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Does baptism save us? (1 Peter 3:21)

By Jeremy Myers
24 Comments

Does baptism save us? (1 Peter 3:21)
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When people read 1 Peter 3:21, they wonder if baptism is necessary for salvation. And this is indeed what 1 Peter 3:21 seems to say:

There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21).

So does baptism save us? Yes! According to Peter, it does.

But hold on … Isn’t baptism a work? Isn’t baptism something we do? Yes, it is.

So if baptism saves us, how can it be true that eternal life is received by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, apart from works?

The solution is relatively simple, once you understand it.

1 Peter 3:21 baptism save usThe solution to understanding 1 Peter 3:21 is to properly define the words “baptism” and “saves.” I define both of these terms in my online course, “The Gospel Dictionary.”

This post will briefly summarize how to understand the words “baptism” and “save.” More detailed explanations are found inside the course.

The meaning of the word “save”

In Scripture, the word “save” (saved, salvation, Savior, etc) almost never means “gain eternal life so you can go to heaven when you die.” This is what most Christians think the word means, and this is how most Christians use this word, but the Bible does not support such a definition.

The word “saved” simply means “deliverance” and context determines what kind of deliverance is in view. You can be delivered from enemies, sickness, drowning, premature death, and a variety of other disasters.

Whenever you see the word “saved” in the Bible, stop and think about it. Substitute in the word “delivered” or “deliverance” and then look in the context to figure out what kind of deliverance is in view. Very rarely (if ever) will it refer to gaining eternal life and going to heaven when you die.

This truth right here is going to help you understand 1 Peter 3:21 in a whole new way. While Peter does teach that baptism saves us, a careful study of the context reveals that Peter is not talking about gaining eternal life and going to heaven when we die. He has something else in view.

But to see what Peter has in view, we first need to understand the meaning of the word “baptism.”

The meaning of the word “baptism” in 1 Peter 3:21

The word baptism has caused inordinate amounts of disagreement over the years.

baptism definedThere was even a time when certain Christians were drowning other Christians over the question of baptism. During the Reformation, one group of Christians got so upset that others were doing baptism wrong, that they decided to baptize those other people to death by drowning them.

We don’t go this far today. Or do we?

While we may not drown people because of their views on baptism, it is not uncommon for one group of Christians to condemn another group of Christians to everlasting hell because the other group has a different view on baptism.

So we don’t drown them … but we do condemn them to everlasting punishment in hell.

Yeah … maybe things haven’t changed as much as we think.

So we argue and condemn people over the issue of infant baptism vs. adult baptism, baptism by sprinkling vs. baptism by immersion, and whether a person should be baptized in the name of Jesus vs. in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And then we have this form of baptism which is almost child abuse …

Most of these contentious issues can be cleared up simply by properly understanding and defining the word baptism.  Baptism is a Greek word which means “immersion” or “submersion.”

Many Bible teachers stop right there and say that the debate between sprinkling vs. immersion is solved. They argue that if the word baptisma means immersion, then clearly, all baptisms must be by immersion.

But it is not quite as simple as that. Although baptisma means immersion, this does not mean that every baptism requires immersion into water.

When all the data is considered, the Bible describes several different kinds of baptisms, and only two of them involve water.

Along with John’s baptism and new believer’s baptism (Acts 2:41; 8:36; 10:47-48; 18:8), there is baptism into Moses (1 Cor 10:2), baptism of the cup and crucifixion (Matt 20:22; Mark 10:38; Luke 12:50), baptism by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5; 11:16; Rom 6:3-4; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:26-28; Eph 4:5), and baptism with the fire of judgment (Matt 3:11; 13:25; Luke 3:16).

If you were counting, there are seven different kinds of baptism. I have a handout in the Gospel Dictionary Lesson on Baptism which nicely summarizes these seven kinds of baptism.

So it is a vast oversimplification to say that all baptism must be by immersion in water.

In light of all this, while baptism means immersion, it does not necessarily imply water. One can get baptized, or immersed, into almost anything.

To be baptized means to be fully immersed into something so that what is being baptized is completely overtaken and overwhelmed by whatever it is being baptized into.

It means to be fully identified with something, to become one with it.

So what does 1 Peter 3:21 mean?

There are some who teach that both faith and baptism are necessary for justification. Those who teach this often use 1 Peter 3:21 as a proof text for their view.

But if we know that the word “saved” does not refer to “receiving eternal life” in the Bible, we understand that Peter is not writing about the necessity of getting baptized in order to receive eternal life, but is instead referring to some form of deliverance.

Several contextual keys clue us in to what Peter has in mind.

First, it should be obvious that Peter is not referring to believer’s baptism at all, for he indicates that this baptism he is writing about is “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Numerous other Scriptures reveal that water baptism does not actually place us in Christ, but this is done only through Spirit baptism (cf. Rom 6:3-4; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:26-28; Eph 4:5).

Second, while some think that Peter is referring to believer’s baptism because of the mention of water in 3:20, Peter clarifies in 3:21 that he is not talking about the outward washing of the flesh with water but the inner purification of a good conscience toward God, which is accomplished only through the Spirit.

Finally, it should be noted that although 1 Peter 3:21 talks about how Noah and his family “were saved through water,” we should not take this to mean that the water was the instrument or means by which they were delivered from the flood. Far from it!

They were not delivered by the water; they were delivered from the water by the ark. Noah and his family passed through the waters and were delivered from the waters just as some pass through the fire, and are delivered from it.

So you take all this together, and Peter’s point is that just the ark delivered Noah and his family through the waters of the flood which threatened to take their life, so also, we too are delivered from the flood of sin that surrounds us, not by water, but by the Spirit of God (1 Peter 3:18). How? By fully immersing ourselves and identifying with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:18, 21).

Peter is teaching a sanctification truth. If you want to avoid have your life ruined by sin, Peter says, then learn what it means to have died to sin in Jesus Christ, and to have been raised to new life through His resurrection.

Jesus is the ark that saves us from the flood of sin that surrounds us. If you want to be delivered from the devastating and destructive consequences of sin (see Sin), then you need to follow the ways, teachings, examples, and instructions of Jesus, and especially what He showed us through His death, burial, and resurrection.

So Peter is not saying that you have to get dunked under water in order to go to heaven when you die. That is not his point at all!

In 1 Peter 3:21, Peter is not writing about how to gain eternal life. Instead, Peter is writing about how to live the Christian life.

He writes that the best way to live free from sin like Jesus Christ is to identify with Jesus and follow Him in every way we can.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

Here is a short video that summarizes the ideas in this post:

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: 1 Peter 3:21, baptism, baptized, salvation, save

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I believe in eternal security … but not “Once Saved, Always Saved”

By Jeremy Myers
38 Comments

I believe in eternal security … but not “Once Saved, Always Saved”

People often ask me if I believe in “Once Saved, Always Saved.” They want to know if “Once Saved, Always Saved”is biblical.

I say “No, but I do believe in eternal security.” Once Saved, always Saved is not biblical, but eternal security is biblical.

Is that confusing? Well, let me explain…

Eternal Security and Once Saved, Always Saved

Most people think that eternal security and “Once Saved, Always Saved” are the same thing. They are not. To see this, let us begin with a basic definition of each.

Eternal Security is the belief that once a person has eternal life, they have it forever, no matter what.

Once Saved, Always Saved is the belief that once a person has salvation, they have it forever, no matter what.

Do you see the difference? The only difference between the two definitions is that the first talks about eternal life while the second talks about salvation. Since many Christians think that these two terms are synonymous, they don’t really see much of a difference between eternal security and “once saved, always saved.”

once saved always saved

The problem, however, is with the word “salvation” itself.

The Word “Salvation”

As I point out in my online course, The Gospel Dictionary, the word “salvation” very rarely (if ever) is exactly equivalent in Scripture to the term “eternal life.”

The salvation word family (save, saved, salvation, etc.) means “deliverance” and the context determines what kind of deliverance is in view. Deliverance can be from sickness, premature death, enemies, demons, disappointment from God, and a wide variety of other negative experiences (cf. Matt 8:25; 9:22; Mark 5:34; 13:20; Luke 8:48; 23:35; John 12:27; 1 Tim 2:15; 2 Tim 4:18; Jas 5:15; Jude 5).

As such, most forms of “salvation” in the Bible have various conditions attached to them. If a person does not fulfill these conditions, they will not be delivered (or saved) from the negative consequences that follow.

Yet while failing to fulfill the conditions for salvation from sickness, enemies, or premature death might result in experiencing these bad events in life, such things have nothing whatsoever to do with a person’s eternal destiny or their possession of eternal life.

What this means is that as long as the word “saved” is incorrectly equated with eternal life, the concept of “once saved, always saved” can easily be refuted by pointing out the many places in the Bible where people can lose their “salvation” because they don’t obey God or fulfill the conditions of “salvation.”

But once we understand that the salvation word family almost never (if ever) refers to eternal life, the numerous passages that show various conditions for salvation gain theological clarity.

Let us consider a few examples.

James 1:21 and Once Saved, Always Saved

According to James 1:21, people can save their souls by laying aside filthiness and wickedness, and receiving with meekness the implanted word.

If we think that the word “save” in James 1:21 means receiving eternal life, then James 1:21 is teaching that in order to receive and keep eternal life, we must get rid of sin and build our lives upon Scripture. If we do not get rid of sin and if we fail to follow Scripture, then we will not save our souls. In this understanding, there can be no such thing as eternal security.

When, however, we understand that the word “save” means “deliver” and we also recognize that the word “soul” does not refer to the eternal aspect of a person but rather to the life-giving principle within a person, the phrase “save the soul” is best understood as “deliver the life” from premature death (cf. Jas 5:20). This idea fits best in the context as well, where James calls his readers to get rid of sin and become doers of the word rather than hearers only (Jas 1:21-22).

The way to avoid the damaging and destructive consequences of sin in the life of the believer is simply to avoid sin and follow the teachings of Scripture. If you do this, you will deliver your life from the destruction of sin and a premature physical death.

eternal security osas

1 Peter 3:21 and Once Saved, Always Saved

Another example is found in 1 Peter 3:21. Here we learn that baptism saves us. So if we think that “saves us” means we receive eternal life, then the clear conclusion is that baptism is a requirement for gaining or keeping our eternal life. If we do not get baptized, then we do not have eternal life.

It is much better, however, to recognize that the word “save” means deliver, and so when Peter writes that baptism saves us, he is saying that baptism delivers us. What does it deliver us from? In the context, Noah and his family were “saved through water” (3:20), which does not mean that the ark gave them eternal life, but that they did not drown in the flood and were delivered from the wickedness and rebellious ways of the people who lived at the time of the flood.

Peter says the same thing can happen to us today (4:3-4) if we live in light of the resurrection. Is Peter telling us how to receive eternal life? No, he is inviting us to avoid the flood of sin and death that comes from lewdness, lust, drunken revelries, and abominable idolatries. Such sins drown out our lives, and we can avoid drowning in sin by recognizing that through baptism (outer water baptism represents the inner reality of Spirit baptism) we have died to sin in Jesus Christ.

Baptism reminds us that we are not slaves to sin but can live free from it. Living this way does not help us earn or keep our eternal life, but it does help us escape the pain and suffering caused by sin.

1 Timothy 4:16 and Once Saved, Always Saved

Then there is 1 Timothy 4:16. According to this text, our salvation is dependent upon how we live our lives and what sort of doctrine we teach and believe. If we fail to take heed of our lives and our doctrine, then we will not be saved.

If the word “saved” refers to eternal life, then Paul is telling Timothy that in order to receive eternal life, he needs to have Godly behavior and beliefs. In other words, keeping eternal life depends on living the right way and believing all the right things. What a scary thought!

If, however, we look in the context, we see a different truth emerge. Paul knows that Timothy feels inadequate to be an elder in the church at Ephesus because he is so young. Paul says that Timothy’s age will not matter if Timothy can give an example to the other Christians in proper behavior and conduct (4:12). If Timothy watches his life and doctrine closely, he will be saved (delivered) from people looking down on him or ignoring him because of his youthfulness.

eternal security

Salvation is Conditional Upon Good Works. Eternal life is Not.

All of these texts, and numerous others in Scripture, clearly reveal that salvation is conditional upon how we live our lives and what we believe. So if we think that the word “salvation” refers to “eternal life,” then the clear teaching of Scripture is that receiving and keeping eternal life is conditional about believing the right things and behaving in the right way. This is why I say that “once saved, always saved” is not a biblical teaching.

However, eternal security is biblical.

Once we come to understand that the salvation word family almost never (if ever) explicitly refers to eternal life but instead refers to some sort of deliverance from the calamities of life such as danger, suffering, sickness, and premature death, or to some sort of negative experience at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we can readily teach along with Scripture that salvation is conditional upon what we believe and how we behave.

This does not mean, however, that eternal security is also false. Quite to the contrary, there are numerous reasons to believe and teach the biblical truth of eternal security, all of which I cover in my online course.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: 1 Peter 3:21, 1 Timothy 4:16, eternal life, eternal security, good works, James 1:21, Once Saved Always Saved, OSAS, salvation, soteriology

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