Reference: Spirits in Prison
Fausets
1Pe 3:18-19. The argument is, Be not afraid (1Pe 3:14,17) of suffering for well doing even unto death, for death in the flesh leads to life in the spirit as in Christ's case, who was put to death in the flesh but quickened in spirit (i.e. in virtue of His divine nature: Ro 1:3-4; 1Co 15:45; 2Co 13:4) in which (as distinguished from in person) He went in the person of Noah (compare 1Pe 1:11 "a preacher of righteousness" (2Pe 2:5; He went not locally but as Eph 2:17, "He came and preached peace," namely, by His ministers) and preached unto the spirits in prison, namely, the antediluvian unbelievers; their bodies seemed free, but their spirits were in prison (Ps 141:9) and they like "prisoners shut up in the prison" just as the fallen are judicially regarded as in chains of darkness, though for a time at large on the earth (2Pe 2:4; Isa 24:18,22-23; 61:1; Ge 7:11, referred to in Isa 24:18). "His Spirit" long "strove" with them, but ceased to do so because even the seed of the godly Seth proved "flesh" and quenched the Spirit (Ge 6:3).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the LORD said, "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for they are flesh. Nevertheless I will give them yet space, a hundred and twenty years."
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, that same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,
Keep me from the snare that they have laid for me, and from the traps of the wicked doers.
It will come to pass, that whoso escapeth the terrible cry, shall fall in to the pit. And if he come out of the pit, he shall be taken with the snare. For the windows above shall be opened, and the foundations of the earth shall move.
It will come to pass, that whoso escapeth the terrible cry, shall fall in to the pit. And if he come out of the pit, he shall be taken with the snare. For the windows above shall be opened, and the foundations of the earth shall move.
These shall be coupled together as prisoners be, and shall be shut up in one ward and punished innumerable days. The Moon and the Sun shall be ashamed, when the LORD of Hosts shall reign in mount Zion and in Jerusalem with worship, and in the sight of such as shall be of his counsel.
The spirit of the LORD God is with me, for the LORD hath anointed me, and sent me to preach good tidings unto the poor: that I might bind up the wounded hearts, that I might preach deliverance to the captive, and open the prison to them that are bound;
that make mention of his son, the which was begotten unto him of the seed of David, as pertaining to the flesh: and declared to be the son of God with power of the holy ghost, that sanctifieth, since the time that Jesus Christ our Lord rose again from death:
and came, and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
searching when, or at what time, the spirit of Christ which was in them should signify - which spirit testified before - the passions that should come unto Christ, and the glory that should follow after.
Notwithstanding, happy are ye if ye suffer for righteousness' sake. Yea, and fear not though they seem terrible unto you, neither be troubled:
It is better - if the will of God be so - that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. Forasmuch as Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, for to bring us to God, and was killed, as pertaining to the flesh: but was quickened in the spirit. read more. In which spirit, he also went and preached unto the spirits that were in prison,
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down into hell, and delivered them in chains of darkness, to be kept unto judgement; neither spared the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth preacher of righteousness, and brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;