Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
once—not in the oldest manuscripts.
when . . . the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah—Oldest manuscripts. Greek, "was continuing to wait on" (if haply men in the hundred twenty years of grace would repent) until the end of His waiting came in their death by the flood. This refutes ALFORD'S idea of a second day of grace having been given in Hades. Noah's days are selected, as the ark and the destroying flood answer respectively to "baptism" and the coming destruction of unbelievers by fire.
while the ark was a-preparing— (Hebrews 11:7). A long period of God's "long-suffering and waiting," as Noah had few to help him, which rendered the world's unbelief the more inexcusable.
wherein—literally, "(by having entered) into which."
eight—seven (the sacred number) with ungodly Ham.
few—so now.
souls—As this term is here used of living persons, why should not "spirits" also? Noah preached to their ears, but Christ in spirit, to their spirits, or spiritual natures.
saved by water—The same water which drowned the unbelieving, buoyed up the ark in which the eight were saved. Not as some translate, "were brought safe through the water." However, the sense of the preposition may be as in I Corinthians 3:15, "they were safely preserved through the water," though having to be in the water.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 1 Peter 3:20:
Genesis 6:3
Hebrews 11:7
1 Peter 1:11
1 Peter 3:18
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