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The section of the Bible that we will read tells us about the difference between truly saved people who obey the Bible and people who do not obey, whether they claim to be saved or not. In the middle of this section are some verses that religious liars distort to support the doctrinal error that their false religion has as a foundational belief. It is important for God's people to know the truth in order to defend the true faith. When Satan tempted Jesus, he quoted scripture but took it out of context. The most basic way to deal with doctrinal error is to look at the context of scripture which is used to support doctrinal error. Therefore, please pay attention to the basic message of our reference verses. After we consider the context, we will look at the specifics to see the doctrinal error.
1Peter 3:17-4:6 says, For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 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. 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.
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
The general message of this section is that Christ suffered for the unjust
and that true Biblical Christians are to do the same because they are Christ like
. The doctrinal error which is based upon these verses claims that people can live a life of sin, go to Hell, and then get out of Hell and go to Heaven because someone did a religious act for them.
There is no going to Heaven from Hell! Hebrews 9:27-28 says: And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
After death is the judgment
with no 'do over'. There are no ways out once you are in hell other than to go to the great white throne judgment
and then to the lake of fire
.
Revelation 1:18 says: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
There is NO other way out except through the Lord Jesus Christ and he requires salvation before death. Paying a priest does not work. Praying for the dead does not work. Being baptized for the dead does not work. There is no offering of Christ multiple times as claimed by the doctrinal error which says we can lose and regain our salvation. We either get saved one time for all eternity and do so before we physically die or we go to Hell and after that to the lake of fire
.
While I could go on with this, let's return to our original text and understand the error which is taught so that God's people can answer the error and help people believe the truth from the Bible. Please remember our first verse which sets the context of this section. We read For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
The context is that our suffering
in this world is the will of God
. It is not live in sin and pleasure in this world and then avoid reaping what your life sowed
. Please keep that context in mind as we look at these details.
Before we deal with the main doctrinal error pushed by Mormons, we need to look at what Lutherans and others claim. They claim that these verses tell us that physical baptism is required for eternal salvation. First of all, as I will show later, this reference is not talking about eternal spiritual salvation. Secondly, they claim that the thief on the cross
was spiritually baptized, and therefore met their requirement of baptism even while they insist that everyone else must have a physical baptism before they are eternally spiritually saved. Our God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). Therefore, it is not possible that God requires a spiritual baptism one time and a physical baptism all other times. We are saved by the person of God. He saves us when we accept Him as our personal Lord in an ongoing personal relationship. Yes, God does demand obedience in order for us to be saved
from physical consequences of sin, but our eternal salvation is not dependent upon any physical activity beyond accepting Him as our Lord
.
With that out of the way, we will turn to the main doctrinal error which is preached by Mormons. Look at 1Peter 3:18-20 and pay attention to the time tense of the words used. The phrase For Christ also hath once suffered for sins
is in the past tense and it literally says once
. Therefore, there is no do-over
with Christ
paying more than once. The Bible also says here, and other places, that no other man can pay for our sins (Acts 4:12: says Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
; 1Timothy 2:5: says For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
). Therefore, there is no religious person and no religious act which will get anyone out of hell and the lake of fire
.
Look at the phrase that he might bring us to God
. This is future-tense. After we are saved Jesus Christ cleans up our life in order to make us acceptable when He brings us to God
. This is what He is doing all of the time between our initial profession and our death. John 9:4 says: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
The night
that Jesus Christ is referring to here is death. Even he can not work on us and clean us up after we die. We can not live a life of sin and then be saved and cleaned up after death. Jesus Christ must make us acceptable to bring us to God
while we are still alive.
Now we get into the part which Mormons really pervert. Look at the phrase By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison
(1Peter 3:19). Notice that the word in
is present tense. These spirits
are currently still in prison
. If they had been saved after going into Hell, as claimed by the Mormons, then they would not still be in prison
. Now look at the phrase he went and preached
. That is past-tense but does not say when in the past. The Mormons claim that it happened after Jesus Christ died on the cross and before His resurrection. If that were true then He wasted His effort because these spirits
are currently still in prison
and God does not waste effort trying to do what He can't do. By the way, God can't lie and God can't sin so there are some things which God can't do.
Since Jesus Christ preached unto the spirits
in the past, the question becomes when He did that and the answer is within our sentence. Here is where paying attention to sentences and not following verses is important because the verse format allows ignoring the answer from God while the sentence format forces us to consider it since the answer is within the same sentence. That answer is when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing
. This is a Christophany where the Son of God appeared in human form during the time of the Old Testament. Please notice the phrase between these two which is Which sometime were disobedient
. These spirits
not only refused to obey the preaching of Noah but they also refused to obey the preaching of Christ.
Now, before we go on, consider that all of these spirits
died in the flood. Therefore, they could not have produced any babies and, therefore, it is impossible for these spirits
to be the ancestors of anyone alive today. The Mormons use these verses to claim that their being baptized for the dead
saves their ancestors but it is impossible that these spirits
were their ancestors. Therefore, scripture about them can not be applied to any of our ancestors.
Returning to our main thought, we see that these spirits (are) in prison
because they were disobedient
. Skipping ahead, we see that Peter tells us, in 1Peter 3:21, that we are to have the answer of a good conscience toward God
. This means that we are to be obedient
. Continuing on, in 1Peter 4:1-2 we see that our obedience
is to cause us to cease from sin
and to no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God
. This is the direct opposite of a doctrine which claims that you can live for sin and then get out of Hell be having a relative baptized for you. Don't get me wrong. The Mormons definitely believe in cease from sin
but they couple this with doing the will of their church and not with doing the will of God
. Therefore, they do not have the answer of a good conscience toward God
.
Moving on, the phrase Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead
tells us that everyone will give account to
God when they are judged. The quick
are saved people who have a testimony which backs their claim of being saved. The dead
are people whose spirit and soul have left their body but whose testimony during life does not tell us if they were saved or not. We see this by the usage of these words within the Bible but also by the last verse of our text which says that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit
. Men in the flesh
judge our testimony and most would claim that Lot
should be lost. However, God (judges) in the spirit
and we are told that Lot was saved. Lot was saved when he was a young man who was with his uncle Abraham. He then turned to a life of sin, and suffered a lot of consequences, but did not lose his eternal salvation because God (judges) the spirit
. That said, our verse tells us that men judge out testimony but that judgment does not determine our eternal end. Therefore, doing a religious act, such as having someone get physically baptized for you might cause men to judge you to be saved but does not affect God's judgment.
Hopefully, people can see that these sentences do NOT support any type of salvation because of religious act. Nor do they support any doctrine of eternal salvation after death. With the errors dealt with, we can now look at what Peter is really telling us about baptism and salvation.
With the doctrinal error removed we can now look at what these sentences really do say.
Our section started with 1Peter 3:17 which says For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins
. The word also
attaches Christ hath once suffered for sins
to ye suffer for well doing
within the will of God
. As Christians
we are supposed to be Christ-like. Later in this epistle Peter says Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind
. He also says more later along the same vein but the main point is that we are not supposed to suffer for evil doing
. The Law of sowing and Reaping
promises that we will reap what we sow. Therefore, in order to avoid suffering for evil doing
, we must stop our sinning. That means stop doing wrong and start obeying God. This is the introduction of our section.
Next we are told why Christ did this by the phrase that he might bring us to God
. This is not just our initial salvation but a repeated bring us to God
throughout our ongoing personal relationship. There is no reason for starting a relationship where you ignore the other person. But, Christ
has to keep cleaning up the results of our sin each time that He brings us to God
.
The spirits in prison
were preached
to but it was when they were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing
. This is a Christophany and tells us that Christ
took human form to preach during the days of Noah.
Next is what He preached. The phrase By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison
means that He preached to them His being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit
, which is His death for our sins and His resurrection which promises our resurrection. These spirits (are) in prison
because they rejected His gospel that Christ
preached to them.
Jump down to 1Peter 3:21 which starts out with The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us
. The word even
means having the same weight
as a balancing scale is even
when the two sides weigh the same amount. Thus, baptism
has the same weight as the like figure
which Peter is talking about.
The word like
means that baptism
has similar characteristics to the phrase of the prior sentence which is eight souls were saved by water
. That was a physical salvation within this world which means that the save
which Peter is talking about is physical and in this world. Next, the word figure
speaks of a likeness which is only the outward appearance of the real thing. A photo on a phone is only a figure
of the person and far less than the real person. Therefore, this salvation
which Peter is talking about is far less than saving the lives of eight people. This is speaking about being saved from the consequences of our sins within this world. Another mane for this is the mercy of God
.
Next we see the phrase not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God
. Baptism
requires us to be put under water, which is what Peter means by the phrase putting away of the filth of the flesh
. The word but
continues the subject of what came before it while going in a different direction. The phrase the answer of a good conscience toward God
means that we must continue to do the things which give us a good conscience toward God
. This means that we must continue to obey God and to continue to avoid sin. This entire phrase is dealing with the doctrinal error which claims that our one-time baptism makes everything we do OK with God. This is related to the claim that baptism provides eternal spiritual salvation but also includes the doctrine which says that a one-time religious act, such as baptism or the sinners prayer
, takes care of all future sins and it doesn't matter how we live after doing the religious act. The phrase a good conscience toward God
means that we must keep on doing what will give us a good conscience toward God
and not rely upon a one-time religious act.
The phrase by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into Heaven, and is on the right hand of God
means that Jesus Christ
is right now in Heaven and is our representative before God, since He is on the right hand of God
. He is not just getting us forgiveness for sins but is getting us blessings which enable us to live the resurrected
life. Our baptism
is a symbolic agreement to die to sin and to live the resurrected
life. However, we can not do this in our own physical power so Jesus Christ
is getting us the necessary spiritual power to do this.
1Peter 4:1-5 tells us literally what is expected from us as a result of getting the spiritual power to live the resurrected life. That leads us to the last sentence, in 1Peter 4:6, which tells us that people in prior ages had to also live a life of faith. They would be "judged according to men in the flesh", which means that men would judge their testimony just like men with us do today. The phrase but live according to God in the spirit
means that they would have eternal life or spend eternity in the lake of fire
according to how God judged them spiritually. This is also like how God judges us today.
What is not literally said here, but is the basis of religious arguments, is the fact that the spirits
lived before that was written scripture. However, Abraham, Able, Joseph and many others also lived before there was written scripture. They all lived by faith as evidenced by their inclusion in Hebrews 11. The fact is that several places in the New Testament mention the gospel of God
. This is what is preached to people who are not aware of the Bible or who do not accept it as the inerrant word of God. Jireh John Nono needs to preach the gospel of God
to Buddhists. The fact is that Christ could, and did, preach salvation by faith before there was written scripture. So, the people who argue that the gospel could not be preached before there was written scripture are wrong.
That brings us back to the main message of this section of scripture. Baptism is a symbolic agreement to stop sinning and to obey the commands from God which will give us the answer of a good conscience toward God
. It is the start of an ongoing relationship whereby we continue to do the will of God
. That will of God
, after our initial salvation, is to be baptized
God's way by God's authority. Our refusal to do this is telling God that we don't want His mercy when we sin. We don't want to be saved
from the consequences of sin within this physical world. In addition, if we are a parent or someone who is responsible for other people, we are telling God to bring full punishment upon our children. When we tell God that we don't need to be saved from the consequences of our sin in this physical world, we refuse the mercy of God
.
Baptism is similar to a marriage ceremony. Both are a public declaration of the intention to have an ongoing personal relationship. In both cases, trying to have the relationship without the public ceremony that identifies the relationship causes major problems. Yet, it is not the ceremony which is most important but the ongoing personal relationship which it starts is most important. That is what Peter means when he says not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God
.
Now, some say that they were baptized
before they were saved but they only got wet, which Peter says not the putting away of the filth of the flesh
. Peter tells us that we must have the answer of a good conscience toward God
but we can not have that while we are still lost. Therefore, this symbolic agreement must come after true salvation in order to secure God's mercy
.
Some others will say that they were baptized, but it was by the wrong authority. Baptism identifies us with the authority. For example, the Jews were baptized unto Moses
and accepted the Mosaic Law as their authority. Therefore, baptism by the wrong authority identifies you with people who preach doctrinal error. Proverbs 14:12 and Proverbs 16:26 say: There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Men will say it is OK to be identified with a church which teaches doctrinal error but God refuses to accept people who do that. Such people will not be saved
from the consequences of sin in this world.
Now, when people get baptized it is good if they understand the basics of the symbolism that is involved. They are put under water to symbolize their agreement to die to sin, just like Romans 6 explains. They are raise to symbolize their agreement to live the resurrected life which gives them the answer of a good conscience toward God
. They are baptized in the name of the Father
to symbolically agree to trust the power and authority of the Father, which is the word of God. They are baptized in the name of the Son
to symbolically agree to receiving the character of God from the Son of God. They are baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit
to symbolically agree to trust Him to keep them saved and to trust Him to teach them what the word of God says and how it applies to their life.
Bottom line is that this entire section is telling us that all men throughout all ages have been required to live by faith, to obey God by doing the will of God
and doing it God's way and getting the answer of a good conscience toward God
. We can not do that if we refuse to obey God by refusing to start our relationship right. That means that we must be baptized God's way by God's authority and symbolically agree to submit to God. Without our doing this, we will not be saved
from the consequences of sin in this life.