So just quickly I thought of the answers to your reply.
I Peter 3:21 wasn’t a bad attempt but when I started to consider why and how we are saved, I also had to consider the context of the quote and could it be supported anywhere else.
On the latter it cannot, at least in the context of your concern.
The salient or key issue is how does one achieve salvation or arrive at it.
The 1st thought I had was of the three great parables in Mathew 13 “Pearl of Great Price”. I am sure you know it well, almost any Christian will be familiar with it.
We cannot commit any act to obtain salvation, it is given by God through Jesus Christ.
If we buy, barter or commit to anything extra then salvation would cease being a gift of God.
In fact, Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins with his life and we have been told there is but one 0thing we can do to receive his salvation:
The only act we can commit is the change in spirit and with humility come before God and accept his gift.
That’s it. No other act is required and no other act can be used as value to God for your salvation lest Jesus Christ’s act means nothing and our salvation is not true.
No Pastor, my baptism is an outward expression and witness to others of my changed spirit. The act of baptism is to show others I have literally been washed, died of my old life and risen in my new life.
n 1 Peter 3:18, Peter gave the gospel, the fact that "Christ died for sin once and for all , the just for the unjust, to bring us to GOd..." so the real question is how after that could he state that Baptism saves?
This is the context of I Peter 3:20-21. It is how the flood of Noah relates to baptism; as Noah was delivered from his doomed world by the waters of God's judgment, even so the waters of Baptism serve to deliver us,(Not the washing of filth, for baptism doesn't "cleanse" or :"redeem us), but as an"Appeal to God for a good conscience through the ressurrection of Jesus. I
Your last statement contains part of what I believe Peter is getting at, The act of baptism is to show others I have literally been washed, died of my old life and risen in my new life. Baptism saves in the sense that we clearly seperate ourselves from the doomed world in which we were once a part.