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Seven Elements of Christian Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6)

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

Seven Elements of Christian Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6)
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In Ephesians 1-3, Paul explained that God has given us great spiritual riches so that we can lead the world into peace. In the first part of Ephesians 4, Paul tells us Christians that the first way we can show the world how to live in peace is by living in peace with one other.

This begins, as we learned in the last study, by looking to our own heart first and developing certain attitudes of the heart.

In this study, we learn that as we seek to live in peace with other Christians, we should focus on seven key truths that all Christians have in common. When we focus on what we have in common rather than on on what divides us, we will begin to create peace in our midst.

Seven Elements of Christian Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6)

Ephesians 4:4-6 church unity

As stated above, in Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul taught us to look to our own heart first so that we can develop certain attitudes of the heart that create peace among other Christians.

Now, in Ephesians 4:4-6, we learn that as we seek to live in peace with other Christians, we should focus on seven key truths that all Christians have in common. When we focus on what we have in common rather than on on what divides us, we will begin to create peace in our midst.

The interesting thing about these seven elements is that they form a chiasm. The first item on the list is parallel to the seventh, the second is parallel to the sixth, and so on. This means that the fourth item is the center item and therefore the most important. What is that fourth item? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. The most important thing in the church is that we follow our Head, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As long as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, a lot of these other six elements of Christian unity are easier to focus upon.

untiy in the church Ephesians 4:1-6

So let us look at each of the seven elements of Christian unity peace. The first is in Ephesians 4:4.

1. There is one body

This is the first element. One body. Paul means that there is one body of believers. One body of Christ. All people throughout time and around the world who are truly Christians are part of the body. The picture of a body is one of Paul’s favorite ways to describe the church. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul goes into great detail to describe the body of Christ. Paul says there to think of your body. It is an incredibly diverse collection of body parts, but without any one member, the body is not complete. The body is not just a big pile of eyes, or a big pile of hands, or a big pile of feet. Similarly, a body without hands, or eyes, or feet, is not a complete body. All parts make up the body, and all parts are necessary if the body is going to function right.

It is the same in the church. All parts make up Christ’s church, and all parts are necessary if the church is going to function right. We don’t criticize a foot for not being a hand. Nor do we criticize the ear for not being able see. Each part has a unique function, which is necessary for the body to work as a whole. So rather than criticize other people, or other churches, for not being like us, we should look at them as different members of our one body. See what is unique about them, and how they are using their unique talents to do things we cannot. This all gets into the issue of spiritual gifts, which Paul talks about in Ephesians 4:11, so I won’t spoil it by saying more. The first element of unity to focus on is that we are all part of the same body.

Second, also from Ephesians 4:4, we all have one Spirit.

2. One Spirit

Of course, this is the Holy Spirit who lives in each one of us. It is an error to say that some have the Spirit and others don’t. We all have the Spirit within us, and it is the same Spirit the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit within each of us strives to get us all to live in unity with each other. When we fail, it is because we are walking according to the flesh, not according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4-13).

Let’s move on to the third element, the last phrase in Ephesians 4:4: just as you were called in one hope of your calling;

3. One Hope

The third element for unity is one hope. The hope of every Christian is Jesus Christ who is in heaven. He has promised us that simply by believing in him for eternal life, He will bring us to heaven to spend eternity with him. Now most of us think of hope as a sort of “wishful thinking.” We tend to think of it as an uncertainty. But really, hope can have different levels or degrees of certainty. Let me show you what I mean. Uncertain hope is like saying “I hope I win the lottery, but I know I probably won’t. or “I hope the Raiders win the Super Bowl this year. But they might not.” Now I can also say, “I hope the sun comes up tomorrow,” and in that case, I am nearly 100% sure it will.

So you can see that there are different degrees of certainty in hope. And what causes the difference? What makes one thing we hope for more certain than another? Well, in each case, what is the factor that changed? The only factor that changed is the object of your hope. The chances of you winning the lottery are not very likely. Someone once called the lottery a tax for the mathematically challenged. But still, people who buy tickets, hope they will win but very few do. My hope that the Raiders will win the Super Bowl next year is a bit more likely. But still, mostly unlikely. Again, my hope that the sun will rise tomorrow is an almost certain hope because the sun always rises in the morning. The only thing that could stop it from rising is if it blew up or if the earth stopped rotating. Neither of these things are very likely, so my hope that the sun will rise is a well grounded hope.

Now the Christian’s hope is a hope in Jesus Christ. And since God does not and cannot lie, since Jesus always keeps His promises, our hope in Jesus Christ for eternal life is a certainty. There is no uncertainty because the object of our hope is completely trustworthy and reliable. Paul mentions also here something about a calling. This is the same calling we looked at extensively in Ephesians 1:18 and is related to why we were chosen, which we talked about in Ephesians 1:4. Basically, we were called, or chosen, to be holy and blameless, to be heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, and to be adopted as children. These are all future blessings for the Christian when we get to heaven. So, thirdly, Paul’s point is that we all have hope in one person, Jesus Christ, in order to go to the same place, heaven, where we will all receive the same thing, an inheritance.

We do not place our hope in any other person, but Jesus Christ. We do not place our hope in religious leaders or political leaders. Put no hope in popes, priests, pastors, or people with PH.D.s. Put no hope in kings and presidents. Our hope is in Jesus Christ alone.

 

 

 

unity of the body Ephesians 4:4-6One body, one spirit, one hope, now, fourthly, in Ephesians 4:5, one Lord.

4. One Lord

This refers specifically to Jesus Christ. Paul choice of the term, Lord, shows us that Jesus Christ is God, and therefore, our Master. Now think about it. If we all have the same Lord, the same Master, we will not be getting orders from our Master to be in disagreement with each other. His commands will not contradict or cause disunity among his servants. So the only way disunity occurs is when we disobey our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Fifth, we have one faith.

5. One Faith

All Christians have received eternal life in only one way: through faith. We’ve all entered through the narrow door of faith. This means that faith makes Christianity a level playing field.

There are not some people who are Christians because they were really good people, and others who are Christians because they were born into a Christian family. No. All true Christians are Christians by faith alone. This is a wonderful element to cause unity, because since we are all Christians by faith, then no one can boast in themselves for their salvation. I cannot look down on you because I became a Christian by being such a good person, and you well, you just had to enter by faith. No, we all came in, as beggars, asking for something we did not earn, getting something we did not deserve.

There is one and only one way we all joined the family of God… through faith in Jesus. This helps us grow in unity with each other, because we all became Christians in the same way.

Sixth, we all have one baptism.

6. One Baptism

The baptism Paul is talking about here is the baptism of the Spirit; not water baptism. It is not something we are to pray for or something that happens to us after our conversion. When you become a Christian by believing in Jesus for eternal life, one of the first things that happens to you is the Holy Spirit comes in and lives with in you, and in that moment, He washes you, He cleanses you, He purifies you of all sin, and provides us with the power to have victory over future sin. This is the baptism of the Spirit which all Christians have, and therefore, creates unity within us. This baptism is related to the indwelling Holy Spirit from item two above.

We’ve seen six elements, the seventh is found in Ephesians 4:6.

6. One God and Father of all

Paul says God is above all, and through all, and in you all. Paul has been mentioning the essentials. He’s mentioned that we all one body, through one faith and one baptism. We have one Lord, who is Jesus Christ and one Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit. He now includes the final member of the Trinity, one God and Father of all. In Old Testament times, it was the common belief that the gods were territorial. Each nation, and sometimes, each clan or tribe within that nation, had it’s own god. So when nation battled nation, it was really a contest between gods.

Paul reminds the Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Greek city of Ephesus that this is a bunch of hogwash. There is one God and Father of all. They both have the same God. They do not worship different gods. They do not follow commands from different gods. It is the same God. The fact that He is the Father of all tells us about His love. He created all, and He cares for all just as a Father cares for his children.

The fact that He is above all speaks of His control. No matter what things may look like, God is in control. [transcendence and His omnipotence.] The fact that He is through all speaks of His care and providence. He didn’t just set up the world and leave then leave it alone. He is still involved and active in what He made protecting and providing. [immanence and His omnipresence.] The fact that He is in you all speaks of His presence. He is always near us, and wanting a deeper relationship with us. [indwelling presence and personal relationship with us all.] He is the One God and Father of all.

Those are the seven elements. One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. These are the seven elements that will help create unity among all Christians, regardless of the other beliefs and practices that might tend to divide us. And this helps us learn to get along peacefully with other Christians, even when we might have disagreements with them about some of the other elements of Christianity.

Maybe you disagree with someone else about their theology, or how they do church, or what kind of behaviors they think are okay to participate in. Well, you can disagree with them on those, but still get along in peace and unity with them by focusing on the seven elements of unity that Paul has laid out for us here.

unity in the church Ephesians 4:4-6

So this is the second step to achieving unity in the church. Remember, we are in the section of Ephesians where Paul tell us how to WALK as followers of Jesus, and Paul is giving us the steps we must walk in.

The first step, as we saw in Ephesians 4:1-3, was to check your own attitudes. In those verses we saw seven attitudes to make sure you have when involved in any sort of disagreement. After we focus on our own attitudes, the next thing to do, the next step, as Paul shows us here, is to focus on the things we have in common. Many of us, myself included, when we are involved in a disagreement, want to immediately go to the other person and show them their faults. But Paul says, “No. The first thing to do is check your own attitudes. After that, focus on what the two of you have in common.”

Let me show you that this is what Paul was saying. In Ephesians 2, Paul called for the Christians in Ephesus to live at peace with each other. And remember, it was a diverse church made up of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. They struggled with being unified because they were so different. They had different standards, different ways of raising children, different diets, different styles of worship, different beliefs, different social patterns. Sometimes, it seemed, they were completely different from one another. In Ephesians 2, Paul called them to be a peace with each other. Now he tells them how. Here is what he is telling them: “Rather than focus on the differences that are between you, focus on what you have in common. You might have disagreement about what kind of meat to eat. You might have disagreements about what kind of people to associate with. But look at what you have in common. Focus on those, and this will help you live in unity and love with one another.”

Today in our day, he would have said, “You might have disagreements about what kind of music should be played or sung in church. You might have disagreements about how best to run the church. You might have disagreements about when meet, and how long to meet, and what to do when you meet. You might have disagreements about what to wear, and what people can or cannot drink, and what people can or cannot eat and what sort of activities you can or cannot do. We might have disagreements of theology and doctrine. But don’t focus on those things. They will always divide you. Focus instead on what you have in common.

One of the best methods of keeping the peace, of keeping unified, is to stop focusing on how different you are, and to focus instead on the similarities. That’s what Paul does here. “You’re not different,” he says, “look what you have in common!” He lists seven elements of unity here. These are the things that really matter. This are the things that will unite us when there are so many things that can divide us.

Back in the frontier days towns would spring up overnight. Some of them would shrink in size as people moved further west. In one of these towns, two churches had been founded. A Baptist church and a Christian church. As both congregations dwindled due to the people moving away from the shrinking town, the pastors of the two churches decided to join forces and become one church. So they called the remaining members together for a meeting to decide what their new church would be called. The Baptists wanted to the church to be called Central Baptist Church and the people from the Christian church wanted to be called Central Christian Church. Finally, one old lady who had sat through many tired hours of disagreement and bickering, stood up in the back and said, “My Daddy was Baptist. My Momma was Baptist. I grew up Baptist. There ain’t no way I’m gonna be called a Christian!”

That’s what happens when we let silly things like the name of a church get in the way of what is important and what really matters. Paul lists here what really matters. As long as we agree on these things, we can agree to disagree on all the others. We can be as diverse as we want. We can have Lutherans and Methodists and Baptists and Pentecostals. We can even get together and have friendly arguments about some of the things that we disagree on. That’s fine. As long as we agree on the essentials as listed here, we all one body; we’re all one family. But if a certain organization claims to be a church and they deny any of these, that is when you know that they are not part of the family. That is when you stop associating with them and start witnessing to them.

While Paul is talking primarily about developing unity within the church, these same principles can be applied to all of our relationships. If you desire to have unity with your spouse, or your kids, or your boss, or a coworker, or a neighbor, the first thing to do, from Ephesians 4:1-3, is to check your own attitude. It is just as Jesus taught his disciples take the log out of your own eye first. But if you have done that, are you then able to go and show your neighbor his or her fault? If, in checking your attitudes, you have seen where you went wrong, and how you caused some of the disunity, are you then in the clear to go and show your spouse, or your coworker, or your fellow Christian his or her faults where they went wrong?

Paul answered that for us today in Ephesians 4:4-6. If you have taken the first step toward unity in checking your own attitude, then the next step is to focus on the things you have in common. Don’t focus on your differences. Focus on what makes you the same. If you focus only on your differences, there will never be peace.

Let’s not focus on what divides us. Let’s focus on the unity we have in Christ.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: baptism, church unity, Ephesians 4:4-6, faith, Holy Spirit, love, peace, spirit baptism, unity

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Frank Viola gives me the shivers (in a GOOD way!)

By Jeremy Myers
2 Comments

Frank Viola gives me the shivers (in a GOOD way!)
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/473881581-redeeminggod-jeremy-myers-and-frank-viola-author-of-insurgence-discuss-matthew-1112-and-luke-1721.mp3

I interviewed Frank Viola for my podcast today. We discussed his new book, Insurgence: Reclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and as we talked, I literally got goosebumps because of some of the things he said.

You’ll need to listen to the podcast episode to see if the same thing happens to you.

Frank Viola Insurgence

Along with presenting some revolutionary ideas about the kingdom of God, baptism, the world system (principalities and powers), and how to approach the divisive political landscape today, he also explained the tricky texts of Luke 17:20-21 and Matthew 11:12.

These two texts say this:

Luke 17:20-21. Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!” or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.

Matthew 11:12. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Listen to the podcast to learn what these verses mean.

Here are the links that were mentioned by Frank Viola in the discussion:

  • Insurgence (on Amazon)
  • Insurgence Website (for more information and the bonus downloads)
  • Frank Viola’s main website

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology, z Bible & Theology Topics: baptism, Frank Viola, Gospel of the Kingdom, Insurgence, kingdom of god, kingdom of heaven, Luke 17:20-21, Luke 17:20-24, Matthew 11:12, One Verse Podcast, the world

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1 crazy suggestion about Matthew 28:19-20 that just might solve the baptism debate

By Jeremy Myers
21 Comments

1 crazy suggestion about Matthew 28:19-20 that just might solve the baptism debate
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Did you know there is a debate about whether we are supposed to be baptized “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19-20) OR “in the name of Jesus”?

Yes, we Christians argue over some silly things.

In my book, Dying to Religion and Empire, I talk about how some Christians view baptism as a magical incantation in which the right words need to be said in order for the magic spell to actually work. The whole thing is ridiculous.

But when Christians think that baptism is required to gain eternal life, then it also becomes important to make sure that the baptism is done in the right way with the right words.

Of course, when we realize that baptism is NOT required for eternal life, then this entire debate fades away into meaninglessness, but we already talked about this…

But let us try to solve the debate anyway … because … you know … Bible.

Matthew 28:19-20 baptism

The Origins of the Baptism Debate

When people want be baptized “in the right way,” they argue about when baptism should take place, how much water is necessary, where the baptism can occur, who can perform the baptism, what actions should be performed during the baptism, and what words need to be said along with the baptism.

And again, according to some, if you don’t do all of it right, then it doesn’t work. Yes, just like a magic spell taught to Harry Potter at Hogwarts School of Magic…

Now I am not going to try to solve the ENTIRE baptism debate, but we might be able to solve that last one, about which words need to be said at the baptism.

The debate began because the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20 seems to be at odds with the actual practice of the Apostles in the book of Acts.

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus instructs His apostles to “baptize … in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” So when many people get baptized, they say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

But when we get into the book of Acts, we see that the apostles baptize “in the name of Jesus” (Acts 2:38; 8:12; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5).

So what gives? Some suggest that when Jesus says “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” He means “in my name.” Because … you know …. the Trinity.

Of course, God the Father’s name appears to be Yahweh, and as far as we know, the Holy Spirit doesn’t have a name, so is it really accurate to say that “Jesus” is the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

Yet if we baptize “in the name of Jesus,” aren’t we then disobeying the very words of Jesus where He instructed us to baptize “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”?

And the debate rages on, with both sides accusing the other of practicing illegitimate baptism.

How can we solve this?

Well, it starts by disavowing all these Christians who waste their time and energy with idiotic arguments over words … but there is also a key to help us solve the argument.

The Key to the Baptism Debate

baptisma Greek wordBaptism is not a translation of the Greek word, but a transliteration.

When people translate from one language to another, they look at the word in the original language, and then provide the equivalent word in the new language. So hamartia gets translated as sin , theos as God, and so on.

But for some inexplicable reason, there are a few Greek words which Bible translators failed to translate. Instead, they transliterated these words, which involves changing the Greek letters of teh root word into English letters and then calling it good.

So Christos becomes Christ and euangelion becomes evangelism.

This is what happened with the word baptism as well. It is a transliteration rather than a translation. The Greek word is baptizma, and it was transliterated as baptism.

How does this help?

Well, if we translate the Greek word baptizma in Matthew 28:19-20, we get a clue as to what Jesus might have actually been teaching … and this leads to the one crazy suggestion about Matthew 28:19-20 that might help solve this particular baptism debate.

The 1 Crazy Suggestion about Matthew 28:19-20

So as everyone knows, Matthew 28:19-20 is the “Great Commission” in which Jesus gives some final instructions to His disciples. And he wants them to take the things He has taught and teach these to other people also.

That is, Jesus wants His disciples to go and make more disciples.

And discipleship involves teaching and training other people about what they should believe and how they should behave. It is teaching people about life and doctrine. And not just “classroom teaching” but teaching by example and showing people how to live.

Anyway, none of this is challenging, new, or crazy. Everyone knows all this.

But here is the crazy suggestion … What if we actually translated the Greek word baptizo in Matthew 28:19 instead of just transliterating it? Is that crazy, or what?

The Greek word baptizma means immersion (the verb baptizo means to immerse).

So if we translated the Greek word, the verse would say this:

Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you …

Jesus instructs His disciples to make disciples and to teach everything He has taught to them, so that the people they teach are immersed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This doesn’t necessarily mean “dunk them under water while saying a few words over their head.”

If I told you to “immerse yourself in this blog,” would you think you had to go take a bath while reading this blog? No. You would think that I was inviting you to read a lot of blog posts for the next days or weeks.

If I told my daughter to “immerse yourself in math” to prepare for the exam, would you imagine that I was telling her to go swim around in a local river with her math books under her arm? No. You would understand that I was telling her to study hard.

If I told my wife, “I want to immerse you in my love,” does this mean that I want to plunge her under the water in a swimming pool while saying “I love you”? No. It means I want to show her in tangible ways how much I really do love her.

Similarly, if Jesus says, “Go immerse people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” is He saying, “Go dunk them under water while saying some words over them”? I think not.

Instead, Jesus is saying, “I have taught you lots of things over these past three years, and I want you to go and teach these to others also. Go immerse them in the teachings about God the Father, about Me, and about the Holy Spirit, which are the things I have taught you. Spread this teaching around the world.”

Jesus is telling His disciples that as they have immersed their lives in His for the past three years, they now must go and invite other people to immerse their lives in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus teaching is baptism

Sooo … You side with those who think we should baptize “in the name of Jesus”?

No! If you think that is the point of this post, you’ve missed it entirely.

There are no magic words. It is not about what words you say.

As long as we Christians keep arguing about words, we are missing the entire point of the teachings of Jesus … and we should go immerse ourselves in His teachings some more.

Look, if you want to get dunked under water, go ahead. For some, it can be a wonderful ritual, full of symbolic significance.

But the real thing Jesus wants us to do is to learn about Him, learn about God, and learn about the Holy Spirit.

Jesus wants us to follow His example of death and resurrection so that we lay down our lives for others.

Jesus wants to show us how to die to ourselves so that we can rise again to real life in Him.

So let us all stop arguing about the method, mode, and magic words of baptism, and instead start living for Jesus and loving others like Jesus … just as He commanded us in Matthew 28:19-20.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming Church, Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: baptism, baptized, Bible teaching, disciple, Discipleship, follow Jesus, Matthew 28:19-20

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

By Jeremy Myers
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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."

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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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Should I Get Baptized?

By Jeremy Myers
17 Comments

Should I Get Baptized?

A coworker recently told me she started going to church again, and thought she should get baptized.

I asked her if she had ever been baptized before. She hadn’t.

So I asked her why she wanted to get baptized.

She said, “Well, …isn’t that what God wants?”

I encouraged her for her desire to obey God and do what He wants, but I also told her that God doesn’t really care too much if she gets baptized or not.

She was shocked to hear me say this, and possibly, you are too.

Baptism is not for God

I went on to explain to her that baptism is not for God. He already loves her and forgives her and accepts her completely as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus. I told her that baptism is a public declaration of her desire to follow Jesus. It is like publicly stating, “I am a follower of Jesus!” If that is what she wants to do, and she wants to do that through baptism, that would be fine.

However, I went on to tell her that there were numerous other ways of making a public declaration about her choice to follow Jesus, and one of those other ways might be more meaningful for her and for those who know her. We went on to talk about what some of those other ways might be, and she told me she would think about it. She said she was not sure she was ready to make any of those other public declarations.

baptized in pool

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: baptism, baptized, Christian, church, Close Your Church for Good

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