A fourth line of interpretation takes the passage as a reference to Christ in his preexistent state preaching in the days of Noah. Most who refer to the view trace it back to Augustine and claim that he spiritualized the passage by saying that Christ preached “in the spirit” to the unbelieving world in Noah’s day. The prison does not refer to a literal place of bondage, but, according to Augustine, is to be understood as a reference to the spiritual bondage in ignorance and sin of the men who were