Here is post of mine that can be found here....I feel this thread shows my position clearly....
http://www.christianforums.net/viewtopi ... c&start=30
OK
After reading most of the post it seems to me that the heart of those who believe in baptism as a part of salvation is staked on this verse. Lets look at the context. This verse gets tossed around all the bible colleges and seminaries. Atleast it should be. Any good bible student should question this. Any good bible student with the help of the Holy Spirit will also see the truth of this scripture. I posted on this a while back, but can;t find it. Fortunatly I have some of my notes saved so lets take a look.
1 pet 3:18-22
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us-baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
OK
Lets look at the context of this verse.. Most people think that verse 21 is all on its own and is usually taken out of context. So for the sake of the scriptures lets take a look at what Peter is saying here. Really, I should go back a little further, but for the sake of the length of this post I will try and keep it short. There is allot allot of meat here
Verses 19, 20 constitute one of the most puzzling and intriguing texts in the NT. It has been made the pretext for such unbiblical doctrines as purgatory on the one hand and universal salvation on the other. However, among evangelical Christians, there are two commonly accepted interpretations. I will very briefly cover both views again for the sake of context.
According to the first, Christ went to Hades in spirit between His death and resurrection, and proclaimed the triumph of His mighty work on the cross. There is disagreement among proponents of this view as to whether the spirits in prison were believers, unbelievers, or both. But there is fairly general agreement that the Lord Jesus did not preach the gospel to them. That would involve the doctrine of a second chance which is nowhere taught in the Bible. Those who hold this view often link this passage with Ephesians 4:9 where the Lord is described as descending “into the lower parts of the earth.†They cite this as added proof that He went to Hades in the disembodied state and heralded His victory at Calvary. They also cite the words of the Apostles’ Creed â€â€Ã¢â‚¬Å“descended into hell.â€Â
The second interpretation is that Peter is describing what happened in the days of Noah. It was the spirit of Christ who preached through Noah to the unbelieving generation before the flood. They were not disembodied spirits at that time, but living men and women who rejected the warnings of Noah and were destroyed by the flood. So now they are spirits in the prison of Hades.
This second view best fits the context and has the least difficulties connected with it. Let us examine the passage phrase by phrase.
By whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison. The relative pronoun whom obviously refers back to Spirit at the end of verse 18. I understand this to mean the Holy Spirit. In 1:11 of this Letter the “Spirit of Christ,†that is, the Holy Spirit, is described as speaking through the prophets of the OT. And in Genesis 6:3, God speaks of His Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, as nearing the limit of endurance with the antediluvians.
He went and preached. As already mentioned, it was Christ who preached, but he preached through Noah. In 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is described as a “preacher of righteousness.†It is the same root word used here of Christ’s preaching.
I know what your saying. What does this have to do with baptism? Well it does. Bare with me.
To the spirits now in prison. These were the people to whom Noah preachedâ€â€living men and women who heard the warning of an impending flood and the promise of salvation in the ark. They rejected the message and were drowned in the deluge. They are now disembodied spirits in prison, awaiting the final judgment.
Do you see where I am going with this?
OK, So the verse may be amplified as follows: “by whom (the Holy Spirit) He (Christ) went and preached (through Noah) to the spirits now in prison (Hades).â€Â
But what right do I have to assume that the spirits in prison were the living men in Noah’s day? The answer is found in the following verse.
3:20 Here the spirits in prison are unmistakably identified. Who were they? Those who formerly were disobedient. When were they disobedient? When once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared. What was the final outcome? Only a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
It is well to pause here and think about the general flow of thought in this Letter which was written against a general background of persecution.
The Christians to whom Peter wrote were suffering because of their life and testimony. Perhaps they wondered why, if the Christian faith was right, they should be suffering rather than reigning. If Christianity was the true faith, why were there so few Christians?
To answer the first question, Peter points to the Lord Jesus. Christ suffered for righteousness’ sake, even to the extent of being put to death. But God raised Him from the dead and glorified Him in heaven (see v. 22). The pathway to glory led through the valley of suffering.
Next Peter refers to Noah. For 120 years this faithful preacher warned that God was going to destroy the world with water. His thanks was scorn and rejection. But God vindicated him by saving him and his family through the flood.
Then there is the problem, “If we are right, why are there so few of us?†Peter answers: “There was a time when only eight people in the world were right and all the rest were wrong!â€Â
At the end of verse 20, we read that a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. It is not that they were saved by water; they were saved through the water. Water was not the savior, but the judgment through which God brought them safely.
To properly understand this statement and the verse that follows, we must see the typical meaning of the ark and of the flood. The ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The flood of water depicts the judgment of God.
The ark was the only way of salvation. When the flood came, only those who were inside were saved; all those on the outside perished. So Christ is the only way of salvation; those who are in Christ are as saved as God Himself can make them.
Those on the outside could not be more lost.
The water was not the means of salvation, for all who were in the water drowned.
The ark was the place of refuge.
The ark went through the water of judgment; it took the full brunt of the storm.
Not a drop of water reached those inside the ark. So Christ bore the fury of God’s judgment against our sins. For those who are in Him there is no judgment (John 5:24).
The ark had water beneath it, and water coming down on top of it, and water all around it. But it bore its believing occupants through the water to safety in a renewed creation. So those who trust the Savior are brought safely through a scene of death and desolation to resurrection ground and a new life.
3:21 There is also an antitype which now saves usâ€â€baptism. Ok, so here we are in difficult and controversial territory!
This verse has been a battleground between those who teach baptismal regeneration and those who deny that baptism has any power to save.
Now that we know the context, lets see what this means.
First let us see what it means, and then what it cannot mean.
Actually, there is a baptism which saves usâ€â€not our baptism in water, but a baptism which took place at Calvary almost 2000 years ago. Christ’s death was a baptism. He was baptized in the waters of judgment. This is what He meant when He said, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!†(Luke 12:50). The psalmist described this baptism in the words, “Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me†(Ps. 42:7). In His death, Christ was baptized in the waves and billows of God’s wrath, and it is this baptism that is the basis for our salvation.
But we must accept His death for ourselves. Just as Noah and his family had to enter the ark to be saved, so we must commit ourselves to the Lord as our only Savior. When we do this, we become identified with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.
In a very real sense, we then have been crucified with Him (Gal. 2:20), we have been buried with Him (Rom. 6:4), and we have been brought from death to life with Him (Rom. 6:4).
All this is pictured in the believer’s baptism. The ceremony is an outward sign of what has taken place spiritually; we have been baptized into Christ’s death. As we go under the water, we acknowledge that we have been buried with Him. As we come up out of the water, we show that we have risen with Him and want to walk in newness of life. But this is a ceremony and thats basically it. If we do not attend the ceremony, we are still saved.. We may miss out on the blessing, But we are still saved.
http://www.christianforums.net/viewtopi ... c&start=30
