1 Pet. iii. 21. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth
also note saw as.
GOD has marked the necessity of holiness no less by the dispensations of his providence than by the declarations of his grace. His destroying of the whole world for their iniquity, evinced as strongly as any thing could, that sin should never go unpunished, and that the righteous only should be saved. In this view St. Peter introduces the mention of that well-attested fact, and declares, that the salvation experienced by Noah in the ark, was typical of that which we experience by Christ, and into which we are brought by our baptism. The text is by no means free from difficulties : to render it as intelligi- ble as we can, we shall consider,
I. The typical salvation here referred to —
God had determined to overwhelm the world with
a deluge —
[Though there had been so few generations upon earth, that Noah's own father (Lamech) had been contemporary with Adam for sixty years, and lived till within five years of the flood, so that Noah, and the people of that generation, had, for no less than six hundred years together, received instruction only at second hand from Adam himself, yet had " all flesh corrupted their way," insomuch that " God repented that he had made man," and resolved to destroy him from off the face of the earth.]
But for the preservation of the righteous he in- structed Noah to make an ark —
[This vessel was not constructed according to man's device, but by the special direction of God himself. To the eyes of man it doubtless seemed an absurd attempt : but " the foolish- ness of God is wiser than man ;" and the event justified the hopes and expectations of Noah.]
In the mean time he called the people to repent- ance by the ministry of Noah —
2404.1 NOAIl's ARK A TYPE OF CHRIST. 239
[God exercised forbearance towards them one hundred and twenty years. But they " received his grace in vain." And the means used for their salvation only ripened them for destruction.]
When the appointed time was come, he ordered Noah and his family to go into the ark —
[The symptoms of the flood did not yet appear ; but these favourites of heaven were to condemn the world, not in word only, but in deed. By manifesting their faith, their fear, and their obedience, they were practically to condemn the world's unbelief, security, and disobedience a. And, upon their en- trance into the ark, " God shut them in" with his own hand, that the door might be secure against the violence of the wind and waves.]
Then the waters, that destroyed all the world besides, bore up them in perfect safety —
[Every other refuge now proved vain. The unbelievers found to their cost the truth of God's threatenings. Their numbers did not screen them from his judgments. Nor was the fewness of the elect any bar to their acceptance and sal- vation. They rose, while others sank in the mighty waters. Nor, if any cleaved to the ark, did that avail them. The very builders of the ark perished. They, and they only, who were in the ark, were made the monuments of saving mercy.]
This history being altogether typical, we shall con- sider,
II. The correspondent salvation which we enjoy —
Baptism is spoken of in the text as the antitype*, of which Noah's flood was the type. But we appre- hend the Apostle's meaning to be, that Noah's salva- tion in the ark was typical of our salvation under the Christian dispensation0. This subject will be best understood, not by drawing the parallel between the flood and baptism, or between the ark and Christ, but by exhibiting the fact of our salvation as corre- sponding with that of Noah.
a Heb. xi. 7- b 'Avtitvttov.
c The relative to cannot agree with Kiftwrov, which is feminine, hut must agree with vcaroc, or rather perhaps with the whole sentence ; this last construction renders the sense of the passage incomparably more clear ; on which account it is here preferred.