The Bible itself does not incite division or strife, rather the way that we as a human race deal with and handle the divine scriptures. In doing so, there has been countless debates over many things concerning important spiritual matters and some insignificant matters. One of the biggest debates is the question of baptism being related to our salvation or us being “saved”. Both sides of the argument use plenty of scripture to support what they’re claiming (not to say both sides are correctly using scripture) which is why this is so heavily debated. In 1 Peter 3:21, we see a verse that seems to be heavily suggesting one side of the argument, but there is a word in there that may scare people away: “antitype”.
Antitype is used one time throughout the entire Bible in 1 Peter 3:21, but I would strongly suggest that this does not minimize the importance of the vocabulary chosen here. With the word being used so minimally, it may seem either not as important or it may seem not as understandable. Usually an easy way to dial in on a specific definition of a biblical word would be to look at every instance in which it is used then compare them with one another in the different contexts to see what the word itself refers to. Since “antitype” is not used all over the Bible, we have to rely mainly on the context in which it is used, but we are not strictly limited to that. Figuring out what this definition means can truly answer a big question of the Christian faith and explain some things in which we claim to believe.
1 Peter 3:18-22: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 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), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
In 1 Peter 3, many things are addressed from marriage relationships to suffering for Christ, but when getting down to verse 18 through the end we see lots of discussion about salvation. The structure of writing from verse 14 to the end invites you to think about salvation in this way: that Christ suffered and died for us willingly, which is the only reason that we are able to be saved, and in turn is asking us to be willing to suffer for Him. Considering this context, we see that when Peter is telling us how to be saved he says that there is an “antitype which now saves us — baptism”. So why is the word antitype used here? Antitype is a word of comparison. It alludes to something that was previously done or something that would have been understood in a different way prior to the usage. It compared baptism to the flood in Genesis. In this case, Peter mentions that during the flood, 8 people were saved through water, and now we have an antitype which saves us. This is saying that we have a similar situation to the compared one; we are now saved through water baptism as Noah and his family were saved through water. Now not to be confused with the rest of the context of 1 Peter 3, we are not saved because the water is special, rather that our baptism is us responding faithfully to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This is why Peter adds the parenthetical that says “not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God”. Baptism is not significant due to the physical cleansing of skin from dirt, but the spiritual sanctification of those accepting the invitation to be in Christ. Comparatively, this “antitype” is ultimately a better way of saving because it is “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” which is the only chance we could ever have at salvation. Antitype should not be a scary word for us. It should actually be a rather encouraging word, because we know it means that this baptism in which we believe is truly what “saves us” because it’s through Christ Himself.
An antitype is a completed or fulfilled truth that was earlier mentioned in scripture, although may not have been fully seen or understood. Some examples of types (the truth from old) and antitypes (the thing/truth the type was foreshadowing) are: Adam, one man bringing sin to all the world, and new Adam (Jesus), one man bringing life to all the world (1 Corinthians 15:22); the Old Law and the New Law (Hebrews 10:1-2); and lamb as a sacrifice in the old covenant and Jesus coming as a lamb to be slaughtered in our place for the new covenant (John 1:29, 36; Exodus 29:38-46; Hebrews 9:11-15). All of these, and the type of the ark and antitype of baptism, are just a few examples of allegorical or foreshadowing ideas we find in the scriptures. And, maybe now we can look for other ways the old testament shadows an idea, person, or event in the new testament. The unity of God’s word is easily seen in this one often overlooked word: antitype.