How Baptism Saves

Text 1 Peter 3:21 Time 25 06 17 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

Well, it is a great joy to be here tonight and to have the baptistery open again after such a long spell. There are only two ordinances or sacraments for believers – baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It is important that whenever there is a baptism or communion that we remind ourselves exactly what they are all about. If you simply go through the motions then the meaning can easily be forgotten and the whole thing can turn into a meaningless ritual. That is why we make a point whenever we have communion or a baptism to say something about what is going on.

What I want us to do now then is to consider the verse about baptism found in 1 Peter 3:21. This verse and those that surround it are not easy ones to interpret in some ways and there has been some discussion about certain elements such what it means when it speaks of Jesus going and making proclamation to the imprisoned spirits - to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. I’m sure that what Peter is saying there is that when Noah preached to the people of his day it was the Spirit of Christ who was patiently pleading with people even then through Noah.

Peter goes on to say to believers (in verse 21) that the water of Noah’s flood

symbolises baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

He is drawing a parallel then between the flood and baptism. If Peter were here tonight to witness this baptism and we asked him to speak he might say ‘This is a little like another Noah’s ark’. Now do note that he does not say of the ark, In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved from water, rather he says they were saved through water. Of course, they were saved from the water – unlike all those who perished, they escaped from the great flood. However, Peter says that they were saved through water. It was by means of the flood that God rescued them from the wicked world in which they had been living. One can see several connections between Noah’s ark and baptism. For example, one commentator mentions how

• Just as the ark was God’s way of saving Noah not man’s invention, so baptism is God ordained.
• Just as Noah appears to have been mocked when building the ark, so some people mock baptism as a means of salvation.
• Just as Noah and his family were shut up in the ark and seemed buried in it so baptism can be seen as a sort of symbolic burial. (See Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death … Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism …)
• Just as Noah and his family were surrounded by water from above and below, so when a person is baptised he or she is immersed in water.

The most important connection between Noah’s flood and baptism, however, is that there is a sense in both cases in which it is by means of water that salvation comes. So we see how he has come to the matter of baptism. However, when Peter says that baptism saves believers, what exactly does he mean? He himself clarifies by including both a negative and a positive comment.

1. Understand how this baptism does not save

Having said this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also – Peter adds not the removal of dirt from the body. Literally he says it is not the removal of dirt from the flesh. The word flesh has at least two connotations in Scripture and so we can say two things in light of Peter’s statement.

1. Baptism does not literally save by washing dirt from the body

Obviously when a person is baptised it is a little bit like a bath. We are aware of the fact that water is very good for washing dirt from our bodies. Not only is it healthy for our bodies to be regularly washed but it can be very refreshing generally. Many a person enjoys nothing better than a good soak in the bath or alternatively an invigorating shower – hot or cold. More than one religion makes a great deal of such purification rites. I remember reading about George Harrison of the Beatles, how when he first embraced Hinduism he described how good it felt to get up early in the morning and to begin with meditation and a shower. I remember too once meeting a Sikh gentleman who had travelled to India where he had felt renewed by standing under waterfall. Now Christian baptism is nothing like that. It is something that can only take place once in a person’s life and it has nothing at all to do with washing dirt from the body.

If you have been baptised. Remember that when you were baptised you weren’t washing dirt from your body.

If you’ve not been baptised, realise that no amount of washing can make you clean. Washing, like a new set of clothes or new resolutions can only affect you outwardly. You need something inward to happen to you.

Roslin, as you’re about to be baptised, recognise that this water is not like bath water. It isn’t designed to get you clean. That is not its purpose!

2. Baptism does not literally save by washing sin from the soul

It may be that Peter is also underlining the fact that in and of itself baptism cannot wash away sin from the soul either. The reason why people need to be saved is because of their sin. It is because of sin that we die and deserve to be sent to hell. The only way we can be saved is by having those sins washed away but that is not something that baptism can do. There is nothing special about this water. There is nothing that being baptised can do to take away sin.

There are people who believe that somehow baptism can wash sin from your soul. You have heard perhaps of people making quite a fuss about getting sick babies baptised before they die. Why? Because there is a belief that baptism can somehow literally wash sin away. Sometimes children in Roman Catholic Schools are taught how to perform what they call an emergency baptism, based on the idea that there is no way into heaven without baptism.

Now I’m sure that no-one believes that the power is in the water itself but there is the idea that the ceremony itself can somehow save. And yet everything else we know from Scripture warns against taking such an idea. For example, in Hebrews 10:4, 11 it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins … Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. There are many things like that in the Old Testament too. There is no way that any ceremony can take away sin. It doesn’t matter how sincere we are or how genuine our belief in such a thing may be, it cannot do it.

If I thought that Roslin was under the impression that she could wash away her sins by baptism then I would refuse to baptise her. The idea that any mere ritual can save is utterly false. I suppose it’s a little like supposing that a marriage ceremony can make a real marriage. Sometimes people go through a form of marriage in order to gain British citizenship. The government are wise to such things, however, they know that a mere paper marriage is not a real marriage and they want evidence of a real marriage. Similarly, baptism is not a matter of a mere form. Like a marriage ceremony it must rather be the seal and sign of something much deeper.

If you have been baptised, remember that when you were baptised it wasn’t that act that made you a Christian. No. it was something else that washed your soul clean. The day you were baptised was just the day when you publicly declared that God had changed your life. You may not remember exactly when you were converted but hopefully you can remember when you were baptised and it was then that you made your public profession of conversion.

If you’ve not been baptised, realise that there is no ritual on earth that can make your soul clean. There is no religious rite that can deal with your sin. Baptism won’t do it. Taking the Lord’s Supper won’t do it. Praying five times a day can’t change you. Ritual purifications and religious ceremonies are all worthless in themselves. Rather, as we have said, you need something inward to happen to you. Unless God changes you then there is no hope for you.

Roslin, as you’re about to be baptised, recognise that this is not like a ritual purification. This act isn’t designed to purify your soul. As you know, you are being baptised on the basis that this has already happened. This baptism is designed to strengthen you in your convictions not to do something that has not happened yet.

2. Understand how baptism does save

So what does Peter mean when he says that baptism saves? In what sense does it save? It is clear that Peter is speaking symbolically. Symbolically speaking, baptism saves. The way such a ceremony affects us is by affecting our conscience and teaching us.

1. Baptism symbolically saves as it implies the pledge of a good conscience towards God

So we come to Peter’s positive statement. He says not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. The words are understood in a slightly different way by different writers. Is it the pledge towards God of a good conscience towards God or the pledge of ‘a good conscience towards God’ or even baptism that now saves you towards God also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience? There is some argument about the word translated pledge too. Answer is not quite right pledge is better. It is the demand or enquiry of a good conscience or possibly the appeal. Peter may well be thinking of the way those who are baptised are often asked to first give a word of testimony or to answer questions - as we will do tonight. The question then is whether Peter is speaking subjectively of the person being baptised having a good conscience or objectively of them appealing to God for a good conscience. It is probably the first. Whichever way we understand it, it is clear that the focus is on the person's conscience.

How is it with your conscience tonight?

What about you baptised believer? Do you remember your baptismal pledge? Are you conscientiously living aware that only Christ can forgive your sins? We must never forget that he is the only one who can deal with our guilt. An event like this should remind you once more of how indebted you are to him. Cf 3:16. I say to you tonight (Hebrews 10:22) let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

What about you unbaptised unbeliever? Do you realise that is your great need - to give yourself to God, to commit yourself to him entirely. There is no way to get rid of your guilty conscience except by trusting in him. He alone can cleanse you. Gifts and sacrifices … are not able to clear the conscience (Hebrews 9:22) only Christ can. Go to him, therefore, and find complete cleansing.

Roslin. I trust you recognise that what I am saying is true. By coming to be baptised you are saying that you are guilty of sin. It is the testimony of your conscience. However, your conscience also testifies that whereas a ceremony can only at best make you outwardly clean the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, can cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:13, 14). And so your conscience is resting only in the blood of Christ. It is on that basis that we baptise you.

2. Baptism symbolically saves as it points to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who now reigns in heaven

Finally, Peter says that baptism saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand - with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. The New Testament speaks very often about the resurrection of Jesus and when it does so it almost invariably has in mind his death as well. Peter has mentioned the death explicitly already back in 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit. Why did Christ die? Peter is clear. Christ died for sins. It was in order to deal with sin that he died. It was the death of the righteous for the unrighteous – the Son of God, the only Saviour, died taking the punishment deserved by sinners like you and me. He did it, Peter says to these believers, to bring you to God. By nature we are all sinners and we have no access to God,. We cannot come near him. However, a way back to God has been opened up by Christ’s death as a substitute for sinners on the cross. There is a way back through trusting in him and what he has done. Baptism symbolises union with Christ in his death and resurrection. That is why Paul says (in Romans 6:3-5) Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. (Also see Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

So baptism cannot literally save anyone but it is a symbol of a good conscience towards God and of the death and resurrection of Christ. It is by these means that people are saved – by committing themselves to god and trusting in Jesus Christ and what he has done.

Are you a baptised believer? Remember your baptism then – that symbolic uniting with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. That is what saves you – the fact that you are united to him. There is no salvation anywhere else is there?

Are you unbaptised? Realise that the only way to be saved is by looking to the Lord Jesus and what he has done. He alone can cleanse you. To be baptised without being joined to him in faith would be a meaningless charade. But if you really are joined to him there is no better symbol of it.

Roslin. Are you looking only to Christ and what he has done for forgiveness?. Then we are willing to baptise you.

Someone may be thinking, ‘Can you be saved and not be baptised?’ The answer is yes. The dying thief is proof enough. That is the exception. Normally, it is a matter of believing and then being baptised. If you have a good conscience toward God – one that bears witness both to your guilt and to the blood of Christ. If your are looking only to Jesus Christ and what he has done then I urge you to be baptised.