“IS WATER BAPTISM THE ANSWER OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE?”
(1 Peter 3:18-21,22)
“IS WATER BAPTISM THE ANSWER OF A
GOOD CONSCIENCE?”
(1 Peter
3:18-21,22)
Inspite of
cleaning your shoes after walking
through a pig pen… the smell still lingers!
Inspite of
a saved Baptist denying that water
baptism is not required for salvation, the practice still
exists post
salvation … although still not needed to stay saved! Why?
Their last
bastion of defence rests in Peter … not
Paul! … where Christians are to be followers of Paul, not Peter
(1 Corinthians 11:1) … and where Christians do not water baptize
(1 Corinthians 1:17) … where the Peter context is not water
baptism
… even though at first glance it seems it is … but Spirit baptism!
To be
absolutely clear, Peter does not speak
of water baptism … but the opposite! The verses are as follows …
18 “For Christ
also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to
God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By
which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which
sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in
the
days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight
souls were saved by water. 21 The LIKE FIGURE
whereunto even
baptism (not
water but Spirit) doth
also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh (actual
water), but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by
the resurrection
of Jesus Christ: 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right
hand of
God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” (1 Peter 3:18-21,22)
The like
figure refers to Spirit baptism by
God putting us into the death of Christ.
Peter’s
parallel example of water baptism is placed
into the context of Spirit baptism … with the bookends of verse 18 …
being
quickened by the Spirit and verse 21 … the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
A
good conscience is the purged
conscience by Christ’s blood … and that could not be obtained
by animal
blood (Hebrews 1:3; 10:2).
Now
having gotten a good conscience, what should we
do? Get water baptised? NO.
The
answer of a good conscience is a
willingness to live honestly “…good conscience, in all
things willing
to live honestly.”
(Hebrews
13:18) … NOT
GET WATER BAPTISED!
The
analogy is eight souls were saved by water and the
like figure is that Christians are saved by Spirit baptism … not
water baptism which only puts away the filth of the flesh.
And the
answer of the Baptist is … wait for it … “Well,
inspite of the evidence against water baptism … I still believe we need
to
water baptize people!”
What’s the
phrase? “Heaven
help us!”
Harley
Hitchcock
March
2024
This
website’s front page is:
www.
QUESTION: “IF
PAUL STOPPED WATER BAPTIZING WHY DO CHURCHES CONTINUE TO DO IT?”
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