There are many prefigurations of Baptism in both the Old and the New Testaments which confirm that baptism effects remission of sins and is ordinarily necessary for salvation.
The greatest figure is the Red Sea; before the Israelites could enter the Promised Land, which prefigures the New Jerusalem, indeed even before they could enter the desert, which prefigures this present life, the Israelites, when fleeing Pharoh and his host, who represent the demons of whom we are born under the dominion and the passions to which we are enslaved, had to pass first through the Red Sea. After the whole of Israel passed through the Red Sea, adults as well as children, all of the host of Pharoah, that is, all of the demons which followed them and all of the passions which plagued them, were drowned in the sea. In the middle of the sea went with them the Pillar of Fire and Cloud; both of which represent the Holy Spirit, the latter as illustrated by the fire of Pentecost, the former by the Shekinah glory which later descended upon the Tabernacle in the form of a cloud. The pillar also represents the Word, the "light of the world", who is present in the midst of the waters — this is referenced by Paul when he talks about "the washing of water with the Word" (Eph 5:26). St. Paul demonstrates that the Red Sea prefigures baptism explicitly in 1 Cor 10:1-2: "For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Note the duality: the cloud, that is the Spirit, and the sea, that is, the water. So, then, even Sacred Scripture affirms that the Red Sea prefigured baptism, and clearly shows the two aspects of baptism: water and Spirit, sea and cloud.
There are two other water partings which the early Fathers saw also as figures of baptism. One is the parting of the Jordan by Joshua before the people finally enter the promised land (Jos 3). Note that Jordan is where Jesus was baptized, and Joshua is the Hebrew rendition of Jesus. So in the figure of Joshua and the Jordan, Jesus baptized his people before they enter the promised land. Note what God promises (Jos 1:11): "Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own." And again, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you" (3:5). The three days, of course, prefigure the Resurrection of our Lord, which we participate in through baptism (Romans 6). Note that the Ark of the Covenant goes with them (3:3,6); as soon as the priests carrying it set foot in the water (v.15), the waters stopped. Again, the Ark represents the Word present amid the waters of baptism. The second parting is again the parting of the Jordan, this time just before the Assumption of Elijah (2 Ki 2:8). Elijah parts the Jordan immediately before he is taken up into heaven, that is, it prefigures how we must pass through the waters of baptism before we may be taken up into heaven.
Next, as David has already mentioned, is the Flood, which Peter says corresponds to baptism "exactly" (1 Pet 3:20). Again, we see in the flood, that eight people were saved through water — eight is the Scriptural symbolism of the Resurrection, for Christ rose on the eighth day of the week (so the early Fathers described the day in symbolism), and also circumcision, for infants were circumcised on the eighth day. In the water, evil was destroyed; so when we are baptized, we are freed from evil, just as Noah's family was. Note also the figure of the dove: the dove who hovers over the waters. This symbolizes the Spirit, who, like the Red Sea, is present in this figure along with the water. Indeed it calls to mind Genesis 1, where "the Spirit hovered over the waters," another mystical reference to baptism; because in baptism, we are made a new creation. This confirms that when Paul speaks of being made a new creation, he is referring to baptism, because clearly in Genesis baptism was prefigured.
The next figure of baptism is the cleansing of Naaman. (2 Ki 5:1ff) Naaman comes to Elisha because he has leprosy — a figure of sin. Elisha tells him to go wash in the Jordan seven times — seven, being of course a mystical number, representing the seven sacraments (the first of which is baptism) or the Holy Spirit (cf. Revelation 4:5). Note also where he tells him to wash — in the Jordan, where Jesus was baptized. Finally, note Naaman's response: very much like today's Christians who say, "Why do I need to be baptized? (that is, why do I need to go wash in the Jordan?) It is a `gospel of works' to suggest that I need to be baptized to wash away my sins, my sins are washed away by merely confessing his name and no more (that is, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure my of my leprosy)". Naaman's servants convince him otherwise, and he washes in the Jordan, and is cleansed of his leprosy; so are we cleansed of our leprosy of sin when we are washed in the Jordan sacramentally through baptism.
There are New Testament figures of baptism as well. The cleansing of Naaman has a parallel in the New Testament, again where Jesus asks the lepers to go and wash in the water, and when they do so they are cleansed. The pool of Siloam is a figure of baptism; the one who was crippled who entered the water first would be healed. And even more interesting figure is the Raising of Lazarus (John 11). Note that St. John makes a point of saying that Jesus was west of the Jordan, "there where John baptized" (John 10:40). John does this for a reason: he is linking the Raising of Lazarus with baptism. The west symbolizes the dominion of Satan, and the East symbolizes the kingdom of God and the Promised Land, because it is from the East that the Lord will return. Anyway, when Jesus is at this spot, Lazarus dies. Note that Jesus waited two days. Why did Jesus wait two days? For what purpose? Lazy, maybe? Why does John even bother mentioning these "boring" details? Because it fulfills what was said back in Joshua 1:11, "In three days you will pass over the Jordan." And this is _exactly_ what Jesus did on his way to raising Lazarus, where the Lord went to work wonders (cf. Joshua 3:5). Jesus crossed from the west to the East over the Jordan, and then promptly raised Lazarus from the dead. Thus the Sacred Scriptures indicate to us that we are raised from the dead through baptism — but this much is explicitly taught in Romans 6. St. Thomas comments as they go (John 11:6), "Let us also go and die with Him." This indicates that as we die with Christ in baptism, we are called, during our Christian life, to die to ourselves, in imitation of Christ's death. That the crossing of Joshua over the Jordan prefigured the Raising of Lazarus is also indicated by the twelve stones that God commanded to be laid in the Jordan (Jos 4:3), which symbolize the twelve Apostles who were with Jesus when Lazarus was raised, and whom he commissioned to go out and baptize all nations.
Finally, our baptism is prefigured in Jesus's own baptism (Mk 1:10-11, Mt 3:17-18). Note that when Jesus is baptized, and goes down into the water, that darn dove appears again, or rather, the Spirit appears, just as He did at Creation, just as He did at the Flood, just as He did in the fire at the Red Sea, just as he did in the Ark at the Jordan. And when Jesus is baptized, and the Spirit appears, the Father says, "Behold, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased," by which we understand that this is what the Father says to us when we are born again by baptism into the family of God as adopted children: "This is my beloved son [or daughter], with whom I am well pleased"; beloved son through adoption, well pleased with us because by His grace in baptism he has washed us and cleansed us of our leprosy, making our flesh "clean like that of a young boy" (2 Kings 5:14). St. Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 389) says, "If you endeavor to have true piety the Holy Spirit will also descend upon you from above. You too will hear the voice of the Father saying, 'This is not my Son, but now that he has been baptized, he has been made mine.'" (Catecheses III, About Baptism, 14).
Now that you understand all the prefigurements, it is no mystery whatsoever what Jesus meant in John 3:5ff, when he said, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again … I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit." Being born again means becoming a son or daughter of God; the water and the Spirit points not only to Jesus's baptism, at which the Spirit descended over the waters, but also to the Creation account of Genesis, the destruction of evil in the Flood, the deliverance of the Israelites in the Red Sea, the entry of the People of God into the Promised Land, and the cleansing of Naaman from his leprosy. As if to prove this, Jesus proceeds, immediately after this discourse, to go and baptize (John 3:22). Those who insist that being "born again" means having a religious experience, or means giving one's life to the Lord, have no Scriptural warrant whatsoever for this conclusion. Nowhere does Paul make this link in any of his letters; nowhere does Jesus give any clue that he is talking about an experience. The suggestion that this is what Jesus means by "born again" is utterly specious and unbiblical, whereas the view that Jesus is referring to baptism is crystal clear when you understand the prefigurements.
It is also clear that the early Christians understood John 3:5 to refer to baptism. For example, St. Justin the Martyr explains in his defense of Christianity to the pagans (circa 155 A.D.) what baptism means to Christians:
I will explain by what manner we, who have been renewed by Christ, have dedicated ourselves to God, so that we may not seem to be acting wickedly in our explanation by leaving this out. All those who are convinced and believe that the things we teach and say are true, and who profess to be able to live in this manner, are taught to pray and to ask God in fasting the forgiveness of their sins while we pray and fast together with them. Then they are led by us to where there is water and are reborn in the same rebirth in which we ourselves were also reborn. They undergo the washing in water in the name of God the Father and Master of the universe, and of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit.
For indeed Christ said, "Unless you be reborn, you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." Now it is clear to all that it is impossible for those who have already been born to return again into their mother's wombs. As we wrote previously, it has been said through Isaiah the prophet how those who have sinned and repented will avoid the consequences of their sins. For thus was it said, "Wash, make yourselves clean, remove the evils from your souls, defend the orphan and do justice for the widow; and come let us converse together, says the Lord. And if your sins are like purple, I will make them white like wool; and if they are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow. But if you do not listen to me, a sword will devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things." (Is 1:16-20)
We learned this doctrine from the Apostles. In our first birth we were born unconscious, according to necessity, out of the humid seed from the intercourse of our parents, and we grew up in evil customs and bad habits. But in order that we may not remain children of necessity and ignorance, but of election and understanding and may obtain remission of sins previously committed, the name of God the Father and Master of the universe is invoked in the water over the one who has chosen to be reborn and who has repented of his sins. This name alone is the one which he invokes who is leading the candidate to the washing. Indeed no one is able to pronounce the name of the ineffable God. If someone would dare to say what it is, he would be seized with incurable madness.
This washing is called "enlightenment", since those who have learned these things are enlightened in their minds. The one being illuminated is washed in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through he prophets foretold all these things regarding Jesus. (Apology I.61)
Tertullian writes, in his treatise On Baptism (circa 200 A.D.) [1,1],
"A treatise on our sacrament of water, by which the sins of our earlier blindness are washed away and we are released for eternal life will not be superfluous … . [W]e, little fishes, are born in water after the manner of our ICHTHUS, Jesus Christ; nor can we be otherwise saved, except by abiding permanently in the water."
(N.B. ICHTHUS in Greek means fish, but is also an acronym for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior".)
The Shepherd of Hermas, circa 155 A.D., an early document accepted in some regions for a time as Scripture, says about baptism [16,93,1-4]:
"Show me still further, Sir," say I. "What desirest thou to know besides?" saith he. "Wherefore, Sir," say I, "did the stones come up from the deep, and wherefore were they placed into the building, though they bore these spirits?" "It was necessary for them," saith he, "to rise up through water, that they might be made alive; for otherwise they could not enter into the kingdom of God, except they had put aside the deadness of their [former] life. So these likewise that had fallen asleep received the seal of the Son of God and entered into the kingdom of God. For before a man," saith he, "has borne the name of [the Son of] God, he is dead; but when he has received the seal, he layeth aside his deadness, and resumeth life. The seal then is the water: so they go down into the water dead, and they come up alive. "thus to them also this seal was preached, and they availed themselves of it that they might enter into the kingdom of God."
St. Hippolytus (d. ca. 236), in his Homily on the Theophany wrote that the Christian "comes forth from Baptism resplendent like the sun. What is even more important, he has been coverted into a son of God and a co-redeemer with Christ."
So then we see that the early Christians saw baptism as that which effected Christian rebirth and regeneration, and washed away all of one's sins by the application of the sacrifice of Christ to be believer sacramentally.
It was of baptism that Ezekiel prophesied, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean." St. Paul indicates this in Hebrews 10:22, "our hearts [were] sprinkled clean … and our bodies washed with pure water." And through Zechariah was promised the "fountain opened to cleanse from sin and uncleanness" (Zec 13:1). For "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor 6:11). It was also baptism to which Paul referred when he said, "[Christ] cleansed [the Church] by the washing of water with the Word" (Eph 5:26), here again we see the notion of the Word present in the midst of the waters. And again when in his letter Titus he referred to the "washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit which he poured out … so we might be justified." That our sins are washed away in baptism is clearly stated in Acts 22:16: "Be baptized and wash your sins away", and again in 2:38, "be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins." Hence we are justified in this washing of baptism, a concept which is incontrovertible in light of all the prefigurations of it in both the Old and the New Testament.
(Edition 1.2, copyright (c) 1995, 2005, Eric James Ewanco (Email: eje at ewanco.com, http://www.ewanco.com/~eje) except for patristic and scripture citations. Permission to redistribute electronically is granted, provided it is not sold and this notice remains intact. This article may not be published in print without permission from the author.)