Baptism in 1 Peter 3:21

 There is also an antitype which now saves us–baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God),

            The one thing that is perfectly clear here is the phrase “Baptism now saves us”.

            No matter how you interpret any part of this verse, we cannot ignore this simple statement, “baptism now saves us”.

            Now I know that there are many religious people who do not want baptism to save us and so they quickly pick up on the second part of the verse which says “not the removal of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God”. They use this part of the verse to say that the filth of the flesh is sin and if baptism does not remove sin then it cannot “save us”.

            But this verse has to be understood as one thought with all parts of the verse interconnected. There is no doubt that baptism now saves us, the Bible declares it right here. However, it also tells us that “baptism alone” does not save us. The second part of this verse clearly tells us that there are 2 parts to this salvation process. There is a physical part which is the submersion in water called “baptism”, and there is the Spiritual part which is a heart (or conscience) that is repentant and submissive and ready to be obedient to God’s will.

            If we stopped with the first part of this verse and said baptism “alone” now saves us, then we could go out into the world and capture people and drag them to a swimming pool and “baptize” them and we could “save” the world.

            But, of course, that won’t work. We know that. The “conscious” (heart) has to be involved in the salvation process to make it valid. The water we are dipped in during baptism is not magic water. The water “alone” will not remove the “filth of the flesh”. There is more to it than that. In order for baptism to “save” it has to be accompanied with Faith, repentance, and confession that Jesus is God’s Son. In other words, the “conscience” (heart) has to be involved in the salvation process.

            So, to paraphrase and explain this verse, 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us–baptism (but it will not remove sin alone, it is accompanied with a good conscience toward God),

Carl O. Cooper