The Saving Baptism

Today I would like to examine a very integral but overlooked scripture from the new testament writings that bears much weight on the hope of our salvation: “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime weredisobedient, 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. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 3:19-21). In the old world, the ark built by Noah saved himself and his family from the wrath of God by the flood that destroyed everyone else in the world. Peter tells us here that in the same manner “baptism [does] also now save us.” So baptism is the ark which we must enter if we hope to escape God’s soon coming wrath on this world of sin. And Peter does not waver on WHICH baptism it is that will save us. He gives us three details in verse 21 to make it clear what baptism he is writing about. First he says that it is NOT the one that washes over the flesh, which is obviously to say it is not of water. Next he tells us that it is the baptism that results from “the answer of a good conscience toward God.” Now let’s examine that statement momentarily with help from the scriptures, to see exactly what it means: “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God” (I Jn. 3:20,21). John in this context refers to faith as “confidence toward God.” That is what faith is, knowing that God hears us because our conscience tells us that we are not holding anything wrong back from God. Another scripture that sheds light on this ‘good conscience’ issue is from the apostle Paul: “Now the end of the commandment is [love] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (I Tim. 1:5).

So the bottom line on the whole faith of Christ is to keep the love of God flowing in and through our hearts toward God and men, and this results from that ‘good conscience’ that Paul mentioned. So how is the love of God initially received? “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:5). It is the holy Ghost that imparts the love of God into our hearts, so then how do we receive the holy Ghost? “… that we might receive the promise of the Spirit THROUGH FAITH” (Gal. 3:14). So receiving the holy Ghost is by faith in Jesus, and that brings us full circle to faith being a clear conscience; which Peter said results in the baptism that will save us. That means it is the baptism of the holy Ghost which first came at Pentecost after Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended back to heaven (Acts 1:4,5; Acts 2:1-4). Anyone can be baptized in water, whether they really have a clear conscience or not. But NOBODY can be baptized by Jesus, who knows the hearts of men, UNLESS they are coming to him without reservation or compromise. The sign and witness of speaking in tongues was given by God to accompany the Spirit baptism because it is God alone who knows the hearts of men (Acts 15:8,9; Acts 10:44-46). That sign is HIS declaration that HE has accepted the faith and repentance of those who come unto him by Jesus. Otherwise it would be left to the decision and opinion of men, who do NOT know the hearts of men, to declare someone forgiven and born again. Sorry my friend, that is too big a call for ANY man, except “the man Christ Jesus” who ALONE mediates between men and God for the remission of sins (II Tim. 2:5). Anyone who tries to declare that someone is born again, WITHOUT the heavenly sign and witness of God’s Spirit being in the mix, is in effect saying that THEY are a “mediator between God and men."

Covering that ground, let’s move on to the third detail that Peter gave us about the baptism that saves us. He very clearly said that the baptism that he was talking about is the baptism that came as a result of "the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Plain and simple. Water baptism was in effect BEFORE Jesus died and rose from the dead, so that puts that one out of the equation right quick, again. And as I have already shown from the scriptures, the baptism of the holy Ghost which both John the Baptist AND Jesus promised that Jesus would bring; was NOT able to be received UNTIL AFTER Jesus had both died, risen, and ascended back to heaven (Jn. 7:37,38; Jn. 16:7). So it is confirmed repeatedly by the Bible that the baptism that saves us or purifies us from our sins initially, and is able to KEEP us purified from sin unto eternal life; is assuredly the baptism that ONLY Jesus can baptize with. And that makes good sense, seeing that Jesus earned the right to baptize us by dying for our sins, and raising from the dead to become the high priest of the new covenant, who makes intercession to God for the remission of our sins (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:24-27). AJust one final scriptural note of confirmation about the baptism that saves us, is what Jesus said before he ascended back to heaven: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mk. 16:16). Seeing that he correlated believing with being baptized, he obviously was speaking of the baptism that comes by faith in him, which we have already seen is the same thing as “the answer of a good conscience toward God.” Jesus also confirmed that to us in another place, regarding believing and being baptized: “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [But this spake he OF THE SPIRIT, which they that BELIEVE on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.]” (Jn. 7:38,39). So it’s an open and shut case according to the scriptures, that the baptism of the Spirit is the baptism that is able to save us, and that it is the ONLY MEANS by which we have remission of sins and the hope of salvation. Amen.