This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you-- not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Zerr was faithful to point out that there is also in this text an effective argument for immersion as the action that truly is baptism in the New Testament sense.  "Had the rite been performed by sprinkling, all would have known that such an act could not cleanse anything,"[40] certainly not any filth from the body.