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17-22 If it is the will of God that you should suffer it is really better to suffer unjustly than because you have deserved it. Remember that Christ the just suffered for us the unjust, to bring us to God. That meant the death of his body, but he came to life again in the spirit. It was in the spirit that he went and preached to the imprisoned souls of those who had been disobedient in the days of Noah—the days of God’s great patience during the period of the building of the ark, in which eventually only eight souls were saved in the flood. And I cannot help pointing out what a perfect illustration this is of the way you have been admitted to the safety of the Christian “ark” by baptism, which means, of course, far more than the mere washing of a dirty body: it means the ability to face God with a clear conscience. For there is in every true baptism the virtue of Christ’s rising from the dead. And he has now entered Heaven and is at God’s right hand, with all angels, authorities and powers subservient to him.

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19 After being made alive,[a] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits(A) 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently(B) in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.(C) In it only a few people, eight in all,(D) were saved(E) through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you(F) also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience(G) toward God.[b] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,(H)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 3:19 Or but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also
  2. 1 Peter 3:21 Or but an appeal to God for a clear conscience