Baptism as a Loyalty Oath

Peter says baptism saves you, and then immediately rules out the reading you would expect: not as a removal of dirt from the body. So what is it?
The Greek word he uses is eperotema. The lexicons - BDAG and LSJ both - give it as pledge. Not a private request made to God, but a formal, public undertaking. On that reading baptism is "not primarily a cleansing ritual. It is a loyalty oath."
And look where the sentence sits. Peter has just described the proclamation to the imprisoned spirits. Baptism follows it directly, which makes the act a public re-announcement of that same verdict - declared, this time, by the person going into the water.
Scripture links:
- 1 Peter 3:21 - "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."
- 1 Peter 3:22 - "who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God."
You were not only washed. You swore allegiance, in front of witnesses seen and unseen.