What saved Noah The Water or the Ark?

Question

1Pe 3:20 BSB

who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.

How is water the instrument of which Noah was saved?

Answer 1

Genesis 7:

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.

The water floated the ark.

19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. a b 21Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

What saved Noah The Water or the Ark?

The floodwater floated the ark and saved all its occupants.

Answer 2

Peter, as was common among NT writers, used an OT example to illustrate a NT theological point. He is saying that baptism saves us, not by a removal of dirt or even sin, per se, but because of our identification with the crucified and risen Christ.

The water represents burial and the ark represents our faith in Christ. So both are necessary for salvation. We have to die to ourselves and our old sinful life, through faith, so that we will rise to a new life in Christ.

Answer 3

"What saved Noah The Water or the Ark?"

The answer is necessarily both.

The Ark of Salvation
It is clear from the original narrative that the ark was the means by which God intended to preserve Noah and the selected animals alive:

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. -Genesis 6:19

The Waters of Salvation
While not as explicitly stated from the original narrative, it is clear that Peter identifies the waters of the flood as being an instrument of Noah's salvation:

20 ...the longsuffering of God was waiting in the days of Noah, of the ark being prepared, in which a few—that is, eight souls—were saved through water, 21 which also prefigures the baptism now saving you, not a putting away of the filth of flesh, but the demand of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Here we see that Peter directly compares the waters of the flood to the waters of baptism which he declares is saving the reader.

"How is water the instrument of which Noah was saved?"

The answer to this question becomes clear once we identify what Noah was being saved from.

With respect to the ark,
Noah and his family went into it to be preserved from the waters of the flood:

7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. - Genesis 7:7

With respect to the flood waters,
Noah went through it to be preserved from the world of the exceedingly wicked and ungodly:

5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; - 2 Peter 2:5
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. - Genesis 6:5

Parallels with Baptism
1 - Just as with Noah, salvation was achieved by the separation from, or death of, his old life and identity bonded to a world saturated with sin in order to enter into a new life with God through the waters of the flood, so too our salvation is achieved by death of, or separation from, our old life and identity bonded to sin to enter into a new life with Christ through the waters of baptism:

Romans 6:3-6 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. ...6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

2 - Just as the waters of the flood only brought salvation to Noah because of His faith in God, so too does salvation that baptism brings require the conscious faith of the one being baptized:

... 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. - Colossians 2:12
21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, - 1 Peter 3:21

Other Biblical Parallels
It also should be noted that salvation into a new life with God through destruction of the former life can also be seen:

1. As another prefigurement in the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Exodus (also by means of water)

13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. - Exodus 14:13

2. As the ultimate fulfillment in the coming destruction of the cosmos (not by water)

12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. - 2 Peter 3:12-13