You've picked a hard passage, FFC. Let's walk through it:
- For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
The particular context for this passage is the wrongful suffering of Christians. Peter now makes an appeal to why they should suffer, which is Jesus' own suffering, in that he
died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust. Dying in the flesh, Christ was made alive in the Spirit . . . this spirit is the Holy Spirit.
We then come to the first tricky passage: "in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison." Prison here is a reference to Sheol. We can technically say that Christ "descended into Hell", so long as we understand that there was a difference between Abraham's bosom and the abode of the unrighteous. Both were held in Sheol.
So, Christ, by the Spirit, went and made proclamation to those in sheol. There are three basic possibilities here:
1. The spirits refer to the righteous dead. It is supported by the idea that Christ did not descend into the place of mourning with the unrighteous, but with the righteous.
2. The spirits refer to the unrighteous dead, whom Jesus proclaimed His victory. This is supported by the idea that Christ "became sin", and thus, could have descended into the place for the unrighteous. Some maintain that, at this point, Christ gave them the chance to believe on Him, but this assertion is speculative and not supported by the text specifically.
3. The spirits refer to angels who "left their abode" in the time of Noah. This would be supported by the rendering that they are "now" in prison. Against this is the fact that the "now" does not appear in the Greek, but seems to be implied.
Regarding these spirits, Peter says they
were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah. This seems to exclude the first possibility. Since Christ was in the Spirit, the second seems unlikely as well, so by process of elimation, the third option seems to fit best. This, of course, would be based on the idea that angels actually impregnated women in the Noahic days, which many people have serious problems with, but I've not found the arguments against that position convincing.
The next phase "during the construction of the ark," could either modify the disobedience of the spirits (thus, placing their disobedience during the construction of the ark, bringing us back to the second option above), or it could modify the patience of God. As this passage holds the context of patience in suffering the latter of these seems better. Thus, we see that God did not execute immediate judgment, but was patient for one hundred twenty years, the time it took to build the ark.
The "ark" is then modified by the phrase "in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water." There is little to question here. The ark became a type of salvation.
We then come to the next part of the text, which is decidely more difficult. Peter tells us that
Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. There are those who, naturally, take this to mean that water baptism saves. But there are several reasons in the text to reject this view. First, the Noahic Flood was clearly a judgment on mankind. Baptism is directly corresponded to the ark. Those not IN the ark were taken away in judgment. Thus, it seems best that those not IN baptism will also be taken away in judgment. Peter confirms this thought process, telling us that this does not save by
the removal of dirt from the flesh, that is, a physical washing, but rather by
an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Baptism, then, is an appeal to God for a good conscience. That is, it recognizes the reality of the resurrection. We are reminded of Paul's words that we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. Being "in Christ", we will no longer undergo condemnation.
It is seen, then, that the baptism refered to here is the baptism into the body of Christ, a thing done in the Spirit, represented by water baptism.
I wish I could go into a bit more detail, but I'm off for dinner. I hope this helps.
God bless
