3:20-21 What do we learn from what Peter says here?
3:20-21 What do we learn from what Peter says here?
We learn from this that the water that carried Noah and his family to safety in the ark during the flood was an Old Testament type of the salvation that is by faith in the finished work of Christ, portrayed by water baptism in the New Testament (cp Gen 6:5-8, 13, 17-18; 7:1, 7, 17-24).
Peter is not teaching in 1 Pe 3:20-21 that as water saved the eight people in the ark from the flood in the Old Testament, so too water baptism saves repentant sinners from hell in the New Testament. Far from it - Peter is very careful to point out that water baptism does not symbolise the putting away of sins, but the response of repentant sinners' hearts - the answer of a good conscience - toward God, and the affirmation of their new-found faith in the resurrected Christ to save them.
The broad picture that Peter paints for us here is that just as Noah's building of the ark was a testimony to his faith in God for his salvation before the flood, so too believers going through the waters of baptism is a testimony to their faith in Christ for their salvation before they are baptised.
(For more detailed studies on water baptism see comments on Mt 28:19-20, Mk 16:16, Ro 6:3-5).