Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

1 Peter 3:20

There are 26 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 7, footnote 2 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Clement of Rome (HTML)

First Epistle to the Corinthians (HTML)

Chapter VII.—An exhortation to repentance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 36 (In-Text, Margin)

... good, pleasing, and acceptable in the sight of Him who formed us. Let us look stedfastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious that blood is to God, which, having been shed for our salvation, has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. Let us turn to every age that has passed, and learn that, from generation to generation, the Lord has granted a place of repentance to all such as would be converted unto Him. Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved.[1 Peter 3:20] Jonah proclaimed destruction to the Ninevites; but they, repenting of their sins, propitiated God by prayer, and obtained salvation, although they were aliens [to the covenant] of God.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 343, footnote 7 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)

Chapter XVIII.—Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2885 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Further, they declare that the arrangement made with respect to the ark in the Deluge, by means of which eight persons were saved,[1 Peter 3:20] most clearly indicates the Ogdoad which brings salvation. David also shows forth the same, as holding the eighth place in point of age among his brethren. Moreover, that circumcision which took place on the eighth day, represented the circumcision of the Ogdoad above. In a word, whatever they find in the Scriptures capable of being referred to the number eight, they declare to fulfil the mystery of the Ogdoad. With ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 499, footnote 5 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XXVII—The sins of the men of old time, which incurred the displeasure of God, were, by His providence, committed to writing, that we might derive instruction thereby, and not be filled with pride. We must not, therefore, infer that there was another God than He whom Christ preached; we should rather fear, lest the one and the same God who inflicted punishment on the ancients, should bring down heavier upon us. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4182 (In-Text, Margin)

2. It was for this reason, too, that the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent there also, and [declaring] the remission of sins received by those who believe in Him.[1 Peter 3:19-20] Now all those believed in Him who had hope towards Him, that is, those who proclaimed His advent, and submitted to His dispensations, the righteous men, the prophets, and the patriarchs, to whom He remitted sins in the same way as He did to us, which sins we should not lay to their charge, if we would not despise the grace of God. For as these men did not impute unto us (the Gentiles) our ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 516, footnote 4 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XXXVI.—The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4369 (In-Text, Margin)

... believe on Him a well of water [springing up] to eternal life, but He causes the unfruitful fig-tree immediately to dry up; and in the days of Noah He justly brought on the deluge for the purpose of extinguishing that most infamous race of men then existent, who could not bring forth fruit to God, since the angels that sinned had commingled with them, and [acted as He did] in order that He might put a check upon the sins of these men, but [that at the same time] He might preserve the archetype,[1 Peter 3:20] the formation of Adam. And it was He who rained fire and brimstone from heaven, in the days of Lot, upon Sodom and Gomorrah, “an example of the righteous judgment of God,” that all may know, “that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 14, footnote 2 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

The Pastor of Hermas (HTML)

Book First.—Visions (HTML)

Vision Third. Concerning the Building of the Triumphant Church, and the Various Classes of Reprobate Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 93 (In-Text, Margin)

... only let your heart be with God, and doubt not whatsoever you shall see.” I asked her, “Why was the tower built upon the waters, O Lady?” She answered, “I told you before, and you still inquire carefully: therefore inquiring you shall find the truth. Hear then why the tower is built upon the waters. It is because your life has been, and will be, saved through water. For the tower was founder on the word of the almighty and glorious Name and it is kept together by the invisible power of the Lord.”[1 Peter 3:20]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 490, footnote 6 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter VI.—The Gospel Was Preached to Jews and Gentiles in Hades. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3266 (In-Text, Margin)

But how? Do not [the Scriptures] show that the Lord preached the Gospel to those that perished in the flood, or rather had been chained, and to those kept “in ward and guard”?[1 Peter 3:19-20] And it has been shown also, in the second book of the Stromata, that the apostles, following the Lord, preached the Gospel to those in Hades. For it was requisite, in my opinion, that as here, so also there, the best of the disciples should be imitators of the Master; so that He should bring to repentance those belonging to the Hebrews, and they the Gentiles; that is, those who had lived in ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 375, footnote 13 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book IV. In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke's Gospel; That Being the Only Historical Portion of the New Testament Partially Accepted by Marcion. This Book May Also Be Regarded as a Commentary on St. Luke. It Gives Remarkable Proof of Tertullian's Grasp of Scripture, and Proves that “The Old Testament is Not Contrary to the New.“ It Also Abounds in Striking Expositions of Scriptural Passages, Embracing Profound Views of Revelation, in Connection with the Nature of Man. (HTML)
Concerning the Centurion's Faith. The Raising of the Widow's Son. John Baptist, and His Message to Christ; And the Woman Who Was a Sinner. Proofs Extracted from All of the Relation of Christ to the Creator. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4153 (In-Text, Margin)

... in His own beneficent acts and miracles, or else how happens it that He quietly permitted these persons to remain so long in their error, especially as He came for the very purpose to cure them of their error? But John is offended when he hears of the miracles of Christ, as of an alien god. Well, I on my side will first explain the reason of his offence, that I may the more easily explode the scandal of our heretic. Now, that the very Lord Himself of all might, the Word and Spirit of the Father,[1 Peter 3:18-20] was operating and preaching on earth, it was necessary that the portion of the Holy Spirit which, in the form of the prophetic gift, had been through John preparing the ways of the Lord, should now depart from John, and return back again of course ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 651, footnote 8 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Appendix: Against All Heresies. (HTML)

Ophites, Cainites, Sethites. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8371 (In-Text, Margin)

... that there had been iniquitous permixtures of two angels and human beings; for which reason that Virtue which (as we have said) they style the Mother brought on the deluge even, for the purpose of vengeance, in order that that seed of permixture might be swept away, and this only seed which was pure be kept entire. But (in vain): for they who had originated those of the former seed sent into the ark (secretly and stealthily, and unknown to that Mother-Virtue), together with those “eight souls,”[1 Peter 3:20] the seed likewise of Ham, in order that the seed of evil should not perish, but should, together with the rest, be preserved, and after the deluge be restored to the earth, and, by example of the rest, should grow up and diffuse itself, and fill and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 279, footnote 4 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen De Principiis. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
On Justice and Goodness. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2127 (In-Text, Margin)

... respecting the hope of those who were destroyed in the deluge; of which hope Peter himself thus speaks in his first Epistle: “That Christ, indeed, was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which He went and preached to the spirits who were kept in prison, who once were unbelievers, when they awaited the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah, when the ark was preparing, in which a few, i.e., eight souls, were saved by water. Whereunto also baptism by a like figure now saves you.”[1 Peter 3:18-21] And with regard to Sodom and Gomorrah, let them tell us whether they believe the prophetic words to be those of the Creator God—of Him, viz., who is related to have rained upon them a shower of fire and brimstone. What does Ezekiel the prophet say ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 389, footnote 9 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Pompey, Against the Epistle of Stephen About the Baptism of Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2913 (In-Text, Margin)

... well of living water, a garden with the fruit of apples.” But if His Church is a garden enclosed, and a fountain sealed, how can he who is not in the Church enter into the same garden, or drink from its fountain? Moreover, Peter himself, showing and vindicating the unity, has commanded and warned us that we cannot be saved, except by the one only baptism of one Church. “In the ark,” says he, “of Noah, few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water, as also baptism shall in like manner save you.”[1 Peter 3:20-21] In how short and spiritual a summary has he set forth the sacrament of unity! For as, in that baptism of the world in which its ancient iniquity was purged away, he who was not in the ark of Noah could not be saved by water, so neither can he appear ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 398, footnote 1 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Magnus, on Baptizing the Novatians, and Those Who Obtain Grace on a Sick-Bed. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2973 (In-Text, Margin)

... thence nor be sealed. And the well also of living water, if it is one and the same within, he who is placed without cannot be quickened and sanctified from that water of which it is only granted to those who are within to make any use, or to drink. Peter also, showing this, set forth that the Church is one, and that only they who are in the Church can be baptized; and said, “In the ark of Noah, few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water; the like figure where-unto even baptism shall save you;”[1 Peter 3:20-21] proving and attesting that the one ark of Noah was a type of the one Church. If, then, in that baptism of the world thus expiated and purified, he who was not in the ark of Noah could be saved by water, he who is not in the Church to which alone ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 488, footnote 5 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VIII. Concerning Gifts, and Ordinations, and the Ecclesiastical Canons (HTML)

Sec. II.—Election and Ordination of Bishops: Form of Service on Sundays (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3650 (In-Text, Margin)

... the gift of Cain, the murderer of his brother, as of an abhorred wretch. And besides these, Thou didst accept of Seth and Enos, and didst translate Enoch: for Thou art the Creator of men, and the giver of life, and the supplier of want, and the giver of laws, and the rewarder of those that observe them, and the avenger of those that transgress them; who didst bring the great flood upon the world by reason of the multitude of the ungodly, and didst deliver righteous Noah from that flood by an ark,[1 Peter 3:20] with eight souls, the end of the foregoing generations, and the beginning of those that were to come; who didst kindle a fearful fire against the five cities of Sodom, and “didst turn a fruitful land into a salt lake for the wickedness of them that ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 16, footnote 4 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. (HTML)

The Testament of Levi Concerning the Priesthood and Arrogance. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 87 (In-Text, Margin)

... man who reneweth the law in the power of the Most High will ye call a deceiver; and at last, as ye suppose, ye will slay Him, not understanding His resurrection, wickedly taking upon your own heads the innocent blood. Because of Him shall your holy places be desolate, polluted even to the ground, and ye shall have no place that is clean; but ye shall be among the Gentiles a curse and a dispersion, until He shall again look upon you, and in pity shall take you to Himself through faith and water.[1 Peter 3:20]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 231, footnote 12 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

The Epistles of Clement. (HTML)

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. (HTML)

An Exhortation to Repentance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4041 (In-Text, Margin)

... is good, pleasing, and acceptable in the sight of Him who formed us. Let us look stedfastly to the blood of Christ, and see how precious that blood is to God which, having been shed for our salvation, has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. Let us turn to every age that has passed, and learn that, from generation to generation, the Lord has granted a place of repentance to all such as would be converted unto Him. Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved.[1 Peter 3:20] Jonah proclaimed destruction to the Ninevites; but they, repenting of their sins, propitiated God by prayer, and obtained salvation, although they were aliens [to the covenant] of God.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 368, footnote 1 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

Book VI. (HTML)
Of the Testimony in Mark.  What is Meant by the Saviour's Shoes and by Untying His Shoe-Latchets. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4911 (In-Text, Margin)

... If the passage about the shoes has a mystic meaning we ought not to scorn to consider it. Now I consider that the inhumanisation when the Son of God assumes flesh and bones is one of His shoes, and that the other is the descent to Hades, whatever that Hades be, and the journey with the Spirit to the prison. As to the descent into Hades, we read in the sixteenth Psalm, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades,” and as for the journey in prison with the Spirit we read in Peter in his Catholic Epistle,[1 Peter 3:18-20] “Put to death,” he says, “in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit; in which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which at one time were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God once waited in the days of Noah while the ark was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 164, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

The design of his confessions being declared, he seeks from God the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and begins to expound the words of Genesis I. I, concerning the creation of the world. The questions of rash disputers being refuted, ‘What did God before he created the world?’ That he might the better overcome his opponents, he adds a copious disquisition concerning time. (HTML)

He Begs of God that Through the Holy Scriptures He May Be Led to Truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1009 (In-Text, Margin)

... myself alone, but because it desires to benefit brotherly charity; and Thou seest into my heart, that so it is. I would sacrifice to Thee the service of my thought and tongue; and do Thou give what I may offer unto Thee. For “I am poor and needy,” Thou rich unto all that call upon Thee, who free from care carest for us. Circumcise from all rashness and from all lying my inward and outward lips. Let Thy Scriptures be my chaste delights. Neither let me be deceived in them, nor deceive out of them.[1 Peter 3:18-21] Lord, hear and pity, O Lord my God, light of the blind, and strength of the weak; even also light of those that see, and strength of the strong, hearken unto my soul, and hear it crying “out of the depths.” For unless Thine ears be present in the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 383, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

A parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world. (HTML)

That the Ecclesiastical Canon Has Not Admitted Certain Writings on Account of Their Too Great Antiquity, Lest Through Them False Things Should Be Inserted Instead of True. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1213 (In-Text, Margin)

If I may recall far more ancient times, our patriarch Noah was certainly even before that great deluge, and I might not undeservedly call him a prophet, forasmuch as the ark he made, in which he escaped with his family, was itself a prophecy of our times.[1 Peter 3:20-21] What of Enoch, the seventh from Adam? Does not the canonical epistle of the Apostle Jude declare that he prophesied? But the writings of these men could not be held as authoritative either among the Jews or us, on account of their too great antiquity, which made it seem needful to regard them with suspicion, lest false things should be set forth instead of true. For ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 477, footnote 11 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

He examines the last part of the epistle of Cyprian to Jubaianus, together with his epistle to Quintus, the letter of the African synod to the Numidian bishops, and Cyprian’s epistle to Pompeius. (HTML)
Chapter 28 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1580 (In-Text, Margin)

39. Hence, therefore, we have now set before us an easier and more simple consideration of that ark of which Noah was the builder and pilot. For Peter says that in the ark of Noah, "few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God)."[1 Peter 3:20-21] Wherefore, if those appear to men to be baptized in Catholic unity who renounce the world in words only and not in deeds, how do they belong to the mystery of this ark in whom there is not the answer of a good conscience? Or how are they saved by water, who, making a bad use of holy baptism, though ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 435, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

On the words of the Gospel, Luke xi. 39, ‘Now do ye Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter,’ etc. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3384 (In-Text, Margin)

... That Baptism also which is conferred once for all, cleanses by faith. Now faith is within, not without. Wherefore it is said and read in the Acts of the Apostles, “Cleansing their hearts by faith.” And the Apostle Peter thus speaks in his Epistle; “So too hath He given you a similitude from Noah’s ark, how that eight souls were saved by water.” And then he added, “So also in a like figure will baptism save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience.”[1 Peter 3:20-21] “This answer of a good conscience” did the Pharisees despise, and washed “that which was without;” within they continued full of pollution.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 444, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

On the words of the Gospel, Luke xiii. 6, where we are told of the fig-tree, which bare no fruit for three years; and of the woman which was in an infirmity eighteen years; and on the words of the ninth Psalm, v. 19, ‘Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the nations be judged in thy sight.’ (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3449 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Therefore, “Arise, Lord; let not man prevail.” So much did lying prevail before the flood, that after the flood only eight men remained.[1 Peter 3:20] By them the earth was again replenished with lying men, and out of them was elected the people of God. Many miracles were wrought, divine benefits imparted. They were brought right through to the land of promise, delivered from Egyptian bondage: Prophets were raised up among them, they received the temple, they received the priesthood, they received the anointing, they received the Law. Yet of this very people was it said ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 554, footnote 3 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus. (HTML)

A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed. (HTML)

Section 28 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3354 (In-Text, Margin)

... And again, “What profit is there in my blood, when I shall have descended into corruption?” And again, “I descended into the deep mire, where there is no bottom.” Moreover, John says, “Art Thou He that shall come (into hell, without doubt), or do we look for another?” Whence also Peter says that “Christ being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit which dwells in Him, descended to the spirits who were shut up in prison, who in the days of Noah believed not, to preach unto them;”[1 Peter 3:10-20] where also what He did in hell is declared. Moreover, the Lord says by the Prophet, as though speaking of the future, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption.” Which again, in prophetic language ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 39, footnote 18 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 640 (In-Text, Margin)

All such efforts are only of use when they are made within the church’s pale; we must celebrate the passover in the one house, we must enter the ark with Noah,[1 Peter 3:20-21] we must take refuge from the fall of Jericho with the justified harlot, Rahab. Such virgins as there are said to be among the heretics and among the followers of the infamous Manes must be considered, not virgins, but prostitutes. For if—as they allege—the devil is the author of the body, how can they honor that which is fashioned by their foe? No; it is because they know that the name virgin brings glory with it, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 234, footnote 12 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Ageruchia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3277 (In-Text, Margin)

... the devil than congregations of Christ. In the Book of Songs we read as follows:—“there are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her.” It is to this choice one that the same John addresses an epistle in these words, “the elder unto the elect lady and her children.” So too in the case of the ark which the apostle Peter interprets as a type of the church,[1 Peter 3:20-21] Noah brings in for his three sons one wife apiece and not two. Likewise of the unclean animals pairs only are taken, male and female, to shew that digamy has no place even among brutes, creeping things, crocodiles and lizards. And if of the clean ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 331, footnote 2 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

The Dialogue Against the Luciferians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4134 (In-Text, Margin)

22. Noah’s ark was a type of the Church, as the Apostle Peter says—[1 Peter 3:20] “In Noah’s ark few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: which also after a true likeness doth now save us, even baptism.” As in the ark there were all kinds of animals, so also in the Church there are men of all races and characters. As in the one there was the leopard with the kids, the wolf with the lambs, so in the other there are found the righteous and sinners, that is, vessels of gold and silver with those of wood and of earth. The ark had its ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 360, footnote 3 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4354 (In-Text, Margin)

17. But if Enoch was translated, and Noah was preserved at the deluge, I do not think that Enoch was translated because he had a wife, but because he was the first to call upon God and to believe in the Creator; and the Apostle Paul fully instructs us concerning him in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Noah, moreover, who was preserved as a kind of second root for the human race, must of course be preserved together with his wife and sons, although in this there is a Scripture mystery. The ark,[1 Peter 3:20] according to the Apostle Peter, was a type of the Church, in which eight souls were saved. When Noah entered into it, both he and his sons were separated from their wives; but when he landed from it, they united in pairs, and what had been separated in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 27, footnote 6 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

Title Page (HTML)

De Synodis or On the Councils. (HTML)

De Synodis or On the Councils. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 506 (In-Text, Margin)

... I. Nor must those who wish to declare that the Son is unlike the Father read: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. We must dispense, too, with the books of Moses, lest the darkness be thought coeval with God who dwells in the unborn light, since in Genesis the day began to be after the night; lest the years of Methuselah extend later than the date of the deluge, and consequently more than eight souls were saved[1 Peter 3:20]; lest God hearing the cry of Sodom when the measure of its sins was full should come down as though ignorant of the cry to see if the measure of its sins was full according to the cry, and be found to be ignorant of what He knew; lest any one of ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs