Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
      1. For the explication of this we may notice, (1.) The preacher--Christ Jesus, who has interested himself in the affairs of the church and of the world ever since he was first promised to Adam, Genesis 3:15. He went, not by a local motion, but by special operation, as God is frequently said to move, Genesis 11:5; Hosea 5:15; Micah 1:3. He went and preached, by his Spirit striving with them, and inspiring and enabling Enoch and Noah to plead with them, and preach righteousness to them, as 2 Peter 2:5. (2.) The hearers. Because they were dead and disembodied when the apostle speaks of them, therefore he properly calls them spirits now in prison; not that they were in prison when Christ preached to them, as the vulgar Latin translation and the popish expositors pretend. (3.) The sin of these people: They were disobedient, that is, rebellious, unpersuadable, and unbelieving, as the word signifies; this their sin is aggravated from the patience and long-suffering of God (which once waited upon them for 120 years together), while Noah was preparing the ark, and by that, as well as by his preaching, giving them fair warning of what was coming upon them. (4.) The event of all: Their bodies were drowned, and their spirits cast into hell, which is called a prison (Matthew 5:25; 2 Peter 2:4; 2 Peter 2:5); but Noah and his family, who believed and were obedient, were saved in the ark.