ACC ~ 1 Peter 3 v20

GOD’S PATIENCE WAITED. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: God is so good that he even works his salvation by means of patient instruction. ADUMBRATIONS.

NOAH WAS A TYPE OF THE CHURCH. AUGUSTINE: The question which you put to me about the spirits in hell is one which disturbs me profoundly. … What troubles me most is why only those who were imprisoned in the days of Noah should deserve this benefit. Think of all the others who have died since Noah’s time and whom Jesus could have found in hell. The meaning must be that the ark of Noah is a picture of the church, and so those who were imprisoned in his days represent the entire human race. In hell Christ rebuked the wicked and consoled the good, so that some believed to their salvation and others disbelieved to their damnation. LETTERS 164.

EIGHT PERSONS WERE SAVED THROUGH WATER. BEDE: By pointing out that only eight people were saved from the flood, Peter reminds us that in comparison to the large numbers of Jews, heretics and unbelievers which there are in the world, the number of God’s chosen ones is very small. As Jesus said: “The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” ON 1 PETER.

ONLY A FEW WHO BELIEVED WERE SAVED. THEOPHYLACT: Someone might easily ask: Who preached salvation before Christ, so that those who did not believe in him should be condemned? The answer to this, which Paul also adopted, is that those who lived before Christ had enough light given to them to enable them to distinguish good from evil. Because of this, if they chose to do evil, they are worthy of condemnation. Therefore Peter reminds us that they were rebellious, not merely from the time of the prophets but long before that, virtually from the creation of the world in fact. As he demonstrates, the way of salvation was proclaimed to them from the beginning, but they spurned it and preferred to go after vanities of one kind or another. The result was that of all the millions of people who lived at that time, only eight were saved, because they alone believed the message which they heard. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.

1 Pet