Joseph Pohle on the Salvific Efficacy of Water Baptism in 1 Peter 3:21

I Pet. III, 31, we read: Salvos facit baptism, non cornis deposition sordium, sed conscientiae bonae interrogation (επερωτημα) in Deum per resurrectionem Christi.” Our English Bible renders this text as follows: “ . . . Baptism . . . now saveth you also: not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Here the water of the Deluge, from which some were rescued according to the body, is opposed to the water of Baptism, through which all faithful Christians are saved according to the spirit, and Baptism is declared to be more than a “putting away of the filth of the flesh,” i.e. more than a Levitic purification. Whence does Baptism derive its power of spiritual regeneration? First of all from “the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” which term is here employed by synecdoche for the entire work of the Redemption.” St. Peter goes on to describe Baptism as ονειδησεως αγαθος επερωτημα εις Θεον. The Greek word επερωτημα in this connection can only mean “question” (interrogation) or “petition” (rogation, petition), all other meanings—such as “vow” (sponsio) or “treaty” (pactum)—being excluded either for exegetical or lexicographical reasons. But the Latin rendering of the Vulgate, “conscientiae bonae interrogatio,” which is followed by our English Bible, evidently does not give the right sense. For to think of an examination of the baptizandus before Baptism would be to confuse an accidental rite with the essence of the Sacrament, which the Apostle means to characterize. Consequently, επερωτημα must here mean a prayer or petition for a good conscience, i.e. a purified and regenerated soul. Now prayer and petition belong to the category of moral causes, and consequently Baptism,--and all other Sacraments, a pari,--exert a moral efficacy. (Joseph Pohle, The Sacraments, A Dogmatic Treatise: The Sacraments in General. Baptism. Confirmation [2d ed.; St. Louis, Miss.: B. Herder, 1917], 148-49)