Summer At Sea: Week 9 Day 3

1 Peter 3:17-22

17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive,[a] he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[b] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

There is a lot going on in this Scripture, but right now I want to focus on the imagery of baptism. In the story of Noah, we see that God washed the world clean through the flood. The concept of baptism is connected to the story of Noah. The difference now is that baptism is the outward sign that our souls are made right before God because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:11-13 says:

“11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,”

Because of what is written in Colossians, upon rising from the water, we are reborn; we are a new creation in Christ. 

If you are curious about being baptized or committing your life to the redemption Christ offers, we encourage you to reach out to info@foundrychurch.net