Sermon Tone Analysis

BAPTISM AS HOLY WAR

First Peter 3:14–22 is one of the more puzzling passages of the New Testament.

Set against the backdrop of the divine council worldview, however, it’s actually quite comprehensible.

14 But even if you might suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.

And do not be afraid of their intimidation or be disturbed, 15 but set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you for an accounting concerning the hope that is in you.

16 But do so with courtesy and respect, having a good conscience, so that in the things in which you are slandered, the ones who malign your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if God wills it, than for doing evil.

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins,

the just for the unjust,

in order that he could bring you to God,

being put to death in the flesh,

but made alive in the spirit,

19 in which also he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,

20 who were formerly disobedient, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, while an ark was being constructed, in which a few—that is, eight souls—were rescued through water.

21 And also, corresponding to this, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, with angels and authorities and powers having been subjected to him (1 Pet 3:14–22).

The overall theme of 1 Peter is that Christians must withstand persecution and persevere in their faith.

That much is clear in this passage.

But what’s with baptism, the ark, Noah, and spirits in prison?

And does this text say that baptism saves us?

typology

To understand what Peter is thinking, we have to understand a concept that scholars have called types or typology.

Typology is a kind of prophecy.

We’re all familiar with predictive verbal prophecy—when a prophet announces that something is going to come to pass in the future.

Sometimes that comes “out of the blue,” with God impressing thoughts on the prophet’s mind that the prophet then utters.

The prophecy is spelled out.

Types work differently.

A type is basically an unspoken prophecy.

It is an event, person, or institution that foreshadows something that will come, but which isn’t revealed until after the fact.

For example, in Romans 5:14 Paul tells us that Adam was a

typos

of Christ.

This Greek word means “kind” or “mark” or type—it’s actually where typology comes from.

Paul was saying that, in some way, Adam foreshadowed or echoed something about Jesus.

In Adam’s case, that something was how his act (sin) had an effect on all humanity.

Like Adam, Jesus did something that would have an impact on all humanity—his death and resurrection.

Another example would be Passover, since it prefigured the crucifixion of Jesus, who was called “the lamb of God.”

The point is that there was some analogous connection between the type (Adam) and its echo (Jesus), called the

antitype

by scholars.

Peter uses typology in 1 Peter 3:14–22.

Specifically, he assumes that the great flood in Genesis 6–8, especially the sons of God event in Genesis 6:1–4, typified or foreshadowed the gospel and the resurrection.

For Peter, these events were commemorated during baptism.

That needs some unpacking, since the points of correlation aren’t apparent.

In an earlier chapter we saw the tight connections between Genesis 6:1–4 and the epistles of 2 Peter and Jude.

We discovered that 2 Peter and Jude communicated something about the flood and the sons of God that wasn’t found in Genesis, but which came from the Second Temple book of 1 Enoch.

Specifically, 1 Enoch 6–15 describes how the sons of God (called “Watchers” in that ancient book) who committed the offense of Genesis 6:1–4 were imprisoned under the earth for what they had done.

That imprisonment is behind the reference to the “spirits in prison” in 1 Peter 3:19.

Recall that the prison to which the offending divine beings were sent was referred to as Tartarus in 2 Peter 2:4–5.

The Greek behind the terms is often translated “hell” or “Hades” in English, but those renderings are a bit misleading.

Tartarus of course has no literal geography.

This is the language of the spiritual realm.

Tartarus was part of the underworld (biblical Sheol), a place conceived as being inside the earth because, in ancient experience, that is where the dead go—they were buried.

Broadly speaking, the underworld is not hell; it is the afterlife, the place or realm where the dead go.

That “place” has its own “geography.”

Some experience eternal life with God in the spiritual realm; others do not.

In the 1 Enoch story, the Watchers appealed their sentence and asked Enoch, the biblical prophet who never died (Gen 5:21–24), to intercede with God for them (1 Enoch 6:4).

God rejected their petition and Enoch had to return to the imprisoned Watchers and give them the bad news (1 Enoch 13:1–3; 14:4–5).

The point to catch is that Enoch visits the spiritual world in the “bad section of town” where the offending Watchers are being held.

As was the case with 2 Peter 2:4 and its mention of being imprisoned in Tartarus, this story from 1 Enoch was on Peter’s mind in 1 Peter 3. It is the key to understanding what he says.

Peter saw a theological analogy between the events of Genesis 6 and the gospel and resurrection.

In other words, he considered the events of Genesis 6 to be types or precursors to New Testament events and ideas.

Just as Jesus was the second Adam for Paul, Jesus is the second Enoch for Peter.

Enoch descended to the imprisoned fallen angels to announce their doom.

First Peter 3:14–22 has Jesus descending to these same “spirits in prison” to tell them they were still defeated, despite his crucifixion.

God’s plan of salvation and kingdom rule had not been derailed—in fact, it was right on schedule.

The crucifixion actually meant victory over every demonic force opposed to God.

This victory declaration is why 1 Peter 3:14–22 ends with Jesus risen from the dead and set at the right hand of God—above all angels, authorities and powers.

The messaging is very deliberate, and has a supernatural view of Genesis 6:1–4 at its core.

So how does this relate to baptism?

Our focus for answering that question is two terms in verse 21, that baptism is

“an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

The two boldfaced words need reconsideration in light of the divine council worldview.

The word most often translated

“appeal” (eperōtēma)

in verse 21 is best understood as “pledge” here, a meaning that it has elsewhere.

Likewise the word

“conscience” (suneidēsis)

does not refer to the inner voice of right and wrong in this text.

Rather, the word refers to the disposition of one’s loyalties, a usage that is also found in other contexts and Greek literature.

Baptism, then, is not what produces salvation.

It “saves” in that it reflects a heart decision: a pledge of loyalty to the risen Savior.

In effect, baptism in New Testament theology is a loyalty oath, a public avowal of who is on the Lord’s side in the cosmic war between good and evil.

But in addition to that, it is also a visceral reminder to the defeated fallen angels.

Every baptism is a reiteration of their doom in the wake of the gospel and the kingdom of God.

Early Christians understood the typology of this passage and its link back to the fallen angels of Genesis 6.

Early baptismal formulas included a renunciation of Satan and his angels for this very reason.

Baptism was—and still is—spiritual warfare.

INTELLIGENT EVIL

(Excerpt from Naked Bible Podcast Episode 129)

The deliverance ministry approach that is practiced in many charismatic movements today, assumes that some problems are with a demon.

These people do not need exorcism.

They need truth—the truth of Scripture about who they are in Christ.

People have to stop believing certain lies and an enduring long‐term re‐introduction to the love of Christ.

People will not be helped by denouncing demons or even Satan.

There is a greater intelligent evil that must be dealth with (greater than a demon).

So who are we talking about and what do they do?

This is a where applying a divine council worldview becomes important.

Deliverance ministry has a simplistic, even cartoonish view of demons.

When we reads Scripture in its ancient (original) context, demons are put in their place—which means they are no longer a distraction.

[MH: In other words, they’re seen to be the low‐level things they are and you can move on to the real problems—the more powerful ones.]