5. Baptism for Moses.— In 1 Cor. x, 2, the apostle says of the Israelites, "And they all received bap- tism (' the middle voice is selected to express a recep- tive sense,' Meyer) for Moses (tig tuv Mojvai'iv ifiair- rieavTv) in (or by, iv) the cloud, and in (or by) the sea." In the Syr. ejc t. M. is translated "by the; hand of Moses ;" and this is followed by Beza and oth- ers. Some render una cum Mose; others, auspiciis J\/osis; others, in Mose, i. e. "sub ministerio ct ductu j Mosis" (Calvin), etc. But all these interpretations are precluded by the proper meaning of tic, and the fixed significance of the phrase ftairri'Cuv sir in the N. T The only rendering that can be admitted is "for Moses," i. e. with a view to him, in reference to him, in respect of him. '"They were baptized for Moses. i. e. they became bound to fidelity and obedience, and were accepted into the covenant which God then made with the people through Moses" (Ktickcrt in foe; sec also Meyer and Alford on the passage).
III. The Types of Baptism. — 1. The apostle Peter (1 Pet. iii, 21) compares the deliverance of Noah in the Deluge to the deliverance of Christians in baptism. The apostle had been speaking of those who had per- ished " in the days of Noah when the. ark was a-pre- paring, in which few, that is eight souls, were saved by water." According to the A. V., he goes on, " The like figure whereunto baptism doth now save us." The Greek, in the best MSS., is"() Ka\ »//uac civtitv- ■kov vi'V c(o£ei l3c'n7Ti(Tiia. Grotius well expounds avrirvTrov by avrio-oi\cv, "accurately correspond- ing." The difficulty is in the relative o. There is no antecedent to which it can refer except i>8aTOQ, "wa- ter;" and it seems as if ficnrTitrpa must be put in ap- position with o, and as an explanation of it. Noah and his company were saved by water, "which water also, that is, the water of baptism, correspondin' ly saves us." F.ven if the reading were <7i, it would most naturally refer to the preceding vccitoc. Cer- tainly it could not refer to Kifiwrov, which is feminine. We must, then, probably interpret that, though water was the instrument for destroying the disobedient, it
was j'et the instrument ordained of God for floating the ark, and so for saving Noah and his family ; and it is in correspondence with this that water also, viz. the water of baptism, saves Christians. Augustine, commenting on these words, writes that "the events in the days of Noah were a figure of things to come, so that they who believe not the Gospel, when the church is building, may be considered as like those who believed not when the ark was preparing; while those who have believed and are baptized (i. e. arc saved by baptism) may be. con pared to those who were formerly saved in the ark by water" (Epist. 1G4, torn, ii, p. 579). "The building of the ark," he says again, "was a kind of preaching." "The waters of the deluge presignified baptism to those who believed — punishment to the unbelieving" («'&.).
It would be irrip< ssible to give any def nitc explana- tion of the w< rds " baptism doth save us" without en- tering upon the theological question of baptismal re- generation. The apostle, however, gives a caution which no doubt may itself have need of an interpreter, when he adds, " not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer (tiripurrifjia) of a rood conscience toward God." Probably all will agree that he intended here to warn us against resting on the outward admin- istration of a sacrament, with no ccrres ponding prepa- ration of the conscience and the soul. I he connection in this passage between baptism and "the resurrection of Jesus Christ" may be compared with Col. ii, 12.
2. In 1 Cor. x, 1, 2, the passage of the Red Sea end the shadowing of the miraculous cloud are treated as tj'pes of baptism. In all the early part of this chap- ter the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness are put in comparison with the life of the Christian. '1 he being under the cloud and the passing through the sea resemble baptism ; eating manna and drinking of the rock are as the spiritual food which feeds the church; and the different temptations, sins, and punishments of the Israelites on their journey to Canaan are held up as a warning to the Corinthian Church. It ap- pears that the Rabbins themselves speak of a hi ptism in the cloud (sec Wetstein in loc, who quotes Piike I!. Eliezer, 44 ; see also Schottgen in loc). The pas- sage from the condition of bondmen in Egypt was through the Red Sea, and with the protection of the luminous cloud. When the sea was passed the peo- ple were no longer subjects of Pharaoh, but were, un- der the guidance of Moses, forming into a new com- monwealth, and on their ivay to the promised land. It is sufficiently apparent how this may reseml le the enlisting of a new convert into the body of the Chris- tian Church, his being placed in a new relation, under a new condition, in a spiritual commonwealth, with a way before him to a better country, though surround- ed with dangers, subject to temptations, and with ene- mies on all sides to encounter in his prof ress.