“My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he is also flesh” (Genesis 6:3). With whatever shade of meaning the word rendered strive may be connected, the general import unquestionably is that the forbearance long exercised was about to close, and the antediluvians had rejected the testimony of the Spirit, addressed to them by inspired or Spirit-filled men, and despised every call to repentance and faith. He who thus speaks of his Spirit is undoubtedly Christ. This we learn from Peter, the inspired commentator on the words in Genesis, who says that Christ by the Spirit went and preached to these antediluvians or spirits in prison or hell when Peter wrote his epistle (1Peter 3:19). The Spirit of Christ speaking by Enoch and Noah was about to leave that corrupt generation to its doom. The Messiah, having received the Spirit by anticipation for the purposes of his kingdom, on the ground of the coming atonement, preached the gospel to them by the mouth of Noah, and the message was impiously rejected. The Spirit of Christ, who filled and animated all the prophets, not only summoned them to repentance but testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow (1Peter 1:11).

From “The Holy Spirit” by George Smeaton.