"The New Ark" - 1 Peter 3:21-22

21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

     Here Peter draws a parallel between the Ark, that brought Noah and his family salvation from the flood, with baptism and the saving work of Christ.  Water was often equated with death; especially large bodies of water.  To be a fisherman, as Peter was, was a perilous profession.  Many were not good swimmers, if they could swim at all, and people at the time had no concept of what might lie deep beneath the waves.  The idea of the being out in the ocean was terrifying for many.  Add to that the fact that the word had already been completely destroyed by a flood and it is easy to understand why water was equated with death.
     So here Peter says, just as the Ark saved Noah and his family, Baptism now saves you.  He goes on to clarify that it is not the literal dunking, not taking a bath and removing dirt from your body, that saves you.  No, what saves you is two-fold.
     First is the "appeal to God for a good conscience," that is the acknowledgement of our guilt and sin, and our call to God to do something about it.  In the greek, the word "appeal" is eperōtēma and it is more than just a question or call.  It holds within it a deep longing and desire.  It is an attitude change, a desperate call for rescue.  It is the feeling many of us experienced when we initially came to faith in Christ (what many call getting "saved,") whether that corresponded temporally with our physical baptism or not.  Historically, there was no gap of time between baptism and salvation in the early church, but somewhere in the many permutations of the church since then, a gap has formed where one may be "saved" for many years before being baptized.  I think this is because of a lack of proper understanding and education regarding baptism.  Baptism is important, but it is not most important though.  The second piece is the bigger piece.
     Secondly, we are not saved only through our own action of eperōtēma, but much more through the bigger action of Christ's death and resurrection.  Centuries before we would ever choose to acknowledge Him, Christ chose to die for our sins.  He chose us over Himself.  He chose us.  All authority was given to Him by the Father, and He laid it all down to die for us, and now He waits for us at the right hand of the Father, His victory over death forever sealed.  And so we are saved by both our action and His action, or better yet, His action and our reaction.