John Calvin Commentary 1 Peter 3:21

"which also after a true likeness doth now save you, [even] baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ;" — 1 Peter 3:21 (ASV)

The like figure whereunto—I fully think that the relative pronoun should be read in the dative case, and that it has happened through a mistake that ὃ is used, and not ᾧ. The meaning, however, is not ambiguous: Noah, saved by water, experienced a sort of baptism.

The Apostle mentions this so that the likeness between Noah and us might appear more evident. It has already been said that the design of this clause is to show that we should not be led away by wicked examples from the fear of God and the right way of salvation, nor mix with the world.

This is made evident in baptism, in which we are buried together with Christ, so that, being dead to the world and to the flesh, we may live to God. For this reason, he says that our baptism is an antitype (ἀντίτυπον) to the baptism of Noah—not that Noah’s baptism was the first pattern and ours an inferior figure, as the word is understood in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the ceremonies of the law are said to be antitypes of heavenly things (Hebrews 9:9, 10). Greek writers apply the same word to sacraments, so that when they speak of the mystical bread of the Holy Supper, they call it the antitype.

But here no comparison is made between the greater and the lesser; the Apostle only means that there is a likeness and, as is commonly said, a correspondence. Perhaps it might more properly be called a correspondency (ἀντίστροφον), just as Aristotle considers Dialectics to be the antistrophè of Rhetoric.

But we do not need to labor over words when there is agreement about the thing itself. Just as Noah, then, obtained life through death—when in the ark, he was enclosed much like being in a grave, and when the whole world perished, he was preserved together with his small family—so today, the death which is set forth in baptism is to us an entrance into life, nor can salvation be hoped for unless we are separated from the world.

Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. This was added because it might be that the majority of people would profess the name of Christ; and so it is with us: almost all are introduced into the church by baptism. Thus, what he had said before—that few today are saved by baptism, just as God saved only eight by the ark—would not seem appropriate.

Peter anticipates this objection when he testifies that he is not speaking of the bare sign, but that the effect must also be connected with it. It is as though he had said that what happened in Noah’s age would always be the case: mankind would rush on to their own destruction, but the Lord would, in a wonderful way, deliver His very small flock.

We now see what this connection means. Someone might object, saying, “Our baptism is widely different from that of Noah, for it happens that most people are baptized today.” To this he replies that the external symbol is not sufficient unless baptism is received genuinely and effectually; and its reality will be found only in a few.

It therefore follows that we should carefully observe how people commonly act when we rely on examples, and that we should not fear even if we are few in number.

But fanatics, such as Schuencfeldius, absurdly pervert this testimony when they seek to strip sacraments of all their power and effect. For Peter did not mean here to teach that Christ’s institution is vain and inefficacious, but only to exclude hypocrites from the hope of salvation—hypocrites who, as much as they can, deprave and corrupt baptism.

Moreover, when we speak of sacraments, two things must be considered: the sign and the thing itself. In baptism, the sign is water, but the thing signified is the washing of the soul by the blood of Christ and the mortifying of the flesh. The institution of Christ includes these two things.

That the sign often appears inefficacious and fruitless happens through human abuse, which does not negate the nature of the sacrament. Let us then learn not to separate the thing signified from the sign.

At the same time, we must beware of another evil, such as prevails among the Papists. Because they do not distinguish as they should between the thing and the sign, they stop at the outward element and fix their hope of salvation on it.

Therefore, the sight of the water leads their thoughts away from the blood of Christ and the power of the Spirit. They do not regard Christ as the only author of all the blessings offered to us in baptism; they transfer the glory of His death to the water and tie the secret power of the Spirit to the visible sign.

What then should we do? We must not separate what has been joined together by the Lord. We should acknowledge in baptism a spiritual washing; we should embrace in it the testimony of the remission of sin and the pledge of our renovation. Yet, we must do so in such a way as to leave to Christ His own honor, and also to the Holy Spirit, so that no part of our salvation is transferred to the sign.

Doubtless, when Peter, after mentioning baptism, immediately made the exception that it is not the putting off of the filth of the flesh, he sufficiently showed that for some, baptism is only the outward act, and that the outward sign of itself avails nothing.

But the answer of a good conscience. The word question, or questioning, is to be understood here as “answer” or “testimony.”

Peter briefly defines the efficacy and use of baptism when he calls attention to conscience and expressly requires the confidence that can sustain the sight of God and stand before His tribunal.

For in these words he teaches us that baptism in its main part is spiritual, and that it includes the remission of sins and the renovation of the old man. How can there be a good and pure conscience until our old man is reformed and we are renewed in the righteousness of God? And how can we answer before God unless we rely on and are sustained by a free pardon of our sins?

In short, Peter intended to set forth the effect of baptism, so that no one might glory in a bare and dead sign, as hypocrites are accustomed to do.

But we must notice what follows: by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. By these words, Peter teaches us that we are not to cling to the element of water, and that what is typified by it flows from Christ alone and is to be sought from Him.

Moreover, by referring to the resurrection, he refers to the doctrine he had taught before: that Christ was made alive by the Spirit. For the resurrection was victory over death and the completion of our salvation.

We therefore learn that the death of Christ is not excluded but is included in His resurrection. We then cannot derive benefit from baptism otherwise than by having all our thoughts fixed on the death and resurrection of Christ.