I Peter 3:20, "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."

This morning, perhaps one of the hardest things to do is to convince someone that they are teaching a true concept but using the wrong verse to do it. Many times, Job's three miserable comforters spoke things that were indeed correct, but they misapplied them when referring to Job. God does indeed punish His children, but this was not such a case with Job as they perceived it to be. It is incumbent upon us to not only teach correct principles and precepts, but to use the proper source, passage, and context to do it.

Lately, I have heard this verse used a lot in preaching, but I have been hearing the wrong sound come from the preacher in rightly dividing it. There is abundant proof that the ark saved Noah and his family during the world-wide flood that engulfed every plot of ground on the entire globe. However, this verse is NOT teaching a salvation that occurred by the ark. Notice, salvation by the ark is a correct principle, but this verse should not be used to teach such as that is not the true meaning of the verse. I have even heard one minister lately misquote the latter portion of the verse thusly, "eight souls were saved from water." Were they saved from water? Most certainly! However, that is not the reading or meaning of this verse.