The following is reprinted with permission
of The Timely Messenger
AN INFORMAL SURVEY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
A Dispensational Approach
I PETER
By: R B. Shiflet
I. THE REALITY OF SALVATION 1:2-21
II. THE REQUIREMENT OF BROTHERLY LOVE 1:22-25
III. THE READINESS FOR WORSHIP 2:1-3
IV. THE "ROYAL PRIESTHOOD" AND THE BODY OF CHRIST 2:4-10
V. THE REMINDER TO LIVE HOLY LIVES 2:11-12
VI. THE RESPONSIBILITY TO AUTHORITIES 2:13-17
VII. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WIVES AND HUSBANDS 3:1-7
VIII. THE REPRESENTATIVE TRAITS OF CHRISTIAN LIVING 3:8-12
IX. RECOGNIZING THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST 3:13-15
X. REFLECTIONS ON SUFFERING-OURS AND CHRIST'S
A. Our Suffering
B. Christ's Suffering 3:18-19
1. The Precept
2. The Profoundness
3. The Purpose
4. The Puzzle (continued)
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 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. 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)
"Eight souls were saved by water." "The like figure
whereunto even baptism both also now save us ..." Those who teach
baptismal regeneration (that water baptism is essential to salvation)
like to use these verses as proof of their doctrine. A casual reading
of the texts may leave that impression. But when we ask the identity
of the 'eight souls" and see from the record in Genesis that these
eight people (Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives) were NOT
immersed nor was water applied to them, we know we must look deeper
for the meaning. The fact of the mater is that those who were involved
in the water were those who perished in the Flood.
But what did Peter mean by the words "baptism doth also now save
us?" Past or Charles Baker, in his DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY, identifies
twelve separate and distinct baptisms in the Scripture. Traditions of
men have conditioned us to think, "water" when we see the
words "baptize" or "baptism" and vice versa. Because
of this, we miss many blessings in our Bible study. It is true that
water baptism was a part of the commission under which Peter served
the Lord (see Mark 16:15-19). It is also true that he preached and practiced
this (Acts 2:38). But he recognized that the Apostle Paul had received
a commission from the ascended Christ to go to the Gentiles-a commission
that did not include water baptism (See I Corinthians 1:17 with Galatians
2:6-10).
But the saving baptism referred to here in I Peter is, I believe, pointing
to a baptism that is far superior and more important than any water
ceremony. We must remember that one day our Lord was telling His disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer and die. The ambitious mother
of James and John seems to have interrupted our Lord at this point.
Look at the record:
"And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart
in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the
Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes,
and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles
to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall
rise again. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her
sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said
unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two
sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left,
in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.
Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized
with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are
able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my
right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given
to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard
it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren."
(Matt. 20:17-24)
Peter heard these words and knew that the Lord was referring to His
death on Calvary as a baptism. Our Lord gave the same message on another
occasion. In Luke 12:50, he said, "But I have a baptism to be baptized
with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" This is
in keeping with what Paul wrote in Romans 6:3-4: "Know ye not,
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Thus we may conclude that the baptism that saves in this passage was
not the water of Peters commission, nor the water of modern church ceremonies,
but the work of the Holy Spirit that so completely identifies the believing
sinner with the death of Christ that he is said to have been "baptized
into His death." This is the one baptism of Ephesians 4:5; it is
the baptism by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13).
To Be Continued
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