Bible Study

The Gift of Eternal Life Berean Bible Study Course

Part II--The Process Of Reconciliation With God

F. Lesson 12--We Must Be Faithful In Serving The Lord

9. READ: EPHESIANS 5:21-33

b. How does Christ cleanse her?

Answer: Christ loves the church, and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, (verse 26).

MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

• This cleansing is not only to bring forgiveness, but also to continue a process of holiness in the church, which began with the new life in Christ.

Acts 22:16 shows the beginning of this cleansing by the washing of water: "And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His Name."

• The concepts of washing, of water and of the Word are shown briefly here in the following Scriptures:

John 3:5: "Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the Truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.'"

Titus 3:4-5: "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit..."

1 Peter 1:23: "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God."

1 Peter 3:21: "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..." [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."]