Recently I was reading through first and second Peter and found it interesting that he brings up Noah in both books. Specifically 1 Peter 3:19-21 brings up the flood and it’s relation to baptism:
“So he went and preached to the spirits in prison— those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “ (NLT)
That portion about preaching to the spirits in prison may be tripping you up at this point and we can’t really get into the views on it until you’ve read 2 Peter as well, so we’ll ignore that until a later post when I can address it on it’s own. As for baptism, I often wondered why in the world John the Baptist would be running around dunking people in water; now certainly it was used for purification and prescribed by God in the books of the law, but the significance goes well beyond that. Peter makes it clear that God baptised the earth, cleaning the sinfulness and wickedness which had overtaken it.
Remember that in the flood, only Noah and his family, who were considered the only righteous people left on earth came through the flood. All wickedness, being perpetuated by the people around them, was wiped away thereby giving mankind an entirely new slate. Peter implies that the baptism is representative of the death of wickedness within a person. Of course, he makes it clear that this is only the case because of Christ.
So how does this effect us? Quite simply, when you become Christian and become baptised the spiritual wickedness in you is effectively dead. You no longer have to contend with it. Does that mean that evil cannot take root once again? Probably not, as wickedness did eventually return to the earth, but because of Christ this time the baptism is spiritual and cleanses beyond the physical.
If you’ve never been baptised, you really should go and do it, for those who have been baptised go out preach and baptise those who believe. I’m from the school of thought that says since the apostles baptised immediately, there is no reason we can’t share the significance and meaning of baptism and baptise those who believe; however, I respect those who opt to wait as according to the Didache, Christians were waiting at least a few days to fast and learn the Christian living principles that were paraphrased within the Didache before their baptism. My friends, may the message of baptism give you the inspiration to overcome wickedness and sinfulness in your life!
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