69 “whereunto baptism, being
of the like form, now saves you also ο και υμας αντιτυπον νυν σωζει
βαπτισμα, wherein ο
(“whereunto”)
is the subject and the water of vr. 20 is its antecedent and can be
translated as, “which antitype, baptism, now saves us.” The DR’s “being of the
like form” is “αντιτυπον,”
transliterated into English as “antitype,” which appears only here and Hb 9:24
(“the pattern of the true”). The type from the OT is always less than the
antitype to which it points in the NT, hence baptism unto spiritual salvation
is greater than the physical saving of Noah. Peter reinforces his spiritual
meaning by saying baptism is, “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh”
as if the water applied were for the purpose of taking dirt from the body;
rather, it takes away the filth of the soul. The water lustrations of the Old
Covenant priests only cleaned the body and were merely symbolic of a spiritual
cleansing, but New Covenant baptism is the actual means of salvation wherein
the Holy Spirit cleanses the soul when the water is applied to the body with
the baptismal formula (cf. Jn 3:5; Ti 3:5; Mk 16:16; Ep 5:26; Ac 2:38;
Gl 3:27; Mt 28:19). (Robert A. Sungenis, Commentary on the Catholic
Douay-Rheims New Testament from the Original Greek and Latin, 4 vols.
[State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2021], 4:227 n. 69)
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