"Baptism now saves you"
-1 Peter 3:21
Oh boy. Not a huge fan of that. The idea that something that we can do saves us is a little bit of a freakout, especially for us Lutherans. Know why? Because we are against works righteousness in every way. Something you could possibly do saves you? No thanks. That's not what we're all about.
But the Bible is a tricky customer is she not? On one hand, you have a whole lot of discussion about how the salvation of our sins is from Christ alone, and about how his atoning sacrifice was sufficient for everyone. On the other hand, you have passages like this one, that talk about how there is something, some ritual that you can do, that will save you. Of course, this tends to beg the question: if baptism saves you, what about the people who were not baptized?
Naturally, this sort of stuff is all about context. And I hate to be the guy that talks about context, mainly because I hear that all the time about certain verses in the Bible that ain't so nice. You know the ones, about kids getting mauled by bears and all that. Or perhaps that bit in the reading from acts that describes the suicide of Judas:
Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness,
and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.
-Acts 1:18
Is that taken out of context? I guess. What is the context? Judas was overcome with grief and remorse, and killed himself. As a forum poster on hardcore Christian gamer once said "the Bible isn't all unicorns and rainbows, you know." And he was right to say it. Because it's true. What good would our scriptures be if we lived in a real world in which people committed suicide through depression, or being overcome with grief, or what have you, and then when we looked at the scriptures, nobody behaved in that way? It wouldn't be much good at all. Yes, rotten stuff happens in the Holy Bible. Mainly because people are rotten, and they do rotten things to each other. Context context context, obviously, and if you know what context is all about, you'll know that we see a lot of stuff in the Bible that is there not for us to emulate, but for us to see what happens, both for good and for ill.
Now, context is important, because the rest of this verse is like, vital stuff. It says
In the ark, only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,
and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also -
not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good
conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven, and is at God's right hand
with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him.
-1 Peter 3:20-22.
Get that, playa. Baptism saves you how? By the resurrection of Jesus Christ! I.e., through something that you don't do as a work for him! Whew! We can go back to being Lutheran now! The idea is that we are
baptized into Christ's death. Were were therefore buried with him through
baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead through the glory of the father,
we too may live a new life. If we have been united with
him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his
resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him
so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no
longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has
died has been freed from sin.
- Romans 6:3-7
Get that? The water is not just the removal of dirt from the body, but you're being baptized into Christ. Into what part of Christ? His death, and his resurrection. The water and the blood. These things are meaningless without each other. That is, what many people seem to forget is that when you get your child baptized, it's not just a fun ceremony where your kid gets some water sprinkled on their heads. It evokes powerful images, images that are vast and grand and so large that you almost can't see them. Moses leading the children of Israel through the parted red sea, which all the while was threatening to crash down upon them. Noah and his family in the ark, safe and secure while all around them the floodwaters rose. The death of Christ on the cross and his burial, followed by being raised up from the tomb, leaving it empty. All of that is happening in baptism. What now saves you? God saves you. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are united with him in his death, and so too, in his resurrection.
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