1 Pet 3:21 - baptism (in water as the Flood) now saves you through the actions of the Holy Spirit giving you a clean conscience.
Rom 6:1-7 - in baptism we die to sin, and are united to Jesus' death and resurrection through our faith.
Col 2:1-14 - in baptism our sin is cut from us by the Holy Spirit, and He unites us with Jesus' death and resurrection.
Gal 3:26-27 - in baptism we are clothed with Christ and adopted as children of God.
John 3:5 - without being born again (which requires both water and the Spirit) we cannot enter the kingdom of God (be saved).
In Peter 3:21, Peter tells us that baptism now saves you, yet when he uses this phrase,
he continues in the same sentence to explain exactly what he means by it. He said that baptism now saves you-
not the removal of dirt from the flesh (that is, not as an outward, physical act which washes dirt from the body--that is not what saves you),
"but an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (that is, as an inward, spiritual transaction between God and the individual, a transaction that is
symbolized by the outward ceremony of water baptism).
*Just as the eight people in the ark were "saved
THROUGH water" as they were
IN THE ARK. They were not literally saved "by" the water.
Hebrews 11:7 is clear on this point (..built an
ARK for the
SAVING of his household).
*The context reveals that
only the righteous (Noah and his family) were
dry and therefore
safe. In contrast,
only the wicked in Noah's day came in contract with the water and they all perished.
In regard to
Romans 6:3-4, as Greek scholar AT Robertson explains - Baptism is the
public proclamation of one's inward spiritual relation to Christ attained before the baptism. See on "
Galatians 3:27" where it is like putting on an outward garment or uniform. Into his death (ei ton qanaton autou). So here "unto his death," "in relation to his death," which relation Paul proceeds to
explain by the symbolism of the ordinance. The
picture in baptism points two ways, backwards to Christ's death and burial and to our death to sin, forward to Christ's resurrection from the dead and to our new life pledged by the coming out of the watery grave to walk on the other side of the baptismal grave. There is the further
picture of our own resurrection from the grave.
It is a tragedy that Paul's majestic picture here has been so blurred by controversy that some refuse to see it. It should be said also that
a symbol is not the reality, but the picture of the reality.
Romans 6 - Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament - Bible Commentaries - StudyLight.org
Before mentioning baptism in chapter 6, Paul had repeatedly emphasized that
faith (not baptism) is the instrumental cause of salvation/justification. (
Romans 1:16,
3:22-30;
4:4-6,
13;
5:1) That is when the old man was put to death and united in the likeness of His death, which water baptism
symbolizes and pictures. Righteousness is "imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised up because of our justification." (
Romans 4:24,
25)
Since believers receive the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection (justification) and that through faith, believers must be spiritually united to Him (delivered and raised up with Him). If baptism is taken as the instrumental cause, then Paul contradicts what he had established before, namely that
justification is by faith, not baptism. *Hermeneutics.
Paul clearly teaches that what is
signified in baptism (buried and raised with Christ) actually occurs "through faith." Christians are "buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead" (
Colossians 2:12). Justification on account of union in Christ's death, burial and resurrection is brought about "through faith" - and is properly
symbolized by dipping the new believer in and out of the water.
Colossians 2, Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament, Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament is a rich resource for understanding Scripture, delving into original language and cultural nuances.
www.studylight.org
Galatians 3:26 -
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Period.) Not through faith
and water baptism. Also read John 1:12 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, to those who
believe in His name. *Received Him, given the right to become children of God,
through believing in His name, not through water baptism.
Galatians 3:27 - For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have
put on/clothed yourself with Christ. The Greek word for
"put on" is
"enduo" and means to enclose oneself in, as when one "puts on" clothes or armor or some other item. Involved in this is the idea of "imitation" and "identification." Just as 1 Corinthians 10:2 says that all (the Israelites) were "baptized into Moses" in the cloud and in the sea, but this does not mean that the Israelites were literally water baptized into the body of Moses.
So how does one "put on" Christ in baptism? Is it because one becomes a "child of God" through water baptism? NO. Is Paul saying that we become children of God by water baptism as much as children of God by faith in Christ? NO.
"Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us
put on the armor of light...
put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." (Romans 13:12,14) This exhortation is written to Christians (those already saved). Evidently then, baptism is not the only way to "put on" Christ. To "put on" Christ is to conform to Him, imitate Him. So it is in baptism; we "put on" Christ, conforming to Him in the ordinance that declares Him to be our Savior. So if "put on" Christ means saved through water baptism, apparently we are not saved yet. We must also "put on" Christ by making no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts in order to be saved as well. (Romans 13:14) Right? NO. This exhortation is to those ALREADY SAVED.
"Put off," wrote Paul, "the old man," and "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:22,24); And, "put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." (Ephesians 6:11)
The allusion is to putting off old clothes and putting on new ones, to enclosing oneself in armor, etc. When a soldier puts on armor he is imitating his superiors and trainers, is revealing himself to be a soldier. One does not put on a uniform in order to become a soldier. Simply putting on a soldier's uniform does not make one become a soldier. Then once one is made a soldier one is then able to put on and wear the uniform that distinguishes or marks them as a soldier.
So too with being water baptized, the Christian puts on robes for which they have previously been qualified to wear. The putting on of Christ is not what makes one become a Christian, but one which becomes a token of it, as in Romans 13:14. If one sets out to put on the clothes of a Christian, in water baptism,
without first becoming a Christian (child of God through faith), then one becomes an
imposter, and is declaring, in baptism, to be what they are not.
In
John 4:10-14, Jesus mentions "living water" and connects it with receiving eternal life. Take note that in verse 13, Jesus answered, “Everyone who
drinks this water will be thirsty again, (plain ordinary H20) 14 but
whoever drinks the water I give them (living water)
will never thirst. Indeed, the
water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This goes beyond plain ordinary H20.
In
John 7:38-39, we read - "He who
believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of
living water. But this He spoke
concerning the Spirit. The
Holy Spirit is the source of living water and spiritual cleansing. If "water" here is defined as baptism, then we could just as justifiably say, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living baptism" in
John 7:38. If that sounds ridiculous, it is no more so than the idea that water baptism is the source or the means of becoming born again.
So, to automatically read "baptism" into John 3:5 simply because it mentions "water" is unwarranted.
The word "water" is used in the Bible as an
emblem of the word of God, and in such uses it is
associated with cleansing or washing. (
John 15:3;
Ephesians 5:26) When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begets new life and we are said to become "partakers of the divine nature." (
2 Peter 1:4) The new birth is brought to pass through "incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever" (
I Peter 1:23) and the Holy Spirit accomplishes the washing of regeneration. (
Titus 3:5)
Baptism is a symbol of salvation in that it pictures Christ's death, burial and resurrection and our identification with Him in these experiences. In reality, believers are literally saved by what baptism symbolizes--Christ's death, burial and resurrection.
A man and a woman become united through their wedding vows and the ring symbolizes this. Just as we become united with Christ through faith and water baptism symbolizes this. Strictly speaking, the husband is united to his wife because of the marriage vows rather than the ring. Yet since the latter is the sign of their union, it is natural to speak of the ring to mean the reality it represents. "With this ring, I thee wed," although the ring is not the actual cause of the change in the marital status, just like water baptism is not the actual cause of our salvation status.
Baptism would have no meaning without Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, but Christ’s death, burial and resurrection would still have meaning, even if there were no baptism. In other words, Christ’s death, burial and resurrection is the substance and baptism is the sign/symbol/picture. Without the substance there would be no sign/symbol/picture.
