The term translates a Greek word that simply wants the reader to think back to sometime in the past. The specific time in this instance is clearly “in the days of Noah.” The term does not want to say that the “spirits in prison” have ceased their disobedience.
20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.