In 1 Peter 3:18–19 and 1 Peter 3:22, Peter draws out in glowing terms what the suffering of Christ on Calvary achieved. Those thoughts enrich every Christian facing unjust suffering in this life. 1 Peter 3:19–21 digresses from Peter’s main thought in this paragraph, focusing on the “spirits in prison.” That digression takes the reader to “the days of Noah” and to their own “baptism.” That brief detour puts into sharper focus for Peter’s readers the wealth of what Christ obtained through his suffering.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,