1 Pet. 3:17. For it is better, if the will of God be so, to suffer for well doing, than for evil doing;
1 Pet. 3:18. Because Christ also, in order to bring us to God, once suffered for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,
The reason is presented, not for what was said immediately before, but for what was said a little earlier, namely for the words: "if you suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed" (1 Pet. 3:14); because it is better to suffer evil for good deeds than for evil ones. But if someone wishes to relate this reason to the nearest preceding discourse, then "good deeds" must be understood not as beneficence toward another, but as virtue in general; and the word "evil" must be understood in the same way. He adds: "if the will of God be so," showing by this that nothing happens to us without God's permission, but happens either to relieve us from sins, or to reveal and glorify us, or even for the salvation of others. And this in a twofold manner. Either a certain righteous person suffers evil for the chastening of other sinners, according to the saying: "if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where shall the sinner appear?" (1 Pet. 4:18). And from this comes a twofold benefit: for the suffering righteous person, an increase of righteousness through patience, and for the sinner, conversion, as was said. Or the righteous person suffers both for his own glory and for the conversion and salvation of others, as did Christ. Therefore Peter sets forth Christ here as an example, because Christ also suffered once, not for His own sins, but for ours; which is why he adds: "the righteous for the unrighteous," for Christ Himself "committed no sin" (1 Pet. 2:22), and to show the might of the One who suffered, he added "once." And since He suffered in order to bring us to God and His Father, He also showed that not all who suffer do so for their sins. And since Christ is both God and Man, by His sufferings He bestowed upon us a twofold grace. Having died as man, He freed us from death, laying the foundation of our resurrection, and in Himself giving the example that those who die do not die without hope of resurrection. Having come to life, that is, having risen from the dead by the power of His Divinity (for He rose from the dead not as man, but as God), He made alive together with Himself all who were in Hades, raising them up with Himself. For, in the words of the Evangelist: "many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised... and appeared to many" (Matt. 27:52–53).
1 Pet. 3:18. Put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,
1 Pet. 3:19. by which He also went down and preached to the spirits in prison,
Having been put to death "in the flesh," that is, as a man; but made alive "by the Spirit," as God. By the word "Spirit" is meant God, and by "flesh" – man. The evangelist testifies to the first when he relates that Christ, the true Wisdom, speaking with the Samaritan woman, said: "God is a spirit" (John 4:24), and all of Holy Scripture testifies to the second. From this it is clear that Christ is twofold (dual) not in Person, but in nature. "By which" is used instead of "wherefore." For having said that He died for us, the unrighteous, the apostle then says that He also preached to those held in Hades. Having reached this point, the apostle still had to explain how the death of Christ was beneficial for those who had previously fallen asleep, and to resolve the question: if the incarnation of the Lord was for the salvation of all, then what salvation did those who had previously died receive? He immediately resolves both matters and says that the death of Christ accomplished both together: the hope of resurrection through His resurrection, and the salvation of those who had previously fallen asleep. For those who had spent the time of their life well received salvation even then through the descent of the Lord into Hades, as Saint Gregory thinks. He says: "Christ, having appeared to those in Hades, saves not all without exception, but only the believers." For it depended on the free will of each person (as reason demanded) not to remain insensible to the rich gift of the Creator, but to show oneself worthy of the goodness of the Giver.
1 Pet. 3:20. who were formerly disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited for them in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which few, that is, eight souls, were saved from the water.
He set this down as a resolution of the objection. Someone might say: "Who else preached before Christ, and who were condemned for not obeying?" Like the Apostle Paul (Rom. 2:15), he could have pointed to the rational powers innate in us: for those who were created capable of distinguishing good from evil and, despite this, did not do good, are worthy of condemnation. But he does not point to this. Why? Because this is comprehensible to a higher mind and a more philosophical reasoning than the mind of the Jews, which was attached to earthly things. The Apostle confirms their disobedience from Scripture, and not from the time of the prophets, but almost from the very creation of the world. From this he showed that salvation was preached to people from the beginning, but they, by their inclination toward vanity, neglected it, and at a time when there was a countless multitude of people, only eight souls obeyed the preaching and were saved in the constructed ark. Since the salvation was through water, he fittingly relates this to holy baptism and says that this water prefigured our baptism, for it too destroys the disobedient demons and saves those who come with faith into the ark, that is, into the Church; and just as water washes away impurity, so too does baptism, only it produces the removal not of fleshly impurity, but through the outward sign it produces the washing away of the defilement of the soul. It is, as it were, a pledge and commitment of a good conscience before God.
1 Pet. 3:21. So also does baptism, the antitype of this figure, now save us—not the washing away of filthy flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
1 Pet. 3:22. Who, having ascended into heaven,
The connection is as follows: so also baptism, which corresponds to this figure, now saves us, not as a removal of bodily filth, but as an appeal or earnest request for a good conscience before God. For those who are conscious of good in themselves, that is, those who are devoted to a blameless life, are the very ones who have recourse to holy baptism. What then makes baptism salvific? The resurrection of Christ. For before His suffering and resurrection, Christ declared: "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" (John 3:5), and after the resurrection He commanded to baptize all the nations that come "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19),
1 Pet. 3:22. Remains at the right hand of God, and to Whom Angels and Authorities and Powers have been subjected.
To whom is this "to him"? To the man taken by Him into union with Himself.