Baptism and 1 Peter 3:21

For some, this verse is a blessing and for others it is a thorn in their side. This verse has been reworded, redefined and removed in an effort to distort or even eliminate its meaning. The sad part is that even without this very precise, clear verse, the Bible has already communicated the same message several times. While Calvin, Zwingli and other reformers were correct in their many criticisms of Roman Catholicism, they were mistaken when they rejected the notion that God acts when faith is expressed in baptism. In the early centuries of Christianity, no one would have conceived of the notion of being a Christian without baptism.

This Peter that wrote 1 Peter was the same Peter that stood up and preached the first gospel sermon in Acts 2. And he is the same Peter that called upon the people to "repent and be baptized, every one of you... for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38). So the message of 1 Peter 3:21 is the same message that Peter had taught from the beginning.

Keeping the verse in context, Peter uses the flood as a type and baptism as an antitype. A type is a symbol used to represent the reality of something that would exist at a future time, the antitype. Peter says that they were "saved through water". That is difficult to understand on its face; we would observe that Noah and his family were saved from water. But let's back up and consider the context of the flood and what the water actually did. The sin of the world was removed through the flood and Noah and his family were saved from the same judgment the disobedient experienced. So in that context, Noah was saved through water. If it had not been for the washing of the flood waters, Noah and his family would have been engulfed in the wickedness that surrounded them.

Whether we like the symbolism used or not, Peter holds up the flood as a symbol of baptism and its effect on mankind. This is the only place that the word symbol and baptism is used together and in this case the symbol is the flood and the reality is baptism. Baptism doesn't symbolize anything. The Bible never says it is symbolic, rather the Bible says that it is efficacious. It is through baptism that God does the work of removing our sins and clothes us with Christ. (Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Gal 3:27) In the words of Edward Gordon Selwyn, baptism "is no mere act of bodily cleansing, but the moral surrender of the whole man to God revealed in Christ." Peter wants us to understand that the power isn't in the water, we are not taking a bath; rather when we come to God in baptism we are making an appeal to Him for a "good conscience".

In Peter’s day, the conscience was not some small voice telling a person what is right or wrong. Rather, in his day, conscience was ones sense of standing before God and his fellow man. A good conscience meant that a person stood before God with the confidence that he/she was one of His own people.

So here is the verse... "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (ESV) You can read the same as I can. Put aside any preconceived notions and let the Bible speak. Read it in context, read 1 Peter 3:18-22. What does Peter mean by Baptism now saves you? Was he speaking in code or did he say exactly what he meant? He tells us that baptism saves us "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ". When one is baptized into Christ, he becomes part of God's people by virtue of his new birth. (Great time to read Romans 6) Just as the Jew was part of God's people at their birth, we become part of His family at our new birth.

That is the best I can do in short blog entry. 1 Peter 3:21 deserves better! It may be that some will post rebuttals to this blog entry and if they do, that is fine. I trust honest hearts to read the scripture and come to the proper uderstanding. Really, just read the Bible. Did Peter not know what he was writing? Did he really mean something other than what he said? Read it, read the entire letter and pray to God for understanding and wisdom. He wrote it, sure He used Peter's hands, but it is His words and He doesn't make mistakes. May God bless you as you study and seek the truth only found in His word.