20240813

I trust Christ for my rescue

1 Peter 3:21-22 (JDV)

1 Peter 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, is now rescuing you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
1 Peter 3:22 who has gone into the sky and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

I trust Christ for my rescue

Peter is not teaching baptismal regeneration here. He is comparing baptism to the experience Noah and his family had on the ark. Those eight people were saved because they trusted God to rescue them from the coming flood. But getting into the ark was a sign of that trust. In the same manner, we are saved when we put our faith in Christ to rescue us from the coming wrath. Baptism testifies to that trust.

Many believers sincerely struggle with the issue of who is responsible for their salvation. If you could ask Noah and his family, I’m pretty sure they would not say they trusted in their own free will to save them from destruction. God saved them and he used the ark to do it. If God had not sovereignly saved them, they could have built a thousand arks and they would have still drowned. Likewise, people can be baptized all day every day and it would mean nothing if Christ had not been raised and exalted. Our baptism symbolizes his death and resurrection. It says “I trust Christ for my rescue.”