In 1 Peter 3:21, we read that baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What does this mean? Why is baptism the answer of a good conscience toward God?
The water separated the righteous from the unrighteous
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once 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 (1 Peter 3:18-20)
In the days of Noah, the water brought separation between the unrighteous (ungodly, unbelievers, Gentiles) and the righteous (believers, saints). The righteous feared God (having great awe) and loved God and therefore they believed God and obeyed His words and commandments. However, the unrighteous didn’t fear and love God and therefore they didn’t believe His words and commandments but rejected them.
They didn’t acknowledge Him as God and didn’t want to listen to Him, but they were prideful and went their own way. Because of that, only eight souls were saved from damnation, namely Noah, his wife, three sons, and daughter in laws.
Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, who walked with God.
Noah didn’t rely on what he saw and didn’t trust his own insights and the words of people, who were corrupt, but Noah trusted the Lord and therefore Noah believed the words of God and obeyed His commandments, whereby Noah walked by faith.
God told Noah, that He would bring a flood of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, but God would establish His covenant with Noah and save him and his family and animals through the ark, which Noah had to build, because God considered Noah righteous.
Through Noah’s faith in God and his obedience to God’s words and commandments, Noah built an ark. When the ark was finished and the time had come and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, Noah entered the ark with his family and the animals and God closed the door.
After seven days, the rain came upon the earth for forty days and forty nights and the water separated the righteous, who were in the ark, from the unrighteous.
The unrighteous died in the water, but the righteous, who by faith in God and obedience to God, were in the ark, were saved.
The baptism saves by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
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: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him (1 Peter 3:21)
The baptism is a like figure of the flood, whereby the ungodly died and the righteous were saved because of Noah’s good conscience toward God.
Jesus said, that everyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. This is both a promise and a commandment of Jesus. Because if you believe in Christ, you shall obey Jesus Christ and be baptized.
By faith in Him and your obedience to His commandment, you shall have a good conscience toward God and be saved.
The water not only cleanses and purifies, but the water brings separation, just like the water of the flood brought separation in the days of Noah between the righteous and the unrighteous.
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: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4)
In baptism, the old man (flesh) dies and is buried, just like Jesus, Who came in the flesh and carried the sins of the world, and died on the cross and was buried, and the new man (spirit) is raised, just like Jesus rose from the dead (Read also: ‘Was Jesus fully Human?‘ and ‘The crucifixion of the flesh‘).
A good conscience toward God
The Father loved His Son, Jesus Christ, because Jesus obeyed the will and the commandments of His Father and laid down His own life and took it again. The Father had given the commandment and power to Jesus, but it was up to Jesus to obey His commandment (John 10).
Jesus was not forced, but laid down His own life; His flesh freely and died on the cross and took it again when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, where He is seated on the right hand of God, while angels, powers and principalities are made subject to Him (Read also: ‘What did Jesus mean by the authority to lay down His life and take it again?).
Everyone, who believes and is baptized is obedient to the commandment of God to lay down his or her life freely and to take it again and identify himself/herself through means of baptism with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Man does not have a good conscience toward God and doesn’t stand right before God through the death of the flesh in baptism. During baptism, the flesh does die and the old man is buried, but man is not saved by that. But man is saved through the water, through the resurrection of the spirit from the dead, whereby man is reconciled with God and is in right standing with God.
And so baptism is the answer of a good conscience to God, through obedience to the commandment of Jesus and the identification with His resurrection from the dead through the resurrection of the spirit from the dead.
People shall be saved by faith and baptism
And He (Jesus) said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:15-16)
Jesus said, that by faith and baptism man shall be saved. Only by faith and regeneration in Christ, a person shall be saved. Because someone, who doesn’t believe and therefore is not baptized and born again in Christ, but whose spirit is dead and lives under the dominion of death in the darkness and is bound by the flesh to sin and death, shall be damned.
But through faith and the water of baptism, the old man dies and the new man is raised from the dead. From that new position in Christ and the baptism with the Holy Spirit, man, who has become a new creation, shall live from a good conscience toward God in obedience according to the will of God and shall be a witness of Jesus Christ on earth.
Having a good conscience toward God through obedience to Him
And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day (Acts 23:1)
This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck (1 Timothy 1:18-19)
If you are born again and the Holy Spirit dwells in you, you shall no longer live under guilt and condemnation and feel constantly accused and afraid to approach God and live separated from God. If you feel this way, maybe you should ask yourself if you are truly born again and have the Holy Spirit abiding in you.
Because the Word says, that if you believe and be baptized, you are saved. Therefore baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together (Romans 8:14-17)
If you are born again and the Holy Spirit dwells in you, the Holy Spirit testifies with your spirit that you are a son of God (this applies to both males and females) and that you belong to Him. You shall no longer know Him through others, but you shall know Him personally, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and call Him Abba Father.
You shall listen to Him and keep His words and obey His commandments, whereby you shall have a good conscience toward God and show Him that you love Him.
Read also: ‘What is baptism’ and ‘Is infant baptism the same as adult baptism?’).
‘Be the salt of the earth’
