1 Peter 3:18-22 (King James Version)

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 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 toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

1 Peter 3:18-22 (New International Version)

18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison

20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

1 Peter 3:18-22 (SDA Clear Word Bible)

18 Look at Christ. He was innocent and good, but in order to bring us back to God, He had to die for our sins once and for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous. They killed His body, but it was made alive by the Holy Spirit.

19 It was also through the power of the Holy Spirit that Christ worked for the salvation of people of the past, offering to set them free from the prison of sin.

20 This was the case in Noah's day when the Holy Spirit offered the people a way of escape. But they didn't listen and kept right on sinning. God patiently waited for one hundred and twenty years for them to change their minds, the whole time that Noah was building the ark. When the rains finally came, only eight people decided to come into the ark and be saved.

21 Figuratively speaking, those eight people were baptized by the flood and their lives were spared. This is what happened to you when you were baptized. You went through those baptismal waters as a sign that you were saved and you came out clean. (I'm not talking about washing away bodily dirt -- all you have to do to have a clean body is take a bath.) What I'm talking about is the pledge you made to God in good conscience at your baptism -- in that sense, you were washed clean. Salvation itself is made possible only through the resurrected Christ.

22 Now Christ is in heaven, sitting to the right of God, with all the angels and powerful beings throughout the universe in submission to Him.

Texts credited to Clear Word are from The Clear Word, copyright © 1994, 2000, 2003, 2004 by Review and Herald Publishing Association. All rights reserved.