1 Peter 3:21 | Baptism Saves?

The Objection from 1 Peter 3:21

Let's move along.

So 1 Peter 3, verse 21, this is a big one, okay? Someone says, dude, there are people who even commented on the video, I made a short video, if folks are wondering the video I'm referring to, is baptism necessary for salvation?

And someone, they probably didn't even watch the video. They said, yes, and then they just quoted this particular passage, 1 Peter 3, verse 21, okay? So, Mr. Apologetic Dog, all right? 1 Peter 3, verse 21, which says the following, and it's clear as day, right?

I know you got your little ballerina shoes on, tiptoeing around the issues, Jeremiah, okay? Making the Bible say something that it doesn't, right? Okay, here's what it says. 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 to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and the powers having been subjected to him.

So, there you go.

Now, corresponding to this, baptism saves you. It literally says baptism saves you. How can you be so blind to miss the obvious teaching of this text, Jeremiah?

Noah, the Flood, and the Ark as the Context

Yeah, let me help them out in their case. If you read the King James in verse 20, it says that the eight persons, the eight souls were saved by water. So, how do we get out of this?

Yeah. Okay.

Faith, Conscience, and the True Meaning of Baptism

So, I listened to your video recently. I thought you did a great job explaining this. I want to encourage people, if you were to go to the Apologetic Dog YouTube channel, I called in a live talk show with the Church of Christ preacher, and we spent an hour talking about these two verses.

It was awesome.

We even talked about the sovereignty of God and the depravity of man. It was great. So, if you want to see it live and in action, go check that out too. But I will say, there's a few different approaches people could take contextually, and it still works.

We still conclude that, oh man, this is talking about faith in Christ. This is ultimately the baptism, having a good conscience in the resurrection of Christ. But very simply, I tell people, you got to look at verse 20 and 21 together.

That's so important for this. And the only way to properly understand, and I'll use the King James to help them out, that they were saved through water. You have to ask the question, what does that mean?

The explanation is in the Old Testament. If you know the story of Noah and the ark and the flood, that's enough to help you understand, because I love what the ESV does. ESV understood, the translators understood this.

These eight persons were brought safely through water. So there's three elements in verse 20, you got to be aware of. You got to be aware of the ark. You got to be aware of the eight persons, Noah, and then you got to be aware of the water.

The water was used as a instrument of judgment. It was not salvific. What was salvific for Noah and his family was the ark. The ark is salvific, okay? Now this is going to be our context going into verse 21.

Baptism, baptizo, there's a type of immersion going on there, right? If when we know definitions of terms. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you. And then he immediately says, not the removal of dirt from the body.

So Peter is almost going back to Pentecost saying, all right, just so everyone understands and doesn't get it twisted that baptism is salvific in any way, that is not what is in view here. Not the removal of dirt from the body.

This is not a ceremonial bath that I'm talking about. That's not the baptism here. And then he goes on to say, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus is our ark of salvation.

That is the correspondence in any type that was going on here. And Eli, one last thing is I think it's good to define what a good conscience means. If you go back earlier in the context, we go to one of our favorite Bible passages, 1 Peter 3, 15, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense for anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.

Verse 16, having a good conscience, right? So the point is having a good conscience is sanctifying the Lord in your hearts. We understand that this is looking to him in faith.

Excellent, very good.