What does “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh” mean in I Peter 3:21? I already know that “Baptism also saves you” as stated in the first part of this verse, but what exactly is the “filth of the flesh”?<\/p>\n\t
Sometimes it helps to look at other translations. “Corresponding to that, 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<\/em>” (I Peter 3:21 NASB).<\/p>\n Baptism is not about getting the outside of the body clean but about cleaning up the dirt of sin inside the heart. The Jews had a problem looking only at the physical and missing the spiritual implications. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also<\/em>” (Matthew 23:25-26). Christians should not fall into the same trap. In obeying God’s command to be baptized you are appealing to God to give you a clean conscience. This happens, not because of some property of the water, but by yielding to God’s command you come into contact, so to speak, with the resurrected life of Christ.<\/p>\n “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him<\/em>” (Romans 6:3-8).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: What does “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh” mean in I Peter 3:21? I already know that “Baptism also saves you” as stated in the first part of this verse, but what exactly is the “filth of the flesh”? Answer: Sometimes it helps to look at other translations. “Corresponding to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,76],"class_list":["post-29370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56269,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-flood-and-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":29370,"position":0},"title":"The Flood and Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Frank J. Jamerson via Gospel Power, Vol. 15, No. 13, March 30, 2008. Many of the teachings of the New Testament were prefigured in the Old Testament. The Old Testament story is the type and the New Testament lesson is the antitype, or that which is prefigured. One of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20640,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-person-isnt-baptized-does-that-mean-theyve-never-been-forgiven-of-any-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":29370,"position":1},"title":"If a person isn’t baptized, does that mean they’ve never been forgiven of any sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a person isn't baptized, does that mean that they've never been forgiven of any sin they've ever committed? Answer: \"Then Peter said to them, \"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33753,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-water-do-when-getting-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":29370,"position":2},"title":"What does water do when getting baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was asked a question, which is, \"What does water do when getting baptized?\" How can I answer this scripturally? Thank you. Answer: It gets you wet. \"Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35795,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-exceptions-made-for-those-who-are-unable-to-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":29370,"position":3},"title":"Are exceptions made for those who are unable to be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we are told that to be saved we must be baptized by being dunked in water, how or what allowances do you make for the sick, bedridden, old, or too young, who cannot go into the water and dunk their head? Answer: The argument is flawed because it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43323,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-belief-and-confession-mean-that-baptism-is-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":29370,"position":4},"title":"Do belief and confession mean that baptism is unnecessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Thanks for your web site. It has been a God-send to folks like me who are relatively new in our walk with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been trying to find a Bible-believing church to attend, but there are so many\u00a0false teachings and\u00a0divisions in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50382,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-all-believe-the-only-way-to-be-saved-is-through-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":29370,"position":5},"title":"Do you all believe the only way to be saved is through baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading more on the La Vista Church of Christ website, and I was a little confused about something. Do you all believe the only way to be saved is through baptism? Answer: I have a question for you: Can a person be saved by ignoring what God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}