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NASB | 1 Peter 3:21 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, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Peter 3:21 Corresponding to that [rescue through the flood], baptism [which is an expression of a believer's new life in Christ] now saves you, not by removing dirt from the body, but by an appeal to God for a good (clear) conscience, [demonstrating what you believe to be yours] through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, |
Bible Question: For the explainingof 1 Peter 3: from 21-? what would I look up Search to understand what this means...God Bless |
Bible Answer: 1 Peter 3.19b-20 ‘Who were previously disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.’ These ‘spirits in prison’ were the angels who sinned in the time of Noah (Genesis 6.1-2). Human beings are never spoken of in this way (as 'spirits' without qualification), while 2 Peter 2.4 confirms Peter’s interest in the angels who sinned in the time of Noah. And we should note that their disobedience and its punishment had taken place against the background of another time when the longsuffering of God was waiting for a response from a sinful people who were under the sway of demonic powers, and when there were eight righteous people who alone were obedient and preached righteousness (2 Peter 2.5). In accordance with God’s instructions they built an ark, and all the time that they were building it God in His longsuffering was giving an opportunity for men to repent. For God is longsuffering. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3.9). But although He was patient none but the eight responded. However, whatever their sufferings they came through it, and in that ark they were saved ‘through water’, which as it were lifted them up to God, while at the same time that same water drowned the remainder, and the spirits were put in prison. 3.21 ‘Which water after a true likeness (or ‘echo’) also now saves you, (even baptism, which is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation (or ‘answer’ or ‘consultation’) of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,’ The thought of the ark brought safely ‘through water’ brings his mind to the way in which Christians are brought safely through to God ‘through the resurrection of Jesus Christ’ as it links with the cross (verse 18). Just as the water lifted up the ark in which the elect were held safe, so does the resurrection of Jesus Christ lift up ‘in Christ’ (compare 5.10, 14) all who are His. The thought of water also links the idea with baptism, although only by way of a parenthesis (a side comment). He sees in baptism, which he pictures as illustrating the resurrection, an ‘echo of’, or a ‘likeness to’, the water that bore up Noah and his companions. Through the response of their consciences illustrated in baptism (the baptism of repentance), His people unite with Christ in His resurrection. They experience renewal of life (Romans 6.4; Titus 3.5). They are as it were saved through water, just as Noah had been, not by it washing them or cleansing them, but by it lifting them up to God in the ark of the risen Jesus Christ so that the response of their consciences can be examined in order to ensure their genuineness (compare verses 16-17 where it has in mind responsive obedience). And as a result they are saved through His resurrection power as they rise with Him and are seated with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 1.19-2.6). As so often in the New Testament baptism is seen as a picture of rising out of death into new life in Jesus Christ (Romans 6.3-4). For apart from the possible exception of Acts 22.16 that is what baptism always signifies in the New Testament, ‘dying and rising with Christ’ or being ‘born from above’. It should also be noted in passing that as it is connected with the presentation of a good conscience towards God, baptism at an age of accountability is in mind. ‘Interrogation of a good conscience towards God.’ The word translated ‘interrogation’ can mean ‘response’ or ‘consultation’. Some have more tentatively argued for ‘pledge’. But, however we translate it, it clearly indicates a true response to God which passes examination (contrast- John 2.23-25). |