1 Peter 3:20
who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
Truth to Learn
Salvation comes through believing the message we proclaim, that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins.
Behind the Words
The word translated “disobedient” is apeitheō, which is made up of a (called a privative), meaning “not” or “without” and a form of peithō, meaning “to persuade.” Hence, apeitheō means “not persuaded” or “not believing.” This word is expressed as an aorist participle, indicating continuous action occurring at a time before the main verb (“preached” in the previous verse). Hence, Peter is saying that these who were preached to had been previously disbelieving.
The word “ark” comes from the Greek word kibōtos, which means “a box” or “a wooden chest.”
The word translated “saved” near the end of this verse is the Greek word diasōdzō, which is a compound of dia, used here as an intensifier and sōdzō, which means “to save.” Hence, it means “to thoroughly save.”
Meaning Explained
Continuing on from the previous verse, you will recall that it said Christ preached to the spirits in prison. These spirits are identified in today’s verse. They are the people who were disbelieving in the days that Noah was building the ark.
There are those who contend that there was no word for boat at the time of Noah so “box” was a reasonable word to describe it. I find that argument lacking in that there were rivers before the flood and likely were boats of some kind. Also, since this book was written by Peter (a fisherman), if he had intended that the vessel was a boat, he would have used the word for boat. Instead, he used the word for a box. A further reason that I believe the ark was a box not a boat, is that marine architects have demonstrated that a boat with curved sides and hull as we see in depictions of Noah’s Ark would not have held together under the stress of the turbulent flood waters. They have also demonstrated that the most stable craft in a turbulent ocean is a box of the approximate proportions of Noah’s Ark.
Not only did Noah accomplish physical salvation for himself and his family by building the ark, but his faith (his belief that God really was going to bring a flood), which was demonstrated by his construction project, was a saving faith. And, it appears that all the time that he was building the ark, Noah was proclaiming that God was about to bring a flood, but no one believed.
Therefore, Peter is saying, the spirit of Christ in Noah was proclaiming a message to unbelieving people all the time he was building the ark to the saving of his soul and those of his family. The spirits who were preached to are now in the prison of Hades awaiting the Great White Throne Judgment of the unsaved, which we read about in Revelation 20:11-15.
Application
Things are not much different today than they were in the days of Noah. Many in the world do not believe the message that we proclaim. But, like Noah, we must not give up proclaiming the truth, for Christ is coming back soon!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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