Baptism is salvific (1 Peter 3:21),
1 Peter 3:21 tells us that baptism now saves you, yet when Peter uses this phrase
he continues in the same sentence to explain exactly what he means by it. He says that baptism now saves you-
not the removal of dirt from the flesh (that is, not as an outward, physical act which washes dirt from the body--that is not what saves you),
"but an appeal to God for a good conscience" (that is, as an inward, spiritual transaction between God and the individual, a transaction that is symbolized by the outward ceremony of water baptism).
We could paraphrase Peter's statement by saying, "Baptism now saves you--not the outward physical ceremony of baptism but the inward spiritual reality which baptism represents." By saying, "not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience - through the resurrection of Jesus Christ," Peter guards against saving power to the physical ceremony itself. So in 1 Peter 3:21; it's not the mechanical act of getting water baptized that saves us, but the "appeal-to-God-for-good-conscience."
Just as the eight people in the ark were "saved THROUGH water" as they were IN THE ARK. They were not literally saved "by" the water. Hebrews 11:7 is clear on this point (..built an
ARK for the
SAVING of his household). NOTE: The context reveals that ONLY the righteous (Noah and his family) were DRY and therefore SAFE. In contrast, ONLY THE WICKED IN NOAH'S DAY CAME IN CONTACT WITH THE WATER AND THEY ALL PERISHED.
as it is new birth from God (John 3:5, Titus 3:5) and all else which Scripture says of it.
Have you considered "living water" in John 3:5? Jesus said, "born of water and the Spirit" and He did not say
born of baptism and the Spirit. To automatically read "baptism" into this verse simply because it mentions "water" is unwarranted. Scripture interprets itself. Notice in John 7:38-39, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow
rivers of LIVING WATER. But this He spoke
concerning the SPIRIT.
If "water" is arbitrarily defined as baptism, then we could just as justifiably say, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living baptism" in John 7:38. If this sounds ridiculous, it is no more so than the idea that water baptism is the source or the means of becoming born again.
In John 4:10, Jesus said, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a
drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you
living water." In John 4:14, Jesus said, "but whoever
drinks of the
water that I shall give him will
never thirst. But the
water that I shall give him will become in him a
fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
*Jesus connects this living water here with everlasting life. *Living water is not water baptism. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, we also read -
..drink into one Spirit.
In regards to Titus 3:5, the word "washing" in the Strong's Greek Concordance with Vine's Number 3067 - (Loutron) "a bath, a laver" is used
*metaphorically of the Word of God, as the instrument of spiritual cleansing,* Ephesians 5:26; and Titus 3:5, of the "washing of regeneration." The word "regeneration" is from the Greek word palingenesia, which is taken from two root words "born" and "again."
Greek Scholar A.T. Robertson states: Through the washing of regeneration (dia loutrou palingenesiaß). Late and common word with the Stoics (Dibelius) and in the Mystery-religions (Angus), also in the papyri and Philo. Only twice in the N.T. (Matthew 19:28 with which compare apokatastasia in Acts 3:21, and here in personal sense of new birth). For loutron, see Ephesians 5:26, here as there the laver or the bath. Probably in both cases there is a reference to baptism, but, as in Romans 6:3-6,
the immersion is the picture or the symbol of the new birth, not the means of securing it.
The reason why we devote ourselves, as the Church, to the baptized, is because this Christian life is lived together in Christ, not alone. The baptized has become part of us, and we part of them; because we are--all together--the one new man which is in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:14-16).
Through
Spirit baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13) which is signified in water baptism.