9. READ: 1 PETER 3:18-22 AND 1 PETER 4:1-2
[1 Peter 3:18] "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, [19] through Whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison [20] who disobeyed 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 good conscience toward God. 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."
[1 Peter 4:1] "Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. [2] As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the Will of God."
[Note: "Symbolizes" is translated "like figure" in the KJV. A definition of this word from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Hebrew and Greek) is as follows: "Antitupos. An adjective, used as a noun, denotes, lit., a striking back; metaphorically, resisting, adverse; then, in a Passive sense, struck back; in the N.T. metaphorically, ‘corresponding to,' (b) corresponding type, 1 Peter 3:21, said of baptism; the circumstances of the flood, the ark and its occupants formed a type, and baptism forms ‘a corresponding type' (not an antitype), each setting forth the spiritual realities of the death, burial, and resurrection of believers in their identification with Christ. It is not a case of type and antitype, but of two types, that in Genesis, the type, and baptism, the corresponding type."]
a. Why did Christ die for sins once for all?
b. What now saves us?
c. What does baptism save us by?
d. Where is Jesus now?
e. Does baptism cleanse the body, or does baptism cleanse the conscience?
f. How should our lives be different after baptism?
