Ver. 17. κρεῖττον, cf. ii. 19 f., where χάρις κλέος correspond to μισθὸν περισ- σόν of the sources.—et θέλοι τὸ θέλημα θεοῦ. Again optative im- plies that it is a purely hypothetical case (cf. ver. 14). For the semi-personification
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18 τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θῦ πά ἅπαξ πε ἡμᾶς προσαγάγῃ
of thé will of God compare Eph. i. 11, where the θέλημα has a βουλή; so Paul is Apostle through the will of God (x Cor. i. 1; 2Cor.i. 1). For the pleonastic ex- pression cf. the verbal parallel ἐάν τις θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν, John vii. 17. So God's patience was waiting (ver. 20).
Ver. 18. The advantage of suffering for well-doing is exemplified in the experience of Christ, who gained thereby quickening (ver. 21) and glory (ver. 22). How far the pattern applies to the Christian is not clear. Christ suffered once for all according to Heb. ix. 24-28; the Christian suffers for a little (ν. το). But does the Christian suffer also for sins? St. Paul and Igna- tius speak of themselves as περίψηµα περικαθάρµατα; compare the value of righteous men for Sodom. But even if Peter contemplated this parallel it is quite subordinate to the main idea, in which (spirit) even to the spirits in prison he went and preached them that disobeyed once upon a time when the patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was being fitted out... . The spirits who disobeyed in the days of Noah are the sons of God described in Gen. vi. 1-4. But there as in the case of Sarah St. Peter depends on the current tradition in which the original myth has been modified and amplified. This de- pendence supplies an adequate explanation of the difficulties which have been found here and in ver. 21, provided that the plain statement of the preaching in Hades is not prejudged to be impossible. The important points in the tradition as given in the Book of Enoch (vi.-xvi. cf. Jubilees v.) are as follows: the angels who lusted after the daughters of men descended in the days of Jared as his name (Descent) shows. The children of this unlawful union were the Nephilim and the Eliud. They also taught men all evil arts so that they perished appealing to God for justice. At last Enoch was sent to pro- nounce the sentence of condemnation upon these watchers, who in terror be- sought him to present a petition to God on their behalf. God refused to grant them peace. They were spirits eternal and immortal who transgressed the line ef demarcation between men and angels and disobeyed the law that spiritual beings do not marry and beget children like men.