David B. Curtis
David B. Curtis
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Good morning, Bereans, we are continuing our study of 1 Peter this morning and are looking at the difficult text of 1 Peter 3:18-22. This final section of the third chapter has some major difficulties, but its major point should be noted. It is one major thought unit, describing Christ's suffering and ultimate victory; thus the major point was that the Christ who suffered won the ultimate victory.
Let's keep in mind that Peter is writing to believers who are suffering for their faith as they live as aliens and strangers in the world. Peter is using Christ as our example of undeserved suffering that ultimately ends us in triumph. The overall theme of 1 Peter is that Christians must withstand persecution and persevere in their faith.
In verse 18 Peter reminded his readers of the consequences of Yeshua's response to unjustified persecution.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 1 Peter 3:18 ESV
It says this, "For Christ also suffered." Note that word "also." Its implication is this, the "also" means in addition to somebody else. Who else is he talking about? He's talking about believers. He's been talking about the fact that you will suffer for doing what is right, but keep this in mind, Christ also suffered.
Christ suffered for doing good and that was God's will. Christ humbled himself in death and Yahweh raised him from dead and seated him at his right hand. Therefore they also should remain faithful in the midst of suffering with the confident hope that God will also raise and vindicate them.
in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 1 Peter 3:19 ESV
Here we see that Christ proclaimed to the "spirits in prison." Who are these spirits and why are they in prison? As we have seen in past studies many see this as Christ preaching to people in Hades. But as we have seen the only spirits that the Bible talks about being in prison are the Watchers who sinned in Genesis 6 by leaving heaven and cohabitating with woman producing half man half god giants. Peter also talks about this in his second letter.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 2 Peter 2:4 ESV
The word "hell" is a bad translation of the Greek word tartaroo which is only found here in the New Testament. Tartaroo means, "to thrust down to Tartarus, to hold captive in Tartarus."
The context associates these spirits with "the days of Noah," just before the flood.
The plural "spirits" is only used in Hebrews 12:23 and in 1 Corinthians 14:32 to describe human beings. All other uses of "spirits" refers to divine beings.
Peter calls people psuche in verse 20 ("eight psuche") which makes me think that "spirits" pneuma must be different from people in this context. Psuche is never used of nonhuman spirits. So, Peter appears to use psuche for humans and pneuma for divine beings.
These spirits are said to be in prison, which is the word phylake. There is no instance in either the New Testament or 1 Enoch where disembodied human souls are said to be in an otherworldly prison. Nowhere in biblical literature is the world of the dead, as such called phylake. But phylake is used in the New Testament for the prison in which Satan is chained:
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison Revelation 20:7 ESV
Dalton writes, "It is important to note that, in both 1 Enoch and 2 Enoch, the fallen angels are described expressly, as being in prison or in equivalent terms. In 1 Enoch, they are condemned by God to prison as they await their final judgment." 1 Enoch 14:5, 18:14.
Any literate Second Temple period Jewish reader of 1 Peter 3:19 would have understood that Peter was referring to fallen nonhuman spirits, the watchers who sinned before the flood Genesis 6:2.
Hiebert writes, "Apparently, the oldest identification of those imprisoned spirits understood them as the fallen angels of Genesis 6. That view was widely known and generally taken for granted in the apostolic era."
Now you may not be familiar with the Genesis 6 story and the Watchers but the people of Peter's day were all familiar with it. Let me give you a quote from Michael S. Heiser:
Ninety nine percent of Second Temple Judaism believed that the reason wickedness so permeates the earth is not just an extension and is in large part not even linked to what happened with Adam and Eve, but the reason that people are always and universally thoroughly wicked is because of what the Watchers did. Everybody in Paul's circle, everybody in Second Temple Judaism with the exception of four intertestamental references in intertestamental literature, everything says that the reason for the proliferation of evil is the sin of the Watchers, everything? (Michael S. Heiser, "The Naked Bible Podcast" 2.0, Episode 94)
This should tell us that what the Watchers did was a very big deal and it should tell us that those in Peter's day were very familiar with what the Watchers did in Genesis 6.
because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 1 Peter 3:20 ESV
"Because they formerly did not obey—we know that their disobedience was in the days of Noah, "when God's patience waited in the days of Noah." We have evidence that this was a time of gross sin for both demons and humans, when there was an ungodly mingling of humans and divine beings (Genesis 6:1-2; Jude 6; 2 Peter 2:4-5).
"God's patience"—the word patience here is makrothumia. Makrothumia is the capacity to be wronged and not retaliate. It is the ability to hold one's feeling in restraint or bear up under the oversights and wrongs afflicted by others without retaliating. It is manifest by the quality of forbearance under provocation. Here it describes God's patience toward sinful men. We are also called to be patient, "love is patient" 1 Cor. 13:1.
"While the ark was being prepare few, that is, eight persons"—
The whole world died, everybody, except for eight people. What is the significance of eight? In Scripture, eight came to be the number representing re-birth, re-generation and salvation. Eight is the number of new beginnings, new creation. On the eighth day of an Israelite male child's birth, he entered the Sinai Covenant by the ritual of circumcision (Genesis 17:10-12) The priesthood of Aaron and his sons was consecrated on the eighth day (Leviticus 9:1). On the eighth day of the dedication of the desert Tabernacle, during the morning liturgical service, God lit the fire of the sacrificial altar. This day was commemorated in the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth) which was an eight day feast (Leviticus 23:36-39).
The combined feasts of Passover (Nisan 14th) and Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15th -21st ) lasted eight days and marked the beginning of the Liturgical year (Leviticus 23:5-8), while the Feast of Tabernacles lasted eight days and marked the end of the Liturgical year (Leviticus 23:33-36).
Yeshua arose from the dead on the eighth day (the day after the seventh day Sabbath). Eight days after the resurrection (in the literal Greek translation) Yeshua appeared to his disciples a second time; this time He appeared to Thomas who declared "My Lord and my God". The eighth day, which is Resurrection Sunday (the day after the seventh day Jewish Sabbath), is the first day of the New Covenant and a new creation.
"Were brought safely through water"—this prepositional phrase is local (or directional) in function which would indicate that they were saved passing through the water. The water is not the means of their salvation, the ark is. The water is seen as the means of judgment and wrath.
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 Yeshua the Christ, 1 Peter 3:21 ESV
As you can guess this is a controversial verse. Does Baptism save us? The answer you get would depend on who you ask.
No subject is potentially more controversial in the church than baptism. There was a book written several years ago called, "Baptism: The Water That Divides." And it truly does divide. Some practice "believers baptism by immersion," other churches utilize other methods such as sprinkling or pouring, and will usually baptize infants. Then there are those folks who argue that baptism was only intended for 1st Century Christians, or that the Bible commands only spiritual baptism, not water baptism. Though we differ about the mode and objects of baptism; how it should be done and to whom it should be done, most Christians agree that it is important that we be baptized. Let's consider what the Bible has to say about baptism.
The first references to baptism in the New Testament are in connection with the ministry of John the Baptist. John practiced baptism to such an extent that he gained the title, "the Baptist." John baptized down by the Jordan River. People came to him from all over Israel - from Jerusalem, from G…ee, from everywhere. And, as recorded in Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 3, John said to them:
"I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Matthew 3:11 ESV
There are several things we can learn about baptism from this verse. The first thing I want us to see is that water baptism wasn't something new. It should be apparent that John the Baptizer didn't just pop onto the Jewish scene in A.D. 25 and say something like, "Folks, I'm starting something totally new today that you have never seen before. It is called 'baptism' and here is how it goes…" The very least we must admit is that baptism was familiar enough to the Jewish people of John's day that it didn't provoke any challengers in regard to its mode.
They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." John 1:25-27 ESV
The words of verse 25 imply rather strongly that the Jews expected the Messiah or one of his precursors to "baptize" the Jewish people. They didn't say, "What is baptism?" What they said was, "Why are you baptizing?"
Baptism in the Tanakh:
And the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever." When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD, the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments Exodus 19:9-10 ESV
In Exodus 19, they arrived in the area around Mt. Sinai and were told by God that He would make a covenant with them on the third day after their cleansing. They could not meet with God to make a covenant in an unclean condition. They had to be purified first. And Jewish commentaries on this passage point out that the purification of the people here at Mt. Sinai was not just a washing of their clothing, but a total immersion of their bodies as well.
Rabbi Kaplan writes, "The command to 'wash their garments' seems puzzling, until we look into the general laws regarding purification. There, we find that whenever a person is required to 'wash his clothing,' he is also required to immerse himself in the Mikvah. When the Torah states that an individual must wash his clothing, this means that he must purify his clothing as well as his body in the Mikvah. Thus, we know from tradition that an important part of the preparation for the receiving of the Ten Commandments consisted of immersion in the Mikvah." [Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. Waters of Eden - The Mystery of the Mikvah. Subtitled "An Exploration of the Concept of Mikvah - Renewal and Rebirth." New York, NY: National Conference of Synagogue Youth of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, 1976. p. 21]
As we learn about the Jewish Mikvah, we realize that water baptism was not something that John invented. Here are some statements from William Sanford LaSor's and Nitza Rosovsky's articles in Biblical Archaeology Review regarding recent discoveries in Palestine which shed much light on the purification rituals that were practiced in the days of Yeshua:
Until the discoveries of modern archaeology, we knew about ancient Jewish ritual immersion baths only from literary texts. Now, however, archaeology has provided us with numerous examples of Jewish ritual immersion baths, called mikvah, dating to the late Second Temple period, prior to and during the time when John the Baptist lived. These mikvaot undoubtedly provide the background for Christian baptism.
Why wasn't baptism explained in greater detail in the New Testament? Maybe it is because they already knew what it was and didn't need an explanation. For Biblical evidence that John's baptism was considered to be one of the Jewish "purifications," just consider:
John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him." John 3:23-26 ESV
Verse 25 says, "Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification." The next two verses tell us they were actually discussing the difference between John's and Yeshua's baptisms. John calls his and Yeshua's baptisms "purification" which is the Greek word katharismos. There are only seven New Testament verses which use this same form of the Greek word: (Mark 1:44; Luke 2:22; 5:14; John 2:6; 3:25; Hebrews 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:9).
All the occurrences of katharismos in the gospels refer to Jewish purifications. The implication is that John's and Yeshua's baptisms were considered to be part of the Jewish purifications, implying that Christian baptism was based on John's baptism which was a purification ritual. The physical ritual itself was not new at all. Only the purpose and meaning were new.
Jewish people had to undergo ritual immersion before entering the temple for any purpose. There were signs posted at the entrances to the temple warning people not to enter unclean. A severe penalty was imposed on violators. (See Josephus Ant. 12:145; Wars 4:205).
And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day. Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean. Numbers 19:19 ESV
This is a reference to the ordinance of the Red Heifer. There were two parts to the cleansing by the ashes of the red heifer. The ash-water was sprinkled on the third and seventh days, then on the seventh day they washed their clothes and bathed. This bath was an immersion.
So, the first thing we see in Matthew 3:11 is that baptism wasn't anything new. The Jews were very familiar with water baptism as a symbol of purification. They could not enter the temple without first being purified.
"I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Matthew 3:11 ESV
This passage also shows us that there is a difference between symbolic baptism and the real baptism. When we speak of baptism, we must remember that we are talking about more than a simple rite which people undergo. This rite of water baptism is but a symbol of something else, and it is this "something else" which constitutes the real meaning of baptism, the reality behind baptism. John has tied together symbol and reality.
I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' John 1:33 ESV
Here we see two baptisms, one with water, one with the spirit. These two baptisms are linked. The rite of water baptism is linked to the reality of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you turn to Acts 1:4, you will find that, after the resurrection, at the close of his own ministry, Yeshua confirms this link:
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Acts 1:4-5 ESV
In just a few days that promise was fulfilled. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon these disciples, and, for the first time, the body of Christ was formed. That is the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is to form the body of Christ by introducing every individual believer into that body. Now, admittedly, this is a metaphorical body-not a physical body but a spiritual one. Yet it is a very real body. And all through the rest of the Scriptures you find the apostles speaking of the reality that the church is the body of Christ, the instrument through which the Lord Yeshua performs his work. He intends to do so not only now but throughout all eternity.
Another passage of great significance in this connection is in the 12th chapter of First Corinthians. There, in Verses 12 and 13, the apostle tells us:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 ESV
This is the reality of which water baptism speaks. Notice that there are no requirements to receiving the baptism by the Holy Spirit. "All" is mentioned twice, all believers have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Paul's point here is unity, the baptism by the Holy Spirit makes us members of the body of Christ. To not be baptized by the Holy Spirit is to not be a Christian.
"We were all baptized"—past tense. It happened at salvation. That is why there is
no command in Scripture to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. There is no exhortation to receive the Holy Spirit- you already have Him.
The baptism by the Holy Spirit is the work of Yeshua the Christ in putting us into the church through the agency of the Holy Spirit. It happens at salvation.
The fact that the baptism by the Holy Spirit is universal is explicitly taught in 1 Corinthians 12:13, we were all baptized, and implicitly taught in Ephesians 4:5
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, Ephesians 4:5 ESV
Speaking of unity, one Lord-every believer has the same Lord. We all have the same faith-this is a common basis for unity. One baptism-this is the Spirit baptism, it is a basis for unity. Not all Christians have been baptized in water, but they have all been baptized by the Spirit. There are not two types of Christians, some with the baptism by the Holy Spirit and some without. Those who have not been baptized by the Holy Spirit are not Christians.
In the nine verses in the New Testament that speak of the baptism by the Holy Spirit, none of them ever command us to seek it. What is the inference here? All believes have it. The baptism by the Holy Spirit is positional work of God, at faith we are placed into the body of Christ, and we can never lose that status. We are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit but never to be baptized. It is the filling of the Spirit that leads to power in our Christian lives. Filling has the idea of control.
What is the result of the baptism by the Holy Spirit?
We can understand this by understanding the meaning of the word "baptize". The primary meaning of the word "baptize" is: "to immerse or dip." But there is more then one meaning for the word baptize. In any language there may be a literal and a metaphorical meaning of the word. For example, we see this in our use of the word "fox." Used literally, it is a member of the canine family. But it was used metaphorically in my younger days of an attractive female. The word "baptize" used metaphorically means a change of identity. It means identification with or united to. We see this secondary meaning in:
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 ESV
They were all identified with Moses. For years the children of Israel had been joined to Egypt, and identified with Pharaoh. But as they come out of Egypt in the exodus, the red sea and the pillar of the cloud broke that identification and identified them unto Moses. We also see this metaphorical use in:
Yeshua said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Yeshua said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, Mark 10:38-39 ESV
What is he talking about? Death! How is death a baptism? In his death he identified with sinful man and bore his punishment. They will be identified in his death (verse 39).
The baptism by the Holy Spirit is identification with the body of Christ, it is a positional work that takes place at salvation, and in water baptism, you are publicly identifying yourself with Yeshua the Christ. Water baptism signifies our experience of being baptized by the Holy Spirit through which we are made a part of the body of Christ. Baptism is an event which tells all who witness it, including the one who has been baptized as he or she remembers what happened, that this individual is a Christian, who has one Lord, Yeshua the Christ.
Is Water Baptism Necessary for Salvation?
NO!!! We do not believe that baptism is a means of salvation. We think it symbolizes the salvation we receive through Yeshua, but we don't believe one receives that salvation by being baptized.
The Roman Catholic Church views baptism as a means of saving grace. Rome believes that the act of baptism in water actually conveys or passes on grace to the person baptized. What this means is that when a person is baptized, it brings about a transformation in their life, that transformation is spiritual death to spiritual life. To the Church of Rome, or to Catholics to be baptized is to be saved.
This is why it's so important that a Catholic priest baptizes infants. If the infant is baptized near birth, their entrance into heaven is unhindered; however if they are not baptized, they can in no way gain entrance to heaven. Instead they go to limbo, which is a place of natural happiness, but it is short of heaven, because God is not there. Listen to page 1213 from the Catechism of the Roman Church: "Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door to which gives access to the other sacraments. Through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the church and made sharers in her mission: Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."
Another prominent group that teaches a similar heresy is the Church of Christ. They also make it clear that unless you are water baptized, you cannot possibly be saved. A Church of Christ minister said, "Believer, if you're not baptized, if you don't go to church you're going to hell, you're as lost as lost can be."
Under the umbrella of Preterism there are many who are Church of Christ. By coming to believe in the eschatology of Preterism they have a correct eschatology. but their soteriology is false. They teach that the ritual of water baptism saves you.
While ALL false teachings are detrimental to our spiritual health, SOME false teachings are eternally deadly. The teaching that water baptism saves is one of those absolutely critical false teachings.
Baptismal Regeneration is an unbiblical view. The Bible teaches that we are saved by faith:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
The Bible explicitly states that we are saved by faith and not by any work of man or ceremony performed by man. The New Testament passages stress that salvation is only through faith apart from works.
What is the Purpose of Water Baptism?
Hodge writes, "The design of baptism is, that it be a visible sign of our covenant to be the Lord's, and devoted to his service; and hence it is a public profession of our faith and badge of our allegiance, and hence of our formal initiation into the Christian Church, and a symbol of our union with our fellow-Christians. 1 Corinthians 12:13." [A. A. Hodge, The Confession of Faith. Reprinted by The Banner of Truth Trust. pp. 344].
This is how the majority of the Church today views baptism but there is evidence that the early church associated it with the epic struggle between the children of God and the spiritual forces of darkness. This is why early baptismal formulas included a renunciation of Satan and his angels.
Turtullian, (155-220AD) who was an early Christian author and apologist writes this, "When we are going to enter the water, but a little before, in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the president, we solemnly professed that we disowned the devil and his palm, and his angels. Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the gospel. Then when we are taken up 'as newborn children.'" For early believers, baptism was part of their spiritual warfare.
Mike Heiser in his book Reversing Hermon talks in chapter 9 on the significance of baptism in relation to the sin of the watchers.
in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 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 Yeshua Christ, 1 Peter 3:19-21 ESV
Heiser writes, "Understanding this passage depends on comprehending two interrelated trajectories: (1) the notion of spirits being imprisoned and (2) the literary typological phenomenon of typology.
We have already looked at point 1, and we saw that verse 19 is dealing with divine beings (spirits) who were imprisoned by Yahweh for their sin of Genesis 6. Now let's look at point 2 the literary typological phenomenon of typology.
"Baptism, which corresponds to this"—the word "corresponds" is from the Greek antitupon. This word is only used one other time in Scripture.
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Hebrews 9:24 ESV
The word "copies" here is antitupon. The copies of the heavenly things are contrasted with the heavenly things themselves. The copies of the heavenly things are, as in Hebrews 8:5, the wilderness tabernacle and its various furnishings which were all "copies" of an even greater reality in heaven.
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain." Hebrews 8:5 ESV
Copy here is from the Greek hupodeigma. This verse tells us that everything involved in the Levitical order was a shadow of the reality. The word hupodeigma refers to a sign suggestive of something (sketch, outline, copy). The whole system of priests in the Old Covenant was only a copy of the real. Israel was a type!
In theological and biblical contexts, "antitupon" means "counterpart," "corresponding figure," or "type". It refers to something that corresponds to or resembles another thing, often in a spiritual or symbolic way. The type is the symbol, illustration, or shadow that is used to represent or illustrate something else. The thing being illustrated is the antitype. So, 1 Peter 3:21 says baptism is not the figure or type, but is the thing being illustrated – the antitype.
In the 1 Enoch story, the Watchers appealed their sentence and asked Enoch, the biblical prophet who never died, to intercede with God for them. God rejected their petition and Enoch had to return to the imprisoned Watchers and give them the bad news.
Heiser writes, "Peter saw a theological analogy between the events of Genesis 6 and the gospel and resurrection. He considered the events of Genesis 6 to be types or precursors to the New Testament events and ideas. Just as Jesus was the second Adam for Paul, Jesus is the second Enoch for Peter. Enoch descended to the imprisoned fallen angels to announce their doom. 1 Peter 3:14—22 has Jesus descending to the same spirits in prison to tell them they are still defeated despite his crucifixion."
"Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you"—in this passage the antitype is the baptism of the New Testament believer. It is a corresponding copy of the previous story of Noah's salvation in the ark. There is probably no clearer image in the Old Covenant of salvation in Christ than Noah's ark. It was the only place in which people could have been saved and kept from God's judgment that swept over the earth.
To what baptism is Peter referring? Peter tells us it is not a washing. Peter anticipates the possibility of some confusing what he intends by the term baptism and thus adds an appositional antithetical construction to clarify, "not as a removal of dirt from the body." Peter is saying that water baptism does not save you, this kind of baptism is not the one that is the antitype of the salvation in the ark.
"But as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Yeshua the Christ"—
Heiser argues that "'appeal' should be understood as 'pledge,' and 'conscience' should be understood as 'the disposition of one's loyalties' (p. 144). In this light, baptism is a 'loyalty oath, a public avowal of who is on the Lord's side in the cosmic war' (p. 144). It is letting the 'powers and authorities' (1 Pt 3:22; cf. 1 Cor 15:24) know where one stands. This is why it was especially important in the Great Commission given to 'the eleven' (Matt 28:16-20). They were about to invade the territory of these other gods. Those once enslaved to them needed to let them know their loyalties have changed."
So, baptism as a loyalty oath is in essence a confession of faith, it is belief in Christ that saves. This is Spirit baptism, that is, being placed in Christ at the moment of conversion. Therefore, the parallelism between the type and antitype of Noah's salvation and our salvation is clearly visible in this light. Noah was saved from the wrath and judgment of God by being in the ark. The New Testament believer is now saved from the judgment of God by being in Christ. This new life, being united with God, is only through the resurrection of Christ.
The antitype or the corresponding copy to a few being saved in an ark through the judgment of God is the believer's present Spirit baptism into Christ, where the believer being in Christ will also be saved from the coming judgment of God.
This contrast from the suffering of verse 18 to the resurrection is consistent with the reoccurring theme in Peter's epistle of present suffering and future glory. The chapter ends with verse 22 which proclaims the victory of Christ over the Watchers.
who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. 1 Peter 3:22 ESV
We’ll look at this verse next time.
What about water baptism today?
Water baptism has nothing to do with affecting inward salvation at all. And, since early baptismal formulas included a renunciation of Satan and his angels connecting it to the spiritual battle. We know that this war is over, the enemies have all been defeated. I personally don't think that baptism is necessary today at all. If Heiser is right on baptism, and we're right on eschatology, it just doesn't carry the same weight anymore. It was something that had significance mainly during the transition period.
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