¹⁸For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ¹⁹in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, ²⁰who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.

The ultimate reason we endure suffering for doing what is good is because Christ modeled it in the most excellent way. He came with the purpose to suffer for doing good—yet even more than that, the good He did was to suffer for the bad we all have done. He suffered for our sins! And His suffering was so complete, so pervasively effective, that it has the power and authority to open the way to God. It was, indeed, worthwhile to Him. His death in our place makes us alive with Him. His short-term negative consequence produces an eternal life in us and brings us into a long-term relationship with God. It does not get any better than that!

How can we not also follow His lead and willingly suffer the short-term consequences of doing good, in order to gain the long-term benefits of pleasing the One who died for us? We now are alive with the ability to do so because He has pioneered this way of living. This is God’s will for us!

What follows has challenged interpreters of the Bible. Some have used this passage to justify the concept of purgatory, a temporary holding place between heaven and hell where deceased people have a second chance to make penances and ultimately be received into heaven. However, this understanding is not supported anywhere else in Scripture. In fact, Scripture teaches, “it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Another interpretation held by some is that Christ, after dying, preached to fallen angels (“spirits”), presumably in hell. But this seems to raise more questions than it answers, for what would He have preached to them?

The best way to understand this verse is that the spirit of Christ preached through Noah to the disobedient people who rejected his message and are “now” imprisoned in unbelief in hell. Noah suffered in the short-term through the rejection and mocking of unbelievers, but he was rewarded with the long-term benefits of being safely rescued from God’s watery judgment. Unbelievers, on the other hand, received their just recompense. God’s patience, which required endurance and faith on Noah’s part, was God’s mercy and longsuffering for the benefit of the unbelievers to repent. This provides a great illustration of Noah suffering for doing good. The long-term benefits came in God’s timing.

Lord, I wait patiently for the benefits of walking in faith and doing good.