:
1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; 2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. 3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: 6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. 7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. 8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. 10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: 11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. 17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 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. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:1
Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:1
So far, however, as regards the dress of women, the variety of observance compels us-men of no consideration whatever-to treat, presumptuously indeed, after the most holy apostle, except in so far as it will not be presumptuously if we treat the subject in accordance with the apostle. Touching modesty of dress and ornamentation, indeed, the prescription of Peter likewise is plain, checking as he does with the same mouth, because with the same Spirit, as Paul, the glory of garments, and the pride of gold, and the meretricious elaboration of the hair.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:1
If these things may happen to those women also who, having attained the faith while in (the state of) Gentile matrimony, continue in that state, still they are excused, as having been "apprehended by God" in these very circumstances; and they are bidden to persevere in their married state, and are sanctified, and have hope of "making a gain" held out to them.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:1
The husband is the head of the wife, and so she must be subject to him just as the other members of the body must be subject to the head. Peter wants wives to show their husbands the path of virtue with just the same vitality as so many of them lead their husbands in the opposite direction.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:2
Actions speak louder than words, and the husbands will be persuaded by what they see, not by what they hear from their wives.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:3
But he who is both the head of the man and the beauty of the woman, the husband of the church, Christ Jesus, what sort of crown did he put on, for both male and female? A crown of thorns!

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:3
Touching modesty of dress and ornament, the rule of Peter is also plain, because he speaks with the same spirit as Paul against the empty glory of apparel and the pride of gold.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:3
For what is a crown on the head of a woman, but beauty made seductive, but mark of utter wantonness,-a notable casting away of modesty, a setting temptation on fire? Therefore a woman, taking counsel from the apostles' foresight, will not too elaborately adorn herself, that she may not either be crowned with any exquisite arrangement of her hair.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 Peter 3:3
Also Peter consents to these same precepts, and says, "Let there be in the woman not the outward adorning of array, or gold, or apparel, but the adorning of the heart."

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:3
There is nothing wrong with these ornaments in themselves, but they are unnecessary extras for the believer and should therefore be avoided. Most of them were invented by the daughters of Ham, which explains why the prohibition is directed to women rather than to men.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:3
"Whose adornment let it not be outward, etc. Because, as Cyprian says, 'Those who are dressed in silk and purple cannot put on Christ. Adorned with gold, pearls, and necklaces, they have lost the ornaments of the heart and soul. If Peter also admonishes women to be restrained and governed by religious observance according to ecclesiastical discipline, who often excuse their adornments through their husbands, how much more is it proper for a virgin to observe this, to whom no excuse for adornment is fitting, nor can the lie of fault be transferred to another, but she alone remains in the crime?'

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:4
Women should not indulge in the outward adornment of braiding the hair or of wearing gold, or of putting on robes. Their adornment should be in the inner life of the heart, in the imperishableness of a quiet and gentle spirit, which is of great price in the sight of God.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 Peter 3:4
Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter to the people at Pontus: "Let there be in a woman not the outward adorning of ornament, or of gold, or of apparel, but the adorning of the heart."

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on 1 Peter 3:4
When reading the apostle Peter I noticed that every wise man is rich. Note that Peter does not exclude women from this. Neither the wise man nor the rich one needs to hoard riches for himself. Peter has mentioned very beautifully the inner life of the heart, because the whole man of wisdom is invisible, just as wisdom itself is invisible, though understood. No one before the time of Peter used such an expression in speaking of the inner man.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 3:4
God would not give riches to the outer man and leave the inner man in need; he has given invisible riches to the invisible self and invisibly adorned it.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:4
But let it be the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptibility of a quiet and meek spirit, etc. He preaches chastity and the adornment of the inner man in the incorruption of a quiet and meek spirit, saying almost: Since your outer person is corrupted, and you have ceased to have the blessedness of integrity, which is especially proper to virgins, imitate the incorruption of the spirit through strict abstinence, and what you cannot do with your body, perform with your mind. For Christ seeks these riches, and this adornment of your union. It is also remarkable and found this judgment dictated by the law of natural science, according to Pythagoras, that the true adornments of matrons are chastity, not garments.

[AD 360] Eusebius of Emesa on 1 Peter 3:5
Outward beauty is not the real thing but rather something quite superfluous. A woman’s proper beauty is obedience to her husband. The truth of this statement is made manifest by the examples of the holy women of the past, like Sarah.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:5
Women must remain holy in every state of life, whether they are married, single or celibate.

[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on 1 Peter 3:6
You wives, be subject to your own husbands, and have them in esteem, and serve them with fear and love, as holy Sarah honoured Abraham. For she could not endure to call him by his name, but called him lord, when she said, "My lord is old." [Genesis 18:12, 1 Peter 3:6] In like manner, you husbands, love your own wives as your own members, as partners in life, and fellow-helpers for the procreation of children. For says He, "Rejoice with the wife of your youth. [Proverbs 5:18] Let her conversation be to you as a loving hind, and a pleasant foal; let her alone guide you, and be with you at all times: for if you are every way encompassed with her friendship, you will be happy in her society." Love them therefore as your own members, as your very bodies [Ephesians 5:28]; for so it is written, "The Lord has testified between you and between the wife of your youth; and she is your partner, and another has not made her: and she is the remains of your spirit;" and, "Take heed to your spirit, and do not forsake the wife of your youth."

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 3:6
Peter commands women to imitate their holy forebears, and in particular Sarah. He urges them to submit to their husbands just as she submitted to Abraham and says that they have become her children by their good behavior. For just as a man who does the works of Abraham and has his faith becomes his child, so also believing women who do good have Sarah as their mother.

[AD 400] Ignatius of Antioch on 1 Peter 3:6
Let the husbands love their wives, remembering that, at the creation, one woman, and not many, was given to one man. Let the wives honour their husbands, as their own flesh; and let them not presume to address them by their names. Let them also be chaste, reckoning their husbands as their only partners, to whom indeed they have been united according to the will of God. Ye parents, impart a holy training to your children. Ye children, "honour your parents, that it may be well with you."

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:6
Since Sarah had become a companion to Abraham of such great faith, God called her the mother of all the righteous, and when Peter was urging believing women among the Gentiles to practice the virtues of humility, chastity and modesty, he remembered our mother Sarah with due praise.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:7
What (of the fact) that she endured not to have been met alone; but in the presence of Adam, not yet her husband, not yet bound to lend her his ears, she is impatient of keeping silence, and makes him the transmitter of that which she had imbibed from the Evil One? Therefore another human being, too, perishes through the impatience of the one; presently, too, perishes of himself, through his own impatience committed in each respect, both in regard of God's premonition and in regard of the devil's cheatery; not enduring to observe the former nor to refute the latter.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 3:7
Is it true that such spouses do not think about the things of the Lord, how they might please him? They are very rare. Who denies this?

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:7
The head can easily corrupt the members of the body, but Peter addresses himself to the latter first, lest it be thought that the lesser might somehow despise the greater. But then he goes on to exhort the greater to treat the lesser members properly. This means, first, husbands must respect the times set aside for prayer and fasting and not demand their marital rights if these are going to be a distraction from other things. Second, men must accept that they are stronger than their wives and therefore have a duty to protect them. Third, both parties are heirs of eternal life which God gives by grace, not by any merit which we may possess, and we do well to remember that “It depends not on man’s will or exertion, but on God’s mercy.”

[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on 1 Peter 3:7
The pure and united marriage of a man and woman speeds on toward the gates of heaven. For if they bear the image of conjunction by which the church is mystically conjoined to Christ as his bride, they can pray that they will be elevated to a position equal to that of the church. Peter enjoins obedience on wives and tells husbands to bear patiently with them.… He also shows that there is another reason for being patient, which is so that their prayers will not be hindered. For nothing hinders the work of God like trouble in the home.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, likewise dwelling with them according to knowledge, etc. Likewise, he says, provoking men to imitation because he had already commanded wives above, saying: Let husbands consider your chaste conduct in the fear of God. But according to knowledge, that they may know what God desires, and give honor to the feminine vessel. If we abstain from intercourse, we give honor. If we do not abstain, it is clear that intercourse is contrary to honor."

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:7
That your prayers may not be hindered. And Paul says: Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer (1 Corinthians 7). Therefore, he reminds us that prayers are hindered by the marital duty, for whenever I render the due to my wife, I cannot pray. But if, according to another saying of the apostle, it is necessary to pray without ceasing, then I should never be devoted to marriage, lest I be hindered at any hour from the prayer I am always commanded to continue.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:8
For he says: "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another; love as brethren, be pitiful, be humble "and so forth, "that ye may inherit a blessing"

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:8
Peter, as the head of the church, calls everyone to unite in harmony, whether they are secular rulers and peasants, princes of the church and monks, or husbands and wives. The same basic principles apply to them all.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:8
Here Peter moves on from husband and wife and sets out the law of love for everyone. Every virtue is based on it—compassion, mercy, humility, and so on.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:8
But all of you in faith be of one mind, sympathetic. As above he taught with appropriate discretion the various persons, conditions, and sexes, now he admonishes all in common in the cause of the Lord's faith, to have one heart and one soul.

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 Peter 3:8
Peter now moves on to give general advice to everyone. There was no need for him to target specific groups, since what he says here applies equally to all. This is the law of love, from which every virtue derives.

[AD 155] Polycarp of Smyrna on 1 Peter 3:9
Up us also, if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, false witness; "not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing"
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:9
How much more, while you are returning the malediction in the name of Jupiter himself, are you doing honour to Jupiter in the same way as he who provoked you! But a believer ought to laugh in such cases, not to rave; nay, according to the precept, not to return a curse in the name of God even, but dearly to bless in the name of God, that you may both demolish idols and preach God, and fulfil discipline.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:9
Not even by an evil word does He permit it to be vented. Ever if we must be angry, our anger must not be maintained beyond sunset, as the apostle admonishes.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:9
Of course you should not return evil for good or cursing for blessing either, though some people do. A Christian is called to the exact opposite behavior!

[AD 500] Desert Fathers on 1 Peter 3:9
A brother asked a hermit, ‘What is humility?’ He answered, ‘To do good to them that do evil to you.’ The brother said, ‘Suppose a man cannot attain that standard, what is he to do?’ The hermit answered, ‘He should run away, and choose silence.’

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:9
What is humility? It is to bear the insults of others, to accept sins against oneself, to bear punishments. Indeed this is not just humility, but prudence as well.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:9
Because to this you were called, that you might inherit a blessing. Namely, with the Judge saying: Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom (Matthew 25). The blessing of inheritance can also be understood as that by which the Church is perpetually blessed in future life. Hence, now rejoicing in the hope of future things, it says: I will exalt you, my God the King, and I will bless your name forever and ever (Psalm 144). Therefore, what anyone wishes to find in the future, he should strive to meditate on and perform in the present, and bless both his Creator and neighbor with sincere voice, making himself worthy of both divine and fraternal blessing.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:10
"For he that will love life, and see good days;" [2 Peter 3:10] that is, who wishes to become eternal and immortal. And He calls the Lord life, and the days good, that is holy.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:10
Peter is referring here to those who want to be eternal and incorruptible.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 1 Peter 3:10
Guile elicits falsehood, deception, hypocrisy, and slanders which are untrue. It is the friend of the enemy of truth, that is, Satan, the father of lies. Believers are advised to avoid his influence and to prefer the things of God, who is truth.

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:10
James also said: “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” It is a great thing to be able to control the tongue, for failure to do so is the greatest of evils.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:10
The present is evil, but the future is bright. We should always remember that.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:11
And if I glance around at their examples-(examples) of some David heaping up marriages for himself even through sanguinary means, of some Solomon rich in wives as well as in other riches-you are bidden to "follow the better things; " and you have withal Joseph but once wedded, and on this score I venture to say better than his father; you have Moses, the intimate eye-witness of God; you have Aaron the chief priest.

[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:11
Exhortations and encouragements to godliness are of fundamental importance. It is essential to turn away from the tendency toward evil and from the evil path of acquiescence in wickedness, so as to reach out to what is good. We must first distance ourselves completely from everything evil if we want to enjoy genuine health, free from all disease. The person who seeks peace seeks Christ, for he is our peace, who made us both—Jew and Gentile—one new man, bringing peace by the blood of his cross. He will find it through faith, because our God and Father has called us to this inheritance.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 1 Peter 3:11
These things do not come naturally to us, for bad thoughts are always entering our minds. But if a man is wise, he will put them aside and in their place choose thoughts which will be advantageous and profitable for him. This, I believe, is what it means to turn away from evil.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:12
"For the eyes of the Lord," he says, "are upon the righteous, and His ears on their prayers:" he means the manifold inspection of the Holy Spirit. "The face of the Lord is on them that do evil;" that is, whether judgment, or vengeance, or manifestation.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:12
Here Peter is referring to the many different ways in which the Holy Spirit observes us.

[AD 450] Hesychius of Jerusalem on 1 Peter 3:12
The Lord will accept those who repent but will punish those who remain in their sins.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:12
It is not those who are still in their sins who are worthy of such divine oversight, but those who have been cleansed from them. The phrase “the eyes of God” is a metaphor for those divine powers which see everything. It is they who watch over the righteous, but his ears are also ready to hear their prayers. If you want to enjoy this experience, however, you must first turn your eyes away from evil. God never distances himself from the righteous. Whenever the hand of a righteous man does mercy, it has the eye of God watching over it. And whenever his tongue prays, it inclines the divine ear to hear, as for example the prayer of Cornelius was rewarded.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:12
Because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, etc. Since blessed Peter forbade us to return evil for evil, rather ordered us to bless those who curse, he strengthens with prophetic testimony that both good and bad are always seen by the heavenly inspection, so that we may remember that both our patience by which we tolerate the wicked and our benevolence by which we wish good for our persecutors will be rewarded with an eternal reward, and that our persecutors, if they do not repent, shall rightly be punished, but if they do repent, we too will receive a crown of righteous rejoicing for their salvation which we implored from the Lord.

[AD 100] Didache on 1 Peter 3:13
But love those who hate you, and you shall not have an enemy.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:13
And who is he that will harm us, if we be followers of that which is good? "

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 3:13
If you love the good, you will suffer no loss, because whatever you may be deprived of in this world, you will never lose God, who is the true Good.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:13
Who can prevent you from being blessed, for the Scriptures say that no one can take our joy from us.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:13
And who is there to harm you, etc. He speaks of those things that happen to us from adversaries through insulting words, through the loss of temporal goods, through bodily tortures. For all these and similar things, when inflicted upon the faithful, can in no way harm those who are zealous for good, especially according to knowledge, but rather bring the reward of patience to those who endure equanimously. On the contrary, they greatly harm those who inflict punishment by accumulating eternal punishment for themselves. But if anyone succumbs to such adversities and falls, it is not the one who inflicted the evil that harmed him, but he himself, who refused to bear it patiently. For the house which the wise man built did not fall because it did not endure the violence of tempests, but because it was founded upon a rock. And again, the house which the foolish man built foolishly did not fall because it was struck by tempests, but because it was placed upon sand. For both were equally tested by adversity striking them, but the firmness of the foundation gave the crown of perseverance to one, while the foolishness of the fragile structure overthrew the other. For no mishap, whether brought by the devil, by a wicked human, or by the general turmoil of passing things, can harm the perfect emulator of good. However, it is clear that many zealous for good have been harmed by others when they are ill-instructed in the knowledge of the truth which they love. For how many desiring to believe rightly in God and to live correctly in the Church have been unknowingly led astray by the madness of Arius, by the malice of Sabellius, or other heretics? Read the book of John Chrysostom, which he wrote about this: No one can be harmed by another unless by himself.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 1 Peter 3:14
No one can harm a person who does not do evil himself. Peter shows that trials which come from the Gentiles cannot harm those who live according to virtue. On the contrary, they turn those who endure them into blessed people.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:14
But even if you suffer anything for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. He says, not only does the one who inflicts evil upon those doing good not harm you at all, but also when the enemy persecutes you for the good deeds which he abhors, he provides you with a greater cause of blessedness as he exercises the strength of your patience, according to that saying of the gospel: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:15
"But sanctify the Lord Christ," he says, "in your hearts." For so you have in the Lord's prayer, "Hallowed be Your name." [Matthew 6:9]

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:15
This is just what the Lord’s Prayer says: “Hallowed be your name.”

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 3:15
We must be so well instructed in the knowledge of our faith that whenever anyone asks us about it we may be able to give them a proper answer and to do so with meekness and in the fear of God. For whoever says anything about God must do so as if God himself were present to hear him.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 3:15
The apostle tells us to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us for an explanation of our faith, because if an unbeliever asks me a reason for my faith and hope and I perceive that he cannot accept it unless he believes, I give him that very reason, so that he may see how absurd it is for him to ask a reason for things which he cannot grasp until he believes.

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:15
The one who decides to do this is not doing anything new, nor is he making up some new explanation. Rather he is making clear to those who ask him what his faith in Christ is all about.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:15
Just as magnifying God cannot add anything to his greatness and glorifying him does not make him any more glorious, so sanctifying the Lord does not mean that there is any addition to his existing holiness. Rather we are called to sanctify him in our hearts, and if we form a clear understanding of his holiness, then we do not sanctify him on one occasion only, but rather by doing this we have a better understanding of what his holiness is and something of it is implanted in our hearts. Likewise someone who magnifies God receives a share of his greatness, and someone who glorifies him is glorified in turn. It is a prophetic voice which says that there should be no fear in you which might prevent you from confessing Christ in your hearts. You should sanctify him there also. For this confession is sanctification both for the soul and for the body. Some people wonder why the Savior said: “Do not worry about what you will say,” but here the apostle writes: “Be ready to give an explanation.” However, there is no contradiction. Jesus was speaking about bearing witness, whereas Peter is talking about teaching others the faith.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:15
Sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts. What does it mean to sanctify the Lord in our hearts, if not to contemplate His holiness, which is of incomprehensible glory, with the innermost affection of the heart? How much strength He is able to give to those hoping in Him to overcome, whose inestimable holiness shines forth.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:15
Always be prepared to provide an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. We must be prepared to give an account of our hope and faith to those who ask in two ways, so that we may reveal the just reasons for our hope and faith to everyone, whether they inquire faithfully or unfaithfully, and so that we always hold firm the very profession of our faith and hope, even amidst the pressures of adversaries, showing by patience how reasonably we have learned to maintain it, for the love of which we neither fear to suffer adversities nor to undergo death.

[AD 449] Hilary of Arles on 1 Peter 3:16
Do not get angry or threaten anyone. Your conscience is the part of you which embraces what is good and which rejects evil. It is like the doorkeeper of a house which is open to friends and closed to enemies.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:16
With gentleness and respect, maintaining a good conscience. In the very knowledge of doctrine, he advises observing the quality of teaching, so that humility, which is the teacher and mother of all virtues, may be spoken and shown through seeing.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:16
So that when they malign you as evildoers, etc. So that those who jeer at your faith and hope in heavenly things they cannot see, may see your good works, and by these be put to shame because they cannot deny they are openly good. Or certainly it should be understood this way: Ensure, by doing good, that those who disparage your good conduct, at the coming time of future retribution, may be put to shame, seeing you crowned with Christ, while they are damned with the devil.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 3:17
Everyone who lies acts unjustly, and if lying ever seems to be useful to someone, it may be that injustice sometimes seems useful to him. But in fact injustice is never useful, and lying always does harm.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:17
Once again, Peter exhorts us not to grieve over unjust suffering, if that is God’s will for us. He teaches us that we suffer for the specific purpose of being trained for what we are meant to be according to the mercy of God.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:17
For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. This statement elegantly refutes the foolishness of those who, when they are accused by their brothers for faults or even restrained by punishments, endure it completely patiently; but when they suffer insults, losses of property, or any adversities from others without fault, they immediately burst into anger, and those who previously seemed innocent, through impatience and murmuring, render themselves guilty. So that the difference in the scourging appears vastly different in unequal merits, let us see that Tobias, Saul, and Elymas were struck by the same affliction of blindness. But Tobias was struck in order that the virtue of his patience might shine more widely as an example to all; Saul so that he might be transformed from Saul the persecutor into Paul the apostle; and Elymas so that, suffering the fitting punishment for his treachery, he would cease to lead astray those who were about to believe. And if I were given a choice, I would rather, with such a Father, be subjected to just scourging, divine or human, than be dragged to the pursuit of justice by the force of unjust blows. Again, I would rather be pulled back from faults by a scourge than be subjected to eternal punishment for the insurmountable weight of sins.

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 Peter 3:17
There are two benefits to be gained from unjust suffering. First, the righteous person who suffers grows in righteousness as a result of his patience. Second, the sinner who is spared in this way may be converted by seeing someone else suffer on his behalf.

[AD 125] Odes of Solomon on 1 Peter 3:18-19
Sheol saw me and was shattered, and Death ejected me and many with me.
I have been vinegar and bitterness to it, and I went down with it as far as its depth.
Then the feet and the head it released, because it was not able to endure my face.
And I made a congregation of living among his dead; and I spoke with them by living lips; in order that my word may not be unprofitable.
And those who had died ran towards me; and they cried out and said, Son of God, have pity on us.
And deal with us according to Your kindness, and bring us out from the bonds of darkness.
And open for us the door by which we may come out to You; for we perceive that our death does not touch You.
May we also be saved with You, because You are our Savior.
Then I heard their voice, and placed their faith in my heart.
And I placed my name upon their head, because they are free and they are mine.

[AD 165] Justin Martyr on 1 Peter 3:18-19
Trypho: We ask you first of all to tell us some of the Scriptures which you allege have been completely cancelled.

Justin: I shall do as you please... And since this passage from the sayings of Jeremiah is still written in some copies [of the Scriptures] in the synagogues of the Jews (for it is only a short time since they were cut out)... And again, from the sayings of the same Jeremiah these have been cut out: 'The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves; and He descended to preach to them His own salvation.'

[AD 200] Martyrdom Of Polycarp on 1 Peter 3:18
"This he said at the suggestion and urgent persuasion of the Jews, who also watched us, as we sought to take him out of the fire, being ignorant of this, that it is neither possible for us ever to forsake Christ, who suffered for the salvation of such as shall be saved throughout the whole world (the blameless one for sinners)
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:18
This is said in relation to our faith. In other words, Christ is brought to life in our spirits.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:18-19
Wherefore the Lord preached the Gospel to those in Hades. Accordingly the Scripture says, "Hades says to Destruction, We have not seen His form, but we have heard His voice." It is not plainly the place, which, the words above say, heard the voice, but those who have been put in Hades, and have abandoned themselves to destruction, as persons who have thrown themselves voluntarily from a ship into the sea. They, then, are those that hear the divine power and voice. For who in his senses can suppose the souls of the righteous and those of sinners in the same condemnation, charging Providence with injustice?

But how? Do not [the Scriptures] show that the Lord preached the Gospel to those that perished in the flood, or rather had been chained, and to those kept "in ward and guard"? [1 Peter 3:19-20] And it has been shown also, in the second book of the Stromata, that the apostles, following the Lord, preached the Gospel to those in Hades. For it was requisite, in my opinion, that as here, so also there, the best of the disciples should be imitators of the Master; so that He should bring to repentance those belonging to the Hebrews, and they the Gentiles; that is, those who had lived in righteousness according to the Law and Philosophy, who had ended life not perfectly, but sinfully...

And, as I think, the Saviour also exerts His might because it is His work to save; which accordingly He also did by drawing to salvation those who became willing, by the preaching [of the Gospel], to believe in Him, wherever they were. If, then, the Lord descended to Hades for no other end but to preach the Gospel, as He did descend; it was either to preach the Gospel to all or to the Hebrews only...

If, then, He preached only to the Jews, who wanted the knowledge and faith of the Saviour, it is plain that, since God is no respecter of persons, the apostles also, as here, so there preached the Gospel to those of the heathen who were ready for conversion. And it is well said by the Shepherd, "They went down with them therefore into the water, and again ascended. But these descended alive, and again ascended alive. But those who had fallen asleep, descended dead, but ascended alive." Further the Gospel [Matthew 27:52] says, "that many bodies of those that slept arose,"— plainly as having been translated to a better state. There took place, then, a universal movement and translation through the economy of the Saviour...

It is evident that those, too, who were outside of the Law, having lived rightly, in consequence of the peculiar nature of the voice, though they are in Hades and in ward, [1 Peter 3:19] on hearing the voice of the Lord, whether that of His own person or that acting through His apostles, with all speed turned and believed...

So I think it is demonstrated that the God being good, and the Lord powerful, they save with a righteousness and equality which extend to all that turn to Him, whether here or elsewhere...

Did not the same dispensation obtain in Hades, so that even there, all the souls, on hearing the proclamation, might either exhibit repentance, or confess that their punishment was just, because they believed not? And it were the exercise of no ordinary arbitrariness, for those who had departed before the advent of the Lord (not having the Gospel preached to them, and having afforded no ground from themselves, in consequence of believing or not) to obtain either salvation or punishment. For it is not right that these should be condemned without trial, and that those alone who lived after the advent should have the advantage of the divine righteousness...

If, then, He preached the Gospel to those in the flesh that they might not be condemned unjustly, how is it conceivable that He did not for the same cause preach the Gospel to those who had departed this life before His advent?

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:18-22
"For Christ," he says, "has once suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that he might present us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit." He says these things, reducing them to their faith. That is, He became alive in our spirits.

"Coming," he says, "He preached to those who were once unbelieving." They saw not His form, but they heard His voice.

"When the long-suffering of God" holds out. God is so good, as to work the result by the teaching of salvation.

"By the resurrection," it is said, "of Jesus Christ:" that, namely, which is effected in us by faith.

"Angels being subjected to Him," which are the first order; and "principalities" being subject, who are of the second order; and "powers" being also subject, which are said to belong to the third order.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:18
Well, I on my side will first explain the reason of his offence, that I may the more easily explode the scandal of our heretic. Now, that the very Lord Himself of all might, the Word and Spirit of the Father, was operating and preaching on earth, it was necessary that the portion of the Holy Spirit which, in the form of the prophetic gift, had been through John preparing the ways of the Lord, should now depart from John, and return back again of course to the Lord, as to its all-embracing original.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:18
For to this end had He come, that, being Himself pure from sin, and in all respects holy, He might undergo death on behalf of sinners. Similarly, you who emulate Him in condoning sins, if you yourself have done no sin, plainly suffer in my stead.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:18-19
If, on the other hand, as it reads in some manuscripts, "even in those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression," this death, namely that which was keeping souls bound in the underworld, is said to exercise dominion, then we shall understand it to mean that even the saints had fallen prey to that death certainly under the law of dying, even if not under the punishment of sin. But it was on this account that Christ descended into the underworld, not only because he would not be held by death [Acts 2:24], but also in order that he might release those who were held there, as we said, not so much through the crime of transgression as much as by the condition of dying. As it is written, "Many bodies of saints who were sleeping were resurrected with him and entered into the holy city." [Matthew 27:52-53] In this as well the prophet's sayings were fulfilled, in which he said of Christ, "In ascending on high he led captivity captive." [Ephesians 4:8-9] Thus by his own resurrection he has already destroyed the dominions of death, which is also why it is written that he set captivity free.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 Peter 3:18
Also in the Epistle of Peter the apostle: "Christ hath died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might present us to God."

[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:18-19
But tomorrow assemble for me all your citizens, and I will preach in their presence and sow among them the word of God, concerning the coming of Jesus, how he was born; and concerning his mission, for what purpose he was sent by the Father; and concerning the power of his works, and the mysteries which he proclaimed in the world, and by what power he did these things; and concerning his new preaching, and his abasement and humiliation, and how he humbled himself, and died and debased his divinity and was crucified, and descended into Hades, and burst the bars which from eternity had not been broken, and raised the dead; for he descended alone, but rose with many, and thus ascended to his Father.

[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:18-19
This Body it was that was laid in a grave, when the Word had left it, yet was not parted from it, to preach, as Peter says, also to the spirits in prison [1 Peter 3:19].

And this above all shows the foolishness of those who say that the Word was changed into bones and flesh. For if this had been so, there were no need of a tomb. For the Body would have gone by itself to preach to the spirits in Hades. But as it was, He Himself went to preach, while the Body Joseph wrapped in a linen cloth, and laid it away at Golgotha. [Mark 15:46]

[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on 1 Peter 3:18-19
He departed from Sheol and took up His abode in the Kingdom; that He might seek out a path from Sheol which oppresses all, to the Kingdom which requites all. For our Lord gave His resurrection as a pledge to mortals, that He would remove them from Sheol, which receives the departed without distinction, to the Kingdom which admits the invited with distinction; so that, from [the plan] which makes equal the bodies of all men within it, we may come to [the plan] which distinguishes the works of all men within it. This is He Who descended to Sheol and ascended, that from [the place] which corrupts its sojourners, He might bring us to the place which nourishes with its blessings its dwellers...

Sheol brought Him forth, that through Him its treasures might be emptied out...

For our Lord bare His cross and went forth according to the will of Death: but He cried upon the cross [Matthew 27:50-52] and brought forth the dead from within Sheol against the will of Death. For in that very thing by which Death had slain Him [i.e., the body], in that as armour He bore off the victory over Death. But the Godhead concealed itself in the manhood and fought against Death, Death slew and was slain. Death slew the natural life; and the supernatural life slew Him. And because Death was not able to devour Him without the body, nor Sheol to swallow Him up without the flesh, He came unto the Virgin, that from thence He might obtain that which should bear Him to Sheol; as from beside the ass they brought for Him the colt whereon He entered Jerusalem, and proclaimed concealing her overthrow and the destruction of her children. With the body then that [was] from the Virgin, He entered Sheol and plundered its storehouses and emptied its treasures. He came then to Eve the Mother of all living. This is the vine whose fence Death laid open by her own hands, and caused her to taste of his fruits. So Eve the Mother of all living became the well-spring of death to all living. But Mary budded forth, a new shoot from Eve the ancient vine; and new life dwelt in her, that when Death should come confidently after his custom to feed upon mortal fruits, the life that is slayer of death might be stored up [therein] against him; that when Death should have swallowed [the fruits] without fear, he might vomit them forth and with them many. For [He Who is] the Medicine of life flew down from heaven, and was mingled in the body, the mortal fruit. And when Death came to feed after his custom, the Life in His turn swallowed up Death. This is the food that hungered to eat its eater. So then, by one fruit which Death swallowed hungrily, he vomited up many lives which he had swallowed greedily. The hunger then which hurried him against one, emptied out his greed which had hurried him against many. Thus Death was diligent to swallow one, but was in haste to set many free. For while One was dying on the cross, many that were buried from within Sheol were coming forth at His cry. [Matthew 27:50-53] This is the fruit that cleft asunder Death who had swallowed it, and brought out from within it the Life in quest of which it was sent. For Sheol hid away all that she had devoured. But through One that was not devoured, all that she had devoured were restored from within her. He, whose stomach is disordered, vomits forth both that which is sweet to him and that which is not sweet. So the stomach of Death was disordered, and as he was vomiting forth the medicine of life which had sickened it, he vomited forth along with it also those lives that had been swallowed by him with pleasure.

This is the Son of the carpenter, Who skilfully made His cross a bridge over Sheol that swallows up all, and brought over mankind into the dwelling of life. And because it was through the tree that mankind had fallen into Sheol, so upon the tree they passed over into the dwelling of life. Through the tree then wherein bitterness was tasted, through it also sweetness was tasted; that we might learn of Him that among the creatures nothing resists Him. Glory be to You, Who laid Your cross as a bridge over death, that souls might pass over upon it from the dwelling of the dead to the dwelling of life!

[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on 1 Peter 3:18-19
He was truly laid as Man in a tomb of rock; but rocks were rent asunder by terror because of Him. He went down into the regions beneath the earth, that thence also He might redeem the righteous. For, tell me, could thou wish the living only to enjoy His grace, and that, though most of them are unholy; and not wish those who from Adam had for a long while been imprisoned to have now gained their liberty? Esaias the Prophet proclaimed with loud voice so many things concerning Him; would you not wish that the King should go down and redeem His herald? David was there, and Samuel, and all the Prophets, John himself also, who by his messengers said, Are you He that should come, or look we for another [Matthew 11:3]? Would you not wish that He should descend and redeem such as these?

But He who descended into the regions beneath the earth came up again; and Jesus, who was buried, truly rose again the third day. And if the Jews ever worry you, meet them at once by asking thus: Did Jonah come forth from the whale on the third day, and has not Christ then risen from the earth on the third day?

[AD 386] Cyril of Jerusalem on 1 Peter 3:18-19
He cried to the Father, saying, Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit [Luke 23:46]; I commend it, that I may take it again. And having said these things, He gave up the ghost [Matthew 27:50]; but not for any long time, for He quickly rose again from the dead.

The Sun was darkened, because of the Sun of Righteousness [Malachi 4:2]. Rocks were rent, because of the spiritual Rock. Tombs were opened, and the dead arose, because of Him who was free among the dead; He sent forth His prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water [Zechariah 9:11].

[AD 403] Epiphanius of Salamis on 1 Peter 3:18-19
Something strange is happening - there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “and with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying : “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth , all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

[AD 411] Tyrannius Rufinus on 1 Peter 3:18-19
That He descended into hell is also evidently foretold in the Psalms, where it is said, "You have brought Me also into the dust of the death." And again, "What profit is there in my blood, when I shall have descended into corruption?" And again, "I descended into the deep mire, where there is no bottom." Moreover, John says, "Are You He that shall come (into hell, without doubt), or do we look for another?" Whence also Peter says that "Christ being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit which dwells in Him, descended to the spirits who were shut up in prison, who in the days of Noah believed not, to preach unto them;" where also what He did in hell is declared. Moreover, the Lord says by the Prophet, as though speaking of the future, "You will not leave my soul in hell, neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption." Which again, in prophetic language he speaks of as actually fulfilled, "O Lord, You have brought my soul out of hell: You have saved me from them that go down into the pit"... He returned, therefore, a victor from the dead, leading with Him the spoils of hell. For He led forth those who were held in captivity by death, as He Himself had foretold, when He said, "When I shall be lifted up from the earth I shall draw all unto Me." To this the Gospel bears witness, when it says, "The graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept arose, and appeared unto many, and entered into the holy City"...

[AD 420] Jerome on 1 Peter 3:18-19
But the lower parts of the earth, hell, are understood to be where our Lord and Savior descended, so that He might lead with Him to the heavens the souls of the saints who were being held captive there. Hence, after His resurrection, many bodies of the righteous were seen in the holy city (Matthew 27:52-53). And that hell is in the lower part of the earth is attested by the Psalmist who says: "The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the congregation of Abiron" (Psalm 106:17). This is also explained more fully in the Book of Numbers (chapter 16). In another place we read: "Let death come upon them and let them go down alive into hell" (Psalm 55:15).

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 3:18-19
After having said that "Christ was put to death in the flesh, and quickened in the spirit," the apostle immediately went on to say: "in which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were unbelieving, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water;" thereafter he added the words: "which baptism also now by a like figure has saved you." [1 Peter 3:18-21] This, therefore, is felt by me to be difficult. If the Lord when He died preached in hell to spirits in prison, why were those who continued unbelieving while the ark was a preparing the only ones counted worthy of this favour, namely, the Lord's descending into hell? For in the ages between the time of Noah and the passion of Christ, there died many thousands of so many nations whom He might have found in hell. I do not, of course, speak here of those who in that period of time had believed in God, as, e.g. the prophets and patriarchs of Abraham's line, or, going farther back, Noah himself and his house, who had been saved by water (excepting perhaps the one son, who afterwards was rejected), and, in addition to these, all others outside of the posterity of Jacob who were believers in God, such as Job, the citizens of Nineveh, and any others, whether mentioned in Scripture or existing unknown to us in the vast human family at any time. I speak only of those many thousands of men who, ignorant of God and devoted to the worship of devils or of idols, had passed out of this life from the time of Noah to the passion of Christ. How was it that Christ, finding these in hell, did not preach to them, but preached only to those who were unbelieving in the days of Noah when the ark was a preparing? Or if he preached to all, why has Peter mentioned only these, and passed over the innumerable multitude of others?

It is established beyond question that the Lord, after He had been put to death in the flesh, "descended into hell;" for it is impossible to gainsay either that utterance of prophecy, "You will not leave my soul in hell," — an utterance which Peter himself expounds in the Acts of the Apostles, lest any one should venture to put upon it another interpretation — or the words of the same apostle, in which he affirms that the Lord "loosed the pains of hell, in which it was not possible for Him to be holden." Who, therefore, except an infidel, will deny that Christ was in hell? As to the difficulty which is found in reconciling the statement that the pains of hell were loosed by Him, with the fact that He had never begun to be in these pains as in bonds, and did not so loose them as if He had broken off chains by which He had been bound, this is easily removed when we understand that they were loosed in the same way as the snares of huntsmen may be loosed to prevent their holding, not because they have taken hold. It may also be understood as teaching us to believe Him to have loosed those pains which could not possibly hold Him, but which were holding those to whom He had resolved to grant deliverance...

As to the first man, the father of mankind, it is agreed by almost the entire Church that the Lord loosed him from that prison; a tenet which must be believed to have been accepted not without reason, — from whatever source it was handed down to the Church — although the authority of the canonical Scriptures cannot be brought forward as speaking expressly in its support, though this seems to be the opinion which is more than any other borne out by these words in the book of Wisdom. [Wisdom 10:1-2] Some add to this [tradition] that the same favour was bestowed on the holy men of antiquity — on Abel, Seth, Noah and his house, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the other patriarchs and prophets, they also being loosed from those pains at the time when the Lord descended into hell...

But seeing that plain scriptural testimonies make mention of hell and its pains, no reason can be alleged for believing that He who is the Saviour went there, except that He might save from its pains; but whether He did save all whom He found held in them, or some whom He judged worthy of that favour, I still ask: that He was, however, in hell, and that He conferred this benefit on persons subjected to these pains, I do not doubt...

You perceive, therefore, how intricate is the question why Peter chose to mention, as persons to whom, when shut up in prison, the gospel was preached, those only who were unbelieving in the days of Noah when the ark was a preparing — and also the difficulties which prevent me from pronouncing any definite opinion on the subject.

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on 1 Peter 3:18-19
Moreover, after your departure I learned from information given me by my most beloved sons the deacons that your Love had said that our Almighty Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when He descended into hell, saved all who there acknowledged Him as God, and delivered them from the pains due to them. With regard to this subject I desire that your Charity should think very differently. For, when He descended into hell, He delivered through His grace those only who both believed that He should come and observed His precepts in their lives... Considering, therefore, all these things, hold nothing but what the true faith teaches through the Catholic Church: namely, that the Lord in descending into hell rescued from infernal durance those only whom while living in the flesh He preserved through His grace in faith and good conduct.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:18
Again Peter expounds Christ’s death and resurrection. Notice how he proclaims the mystery to us. For by saying that he died in the flesh and that he was made alive again in the Spirit, what he is really saying is that he died for the sake of our flesh, which is under the power of corruption, but that he rose again as God, for the word spirit means “God” in this instance.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:18
Because Christ also once died for our sins, etc. Therefore, the righteous one who suffers imitates Christ; the one corrected by scourging imitates the thief who recognized Christ on the cross and entered paradise with Christ from the cross; the one who does not desist from faults even amid scourging imitates the left-hand thief, who ascended the cross for his sins and after the cross fell into Tartarus. But he recalls that Christ died once, so that it might also remind us that an eternal reward is given for our temporary sufferings.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:18
That He might present us to God, indeed mortified in the flesh, etc. Concerning this mortification of the flesh and vivification of the spirit, which those who labor for the Lord through patience possess, the apostle Paul also speaks: Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day (II Cor. IV). Therefore Christ offers us to God the Father when we joyfully sacrifice ourselves for Him through the mortification of the flesh, that is, He presents our praiseworthy life in the sight of the Father. Or certainly, He offers us to God when He introduces us, freed from the flesh, into the eternal kingdom. Indeed, as it is said: Made alive by the Spirit: Saint Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, does not refer this to the human spirit, which is better vivified when the flesh is mortified, as the prophet says about the Lord: To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite (Isaiah LVII), but rather refers it to the grace of the Holy Spirit, who gives eternal life to those mortifying their flesh. For he also uses this testimony against the Arians, who contradict the equality of the Holy Trinity, affirming that by the indivisible unity of divine operation, the Father gives life, the Son gives life, and the Holy Spirit gives life. The Father and the Son, as it is written: For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. The Holy Spirit, indeed, as it is declared by this testimony, which is said of the Son, that He might present us to God, indeed mortified in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit; and therefore, where the operation is one, the substance or essence cannot be different.

[AD 749] John Damascene on 1 Peter 3:18-19
The soul when it was deified descended into Hades, in order that, just as the Sun of Righteousness [Malachi 4:2] rose for those upon the earth, so likewise He might bring light to those who sit under the earth in darkness and shadow of death [Isaiah 9:2]: in order that just as He brought the message of peace to those upon the earth, and of release to the prisoners, and of sight to the blind , and became to those who believed the Author of everlasting salvation and to those who did not believe a reproach of their unbelief [1 Peter 3:19], so He might become the same to those in Hades: That every knee should bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things in earth and things under the earth. [Philippians 2:10] And thus after He had freed those who had been bound for ages, straightway He rose again from the dead, showing us the way of resurrection.

[AD 990] Oecumenius on 1 Peter 3:18
The righteous person suffers for the salvation of others, just as Christ did. This is why Peter mentions our Lord’s example, since Christ did not die for his own sins but for ours. This is the point he makes by adding “the righteous for the unrighteous.” For as the prophet long ago foretold, Christ did not sin at all. Furthermore, in order to emphasize the effectiveness and completeness of Christ’s sacrifice, Peter adds the key word once. So great was his passion that however often human beings may sin, that one act of suffering is sufficient to take away all our transgressions.

[AD 1274] Thomas Aquinas on 1 Peter 3:18-19
I answer that, As Christ, in order to take our penalties upon Himself, willed His body to be laid in the tomb, so likewise He willed His soul to descend into hell. But the body lay in the tomb for a day and two nights, so as to demonstrate the truth of His death. Consequently, it is to be believed that His soul was in hell, in order that it might be brought back out of hell simultaneously with His body from the tomb.

Reply to Objection 1. When Christ descended into hell He delivered the saints who were there, not by leading them out at once from the confines of hell, but by enlightening them with the light of glory in hell itself. Nevertheless it was fitting that His soul should abide in hell as long as His body remained in the tomb.

Reply to Objection 2. By the expression "bars of hell" are understood the obstacles which kept the holy Fathers from quitting hell, through the guilt of our first parent's sin; and these bars Christ burst asunder by the power of His Passion on descending into hell: nevertheless He chose to remain in hell for some time, for the reason stated above.

Reply to Objection 3. Our Lord's expression is not to be understood of the earthly corporeal paradise, but of a spiritual one, in which all are said to be who enjoy the Divine glory. Accordingly, the thief descended locally into hell with Christ, because it was said to him: "This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise"; still as to reward he was in paradise, because he enjoyed Christ's Godhead just as the other saints did.

[AD 1274] Thomas Aquinas on 1 Peter 3:18-19
When Christ descended into hell, all who were in any part of hell were visited in some respect: some to their consolation and deliverance, others, namely, the lost, to their shame and confusion.

[AD 1274] Thomas Aquinas on 1 Peter 3:18-20
These words of Peter [1 Peter 3:19] are referred by some to Christ's descent into hell: and they explain it in this sense: "Christ preached to them who formerly were unbelievers, and who were shut up in prison"—that is, in hell—"in spirit"—that is, by His soul. Hence Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iii): "As He evangelized them who are upon the earth, so did He those who were in hell"; not in order to convert unbelievers unto belief, but to put them to shame for their unbelief, since preaching cannot be understood otherwise than as the open manifesting of His Godhead. which was laid bare before them in the lower regions by His descending in power into hell.

Augustine, however, furnishes a better exposition of the text in his Epistle to Evodius quoted above, namely, that the preaching is not to be referred to Christ's descent into hell, but to the operation of His Godhead, to which He gave effect from the beginning of the world. Consequently, the sense is, that "to those (spirits) that were in prison"—that is, living in the mortal body, which is, as it were, the soul's prison-house—"by the spirit" of His Godhead "He came and preached" by internal inspirations, and from without by the admonitions spoken by the righteous: to those, I say, He preached "which had been some time incredulous," i.e. not believing in the preaching of Noah, "when they waited for the patience of God," whereby the chastisement of the Deluge was put off: accordingly (Peter) adds: "In the days of Noah, when the Ark was being built."

[AD 2020] Douglas Wilson on 1 Peter 3:18-20
In the time before the Messiah came, the expectation of the godly was to die and go to Sheol. Jonah (most likely) actually died and cried out to God from the depths of Sheol (Jon. 2:1). The psalmist expected that Sheol would swallow him up (Ps. 18:5; 86:13; 116:3).

In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, they both died and went down to Hades. In that parable, Hades was divided in two by a vast chasm. The side where Lazarus was had the name of Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:23), while the rich man was in torment in Hades. Nevertheless, it was possible for communication to occur across the chasm.

In our text [Matt. 12:40], Jesus said that He was going to be three days and nights in the heart of the earth. But He also told the thief on the cross that He would be with him in Paradise that same day (Luke 23:43). So then, Abraham’s bosom was also known as Paradise. To the Greeks, this went by the name of Elysium. This is where Jesus went, and preached across the chasm.

The Greek word for the lowest pit of Hades, the worst part, was Tartarus. This word is used once in the New Testament (without any redefinition, mind). Peter tells us this: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Tartarus], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:4).

While in Hades, the Lord preached. But the preaching was not “second chance” preaching. Rather the word used is one used for heralding or announcing, not the word for preaching the gospel. “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 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” (1 Pet. 3:19–20). The Lord was announcing their final defeat to the “sons of God” and Nephilim both. And this, incidentally, tells us how momentous the rebellion at the time of the Flood actually was. Thousands of years after their definitive defeat, Jesus went to them to announce their final defeat.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the king of all things. The devil is not the ruler of Gehenna—Jesus is. The lake of fire was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). It is a place of torment for the devil. Furthermore, Jesus holds the keys to Hades as well. “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [Hades] and of death.” (Rev. 1:18). Jesus, not the devil, is the King of Hell. Jesus, not the devil, is the Lord of Hades.

When the Lord rose from the dead, He led captivity captive (Eph. 4:8)—all the saints in the Old Testament who had died and gone to Abraham’s bosom were transferred when Paradise was moved (Matt. 27:52). And by the time of Paul, Paradise was up (2 Cor. 12:4). So if you had lived in the Old Testament, you would have died and gone down to Sheol/Hades. But the part of Hades that contained the saints of God has been emptied out, and now when God’s people die, what happens? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6, 8). We still go to Paradise, but Paradise itself has been moved into the heavens.

[AD 2020] Douglas Wilson on 1 Peter 3:18-20
The final place of torment is Gehenna, which I take as the lake of fire. There is an intermediate place of torment, which is located within Hades. We can tell they are distinct because at a certain point, death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). And in the Apostles Creed, Jesus descends to Hades, not into Hell.

Aeneas descended into Hades, which was a place divided into two compartments. The bad side was called Tartarus and the good side was called Elysium. Aeneas went to commune with his father, who was a shade, but who was in Elysium, a place of peace. The Jewish name for Elysium was Abraham’s bosom, or Paradise. Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom, within shouting distance of the rich man, who was in torment in Hades (presumably Tartarus). Jesus descended into Elysium because He told the thief on the cross that he would be with him that day in Paradise (Luke 23:43). That is where He preached (across the chasm) to the spirits who had been disobedient in the time of Noah, announcing to them their final defeat (1 Pet. 3:19-20). The apostle Peter even refers to Tartarus by name (2 Pet. 2:4), using a word in verb form that means to cast into Hell/Tartarus. When Jesus rises from the dead, He holds the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:18), and when He ascends He transfers Paradise to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4). When believers die now, that is where they go (2 Cor. 5:8)...

Jesus tells us where this Paradise was. He says that just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40). Jonah cried out to God from Sheol, the Hebrew word that is rendered in the New Testament (without redefinition) as Hades. Hades is not the grave — Plato thought he knew where the gates of Hades were. It was the kind of place you could get to if you got lost in Carlsbad Caverns, you and your flashlight.

[AD 2020] Douglas Wilson on 1 Peter 3:18-20
“Wilson blithely asserts that the "Jewish name for Elysium was Abraham's bosom, or Paradise". Where is the evidence for that?”

This is my “quacks like a duck” argument. Hades had two compartments, Tartarus and Elysium. The New Testament uses the names of two of these three, and I infer the third by good and imaginative consequence...

Jesus said He was going to the heart of the earth like Jonah did, and Jonah went down to Sheol, which was in the heart of the earth, and which the New Testament calls Hades, and Jesus told the thief on the cross that He was going to Paradise, and the only subterranean place that could remotely be thought of as a kind of Paradise would be Elysium.

[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 Peter 3:19
It was for this reason, too, that the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent there also, and

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:19
They did not see his form, but they heard the sound of his voice.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:19
By ourselves the lower regions (of Hades) are not supposed to be a bare cavity, nor some subterranean sewer of the world, but a vast deep space in the interior of the earth, and a concealed recess in its very bowels; inasmuch as we read that Christ in His death spent three days in the heart of the earth, [Matthew 12:40] that is, in the secret inner recess which is hidden in the earth, and enclosed by the earth, and superimposed on the abysmal depths which lie still lower down. Now although Christ is God, yet, being also man, "He died according to the Scriptures," [1 Corinthians 15:3] and "according to the same Scriptures was buried." With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself. [1 Peter 3:19]

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:19
With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself. (This being the case), you must suppose Hades to be a subterranean region, and keep at arm's length those who are too proud to believe that the souls of the faithful deserve a place in the lower regions.

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on 1 Peter 3:19
He showed all power given by the Father to the Son [Matthew 28:18], who is ordained Lord of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and Judge of all [Philippians 2:10]: of things in heaven, because He was born, the Word of God, before all (ages); and of things on earth, because He became man in the midst of men, to re-create our Adam through Himself; and of things under the earth, because He was also reckoned among the dead, preaching the Gospel to the souls of the saints [1 Peter 3:19], (and) by death overcoming death.

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on 1 Peter 3:19
He [John the Baptist] also first preached to those in Hades, becoming a forerunner there when he was put to death by Herod, that there too he might intimate that the Saviour would descend to ransom the souls of the saints from the hand of death.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:19
If the passage about John the Baptist not being worthy to untie Jesus’ shoes possesses a hidden meaning, we ought not to pass over it. I think that the incarnation, when the Son of God takes on flesh and bones, is one of the shoes, and the descent into hell is the other. It is said in Psalm 16: “You will not leave my soul in hell.” And Peter, in his general epistle, mentions Jesus’ descent into hell. Therefore the one who can show the meaning of both sojourns in a worthy manner is able to unloose Jesus’ shoes.

[AD 300] Ammonius of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:19
The academician Caesarius asked me whether the chains of all the souls in hell were cut off when Christ went down there or not. I said that they were. How can that be, he said. Was Judas also set free? Yes, I said. For when the king of all is present, it is not possible for the tyrant and his servant, I mean death, to retain their captives any longer. So what did the Lord do? He died. He preached the way which leads to eternal salvation on earth, and to all who were in hell, so that they might believe in the Father and in him, who became man and died for us and who went down into hell by the power of the Holy Spirit. And those who believed he brought back with him, but those who did not believe, he cast back again into their previous state.… Did he also preach to Judas and give him a chance to repent? I said that I did not think so, for it is superfluous to preach to someone who already knows the truth. Not only had Judas been instructed in the mystery and accepted it, but he had even preached it to others and been considered worthy to receive divine grace, so that he could drive out demons and heal the sick. Later on he fell away by his own choice. Do not tell me that he did evil unwillingly, for no Christian does that. Even Judas never blamed others for his betrayal but recognized that it was his own fault.

[AD 410] Prudentius on 1 Peter 3:19
That the dead might know salvation,
who in limbo long had dwelt,
Into hell with love he entered;
to him yield the broken gates
As the bolts and massive hinges
fall asunder at his word.
Now the door of ready entrance,
but forbidding all return
Outward swings as bars are loosened
and sends forth the prisoned souls
By reversal of the mandate,
treading its threshold once more.

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:19
Here Peter answers the question which some objectors have raised, namely, if the incarnation was so beneficial, why was Christ not incarnated for such a long time, given that he went to the spirits which were in prison and preached to them also? In order to deliver all those who would believe, Christ taught those who were alive on earth at the time of his incarnation, and these others acknowledged him when he appeared to them in the lower regions, and thus they too benefited from his coming. Going in his soul, he preached to those who were in hell, appearing to them as one soul to other souls. When the gatekeepers of hell saw him, they fled; the bronze gates were broken open, and the iron chains were undone. And the only-begotten Son shouted with authority to the suffering souls, according to the word of the new covenant, saying to those in chains: “Come out!” and to those in darkness: “Be enlightened.” In other words, he preached to those who were in hell also, so that he might save all those who would believe in him. For both those who were alive on earth during the time of his incarnation and those who were in hell had a chance to acknowledge him. The greater part of the new covenant is beyond nature and tradition, so that while Christ was able to preach to all those who were alive at the time of his appearing and those who believed in him were blessed, so too he was able to liberate those in hell who believed and acknowledged him, by his descent there. However, the souls of those who practiced idolatry and outrageous ungodliness, as well as those who were blinded by fleshly lusts, did not have the power to see him, and they were not delivered.

[AD 538] Severus of Antioch on 1 Peter 3:19
Forgiveness was not granted to everyone in hell, but only to those who believed and acknowledged Christ. Those who cleansed themselves from evil by doing good works while they were alive recognized him, for until he appeared in the lower regions everyone, including those who had been educated in righteousness, was bound by the chains of death and was awaiting his arrival there, for the way to paradise was closed to them because of Adam’s sin. Nevertheless, not everyone who was in the lower regions responded to Christ when he went there, but only those who believed in him.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:19
In which he also preached to those who were confined in the flesh, etc. He who, coming in the flesh in our times, proclaimed the way of life to the world, also came in spirit before the flood to those who were then unbelieving and living carnally, and preached to them. For he was in Noah and the other saints of that time through the Holy Spirit, and through their good conduct preached to the wicked people of that age, so that they might turn to better ways. For he calls those confined in the flesh, those heavily burdened by carnal desires. Hence, Scripture says of them: "For all flesh had corrupted its way" (Gen. VI). And what he says, "in which," refers to what he had stated previously, that he might present us to God. For even then if anyone had wished to believe in the preaching of the Lord, which he manifested through the life of the faithful, he rejoiced to present even them to God the Father. However, those who disparaged the good as if they were evildoers were confounded by the coming flood. His saying, "in which," can be understood in both ways: in those confined in the flesh, he coming in spirit preached, so that through the same preaching, it might result in a crown of praise for the believers and confusion for those who persisted in unbelief. Some manuscripts read: “In which also he who was in prison, preached coming in spirit.” This refers to the same intent of wicked and unbelieving people, who, since they had their minds darkened by darkness, are rightfully said to be confined in prison even in this life. In this prison, indeed, they are burdened by inner darkness, that is, blindness of mind and unjust works, until, being released from the flesh, they are cast into the outer darkness and the prison of eternal damnation. Of which the Lord says in the Gospel: "And the judge will hand you over to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison" (Matt. V). Although even the saints, in this life, when they long for the joy of the heavenly homeland, rightly proclaim themselves to be in prison, as the Psalmist says: "Bring my soul out of prison, to give thanks to your name" (Psalm CXLII). There is a great difference between the two prisons, for the reprobates are in the prison of sins and ignorance, but the righteous, although placed in the prison of tribulations, with hearts always expanded in the light of righteousness towards God, rejoice. This was exemplified by the apostles Paul and Silas, who, at midnight, in the terror of the deepest prison, bound and beaten, sang a hymn of praise to God with a most joyful voice. Some have interpreted this passage to mean that the consolation of which the Lord speaks to the apostles: "Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it" (Matt. XIII); and of which the Psalmist says: "My eyes fail, longing for your word, saying, 'When will you comfort me?'" (Psalm CXIX), that the saints resting in the underworld desired this, and that when the Lord descended to the underworld, this consolation or exhortation was preached even to those who had been in prison and unbelieving in the days of Noah. And that is what he said, but the Catholic faith holds that the Lord, descending to the underworld, only led out his faithful ones, bringing them to the heavenly kingdoms with him, not liberating those souls imprisoned due to their crimes, but daily demonstrating the life of life either through himself or through the examples or words of his faithful in this life. About whom it is well said:

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 1 Peter 3:19
Spirits that were in prison: See here a proof of a third place, or middle state of souls: for these spirits in prison, to whom Christ went to preach, after his death, were not in heaven; nor yet in the hell of the damned: because heaven is no prison: and Christ did not go to preach to the damned.
[AD 99] Clement of Rome on 1 Peter 3:20
Let us turn to every age that has passed, and learn that, from generation to generation, the Lord has granted a place of repentance to all such as would be converted unto Him. Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved. Jonah proclaimed destruction to the Ninevites; [Jonah 3] but they, repenting of their sins, propitiated God by prayer, and obtained salvation, although they were aliens [to the covenant] of God.

[AD 160] Shepherd of Hermas on 1 Peter 3:20
For the tower was founder on the word of the almighty and glorious Name and it is kept together by the invisible power of the Lord."

[AD 202] Irenaeus on 1 Peter 3:20
Further, they declare that the arrangement made with respect to the ark in the Deluge, by means of which eight persons were saved.

[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:20
God is so good that he even works his salvation by means of patient instruction.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:20
But (in vain): for they who had originated those of the former seed sent into the ark (secretly and stealthily, and unknown to that Mother-Virtue), together with those "eight souls," the seed likewise of Ham, in order that the seed of evil should not perish, but should, together with the rest, be preserved, and after the deluge be restored to the earth, and, by example of the rest, should grow up and diffuse itself, and fill and occupy the whole orb.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:20
Once more, "two (joined) into one flesh" undertake (the duty of) "growing and multiplying,"-Noah, (namely), and his wife, and their sons, in single marriage. Even in the very animals monogamy is recognised, for fear that even beasts should be born of adultery.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 Peter 3:20
"In the ark "says he, "of Noah, few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water, as also baptism shall in like manner save you.".
Peter also, showing this, set forth that the Church is one, and that only they who are in the Church can be baptized; and said, "In the ark of Noah, few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water; the like figure where-unto even baptism shall save you; "

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 3:20
The question which you put to me about the spirits in hell is one which disturbs me profoundly.… What troubles me most is why only those who were imprisoned in the days of Noah should deserve this benefit. Think of all the others who have died since Noah’s time and whom Jesus could have found in hell. The meaning must be that the ark of Noah is a picture of the church, and so those who were imprisoned in his days represent the entire human race. In hell Christ rebuked the wicked and consoled the good, so that some believed to their salvation and others disbelieved to their damnation.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:20
Those who had once been unbelievers, etc. For even the patience of God was a proclamation of His, when Noah, for a hundred years, persisted in the works of the ark, demonstrating daily through the execution of this work what was to come upon the world. Hence Paul says: Do you not know that the patience of God leads you to repentance? (Rom. II). Another translation has this passage as follows: Christ died once for our sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God, put to death in the body but made alive in the spirit. In which spirit He also preached to those who were in prison, who once did not believe in those days, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, etc.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:20
In which few, that is, eight souls were saved, etc. The form of baptism is likened to the ark and the waters of the flood. And rightly so, because the very construction of the ark from hewn wood signifies the building of the Church, which is done by gathering the faithful souls through the architects of the word. And the fact that while the whole world was perishing, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water, signifies that in comparison to the perishing Gentiles, Jews, heretics, and false believers, the number of the elect is much smaller. Hence it is said of the narrow gate and the hard road that leads to life: And few are those who find it (Matt. VII). And again: Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke XII). About this little flock also it is aptly added here:

[AD 1107] Theophylact of Ohrid on 1 Peter 3:20
Someone might easily ask: Who preached salvation before Christ, so that those who did not believe in him should be condemned? The answer to this, which Paul also adopted, is that those who lived before Christ had enough light given to them to enable them to distinguish good from evil. Because of this, if they chose to do evil, they are worthy of condemnation. Therefore Peter reminds us that they were rebellious, not merely from the time of the prophets but long before that, virtually from the creation of the world in fact. As he demonstrates, the way of salvation was proclaimed to them from the beginning, but they spurned it and preferred to go after vanities of one kind or another. The result was that of all the millions of people who lived at that time, only eight were saved, because they alone believed the message which they heard.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:21
"Why are they then baptized for the dead," he asks, unless the bodies rise again which are thus baptized? For it is not the soul which is sanctified by the baptismal bath: its sanctification comes from the "answer." "And why," he inquires, "stand we in jeopardy every hour? " -meaning, of course, through the flesh.

[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Peter 3:21
The "ring" also he is then Wont to receive for the first time, wherewith, after being interrogated, he publicly seals the agreement of faith, and thus thenceforward feeds upon the "fatness" of the Lord's body,-the Eucharist, to wit.

[AD 258] Cyprian on 1 Peter 3:21
But neither must we pass over what has been necessarily remarked by you, that the Church, according to the Song of Songs, is a garden enclosed, and a fountain sealed, a paradise with the fruit of apples. They who have never entered into this garden, and have not seen the paradise planted by God the Creator, how shall they be able to afford to another the bring water of the saving lava from the fountain which is enclosed within, and sealed with a divine seal? And as the ark of Noah was nothing else than the sacrament of the Church of Christ, which then, when all without were perishing, kept those only safe who were within the ark, we are manifestly instructed to look to the unity of the Church. Even as also the Apostle Peter laid down, saying, "Thus also shall baptism in like manner make you safe; " showing that as they who were not in the ark with Noah not only were not purged and saved by water, but at once perished in that deluge; so now also, whoever are not in the Church with Christ will perish outside, unless they are converted by penitence to the only and saving lava of the Church.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Peter 3:21
If some people have the worst consciences, full of every fault and crime, unchanged by penance for their evil deeds, baptism nevertheless saves them, for on the basis of the foundation which is laid in baptism they will be saved, even if it is through fire.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:21
The water of the flood is a type of baptism because it both punished evil people and saved the good, just as baptism expels evil spirits and saves those who turn to Christ. This shows the great power of baptism, and how much we need it.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:21
Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, etc. For where is a good conscience, except where there is also unfeigned faith? For the apostle Paul teaches that the goal of the commandment is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and unfeigned faith (1 Tim. 1). Therefore, the water of the flood did not save those placed outside the ark, but killed them; without a doubt, it prefigured that every heretic, even if having the sacrament of baptism, is not uplifted by the waters but plunged into hell by them, whereas the ark is elevated to heaven. The number eight of the souls who were saved through water also signifies that the holy Church received the washing of baptism as a sacrament of the Lord's resurrection, so that just as He rose from the dead by the glory of the Father, so too we, cleansed from sins through the water of regeneration, might walk in newness of life (Rom. 6). For on the eighth day, that is, after the seventh of the Sabbath, the Lord, rising from the dead, showed us an example of future resurrection and the mystery of a new way of life, by which, placed on earth, we would lead a heavenly life. Peter also added this by explaining, saying:

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:21
Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, etc. For just as He, rising from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, so also has He, through baptism, marked the way of salvation and the entrance to the heavenly kingdom open for us. Well indeed does it say: Swallowing death; for what we swallow, we cause never to appear again by the power of our bodies. And the Lord swallowed death, which, by rising from the dead, He so completely consumed that it could not have any power against Him through any contact with corruption, and, retaining the appearance of a true body, all stain of the former frailty was completely absent. This same thing is also promised to us in the end, as the Apostle says when speaking of our resurrection: Then will come about the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15). Well swallowed up, because when we also have been made partakers of eternal life, the power of the immortal body will so take away all defect of past corruption just as the flame of fire consumes a drop of water by its heat.

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 1 Peter 3:21
Not the putting away: As much as to say, that baptism has not its efficacy, in order to salvation, from its washing away any bodily filth or dirt; but from its purging the conscience from sin, when accompanied with suitable dispositions in the party, to answer the interrogations made at that time, with relation to faith, the renouncing of Satan with all his works; and the obedience to God's commandments.
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 1 Peter 3:21
Whereunto baptism: Baptism is said to be of the like form with the water by which Noe was saved, because the one was a figure of the other.
[AD 155] Polycarp of Smyrna on 1 Peter 3:22
And a throne at His right hand. To Him all things
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Peter 3:22
The angels are the first rank in the hierarchy of perfection, the authorities are the second, and the powers are the third.

[AD 398] Didymus the Blind on 1 Peter 3:22
Just as all rational creatures are made by the Son of God, who is the Word, or Reason, so too is their salvation brought about by him. For those who possess holiness not by nature but by grace, because they are creatures, must be cleansed by him in order to obtain goodness.

[AD 461] Leo the Great on 1 Peter 3:22
While the strength of the angelic legions that waited on Christ was held in check, he drank the cup of sorrow and death, thereby transforming the entire affliction into triumph. Deceptions were overcome, and the powers of evil were suppressed.

[AD 614] Andreas of Caesarea on 1 Peter 3:22
Look how clearly the dispensation of grace is set out for us. Peter recalls Christ’s death and resurrection and then goes on to mention his ascension as well, and the fact that he sits at the right hand of the Father, lest you imagine that when he suffered he lost something of his glory.

[AD 735] Bede on 1 Peter 3:22
Having gone up to heaven, etc. There is no doubt that all angels and all powers and authorities of the heavenly homeland have always been subject to the Son of God, whom they praise, tremble before, and adore as one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit without beginning. But blessed Peter necessarily considered it appropriate to note that the assumed humanity is so gloriously exalted by the resurrection that it is preferred by an incomparable summit to the dignity of all angelic power. According to which the Psalmist also said about Him to the Father: You have made Him a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8); immediately adding: You have crowned Him with glory and honor, and have set Him over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet (Ibid.).