By which also That is, by which Spirit; he went and preached Πορευθεις εκηρυξεν, having gone, he preached, namely, in and by Noah, who spake by the Spirit of Christ, (1 Peter 1:11,) and of the Father, who said, (Genesis 6:3,) referring to the men of that generation, My Spirit shall not always strive with man. Hence Noah is called a preacher of righteousness: 2 Peter 2:5. “By attributing the preaching of the ancient prophets to Christ, the apostle hath taught us, that from the beginning the economy of man's redemption has been under the direction of Christ. To the spirits in prison That is, which were in prison when St. Peter wrote this epistle. They were men in the flesh when Christ preached to them by his Spirit speaking in Noah; but after they were dead, their spirits were shut up in the infernal prison, detained, like the fallen angels, (Judges 1:6,) unto the judgment of the great day; which sometime Ποτε, once, or formerly, were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited For their repentance; in the days of Noah During the long space of one hundred and twenty years; while the ark was preparing During which time Noah warned them all to repent, and flee from the wrath to come. Wherein In which ark; few, that is, eight souls Namely, Noah and his wife, with their three sons and their wives; were saved by water Or, were carried safely through the water; namely, the waters of the flood, which bare up the ark in which they were enclosed. Some suppose that the persons here spoken of are said to have been in prison in the days of Noah, by the same figure of speech, by which the persons to whom Christ preached in the days of his flesh, are called captives in prison, Luke 4:18. “Christ's preaching to the antediluvians by Noah, their destruction for their disobedience to that preaching, and the preservation of Noah and his family in the ark, are all fitly mentioned, to show that it hath been God's way from the beginning of the world, when the wickedness of men became general, to oppose it, by raising up prophets to reprove them, and warn them of their danger; and after waiting for their repentance to no purpose, to destroy them; while he delivered the righteous from the evils to which they were exposed, by manifest interpositions of his power. These things teach us, that we should not think the worse of the gospel, because it hath been rejected by many; nor of ourselves, because we are persecuted by the wicked. On the other hand, by the punishment of the antediluvians, and of the Jews who crucified our Lord; wicked men and persecutors are taught to dread the judgments of God.” Macknight.
Related Commentaries of 1 Peter 3:19
1 Peter 3:19-20
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.