1 Peter 3.18-22-The Flood Typifies Baptism

Sunday September 25, 2005

Genesis: 1 Peter 3.18-22-The Flood Typifies Baptism

Lesson # 33

Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 3:18.

This morning we will study 1 Peter 3:20-21, which teaches that the Flood in the days of Noah typifies the baptism of the Holy Spirit and our salvation.

“Typology” is from the Greek word for form or pattern, which is tupos (tuvpo$).

“Typology” in biblical times denoted both the original model or prototype and the copy that resulted.

In the NT the copy was labeled the antitype, and this was especially used in two directions: (1) The correspondence between historical situations like the flood and baptism (1 Pet. 3:21) (2) Two figures like Adam and Christ (Rom. 5:14).

Therefore, in 1 Peter 3:20-21, the Flood during the days of Noah was the “type” or the original model whereas the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the “antitype” or the copy of the Flood, thus we can say that the Flood “typifies” the Baptism of the Spirit.

Biblical typology involves an analogical correspondence in which earlier events, persons, and places in salvation history become patterns by which later events and the like are interpreted.

Therefore, the historical event of the Flood during the days of Noah serves as a pattern for another historical event that was subsequent to the Flood, that being the Baptism of the Spirit.

1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”

1 Peter 3:19, “in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison.”

1 Peter 3:20, “who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”

1 Peter 3:21, “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience -- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

“Corresponding to” is the adjective antitupos (a)ntivtupo$), which means, “corresponding to” something that has gone before indicating that the saving of Noah from the Flood “foreshadows” or is “like” the deliverance the believer experiences at the moment of salvation through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The Baptism of the Spirit takes place exclusively during the dispensation of the church age and is accomplished at the moment of salvation when the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit places the believer in an eternal union with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”

The Baptism of the Spirit identifies the believer positionally with Christ in His crucifixion (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6), death (Rom. 6:3-5, Col. 2:20; 3:3), burial (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12), resurrection (Rom. 6:4, 9; 7:4; Col. 2:12; 3:1) and session (Eph. 2:6).

When I say that the Spirit “identifies” us with Christ, I mean that at the moment of salvation, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit causes the believer to become identical and united with Christ and also ascribes to the believer the qualities and characteristics of Christ.

When I say “positionally” I am referring to what God has done for the church age believer and His viewpoint of the church age believer meaning He views the believer as He views His Son and does “not” view the believer according to his sins and transgressions and former manner of life prior to salvation.

Notice that 1 Peter 3:21 says that it is “not water” baptism that saves us but rather the baptism of the Spirit as indicated by the phrase “not the removal of dirt.”

Water baptism was a teaching aid to instruct believers that when they believed in Christ, the Holy Spirit placed them in union with Christ identifying them with Christ in His death and resurrection.

When the believer was dipped underneath the water, this portrayed the reality that the Holy Spirit identified them with Christ in His death and when they were taken up out of the water, they were identified with Christ in His resurrection.

When the believer was dipped underneath the water, this portrayed that he was now dead to the cosmic system of Satan and the old sin nature and when he was taken up out of the water, this portrayed the fact that he was now a new creation and was to walk in newness of life.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit delivers the believer from his old sin nature, the devil and his cosmic system just as the Ark, which is a picture of Christ, delivered Noah and his family from the judgment of the antediluvian world that was marred by sin and ruled by Satan.

Just as the Ark delivered Noah and his family from the judgment of the old creation and delivered them safely to a new world after the Flood so the baptism of the Spirit delivers us from the judgment of the old creation and delivers us safely to a new life in a new world in resurrection bodies in the new heavens and new earth.

Baptism meant a clean break with the past and the old creation marred by sin and ruled by Satan just as Noah and his family made a clean break with the old creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”

Romans 6:2, “May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

Romans 6:3, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?”

“Baptized into Christ Jesus” refers to the believer’s union with Christ.

“Baptized into His death” refers to “retroactive” positional truth, which refers to the fact that God considers you to have died with Christ (Rom. 6:3-11; Col. 2:12).

Colossians 2:12, “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

Romans 6:4, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

“Walk in newness of life” refers to “experiential” sanctification, which is the post-salvation experience of the believer who is in fellowship with God, which is accomplished by confessing any known sin to the Father when necessary and then immediately obeying the Word of God.

“Experiential” sanctification is only a potential since it is contingent upon the believer obeying the Word of God.

Just as when Noah and his family were delivered by the Ark in order to begin a new life free from the sin of the old creation and tyranny of Satan so the Holy Spirit identified us with Christ in His death in order that we might begin a new life under the rulership of Christ.

Romans 6:5, “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

“United with Him…in the likeness of His resurrection” refers to “ultimate” sanctification, which is the guarantee of a resurrection body and will be experienced by every believer regardless of their response in time to what God has done for them at the moment of salvation.

Romans 6:6, “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.”

Just as Noah and his family were dead to the old creation so the believer is dead to the old creation and the sin nature and the cosmic system of Satan because he has been crucified and died with Christ.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit saves us in the sense that when we believed in Christ, the omnipotence of the Spirit “delivered” us from the old sin nature and Satan and his cosmic system, thus the deliverance of Noah and his family from the judgment of the Flood by means of the Ark is a picture of our salvation.

Salvation means “deliverance” and is accomplished in three stages.

(1) Positional: At the moment we exercised faith alone in Christ alone we are delivered “positionally” (God’s work and viewpoint of the believer) from real spiritual death and eternal condemnation, the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature through the death, resurrection and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:14; Titus 2:11).

(2) Experiential: After salvation, we are delivered from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature “experientially” by appropriating by faith our union and identification with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and session, which constitutes our spiritual life after being delivered from real spiritual death (Phlp. 2:12; Eph. 6:17; 1 Thess. 5:8; 1 Tim. 4:16; 1 Pet. 2:2).

(3) Ultimate: At the resurrection we will be delivered “ultimately” and permanently from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature when we receive our resurrection bodies at the rapture of the church, which is imminent (Rm. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:9; 1 Pet. 1:5).

Just as the Ark delivered Noah and his family from Flood and the judgment of the antediluvian world so the baptism of the Holy Spirit delivers the believer from the judgment of the old creation, which is under the tyranny of Satan.