The Baptism Which Saves -
By Jerry Shugart
In
my previous study titled "Water Baptism" I demonstrated that before
anyone could be baptized with water they had to first believe.
Therefore, the eunuch was already "born of God" (1 Jn.5:1-5) before he
was baptized with water because he believed that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God:
"And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:36-37).
From
this we know that submitting to the rite of water baptism saved no one.
The only baptism which saves is the "one baptism" (Eph.4:5) of the
present dispensation which is the baptism into the Body of Christ, which
is also the baptism into the Lord Jesus' death spoken of here:
"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death" (Ro.6:3-4).
From
all of this we know that when Peter taught about about a baptism which
saves that baptism must be the baptism into the Body of Christ:
"...the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us
(not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a
good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet.3:21-22).
Those
who received Peter's epistle were saved when they were baptized into
the Body of Christ and therefore baptized into His death. We also read
that "water" was the "like figure" or "type" of the baptism which saves.
Noah
and his family were saved from physical death by the very thing which
brought death unto the others when the water bore up the ark and kept
them safe. So in effect they were saved from death by the very thing
which brought death to everyone else.
And
the believer is saved from an eternal death (the second death) when he
is baptized into the death of the Lord Jesus. So Noah was saved from
death by death and those who received Peter's epistles were saved from
death by death. Sir Robert Anderson wrote:
"The
Apostle’s teaching is that, as the water which engulfed the world bore
up the Ark, Noah was saved from death by death, so also is the sinner
who believes in Christ. For when united to Christ he becomes one with
Him in death....Noah’s Flood typified the death penalty upon sin, and
Christian baptism symbolises union with Christ in His death on Calvary" (Anderson, Misunderstood Texts of the New Testament).
Those who received Peter's epistles were members of the Body of Christ.
In His grace,
Jerry 
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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