In The Body HE Was Put To Death, In The Spirit HE Was Raised To Life

 "Remember how CHRIST died, once, and for all, for our sins.  HE, the just one, died for the unjust, in order to lead us to GOD.  In the body, HE was put to death, in the spirit, HE was raised to life, and it was then, that HE went to preach to the imprisoned spirits.  They were the generation who did not believe, when GOD, in HIS great patience, delayed punishing the world, while Noah was building the ark, in which a small group of eight persons escaped, through water.  That was a type of the baptism that now saves you; this baptism is not a matter of physical cleansing, but of asking GOD to reconcile us, through the resurrection of CHRIST JESUS.  HE has ascended to heaven, and is at the right hand of GOD, having subjected the angels, Dominions and Powers." - 1 Peter 3:18-22 

(Peter, using the expressions of his day, speaks of the sinful people in Noah's time.  For the Jews, they were the example of those who sin by irresponsibility and lack of real concern for the will of GOD.  Yet, CHRIST saved them: HE came for everyone, and not only for those who have been faithful or who had the chance of meeting HIM in HIS Church.

Note the comparison between the deluge and baptism: water washes away the old world, a life of sin: the person who comes to CHRIST begins a new life, striving for "a pure conscience."

In the body HE was put to death, in the spirit HE was raised to life.  [The text says, "HE died according to flesh."]  This means that HE died because HE had accepted and really taken on our mortal condition, but HE had to be repossessed by the Spirit of GOD.  It is a reaffirmation of the double nature of CHRIST.  Compare with Romans 1:4)

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