπαξ ἐξεδέχετο, once it waited, is ἀπεξεδέχετο, patiently it waited, as Robert Stephanus testifies (Gerhard out of Estius): which word is not uncommon among our Writers (Grotius). See Romans 8:19, 23; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Galatians 5:5; Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 9:28 (Grotius, Gerhard). [The sense:] Which sort of souls did not obey formerly in the times of Noah. He speaks as if they were the same: and they were the same spirits or souls, not in number, but in kind, that is, souls equally useless to God, that is, those who did not believe the preaching of Noah. Men, completely estranged from God, did not believe Noah, did believe Christ. See concerning a manner of speaking not dissimilar in Concerning the Law of War and Peace 2:9:3 (Grotius). [Thus they render the words:] Which (to those, that is, who [James Cappel]) had been unbelieving (or, were disobedient [James Cappel, similarly Piscator, Erasmus], or, were unwilling to believe [Estius], that is, tenaciously refused to apply faith to the truth sufficiently disclosed [Estius, Gerhard]: or, were not obedient to the word [Beza], that is, to the warning which Noah, in the name of God, was relating to them [Gerhard]: Others: While they were unbelieving [Calvin] [that is, most were unbelieving, concerning which see the things brought forth out of Calvin on the preceding verse]) sometime (or, formerly, or once [Beza, Piscator, Estius]: It indicates the time [both] of the preaching [Beza], [and] of the rebellion [Placæus]: It is opposed to the νῦν/ now, which is here sufficiently understood [Beza, similarly Gerhard], and is expressed in the following verse [Gerhard]), when (that ποτε/formerly/sometime is defined by this ὅτε/when [Hammond, thus Placæus]: Some read ὅτὶ/for, but ὅτε/when is constantly read in the more approved Codices, in the Syriac, and in Œcumenius [Gerhard]) once (that is, after the irrevocable decree was published by Him [Junius]: He uses once, [either] so that he might declare that finally the time had been fixed, with which elapsed no hope would remain [Beza]: [or] so that he might signify that that which God once did in a figure, now, that is, in the time of the New Testament, He daily does in the matter signified by the figure [Gerhard, similarly Estius]) God’s patience, or lenience (that is, God according to His lenience [Piscator, Gerhard, thus Estius], as it is explained in 2 Peter 3:9 [Gerhard], so that it might be taken as an Hypallage [Piscator]) was awaiting (that is, their repentence and amendment [Piscator, Gerhard], or, for as long as the period of the one hundred and twenty years was continuing, and the ark was being constructed [Beza]: or, was awaited [Erasmus, Vatablus], for this verb is in the middle voice [Erasmus]: let it be so: yet it is often taken actively [Estius]: And finally by whom was this lenience of God expected at that time? By the impious? But they were deriding it: By Noah? But he was expecting God’s judgment, not His lenience [Beza]) in the days (or, times [Gerhard]) of Noah, while was being prepared, or was being made ready (or, as long as was being constructed, through the one hundred and twenty years: See Hebrews 11:7 [Gerhard]) the ark (Gerhard, Piscator, etc.), that is, a ship, having the form of an ark (Piscator, Gerhard), as a testimony to the coming flood (Gerhard).
Which; which spirits in prison. Question. When were these spirits, to whom Christ preached by Noah, in prison? Answer. Then when Peter wrote this Epistle. The Greek participle of the present tense is here to be supplied, and the word thus read, preached to the spirits which are in prison, viz. now at this time; and so the time of their being in prison is opposed to the time of their being disobedient; their disobedience going before their imprisonment; that is to say, They were disobedient then, they are in prison now. Sometime; viz. in the days of Noah, when they were upon earth. Were disobedient; would not believe what Noah told them in God’s name, nor be brought to repentance by his preaching. When once; not always, but for a determinate time, viz. one hundred and twenty years; which term being expired, there was no hope left for them that they should be spared. The longsuffering of God; i.e. God in his patience and longsuffering. Waited; for the repentance and reformation of that rebellious generation. In the days of Noah; till the one hundred and twenty years were run out, and the ark, which was preparing for the security of him and his family, were finished.[In, etc., εἰς ἣν ὀλίγαι, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ὀκτὼ ψυχαί, διεσώθησαν δι᾽ ὕδατος] In which (εἰς/into in the place of ἐν/in [Piscator]: Or, into which, understanding, entered [Gerhard]) few, that is, eight (that is, Noah, his wife, his three sons, his three daughters-in-law, Genesis 6:18: See also 2 Peter 2:5 [Grotius]) souls (that is, persons, or men [Grotius, Beza, Piscator, Estius], synecdochically [Estius], as in Acts 2:41; 7:14 [Grotius]) were saved in water (Beza, Piscator), that is, in the midst of waters; for above the rain was descending, below were the waters of the flood, as in 2 Peter 3:5; or, at that time in which the waters overflowed all (Gerhard); or, while they dwelt in the waters (Grotius); or, while the ark was carried by the water (Piscator). Διὰ/ through is set down in the place of ἐν/in, as in Romans 4:11 (Beza, Piscator, Grotius), being through uncircumcision, that is, in uncircumcision, for uncircumcision was not the cause, etc.; or, most simply, in water, that is, without the flood of water hindering, as in 1 Timothy 2:15, διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας, through childbearing, that is, without the begetting of sons hindering (Gerhard): or, through water (Erasmus, Illyricus, Tigurinus, Estius), for the water, which destroyed the others, lifting the ark on high, brought it to pass that whoever were in it were not destroyed with the others. This agrees with the following antitype, that is, salvific baptism (Estius).
Eight souls; i.e. eight persons, Noah, and his wife, his three sons, and their wives. Were saved by water; either, 1. By water is here put for in, as Romans 4:11, that believe, though they be not circumcised: the same Greek preposition is used as here, and the words may be read, by, or through, or rather in uncircumcision; for uncircumcision was not the cause or means of their believing. See the like use of this particle, 2 Peter 3:5. Thus, saved in the water, is as much as, notwithstanding the water, or the water not hindering; so 1 Timothy 2:15, saved in childbearing, where the same preposition is used. Or, 2. By water; the water which drowned the world, lifting up the ark and saving Noah and his household. Question. Doth not this place countenance the papists’ limbus, or the place where the souls of the Old Testament fathers were reserved (as they pretend) till Christ’s coming in the flesh? Answer. No: for, 1. The spirits here mentioned were disobedient, which cannot be said of the fathers of the Old Testament, who were true believers. 2. The spirits here mentioned are not said to be delivered out of prison, but only that Christ by his Spirit preached to them, and to his preaching to them their disobedience is opposed. 3. According to the papists, Noah and his family must be in their limbus, whereas they are opposed to those disobedient spirits to whom Christ is said to preach.
Verse 19: By which also he went and (1 Pet. 1:12; 4:6) preached unto the spirits (Is. 42:7; 49:9; 61:1) in prison…
[In which, etc., ἐν ᾧ καὶ τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πνεύμασι πορευθεὶς ἐκήρυξεν] No passage in the New Testament is held to be more obscure (Beza, thus Gomar, etc.). That ἐν ᾧ, in that, is to be taken causally, as in Romans 8:3, because of which, on the grounds, for which reason (Œcumenius in Gerhard). Which also would be able to be accommodated to this, if it be here treated of the descent of Christ into hell. But in this sense the Greeks quite frequently make use of ἐφ᾽ ᾧ, as in Romans 5:12; 2 Corinthians 5:4. [Therefore, all the rest render it otherwise:] In the place of πνεύμασι/spirits some read πνεύματι/spirit. Thus Brugensis (Gerhard), and many [Latin] Codices and manuscripts (Estius). But all the Greek codices read πνεύμασι/ spirits (Gerhard, thus Estius), and also the Syriac, and the Greek and Latin Fathers (Estius), Cyril, Œcumenius, Augustine, Ruffinus (Gerhard). [Thus they render the passage:] In which (that is, spirit [Menochius, Zegers, Gerhard, Grotius, thus Beza, Piscator]: or, through which [Beza, Piscator]; or, according to which, or, with respect to which [Piscator]: Through which power, that is, the very same by which He was vivified [Beza]) et/also (or, etiam/also [Erasmus, Beza, Piscator, etc.]) to those (who, understanding, were [Erasmus, Tigurinus, Castalio, Vatablus, Vulgate, Arabic, Calvin]; or, were shut up [Syriac in Estius], which some Codices add here; but this is omitted by both the better Latin Codices, and all the Greek Codices save one, which appears to have been accommodated to the Latin Codices [Estius, similarly Gerhard]: or, οὖσι/being [Camerarius, Beza, Gerhard], who, understanding, are [Beza, Piscator, Gerhard]: For Peter does not have regard to the time in which it was preached to them, but in which he himself wrote [Beza]) in custody (or, prison [Erasmus, Castalio, Beza, Piscator, etc.], or, watch, as the word is often taken among the Greeks [Calvin]) having set out (or, when He had come [Tirinus], or, setting out, or, bringing Himself [Vatablus], or, proceeding, not from the body, or, from the earth; but as from heaven [Beza], after the resurrection [Vatablus]: or, coming to, as in Mark 3:13; 16:13; Luke 14:10; 23:33, πορευθεὶς/proceeding in the place of παρελθὼν, passing by or approaching, after the manner of the Hebrews, which we explained on Matthew 4:3; Mark 8:11 [Beza]) He preached (Montanus, Pagnine, Piscator, etc.). The whole question is, to whom and what did Christ preach (Estius). [This they explain in diverse ways:] 1. Christ descended into hell, and there by His preaching He converted and liberated some (certain interpreters in Estius). Which is false (Estius out of Bede, Gerhard out of Augustine and Epiphanius and others, Beza). For the whole Scripture declares that immediately after death judgment follows. And why would Peter mention this, or restrict it to the times of Noah (Beza)? 2. Christ according to His soul descended into hell, unto those who were either in the Limbo of the fathers, or in Purgatory, and preached to them; that is, He proclaimed Himself to be the Redeemer, and to have come for this, that He might free them from punishments and prison, and carry them together with Himself unto the heavenlies (Estius, similarly Lapide and Bellarmine and others in Gerhard). But it is objected, 1. that by spirit in this place is understood, not the soul, but the Deity of Christ, as it was proven on the preceeding verse (Beza, similarly Gerhard). And, that that spirit, through which Christ is here said to have gone forth to preach, is not the soul of Christ, could be gathered, 1. from the article, which Peter in the preceding verse set before the word πνεύματι/spirit, but not likewise before σαρκὶ/flesh, not without reason, but with deliberate intention: for he was evidently contemplating flesh according to the nature common to all flesh, which is to be weak, and liable to mortification or death; but the Spirit according to its proper nature, namely, Divine, in which alone is there the power of vivifying: and, 2. from this, that through that same Spirit Christ is said to have revived. Now, when anyone is said to have revived, either negatively, when life is not taken away from him, as in 1 Samuel 27:9; 2 Samuel 8:2; or, properly and positively, when life, which has not yet been had or has been lost, is implanted, Christ was vivified in the latter manner, not the former, that is, by resurrection; just as He is also said to have been put to death, not Metaphorically, but truly and properly, that is, to have been afflicted with death. Wherefore also to Christ’s death is never opposed the preservation of His soul in life, but always the resurrection, or His life following the resurrection, as in Romans 6:10; 14:9; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 13:4; etc. (Placæus). 2. In those passages the Papists maintain only the faithful to be (Gerhard); but here he treats only of the disobedient, as the following verse shows (Gerhard, thus Beza). Objection: Indeed, in the beginning they did not believe; but afterwards, when they saw the flood, they repented (Tirinus, thus Estius, Menochius). Response: This is not found in the context, but is rather repugnant to it, for eight only are said to have been saved, but the rest to have perished; which nevertheless could be taken generally and indefinitely, not separately and individually (Beza, similarly Calvin). Peter teaches that they were rebels at the time when the longsuffering of God waited. Is it possible, therefore, that the obedient escaped at a time when the longsuffering of God was not waiting? And, as he calls these rebels, so he shuts them up in prison, which is the place of rebels (Placæus). And if any of those had repented, he would not have called them ἀπειθεῖς/disobedient. Therefore, he treats not of those here (Gerhard). 3. There is no mention here of liberation, but only of preaching. 4. Nowhere in Scripture is prison used as a place in which blessed Spirits were enclosed (Beza). [Thus the second opinion.] 3. Christ, not by His real presence, the imagination of which Peter removes when he names the spirit, but by the manifestation of His grace, came unto the souls of the Old Testament pious, which he here locates ἐν φυλακῇ, that is, either, in the watch, in which vigils are kept, that it might signify that those souls were intent upon the hope of the promised salvation, as if considering it from distance; or, in prison, because to those souls the anxiety of expectation was, as it were, a prison, as was also their anxious desire after the death of Christ. It is objected that he recalls here not the faithful, but the unbelieving alone. Responses: 1. That he also treats of the faithful is evident from 1 Peter 4:6, in which this very thing is repeated, and that of the faithful. 2. He only makes mention of the unbelieving here, that he might address this most grievous trial, that the unbelieving occupied nearly the entire world, etc. Thus, says he, formerly the pious were nearly covered over by the multitude of the unbelieving, yet it did no harm to them, but they are made safe by the power of God. Thus he comforts the pious of his age, lest because of their own fewness they have a broken, or downcast, spirit (Calvin). But it is objected, 1. that he does not here treat of some mixture of the unbelieving and the faithful, but he calls those very Spirits, located absolutely ἐν φυλακῇ, in prison, and without distinction, unbelievers (Gerhard); 2. that the use of a watch and of vigils is not to look out for, but to guard and to watch, lest an enemy undertake an ambush (Estius, Gerhard). [These things concerning the third opinion.] 4. By spirits in prison he understands unbelieving Gentiles (Hessels in Gerhard, thus Vorstius, Grotius, Hammond), which he describes here as benighted, bound (Hessels), destitute of the hope of salvation; sitting, as it were, in the shadow of death, or, in Hell, or in the place of death and damnation, which here, as in Revelation 20:7 also, is called a prison. For these are those dead, to whom the Gospel was preached in 1 Peter 4:6, and who heard the voice of Christ, John 5:25. Compare also Luke 1:79; Ephesians 2:1, etc.; Colossians 2:13 (Vorstius); likewise Isaiah 42:7; 49:9 (Hessels). Therefore, Christ is called spirit, going forth to these in spirit (Vorstius), after He ascended into heaven, as next in verse 22; John 14:2, 3, 12, 28; 16:28 (Grotius), not indeed in His own person, but in His Apostles, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Vorstius). Or, πορευθεὶς, having gone forth, here is expletive, like ἐλθὼν, having come, in Ephesians 2:17. By spirit he understands that Divine power, by which He was raised from the dead, and by which His enemies, unless they repent, He will destroy, as He did formerly (Hammond). And to these He is said to have preached, inasmuch as the Apostles did it in His name and power, 2 Corinthians 5:20; Acts 13:47; Romans 15:16; Galatians 2:8; Ephesians 2:17 (Grotius). This exposition is favored as by the style, so also by the scope, of the Apostle. For he wishes to place before our eyes Christ’s highest glory, brought forth by death, and the fruit of that, which he teaches to have flowed effectually unto the most abandoned nations; which benefit he magnifies by Antithesis with the times of Noah, in which the same Nations, but taken in general, were called in vain unto repentance and salvation. What, therefore, immediately follows, that those spirits were formerly disobedient, is to be understood, not of the same spirits numerically, but of the same race of spirits, or men: that is to say, In a former time indeed the Nations of the whole world were called in vain through Noah, but now through the preaching of Christ they are not called in vain; inasmuch as many men everywhere are saved through the Baptism of Christ, but formerly only a very few were saved in that Ark (Vorstius). Peter here noted two sorts of men, that is, those that inflict persecution, and those that suffer it; and he shows that the latter are more blessed than the former, and that by an example taken from the times of Noah; that they, although they flourish for a time, yet only briefly, unless they repent, shall be utterly destroyed, while the pious are saved in the Ark, as it were (Hammond). Now, because Peter desired to add a similitude from the times of Noah, so that he might show how much better the matter succeeds now through Christ, than formerly through Noah, he takes the words from that history. For God says in Genesis 6:3, לֹֽא־יָד֙וֹן רוּחִ֤י בָֽאָדָם֙, my spirit shall not strive with man, where the Greeks have, οὐ μὴ καταμείνῃ, or οὐ καταμενεῖ, τὸ πνεῦμά μου, etc., my Spirit abides not, or shall not abide, etc.; but, if we follow the propriety of the words, it says, it shall not be, as kept in a sheath, so my Spirit in man: that is, the spirit shall not be useless which I gave to him (Wisdom of Solomon 12:1 ), like a sword in its sheath, which accomplishes nothing of that for which it was made. Φυλακή is wont to be used of a prison, as in Genesis 40:3, 4, 7; 41:10; Isaiah 42:7; Jeremiah 32:2, 8, 12; 33:1; Ezekiel 19:9, etc. Now, the Sheath is, as it were, the prison of the sword. To the Chaldeans נדנה is a sheath. In the same manner the Chaldeans call the body of a man, in Daniel 7:15, and often in the Talmudists. Thus also Tertullian, the flesh is the sheath of the breath of God, in his book Concerning the Resurrection of the Flesh (Grotius). That יָדוֹן in Genesis 6:3 others translate He shall not dispute, or contend, as if it were from דון, although it is actually from נָדָן/sheath, 1 Chronicles 21:27, and is to be rendered, He shall remain as a sword in its sheath. Thus also all the Ancients take it, and translate it, He shall dwell (Syriac, Arabic), He shall remain (Charldean, Septuagint, Vulgate). Hence also נָדָן is used of both a sheath, 1 Chronicles 21:27, and a body, Daniel 7:15, for both are repositiories, the former of the sword, the latter of the soul; now, רוּחִי, my spirit, is used of the spirit that God placed in man, Genesis 2:7, which is…a particle of divine breath. The sense is, therefore, that in man shall not longer remain my spirit, which lies hidden in them as in a sheath, useless for my worship, and immersed in carnalities; that is, I shall no longer allow those men to live, as he properly speaks in Genesis 6:7, 13. This he accommodates here to unbelieving Jews, and Gnostics soon to be destroyed (Hammond). But to this interpretation many things are objected, 1. that flesh and spirit here are opposed as two parts pertaining to the nature and constitution of Christ, to whom, as to one person, they are attributed; 2. that Scripture, although it sometimes calls living and whole men souls (Placæus), never calls them spirits (Placæus, thus Gerhard); 3. that men rebellious and unbelieving, concerning which it is evident that he treats here, Scripture nowhere calls spirits; neither does it call men spiritual, except in contrast to the flesh, Romans 8:7; Galatians 5:17, and natural men, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 15. 4. What men then does he here call spirits? Believers? why then does he not describe them except by prison and rebellion? Infidels persevering in unbelief? Did the Apostles then preach to those alone? And why does he say that they were formerly rebellious, who were at that time such (Placæus)? 5. Those, to whom the gospel is preached, were rebels ποτε/formerly, in the time of Noah (Placæus, similarly Gerhard, Hammond): whence it is manifest that those were not the nations in the time of Christ (Hammond). Objection: Peter here understands the nations as one people, or a body compounded from a long series of many generation, to which he attributes those things which were proper to some of its members; even rebellion, by reason of those parties that perished in the flood, but also conversion, by reason of those parties whom the preaching of the Apostles convert to God. Just as in Romans 11, it is said that to the same Jews, who were at that time rebels, it is granted that mercy would pass upon them after so many ages (certain interpreters in Placæus). Response: Before the flood there was no distinction between Jews and gentiles; at that time there was no people of the gentiles over against the people of the Jews: then all those disobeying were destroyed, and not from any of those has anyone derived the origin of the gentiles. How then were those able to come together into one with the gentiles of the Apostolic age, which, no less than the Jews, were descended from those eight souls which were saved on the ark, and are in this place set over against those disobeying? Finally, Peter does not so join those disobedient into one body with the faithful of his own age, that he teaches that they constituted not now a different people, but a different world, 2 Peter 2:5; 3:6 (Placæus). [These things concerning the fourth opinion.] 5. By spirits he here understands the unbelieving in the time of Noah (Beza, similarly Junius, Gomar, Gerhard, Piscator, Placæus, Hammond), whom he calls spirits because, when he was writing, they were not whole men, but souls separated from their bodies; which Scripture is wont to call spirits, as in Psalm 31:5; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Matthew 27:50; John 19:30; Acts 7:59; etc., but not souls: For by that name rather it signifies either the men themselves, as in Genesis 46:15, 26; Acts 7:14; 1 Peter 3:20; or even their corpses, as in Leviticus 19:28; 21:1, 11; Numbers 6:6, 11; 9:6 (Placæus). He used spirits rather than souls because of Antanaclasis (Piscator, Gerhard), because he had made mention of the Spirit in the preceding verse. Concerning these he says τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ, who in prison, indefinitely and indeterminately (Gerhard); where is to be supplied, not were, as if they were in prison at the time of the preaching (Beza), but are, that is, at this time in which Peter is writing (Beza, thus Placæus, similarly Scaliger, Piscator). For that ποτε/formerly/sometime Peter joins, not with the words ἐν φυλακῇ, in prison, but with ἀπειθήσασί, having been disobedient, in this manner, τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πνεύμασι, ἀπειθήσασί ποτε, to the spirits in prison, having been formerly disobedient, not obscurely distinguishing the times in which they are in prison, and had been rebels; and teaching that their rebellion preceded, and that their casting into prison followed (Placæus). The sense: a part of whom is now in prison, namely, as many as did not repent, for it is gathered out of 1 Peter 4:6 that some repented (Piscator): the rest are said to be kept, shut up in prison, just like the Devils are said to be kept, bound in chains of darkness, 2 Peter 2:4, unto judgment, with horror expecting the final sentence of judge (Beza). Prison in this place signifies hell, as in Revelation 20:7 (Gomar, thus Piscator, Gerhard, Beza), whence the Syriac rendered it by Sheol (Gerhard out of Beza), by which word is signified sometimes the grave, sometimes hell, as in Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27 (Beza). Compare Matthew 5:25; 18:30; Luke 12:58 (Gerhard). Christ is said to have proceeded unto these, not by a change of place, but by a certain singular testimony of His presence by His revelation and operation (Junius); just as יְהוָה/Jehovah, God, which was Christ there, is said to have descended, Genesis 18:21; Exodus 3:8. He is said also to have preached to these, even indeed by His Spirit, that is, by that very one, through which He was vivified in the preceding verse (Beza), that is, by His Divine nature (Gomar, Estius, Junius, Beza, Piscator, Gerhard); by that Spirit who is said to have preached in the Prophets, 1 Peter 1:11 (Beza); and here He preached, that is, through Noah, etc. (Junius, Beza, etc.). This going forth and preaching Peter attributes to Christ, as to the principium which produced that action; but to the Spirit as the principium by which, or through which, He produced that action (Placæus). For Christ at that time was not yet man, when He preached to those spirits through Noah (Piscator). This interpretation is confirmed by the scope of the passage (Gomar, Estius, similarly Beza, Placæus): which is to confirm the exhortation unto holiness of life, both in matters prosperous, and also (even indeed especially [Beza]) in matters adverse (Gomar, similarly Beza), or in those most grievous afflictions, which at that time were very much threatening the faithful (Beza). Now, he exhorts unto the sanctification of the name of God and patience, by the model and example which Christ displayed; both, 1. immediately in His own person (Junius), or when He was made flesh, and in it suffered, the just for the unjust, verse 18 (Junius, similarly Beza, Gomar); and, 2. mediately (Junius), before the incarnation (Gomar), thence from the beginning of the world (Gomar, thus Junius); in Noah and His other servants, whom He instructed by His Spirit, that is, He directed by His divine power, that they might furnished an example of holiness and patience no matter how depraved the age (Junius); at which time Christ taught holiness, both in speech, and in action, when He patiently endured the disobedient for a long time, and at last severely punished them, and on the other hand protected the obedient (Gomar). He wished to show that the same is the nature and condition of Christ, head and members, and has been so perpetually, and that Christ was the head of the Church, as today, even so in those most ancient and difficult times; and by an eminent miracle He liberated that Church entire, having been most grievously tried; which was also a type of our salvation (Beza). The Scope of the Apostle is to persuade the faithful to be willing for Christ’s sake to suffer persecutions however grievous, and that according to the example of Christ, who, says he, suffered, that is, death, the just for the unjust, the guilty, the enemies of God, so that He might lead us to God. Now, since the fewness of believers and the multitude of rebels was able to trouble the faithful, and since it was unbecoming that the obedient should appear to suffer from the disobedient, the Apostle goes to meet this, and teaches that there was formerly a prelude to this matter, even indeed from Christ Himself; who, by which Spirit He was vivified having going forth, even to those spirits who are now detained in prison, preached, although formerly they were disobedient, etc. In which He exhibited to us an illustrious type of that which is done in this time, etc. To the rebels in the time of Noah overwhelmed by the flood on account of the despised preaching of Noah answer the rebels in this entire time in which the Gospel is preached, whom the flood of divine anger overwhelms and destroys. On the other hand, to those few preserved in the water answer the faithful, who compared to the unbelieving are few, to be preserved through the death and resurrection of Christ. From this passage it is gathered that Christ was in the time of Noah, for He is said to have preached then (Placæus).
By which also; by which Spirit, mentioned in the end of the former verse, i.e. by, or in, his Divine nature, the same by which he was quickened. He; Christ. This notes the person that went and preached, as the former doth the nature in which, and so shows that what is here spoken of the person of Christ, is to be understood of him according to his Divine nature. Went; or, came, viz. from heaven, by an anthropopathy, by which figure God is often in Scripture said to go forth, Isaiah 26:21, to come down, Micah 1:3, and go down, Genesis 18:21; Exodus 3:8; which two latter places are best understood of the Second Person. This therefore here notes in Christ not a change of place, but a special operation, and testification of his presence. And preached; viz. by Noah, inspired by him, that he might be a preacher of righteousness, to warn a wicked generation of approaching judgment, and exhort them to repentance. Unto the spirits; souls of men departed, which are frequently called spirits, Ecclesiastes 12:7; Acts 7:59; Hebrews 12:23. In prison; i.e. in hell, so it is taken, Proverbs 27:20; compare with Matthew 5:25; Luke 12:58, where prison is mentioned as a type or representation of hell; and the Syriac renders the word by Sheol, which signifies sometimes the grave and sometimes hell. See the like expression, 2 Peter 2:4, 5; Jude 6.
Verse 20: Which sometime were disobedient, (Gen. 6:3, 5, 13) when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while (Heb. 11:7) the ark was a preparing, (Gen. 7:7; 8:18; 2 Pet. 2:5) wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
[Which, etc., ἀπειθήσασί ποτε, ὅτε ἅπαξ ἐξεδέχετο ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μακροθυμία, ἐν ἡμέραις Νῶε κατασκευαζομένης κιβωτοῦ] That ἅπαξ/ once is not found in the Latin, nor in the Syriac, nor in some codices, in which in the place of ἅπαξ ἐξεδέχετο, once it waited, is ἀπεξεδέχετο, patiently it waited, as Robert Stephanus testifies (Gerhard out of Estius): which word is not uncommon among our Writers (Grotius). See Romans 8:19, 23; 1 Corinthians 1:7; Galatians 5:5; Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 9:28 (Grotius, Gerhard). [The sense:] Which sort of souls did not obey formerly in the times of Noah. He speaks as if they were the same: and they were the same spirits or souls, not in number, but in kind, that is, souls equally useless to God, that is, those who did not believe the preaching of Noah. Men, completely estranged from God, did not believe Noah, did believe Christ. See concerning a manner of speaking not dissimilar in Concerning the Law of War and Peace 2:9:3 (Grotius). [Thus they render the words:] Which (to those, that is, who [James Cappel]) had been unbelieving (or, were disobedient [James Cappel, similarly Piscator, Erasmus], or, were unwilling to believe [Estius], that is, tenaciously refused to apply faith to the truth sufficiently disclosed [Estius, Gerhard]: or, were not obedient to the word [Beza], that is, to the warning which Noah, in the name of God, was relating to them [Gerhard]: Others: While they were unbelieving [Calvin] [that is, most were unbelieving, concerning which see the things brought forth out of Calvin on the preceding verse]) sometime (or, formerly, or once [Beza, Piscator, Estius]: It indicates the time [both] of the preaching [Beza], [and] of the rebellion [Placæus]: It is opposed to the νῦν/ now, which is here sufficiently understood [Beza, similarly Gerhard], and is expressed in the following verse [Gerhard]), when (that ποτε/formerly/sometime is defined by this ὅτε/when [Hammond, thus Placæus]: Some read ὅτὶ/for, but ὅτε/when is constantly read in the more approved Codices, in the Syriac, and in Œcumenius [Gerhard]) once (that is, after the irrevocable decree was published by Him [Junius]: He uses once, [either] so that he might declare that finally the time had been fixed, with which elapsed no hope would remain [Beza]: [or] so that he might signify that that which God once did in a figure, now, that is, in the time of the New Testament, He daily does in the matter signified by the figure [Gerhard, similarly Estius]) God’s patience, or lenience (that is, God according to His lenience [Piscator, Gerhard, thus Estius], as it is explained in 2 Peter 3:9 [Gerhard], so that it might be taken as an Hypallage [Piscator]) was awaiting (that is, their repentence and amendment [Piscator, Gerhard], or, for as long as the period of the one hundred and twenty years was continuing, and the ark was being constructed [Beza]: or, was awaited [Erasmus, Vatablus], for this verb is in the middle voice [Erasmus]: let it be so: yet it is often taken actively [Estius]: And finally by whom was this lenience of God expected at that time? By the impious? But they were deriding it: By Noah? But he was expecting God’s judgment, not His lenience [Beza]) in the days (or, times [Gerhard]) of Noah, while was being prepared, or was being made ready (or, as long as was being constructed, through the one hundred and twenty years: See Hebrews 11:7 [Gerhard]) the ark (Gerhard, Piscator, etc.), that is, a ship, having the form of an ark (Piscator, Gerhard), as a testimony to the coming flood (Gerhard).
Which; which spirits in prison. Question. When were these spirits, to whom Christ preached by Noah, in prison? Answer. Then when Peter wrote this Epistle. The Greek participle of the present tense is here to be supplied, and the word thus read, preached to the spirits which are in prison, viz. now at this time; and so the time of their being in prison is opposed to the time of their being disobedient; their disobedience going before their imprisonment; that is to say, They were disobedient then, they are in prison now. Sometime; viz. in the days of Noah, when they were upon earth. Were disobedient; would not believe what Noah told them in God’s name, nor be brought to repentance by his preaching. When once; not always, but for a determinate time, viz. one hundred and twenty years; which term being expired, there was no hope left for them that they should be spared. The longsuffering of God; i.e. God in his patience and longsuffering. Waited; for the repentance and reformation of that rebellious generation. In the days of Noah; till the one hundred and twenty years were run out, and the ark, which was preparing for the security of him and his family, were finished.[In, etc., εἰς ἣν ὀλίγαι, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ὀκτὼ ψυχαί, διεσώθησαν δι᾽ ὕδατος] In which (εἰς/into in the place of ἐν/in [Piscator]: Or, into which, understanding, entered [Gerhard]) few, that is, eight (that is, Noah, his wife, his three sons, his three daughters-in-law, Genesis 6:18: See also 2 Peter 2:5 [Grotius]) souls (that is, persons, or men [Grotius, Beza, Piscator, Estius], synecdochically [Estius], as in Acts 2:41; 7:14 [Grotius]) were saved in water (Beza, Piscator), that is, in the midst of waters; for above the rain was descending, below were the waters of the flood, as in 2 Peter 3:5; or, at that time in which the waters overflowed all (Gerhard); or, while they dwelt in the waters (Grotius); or, while the ark was carried by the water (Piscator). Διὰ/ through is set down in the place of ἐν/in, as in Romans 4:11 (Beza, Piscator, Grotius), being through uncircumcision, that is, in uncircumcision, for uncircumcision was not the cause, etc.; or, most simply, in water, that is, without the flood of water hindering, as in 1 Timothy 2:15, διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας, through childbearing, that is, without the begetting of sons hindering (Gerhard): or, through water (Erasmus, Illyricus, Tigurinus, Estius), for the water, which destroyed the others, lifting the ark on high, brought it to pass that whoever were in it were not destroyed with the others. This agrees with the following antitype, that is, salvific baptism (Estius).
Eight souls; i.e. eight persons, Noah, and his wife, his three sons, and their wives. Were saved by water; either, 1. By water is here put for in, as Romans 4:11, that believe, though they be not circumcised: the same Greek preposition is used as here, and the words may be read, by, or through, or rather in uncircumcision; for uncircumcision was not the cause or means of their believing. See the like use of this particle, 2 Peter 3:5. Thus, saved in the water, is as much as, notwithstanding the water, or the water not hindering; so 1 Timothy 2:15, saved in childbearing, where the same preposition is used. Or, 2. By water; the water which drowned the world, lifting up the ark and saving Noah and his household. Question. Doth not this place countenance the papists’ limbus, or the place where the souls of the Old Testament fathers were reserved (as they pretend) till Christ’s coming in the flesh? Answer. No: for, 1. The spirits here mentioned were disobedient, which cannot be said of the fathers of the Old Testament, who were true believers. 2. The spirits here mentioned are not said to be delivered out of prison, but only that Christ by his Spirit preached to them, and to his preaching to them their disobedience is opposed. 3. According to the papists, Noah and his family must be in their limbus, whereas they are opposed to those disobedient spirits to whom Christ is said to preach.
