Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, July 30, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Hmm. I’m not sure on the theology of this one. Baptism is an appeal to God for a good conscience? That sort of sounds like baptism is no guarantee of salvation, but merely makes it possible for us to try to earn it. Maybe that’s not what the writer of 1 Peter is saying here—I didn’t major in systematic theology at seminary; I’m a Children, Youth, & Family Ministry gal. So, you know, set me straight if you have more insight on this.
And what’s this stuff about Noah being saved from the flood prefiguring baptism? Noah didn’t get wet. And the water killed absolutely everything that wasn’t on the ark. I suppose if we concede that everything that died in the floods was evil/corrupt, then we might be able to say that baptism kills all the parts of us that are evil/corrupt and leaves us newly reborn as who we were created by God to be. I kind of like that. Yeah, I think I’ll go with that today.
How do I interpret the connection between the flood and baptism?