The other day, someone asked me a Bible question, and it was a wonderful thing for me because it sent me on a Bible study to make sure i was answering the question accurately – as supported by actual scripture read in context. This is a very important key to Bible study.
I also love that when I go looking for answers to a question in the Bible, i am delighted by the reminder that in almost every case, the Lord clarifies His own word in the inspired words of the Bible.
And i love that when we go digging around in the Bible in order to seek out the truth of God’s word, we learn things – maybe things we thought we already knew, brought to life in new and refreshing ways.
Here’s the beautiful scripture i came to in a recent search for the answer to someone’s question about baptism:
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.
1 Peter 3:18-22 (NASB)
I’ve been kind of sitting with verse 21 for more than a week – and being refreshed by the beauty and truth of it.
Peter explains that baptism is a kind of picture of Noah and his family being saved from destruction in the ark. He says that baptism saves us, but then he clarifies. He says it’s not about the removal of dirt from your body. But it’s the washing of your conscience – your internal heart – that’s the baptism that saves you.
But it’s not something you can do. It happens through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is a little bit mind-bending to go from Noah’s ark to Jesus’ resurrection to explain baptism, but there it all is right there in context, and it’s the same guy who in Acts chapter 2 told everyone that they needed to repent and be baptized in order to be saved.
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38 (NASB)
It’s also the same guy who thought he needed Jesus to give him a bath and had to be corrected in John 13.
5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” 8 Peter *said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 Jesus *said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
John 13:5-10 (NASB)
As i re-read these verses right now, i am impacted by the instructions to humans to “be baptized,” to be washed by Jesus, held in tension with the truth that the only action we can take as humans is to submit to the bathing. To believe in Jesus. Jesus said it Himself.
28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
John 6:28-29 (NASB)
The only work you and i can do toward our own salvation is to believe Jesus – to believe in Him. To let Him wash us clean in a way that has nothing to do with how long it has been since we had a physical bath.
I do believe that Christians should physically be baptized. It’s an act of obedience, and a beautiful and precious participation in the ceremony signifying what Christ has done in our hearts. But before we get it twisted, all the physical baptisms in the world can’t wash our hearts clean. It’s Jesus who does that part. The washing is available to each one of us when we believe and call on God.
‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Acts 2:21 and Joel 2:32
