The First Sunday in Lent is February 18, 2024.

Readings for Year B can be found here. Note that the first reading from Genesis 9 is God’s covenant with Noah and his descendants regarding the rainbow, the sign that God would never again destroy the entire earth with a flood. Noah and his family’s escape appear in today’s Epistle.

The exegesis for the Gospel, Mark 1:9-15, can be found here.

The Epistle is as follows (emphases mine):

1 Peter 3:18-22

3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

3:19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison

3:20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

3:21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you–not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur (as specified below).

Yesterday’s post covered verses 18 through 20, explaining Christ’s triumph on the Cross, including over Satan and his demons. It also gave an overview of the wickedness of Noah’s day, including the interbreeding between loose demons and women, creating a half-demonic set of humans. After Jesus died, His spirit remained alive and He descended to the pit to proclaim to the bound demons — those who had interbred with the women of Noah’s time — that He had triumphed over death and them.

MacArthur offers a summary, including a fact about the climate at that time. Until the Flood, the world had never experienced rain:

Galatians 2:15 Paul tells us the proclamation was that He had triumphed. That He had triumphed. Maybe there was a party going on with those spirits in hell because Jesus was dead. Maybe they thought they had defeated God and there would be no salvation and hell would be literally occupied by everyone. And Jesus showed up at the party and said, “That’s not the way it is.” He proclaimed His triumph over them …

Notice how Jesus’ work on the cross and through the resurrection ends our fear of death. Verse 20 in the middle Peter, talking about the demons who were incarcerated in the days of Noah, is also reminded that at the time of Noah there was “the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” Peter remembers how that incredible event happened when God drowned the millions of people in the world and saved only eight. God told them to build a boat, well, actually a barge, and to get inside, because something was going to happen that had never happened in the history of the world – rain. Not only rain, but the whole crust to the earth, the whole service to the earth was going to break up and massive vaults of water in the core of the earth were going to come out and flood the surface, as well as the water canopy around the earth inundating and flooding the earth in immeasurable deluge. God was going to drown the whole world. And He said, “But I’ll spare you eight. You get in the boat. The water will come down on top and the roof will protect you. It’ll come up … and the bottom of the boat will protect you and you’ll sail right through the middle of the judgment. And the rain will stop and the water will recede and you’ll walk out in a new world.” That’s what happened. That’s exactly what happened. Millions were dead, drowned in the flood, but one day Noah and his family walked out into a new world, having been literally taken through the flood in the safety of an ark.

Then Peter switches from the flood to baptism, saying that the flood prefigured baptism and now saves believers, not as a literal cleansing of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (verse 21).

Peter is talking about baptism as an internal commitment to righteousness and Christ, similar to the way that the Jewish circumcision was to be used as a commitment to a spiritual circumcision, doing away with sin.

Matthew Henry explains:

Noah’s salvation in the ark upon the water prefigured the salvation of all good Christians in the church by baptism; that temporal salvation by the ark was a type, the antitype whereunto is the eternal salvation of believers by baptism, to prevent mistakes about which the apostle,

I. Declares what he means by saving baptism; not the outward ceremony of washing with water, which, in itself, does no more than put away the filth of the flesh, but it is that baptism wherein there is a faithful answer or restipulation of a resolved good conscience, engaging to believe in, and be entirely devoted to, God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, renouncing at the same time the flesh, the world, and the devil. The baptismal covenant, made and kept, will certainly save us. Washing is the visible sign; this is the thing signified.

II. The apostle shows that the efficacy of baptism to salvation depends not upon the work done, but upon the resurrection of Christ, which supposes his death, and is the foundation of our faith and hope, to which we are rendered conformable by dying to sin, and rising again to holiness and newness of life. Learn, 1. The sacrament of baptism, rightly received, is a means and a pledge of salvation. Baptism now saveth us. God is pleased to convey his blessings to us in and by his ordinances, Acts 2 38; 22 16. 2. The external participation of baptism will save no man without an answerable good conscience and conversation. There must be the answer of a good conscience towards God.

John MacArthur has more:

… in verse 21 Peter writes, “And corresponding to that” – very like that – “baptism now saves you.” Now when you see the word baptism, you think of water baptism immediately, because that’s the common Christian concept. So he quickly says, “No, not the removal of dirt from the flesh.” I’m not talking about that. I’m not talking about a rite or a ritual. The word baptism means immersion, and it could be used metaphorically. You could be immersed in your studies, you could be immersed in anger, you could be immersed in happiness. There’re a lot of uses of the term. What he’s saying is there is an immersion. There is a being put into that saves you, not water, but an appeal to God for a good conscience. What’s that? Repentance. I’m tired of my accusations. I’m tired of my guilt. I’m tired of the burden of sin. I want my conscience cleansed. And you cry to God for, not an outward washing, but an inward cleansing, which is available through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In other words, you recognize Jesus died for you and He rose again, and that therein is the provision of salvation, and the sinner comes and says, “God, through the work of Christ, wash me on the inside.” And God, in His grace, places you into Christ and literally you go through judgment in Christ. The judgment of God falls on him. He’s the ark. It hits him from the top, it hits him from the bottom, but it never touches you. You literally go through the judgment of God in Christ like Noah’s family went through the flood. And in the end the judgment is over and you step out into eternal life. So death then is really simply the ark of Christ that transitions you from this world to the next. That’s why death has no fear. And so it is that at every point where we have to fear God Jesus comes to remove our fear. We fear God because of our sin. Jesus bears our sin away in satisfying the justice of God. We fear God because of the dread of hell. Jesus rescues us from hell and announces a triumph over it. We fear God because of death and the judgment. Jesus is our ark who takes us through the judgment into eternal life …

But only through Jesus Christ can that happen. He alone is the one who paid the price for sin once for all. No other price paid, and it’s applied to all who believe. He is the One who triumphed over the forces of hell and hell itself. He is the One who makes death a welcome transition and not a frightening event. And thus we say the sufferings of Christ are triumphant, not only for Him, but for all who trust Him.

MacArthur elaborates further on the ark, baptism and Christ triumphant:

Now imagine this, preaching for 120 years about the coming judgment of God and giving a massive object lesson about it as the ark was being built, and at the end of those 120 years having no converts outside your family.  But for those eight who believed, the ark was the means of their deliverance from judgment.  As long as they were in it, they were safe.  And you remember when the flood came the ark floated and those eight souls among all the human beings on the face of the earth were alone saved.  We might say that the ark carried them from a world of wickedness and iniquity into a brand new life.  In fact, they passed through judgment by being in that ark. They were not touched. They went through the judgment. The rain was above them and the flood was below them.  They were in the middle of the judgment but they were untouched in the safety of that ark. For Peter, that is a picture of salvation.

Notice verse 21, “And corresponding to that.” Stop right there.  He sees that as an analogy, corresponding to that, resembling that.  This is antitupon, an antitype, a pattern.  That term used in the New Testament basically has the idea of an earthly expression of a heavenly reality.  It is a symbol or a picture or a pattern or an analogy of some spiritual truth.  So in some way, the fact that eight people were in an ark and went through the whole judgment and yet were untouched is analogous to the Christian experience in salvation.

Now somebody will say, “Okay, what is the antitupon?  What is the antitype?  Is it the ark or is it the water?”  And I think the answer is it’s the whole thing. It’s the whole thing.  If you want to emphasize the water, you can since water is neuter and so is antitupon.  But the real idea here is the whole idea that just as these people in the ark went through the waters of judgment, so the believer is carried safely through judgment, the judgment of God.  And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you.  Now if were to change that word “baptism” and say “immersion now saves you,” we’d begin to move toward the meaning here.

Now let me say something at the outset.  I don’t think he’s talking about water baptism because water baptism doesn’t save you.  I don’t think he’s talking about water baptism symbolically.  I think he’s talking about immersion into an ark of safety that went through judgment.  Now follow the thought.  He is saying, just like Noah was placed with his sons and their wives in an ark of safety and they went through the judgment, they didn’t miss it, they didn’t really escape it, they were preserved in it, so you have been immersed in some kind of protective ark that has taken you through judgment.  They were put into the waters of judgment.  The waters of judgment fell down on the top of them but they were incarcerated in a haven of safety.  And he is saying we as believers are put into the great waters of judgment and we too are incarcerated in a haven of safety.

‘Protected’, ‘preserved’, as it were, from divine judgement.

MacArthur continues:

He’s talking about an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  You’ll notice you probably have some dashes in that sentence.  It should read like this if you leave out that qualifying statement in the middle, “and corresponding to that, baptism now saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” The other statements are qualifiers.  It is a baptism that saves you.  What baptism?  Baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ.  That’s the issue here.  As that flood was a furious judgment of God upon the earth in Genesis, as it killed everybody on the face of the globe and yet eight people lived through, though they were immersed in it they were immersed into an ark of safety.  So, the judgment of God came upon Jesus Christ, now follow this, the judgment came upon Jesus Christ and you went through that judgment in Him, but you survived, protected in the ark who is Christ, the ark of safety.  And you went into His death, burial, and out again in His resurrection.  That’s what he’s saying here.  He says I’m not talking about a water baptism either literally or metaphorically, it is not the removal of dirt from the flesh.  I’m talking about you, by faith, coming into union with Christ, undergoing the judgment of God that fell on Christ in His death and burial, and coming out the other side in the glory of His resurrection; thus you too have been carried through the judgment of God and out the other side by being incarcerated, as it were, in Christ, the ark of safety.

And the eight in Genesis left the world of sin and they came through a flood of judgment.  So you have left the world of sin and you came through a flood of judgment.  As the ark, in a sense, was a tomb and there was a certain kind of dying to the world as they entered it and sealed it shut, and there was a certain kind of resurrection, that day when it stopped on Mount Ararat and they opened the door and walked out. They walked out to a new life in a new world.  So, says Peter, is the majesty of the analogy, as you by faith entered into the ark of safety in Christ, you entered into a coffin of sorts because you died in Him and one day it was open and you burst out in His resurrection and you live a new life.  That’s the kind of immersion he’s talking about.  Yes, it is depicted in water baptism.  We understand that.  Peter is not particularly talking about that, that’s why he says explicitly, “not the removal of dirt from the flesh.”  Water baptism is another issue.  He is speaking about this wonderful immersion into Christ.  And Peter is certainly in wonderful harmony with Paul, isn’t he?  Romans 6, where Paul talks about being buried with Christ in His death and then rising in His resurrection to walk in newness of life, it’s the same idea.

Think of ‘appeal’ as a ‘pledge’:

Well, the word “appeal” is the word that is used as a technical term for making a contract.  It is a technical term for making a pledge, agreeing to certain conditions or demands of a covenant.  This is a very important statement.  Here it says that what places you into the ark of safety is a covenant or a pledge or a contract or an agreement to certain conditions in regard to God. That’s what he’s saying.

It is a confession of faith in desiring a covenant with God, an appeal to God for a good conscience.  Sinful men have only an evil conscience.  The point here is the sinner is sick of his evil, he’s sick of his sin.  He is sick of his accusing conscience.  He wants to be delivered from the burden of sin.  He wants to be delivered from the guilt of sin, from the crushing intimidating fearful anticipation of judgment.  He wants to have a good conscience.  He wants to experience what Hebrews 9:14 says, “The blood of Christ will cleanse your conscience.”  Hebrews 10:22 basically says the same thing. It says, “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.”

What is he saying?  He is saying in verse 21, there is an immersion into Christ that saves you.  It isn’t an external ritual of washing.  What puts you into Christ is not a water baptism. What puts you into Christ is a pledge to God, an appeal to God for a clean conscience.  In other words, it’s a pleading to be forgiven for what?  For your sins.  It is repentance, that’s what it is.

What saves you?  Not water baptism, but immersion into the ark of safety, who is Christ, in whom you go through the death and burial and resurrection and the judgment of God falls but it falls on the ark and not on you.

What saves you?  Not some external ritual or external rite, but a heart longing to be delivered from the crushing burden of sin that plagues your evil conscience and wants to covenant with God to live an obedient life.  And it leads you through the judgment out the other side through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That celebrates, that completes the salvation triumph.

Henry gives us his perspective on infant baptism, saying there is no reason why a child should not be baptised, especially when Jewish circumcision is for eight-day-old boys:

Obj. Infants cannot make such an answer, and therefore ought not to be baptized.—Answer, the true circumcision was that of the heart and of the spirit (Rom 2 29), which children were no more capable of then than our infants are capable of making this answer now; yet they were allowed circumcision at eight days old. The infants of the Christian church therefore may be admitted to the ordinance with as much reason as the infants of the Jewish, unless they are barred from it by some express prohibition of Christ.

Continuing on from that appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Peter reinforces the point by adding that He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities and powers made subject to Him (verse 22).

Henry explains:

The apostle, having mentioned the death and resurrection of Christ, proceeds to speak of his ascension, and sitting at the right hand of the Father, as a subject fit to be considered by these believers for their comfort in their suffering condition, v. 22. If the advancement of Christ was so glorious after his deep humiliation, let not his followers despair, but expect that after these short distresses they shall be advanced to transcendent joy and glory. Learn, 1. Jesus Christ, after he had finished his labours and his sufferings upon earth, ascended triumphantly into heaven, of which see Acts 1 9-11; Mark 16 19. He went to heaven to receive his own acquired crown and glory (John 17 5), to finish that part of his mediatorial work which could not be done on earth, and make intercession for his people, to demonstrate the fulness of his satisfaction, to take possession of heaven for his people, to prepare mansions for them, and to send down the Comforter, which was to be the first-fruits of his intercession, John 16 7. 2. Upon his ascension into heaven, Christ is enthroned at the right hand of the Father. His being said to sit there imports absolute rest and cessation from all further troubles and sufferings, and an advancement to the highest personal dignity and sovereign power. 3. Angels, authorities, and powers, are all made subject to Christ Jesus: all power in heaven and earth, to command, to give law, issue orders, and pronounce a final sentence, is committed to Jesus, God-man, which his enemies will find to their everlasting sorrow and confusion, but his servants to their eternal joy and satisfaction.

MacArthur says:

So verse 22 says, “After angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”  I believe that looks back not only to the moment that He descended into the pit and declared His triumph and announced His victory, but to the fact that it was through the cross and the resurrection that all those spiritual beings called angels, authorities and powers, and those last two words are just different terms for angels, have been subjected to Him.  All ranks of spiritual beings must submit to Christ, He is preeminent.  It says in Ephesians 1, remember these words in verses 20 and 21, I’m sure you will, it says that Christ was raised from the dead, seated at God’s right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come, and He put all things in subjection under His feet.  It was through His suffering and the obedience of suffering that God highly exalted Him.  And every being is hupotass, lined up in rank beneath him, a military term.

So, it was through unjust suffering that Christ found the path of triumph.  It was through unjust suffering that Christ gained His great and glorious victory.  It was through unjust suffering that He triumphed in sin bearing, He triumphed over spirits, He triumphed in salvation and He triumphed as the Supreme Being at the right hand of God.

What is the point of this?  Peter is saying, “Look on your unjust suffering as the path of triumph.  Look on your unjust suffering as the path of victory.  It was for Christ, it will be for you.”

MacArthur concludes:

It may be that when you suffer unjustly, you too might have the opportunity, because of how you take that suffering, to lead someone to Christ.  It may be that when you suffer unjustly the Lord will give you great and glorious triumph over the demons with whom you wrestle.  It may be that when you suffer unjustly, you might become a source of safety for someone else who sees how you weather that storm. And it will be that should you suffer triumphantly, the Lord will exalt you and lift you up.  So look not away from the suffering, look through it to the triumph.

Now there’s an added perspective to keep in mind. How we handle suffering can encourage others to come to Christ. Marvellous!

Forbidden Bible Verses will appear tomorrow.