Verse 5
Peter’s second example was the sinners in Noah’s day. God did not spare the sinners in the ancient world of Noah’s day either. Consequently there is no basis for supposing that He will spare any sinner in the world today. Both types of sinners are ungodly. Peter called Noah a herald of righteousness here (cf. 1 Peter 3:19). By his words and deeds, Noah proclaimed righteousness to his ungodly neighbors. By referring to seven others whom God saved with Noah (i.e., his family members), Peter was probably hinting that he was the beginning of a new creation.
"The reason for this stress is perhaps to be found in the eschatological symbolism of the number eight, which represented an eighth day of new creation, following the seven days of the old creation’s history (cf 2 Enoch 33:1-2; Barn. 15:9). Early Christians associated this symbolism with Sunday, the ’eighth day’ (Barn. 15:9: Justin, Dial. 24. 1: 41.4; 138.1). Sunday was the eighth day because it was the day of Christ’s resurrection in which the new creation was begun . . .
"Noah, preserved from the old world to be the beginning of the new world after the Flood, is a type of faithful Christians who will be preserved from the present world to inherit the new world after the judgment." [Note: Bauckham, p. 250.]
Many Bible students believe that the pattern of Noah’s deliverance before the Flood prefigures the pretribulation rapture of Christians. While it does, Peter did not make this comparison.
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