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Baptism Now Saves You
By Tim | February 24, 2005
The great news is that I got to baptize two of my children last Sunday! I’m really proud of them both, we didn’t push them to it, they decided that they needed to do it.
For a brief devotional before the baptism, I chose the verse that most evangelicals flee: 1Pt 3:21 “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.”
The first part of this verse I want to touch on to help us understand baptism is the “appeal to God for a good conscience.” In Hebrews 9:14 we are told that it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses our conscience. Baptism, then, points to the blood of Christ or his death. This is the consistent testimony of the New Testament as Paul says explicitly in Romans 6 and Colossians 2 that we are baptized into Christ’s death. Whereas baptism is an appeal, the reality is in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Baptism is an identification rather than salvation.
The other part is the phrase “corresponding to this”. The immediate question is “corresponding to what?” The context of First Peter 3 is corresponding to Noah. Noah didn’t suddenly wake up in the ark and find himself saved. Nor did he hate and fight God up till he was on the ark and thereby become saved. No, God had been working in Noah’s life for over a hundred years. Jesus preached through Noah. God declared him as the only righteous person on all the earth. Noah obeyed God and built an ark. God had clearly been working with and through Noah for a long time. And this is true of my children also. God has been working in their lives for the past few years and now they are seeking to be identified with his death and resurrection in baptism.
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Topics: Uncategorized | 16 Comments »
January 25th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
[...] And that is exactly right. The Bible speaks of baptism in many ways (here’s my meditation on one of them) but never as a public witness of one’s faith. I often wondered where that came from and after reading Smith, I felt like I should have slapped my forehead and said, “Yea. Of course!” [...]
February 10th, 2006 at 1:21 am
You say, ” Baptism is an identification rather than salvation. ” yet 1 Pet 3:21 says baptism now saves you. And doesn’t it seem pretty clear that if we have been buried with Him in the likeness of His death that we will be raised with Him? And if that’s true, the opposite would have to be true. If we have not been buried in baptism (in the likeness of His death) we will not be raised with Him. Many today are trying to say that baptism is a sign or demontrastion to those around us of our salvation. I think the Bible makes it clear that it is a participation in His death, burial and resurrection. Your thoughts?
February 13th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
I don’t necessarily follow your syllogism. For example, the thief on the cross was not baptized and yet Jesus promised that he’d be in heaven. A possible explanation for that might be that the thief died the same kind of death Jesus did and so that counts. I’m assuming that’s where you’ll go because you said “in the likeness of His death”. And yet there were thousands of Christians crucified in the first century so why bother baptizing them if they’re going to be crucified?
No, there are a number of other texts that argue against baptism = salvation. I think immediately of Cornealus and his household. They received the Spirit before baptism. And in Acts 8 the Spirit had not yet fallen on the disciples yet they were baptized in Jesus name (8:16).
There are many other texts that discuss baptism and the issue is a complicated one. Instead of taking 1Pt 3:21 as the paradigm and then reading all the other texts in light of it, I recommend looking at them all, including Acts, as well as asking how one is saved. Then come up with a doctrine of baptism.
December 8th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
“Baptism now saves you!” I believe that these words can stand on their own merit without needing other Scriptural passages to make “Reformation Christians” feel “justified!” It’s in the Scripture, so live with it. What about the other passages in the New Testament which talk about whole households being baptized – gasp! – could they include small or infant children? Apparently! Whether Baptism begins at infancy or in the waning years – Baptism was a ritual which, through the symbol of water (meaning birth, life, cleansing, refreshment unto death and back to life) was carried into the Christian tradition from Judiasm. As long as we understand that Baptism grants us entrance into God’s kingdom, it also reminds us that each day of our lives, we are constantly reminded whose children we are, whose brothers and sisters we are and how we were redeemed by Christ’s blood through his teaching, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension. We must remember that Baptism is a lifetime road to God, filled with valleys, ruts, winding roads and mountains. Isaish reminds us that all of these will become the highway to God in anticipation of the One who could come to bring Salvation to the world. Didn’t Jesus say “Go ye therefore and Baptize…” How awesome and exciting!
December 9th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Thanks for posting Steve. This looks like a drive-by comment so I doubt you’ll be back but I think I’ll reply anyway. It is my blog so I get the final word. If I want it. :)
The Bible also says Judas “hanged himself” (Matt 27:5), “Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:37) and “That thou doest, do quickly.” (John 13:27) Those verses stand on their own pretty well don’t you think? Of course not. The Bible isn’t a gathering of random sayings like the Quoran, it is a collection of books. You cannot ignore the context.
As I said in my post “baptism now saves you” is in a context and the phrase “corresponding to this” means that the phrase cannot stand on its own. Period. It corresponds to something else.
And no, Jesus didn’t say “go and baptize.” The command is to make disciples. The rest of the commands, “go”, “baptize” and teach hang on the command to make disciples.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Just a quick observation: The passage says baptism corresponds to the “days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, EIGHT SOULS were saved by water.” It does not refer to Noah personally. You are making a mistake there. You are misconstruing the correlation. The correspondence is not between an appeal and Noah. Rather it is between the temporal salvation of Noah’s family by water and eternal salvation by water. Noah went through a temporal baptism, ours is an eternal baptism. Why? Not because it takes dirt off, but because BAPTISM is an appeal to God. I think the crux of it is where you maintain that Baptism is an identification RATHER than salvation. That is NOT in the text. Baptism saves BECAUSE it is an appeal and an identification.
Seems to me that you are advocating a works righteousness. Your emphasis is upon Noah’s act of getting into the ark which you say saved him, rather than the work of God which saved Noah by water.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I should also add that the idea that Baptism saves in no way conflicts with the idea that we are saved by faith alone. Any more than it the notion that Noah was saved by water conflicts with it.
January 12th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Hey who am I to argue with a Church Father! :) Thanks for posting, obviously I don’t agree and stand but what I’ve said but I am glad you commented.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I expect a little more effort than that cop-out!
:-)
January 13th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Sorry, I didn’t know if you were just a drive-by commenter or ready to discuss. I mean, you’re from Africa and so many centuries away! :)
I think you make some valid points about this verse and I do need to fit them into an overall Biblical picture of baptism. However, what I don’t see in that overall Biblical picture is your foundational premise of baptism being faith. I see people come to faith and then be baptized (Cornelius, Philippian Jailer, Ethiopian eunich, etc.) but I don’t see anything saying that it was faith.
January 14th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Could you be a little clearer. I am not sure what you mean by “baptism being faith”. I don’t believe I ever said that baptism was faith.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
I inferred it a bit. You’d said “eternal salvation by water” and “Baptism saves in no way conflicts with the idea that we are saved by faith alone”. If we are eternally saved sola fide and we are eternally saved by baptism then baptism must equal faith or we have to drop the sola. Or did I read too much into what you said?
January 17th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
I think the question that has been raised of whether or not baptism provides salvation is a little misguided. If the initial question is a little off, then the attempts to answer it are going to end up being a bit confused as well.
It is made clear that Christians are indeed supposed to be baptised. It was part of Jesus’s final command to us in Matthew 28:19-20, when he said “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”.
The verse in question, 1 Peter 3:21, appeals to salvation through Christ when it says “through the resurrection of Christ Jesus”. So then, the original question of whether baptism provides salvation is unneccessary. Attempting to answer it becomes a frivolous exercise, as the answer bears no weight on what we as Christians are supposed to do as described in Matthew 28. He’s the one from whom salvation comes in the first place, regardless of the specific actions that we take.
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Buried in the likeness… the likeness is the death of our old sinning man, raised again in newness of life. It symbolizes our death to sin.
July 7th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Tim, it’s Steve and I’m on your blog again. I do come to your blog occasionally and not just for a “drive by,” though it may have seemed like it. I appreciate your insight into “Baptism now saves you.” Though I know what you’re trying to say, I believe that Peter is talking about Baptism from many levels – from Old Testament examples, transforming into its New Testament incarnation. I believe that Peter in this instance, is teaching the Church about Baptism in both specific and general terms – pointing always to the redemption of the world through Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Matthew spoke in 28:19 in a way that is similar to Peter, Matthew this time quotes Jesus the teacher, who in essence said “go and do likewise.” Go and make disciples and then in doing so, go and Baptize. I believe that Matthew’s words are clear, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV) You can’t just stop at Jesus making disciples. His command is a two-fold command…go and make disciples AND go and baptize.
I don’t know how your comment on Judas hanging himself or being “excused” from the last supper in any way, is similar. Judas killed himself…period. Judas went and betrayed his Savior….period. Judas’ actions were self-inflicted actions. His being dismissed from the last supper to betray Jesus, was not a command performance but an acknowledgment by Jesus of what was about to take place. If I were a good Calvinist, at this time I would say that he was “predestined” to betray Jesus, and leave it at that.
I guess that we will have to simply agree to disagree and that someday meet in heaven and continue to discuss your blog, but in person. I wish you well Tim. You have many thought provoking responses on your blog. All we need to focus on is that Jesus is Lord…
July 7th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Welcome back Steve! I’m really happy this wasn’t a drive by comment. So many are and that’s too bad because we miss the opportunity to talk. The internet can be so de-personalizing.
I appreciate your comment. It sounds much less like drive-by commenting. :) Baptism doesn’t sit in an isolated context in this specific passage. It is most certainly in a Biblical context that we’re fools to ignore. But I don’t think it is fair to Peter or his original audience if you start with the broader context instead of the immediate. And again, I’m going to insist that the words “corresponding to this” must be taken into consideration when interpreting “baptism now saves you.”
Granted, my Judas example was a throwaway comment, but hey, I didn’t think you’d be back! :) Let me try another, a better example. Imagine if we set aside the phrase “Now this may be interpreted allegorically” in Galatians 4:24 and then went on to interpret the rest of the chapter in a literal sense? We’d miss Paul’s point and come up with some weird ideas of covenants. An extreme example but I’m trying to make a point. We have to read the entire thought and not just the parts that support our theology. Our theology must bow to the authority of Scripture. Amen!
Finally, let me repeat, the command in the Great Commission is not “go” but “make disciples”. That means that you have to go in order to make disciples of all nations. And the two things that go into making disciples is baptizing them and teaching them. Everything in that sentence hangs on the command to make disciples. It isn’t a command to go nor teach nor to baptize. Those things are part of the disciplemaking processes.
Hope to hear from you again Steve! These kinds of interactions are good for us as they help sharpen our thoughts and words on important issues. God bless you.