by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The flood water is the figure, the type, and baptism is the antitype, the real thing prefigured (I Peter 3:20-21) by the flood water. So, how was the flood water the figure? It was the chosen means to wash away a sinful world and deliver Noah and his family to a new beginning. A similar but more real thing happens in baptism. God chose that when we are baptized in the name of Jesus, He will wash away the sins of our past (Acts 2:38; 22:16) and bring us into a newness of life (Romans 6:3-6).<\/p>\n
“There is an antitype that now saves us, namely baptism<\/em>” (I Peter 3:21). Get this! Baptism is not mere dunking in water, as if I am cleansed of sins each time I jump in the water. But “through the resurrection of Jesus<\/em>” and His authority to tell the dead in sin to die to sin, be buried with Him (baptism in His name<\/strong>), and rise to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-6), I have His <\/b>power and authority to leave my sinful world behind and come into a new life in baptism. The text does not say baptism is a figure. The flood is “the like figure whereunto<\/strong><\/em> (pointing forward to the antitype or real) baptism does also now saves us<\/strong><\/em>.”<\/p>\n So, the figure is the flood water he mentioned in I Peter 3:20, and the KJV says that flood water has a likeness that prefigures what now <\/b>saves us, namely, baptism. The only way baptism now saves us is “through the resurrection of Jesus<\/em>.” Without the resurrection of Jesus and His evident power over death, baptism is merely a dunking in water that, at best, could only wash dirt off the body. However, through the resurrection of Jesus, baptism is given the sanction of Jesus to be the point in faith that He will clean sin from our record and our conscience. Thus water was involved in saving Noah and His family from an evil world and bringing him to a new, cleansed world, and that was a like figure whereunto baptism also now saves us “through the resurrection of Jesus.<\/em>“<\/p>\n In baptism, we die to sin, burying our old sinful self into union with Jesus and rising with Him to walk in the newness of life. Uniting with Jesus in baptism is how baptism now saves us.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The flood water is the figure, the type, and baptism is the antitype, the real thing prefigured (I Peter 3:20-21) by the flood water. So, how was the flood water the figure? It was the chosen means to wash away a sinful world and deliver Noah and his family to a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[52,211,210],"class_list":["post-69150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-baptism","tag-figurative-language","tag-symbolism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":79303,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-baptism-a-symbol\/","url_meta":{"origin":69150,"position":0},"title":"Is Baptism a Symbol?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Jesus's blood saves us. It has nothing to do with baptism. Water baptism is symbolic of what happens to us when our sins are washed away by His blood.\" Answer: Why do we need a symbol? If the real thing happened, it happened. How does baptism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56269,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-flood-and-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":69150,"position":1},"title":"The Flood and Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Frank J. Jamerson via Gospel Power, Vol. 15, No. 13, March 30, 2008. Many of the teachings of the New Testament were prefigured in the Old Testament. The Old Testament story is the type and the New Testament lesson is the antitype, or that which is prefigured. One of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88910,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/baptism-and-jesus-blood\/","url_meta":{"origin":69150,"position":2},"title":"Baptism and Jesus Blood","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dub McClish Despite the most explicit statements of Scripture to the contrary, most Protestant denominations deny that baptism is a condition of God's forgiveness of our sins. Some reason that acceptance of such would equal salvation by one's own works. Others reject the necessity of baptism because of their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-die-to-sin-at-the-point-of-repentance\/","url_meta":{"origin":69150,"position":3},"title":"Do we die to sin at the point of repentance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: After viewing your web site, my brother and I saw the graphic on\u00a0the gospel re-enacted.\u00a0 I appreciate the way it is laid out.\u00a0 I am attaching a similar graphic that is being taught in this area and in many other areas also. In this graphic, it is taught that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68708,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/baptismal-regeneration\/","url_meta":{"origin":69150,"position":4},"title":"Baptismal Regeneration?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Some teach and believe that the water of baptism is in no way tied to regeneration or salvation. They think it is something you do after salvation as just a symbol of what already happened in your heart. We see no proof of that view in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35795,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-exceptions-made-for-those-who-are-unable-to-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":69150,"position":5},"title":"Are exceptions made for those who are unable to be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we are told that to be saved we must be baptized by being dunked in water, how or what allowances do you make for the sick, bedridden, old, or too young, who cannot go into the water and dunk their head? Answer: The argument is flawed because it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}