Saved by Water

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water, 1st Peter 3:20.

1st Peter 3:14-21 is one of the more difficult passages to deconstruct. Your King James translators meticulously interpreted the rather complex Greek into English. Keeping it exactly as they gave it to us reveals exactly what Peter said. A cursory look at other translations reveals the many ditches that men fall into by reading the other versions. (Take a look.)

The most common way that the verse is butchered is by changing "saved by water" to "saved through water". That change alone destroys the meaning. Let us take a look at the passage.

1st Peter 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

1st Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

1st Peter 3:16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

1st Peter 3:17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

1st Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

1st Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

1st Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

1st Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

The first three verses of this passage instructs the Christian who is suffering for righteousness sake. It instructs him to answer out of a good conscience. The last verse in the passage quoted explains how we get that good conscience. 1st Peter 14-21 must be taken as a whole and not have portions plucked out of context to prove some pet theory.

Verse 18 reminds us that Jesus Christ himself suffered as a just man. Verse 19 tells us that when he had descended into the lower parts of the earth (Ephesians 4:9), he took time to preach to the spirits in prison.

Verse 20 tells us that these prisoners were those who sometime (for a period of time) had been disobedient in the days of Noah while he was preparing the ark. These were not good people. Until the flood, the 8 people who boarded the ark were intermingled with the unrighteous of the earth.

When the flood came, the same waters that destroyed the ungodly lifted the ark and saved those within from destruction. They were not saved through water, they were saved by the water. In the ark, they safely bobbed on top of the waves, safe from drowning and forever separated from those who were now prisoners of God in the lower parts of the earth.

It is verse 21 that causes most people to scratch their heads. Let us take it in parts.

The like figure: In scripture a figure is one thing or event that in its appearance or action becomes representative of another thing or event. What like figure is Peter speaking of? Peter has just described the flood in which everyone was on the surface of the earth, but 8 people were lifted above the sin and the unrighteousness people by the water. That is the figure that God followed when Jesus Christ was separated from the prisoners to whom he had preached when he raised him by the Spirit. We were raised with him.

Whereunto even baptism: "Whereunto" throws people. Jesus Christ used the term five times. In each case it was to make a comparison.

But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, Matthew 11:16.

And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?, Mark 4:30.

And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?, Luke 7:31.

Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?, Luke 13:18.

And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?, Luke 13:20.

Peter is not saying that the figure is baptism. He is saying that the figure is like baptism. It is not baptism that cleanses our conscience. It is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that gives us the answer of a clear conscience before God. We were of those who hated God and rebelled against his works. As the flood waters lifted the ark and its inhabitants up off the surface of the earth and delivered its passengers, Jesus Christ arose from the dead and delivered us from our sins.

We have the answer of a good conscience towards God. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?, Hebrews 9:14.

To paraphrase verse 21, the like figure, the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is like baptism. That like figure which is like baptism saved us. It did not cleanse our flesh. It cleansed our conscience.