1 Peter 3:21

Which was a figure. "The water of the flood itself, which held them safe in the ark, was a figure pointing to baptism which now saves you!" Alford (Greek Testament) says: "Water saved them, bearing up the ark; it saves us, becoming to us baptism." See Acts 22:16 and note. Baptism is the climax to the faith event in which a person becomes new in Christ! [On the nature of faith, see note on James 2:19.] It is not. Peter says this to by exclusion, contrast "Christian baptism" with Jewish rituals of purification and pagan washings, and even the Flood itself (which did wash away the sin-contaminated flesh of those in Noah's day). See chart on Acts 19:3. But the promise. "The one who in good conscience comes to the water of baptism, has believed in Christ, turned away from his sins and turned to God, declared his faith in Christ, and now baptism becomes both the point of contact and the promise or pledge of his or her new life." It saves you. "Baptism saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, from which it draws its power, and which is acted out in the burial in the liquid grave." Compare Colossians 2:12 :1 Corinthians 15:13-17.