IS NOAH’S ARK A SYMBOL OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?

In Palermo, Sicily resides a Palatine Chapel which is reported to contain a famous mosaic of Noah’s ark.  Pictures of it can be found here:

https://www.christianiconography.info/sicily/noahArkPalatineChapel.html

https://www.christianiconography.info/sicily/noahPalatine.html

In this mosaic, Noah’s ark appears to be representing the Church, which Catholics officially believe to be the “universal sacrament of salvation” (Lumen Gentium, chapter VII, par. 48).  See here:

https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html

Please note that another official teaching of Catholicism is that the Catholic Church is absolutely necessary for the salvation of mankind.  The first paragraph of the papal decree Unam Sanctam reflects this teaching:

“Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic… we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins… In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism... There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church… outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.” (Unam Sanctam, Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302). 

Moreover, this document “infallibly” declares:

“Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff [pope].” (Emphasis added)

See here:

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

This whole bull (public papal decree) is about the authority of the Catholic Church and the necessity of it for salvation.  And because of this concept, this Church puts forth the idea that the ark of Noah (Genesis chapters 6-8) has to be a picture of the Church – specifically, the Catholic Church.  So, with this in mind, we can begin to understand the reason why the average Catholic in the pew sees Noah’s ark as a symbol of the Church. 

But is the ark of Noah indeed a picture of the Church, or are Catholics mistaken?  Furthermore, does it even matter?

Wrong Picture

Yes, it does indeed matter, because Catholics are attributing to their Church a power that Scripture does not give it. 

It was certainly the ark that saved Noah and the other seven members of his family, but the church is not a structure, like a boat or a building, but rather, the church is defined as the people of God (1 Corinthians 16:19; Philemon 1:1-2). Believers are not IN the church, they, collectively, ARE the church. 

It is the people in the ark (Noah and his family) who are the picture of the church – while the ark itself represents Jesus, the one who saves from judgment!

What Does “the Church” Mean?

When most Catholics (even the “clergy”) use the term “the Church,” they are not using the biblical definition.  They are usually not talking about the universal, worldwide church of Jesus Christ (e.g., Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:17-18), nor the local assembly of believers (e.g., 1 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:2; Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14), but to them, the term “Church” means specifically the Magisterium, i.e., the leaders of the institution of the Church of Rome, the Catholic Church and no other church. 

Whether it is intentional or not, there is a continual effort in the Catholic Church to present the Magisterium in this way.  But the term “church” is not ever used this way in the Bible.  And once we use the biblical definition, it clears the air and does not allow the heresy of having any one denomination as the “one true church.”

This is simply the mindset of most Catholics.  See more of this mindset in this link:

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-catholic-mindset.html

What About 1 Peter 3:20?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the event of Noah’s ark and the flood prefigures/symbolizes salvation by water baptism:

“The Church has seen in Noah's ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it ‘a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.’" (CCC #1219)

And it then footnotes 1 Peter 3:20, which says:

“Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

Of this verse, Catholics will often focus on the last three words in the King James Version of the Bible – “saved by water.”  They claim that this verse proves that a person is saved by water baptism.  But the context does not bear this out.

A more correct reading would be “saved through the water,” as the great majority of the Bible translations indicate, as well as the Catholic Catechism quote above.

It is a fact that not every Scripture passage that talks about baptism is about water baptism.  Yes, there is water in the context of this passage, but the water here destroyed all those who were “baptized” in it.  The water in this context was the judgment of God.  If this is all about water baptism saving a person, this is a terrible example! 

The only reason that “baptism language” is used here is to indicate that Noah and his family were placed/immersed into the ark – which is what saved them.  This is a picture of those who are incorporated into the body of Christ to be saved (1 Corinthians 12:12-13), not into water.  Water baptism is simply a symbol of what happens to you when you get saved. 

So, this “salvation-by-baptism” argument fails to show that Noah’s ark is symbolic of the Catholic Church.

See more about 1 Peter 3:20 and baptism here:

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2015/07/

Biblical Church vs. Sacramental Church

For the biblical Christian, the local church should indeed be a vital aspect of his life.  There, he is fed spiritually (Hebrews 5:13-14), he is edified and equipped for the ministry (Ephesians 4:12), encouraged and comforted in his Christian walk (1 Thessalonians 2:12), he is convicted of sin when necessary (1 Corinthians 14:24), and he is fellowshipping and interacting with other Christians in a mutually positive way (1 John 1:3, 7) – but most importantly, he is encouraged to depend on the life and work of Jesus Christ on the cross for his salvation, and that alone (Romans 4:4-6) – or, at least this should be the case. 

But throughout the individual Catholic’s life, the Catholic Church subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) conditions him to depend on the Catholic institution/organization/denomination itself for salvation.  Usually, he receives the sacrament of baptism very early in life, even as an infant.  He is brought up to believe that this absolved him of his original sin.  He is also taught that the sacrament/ritual of confirmation confirms and establishes him in his faith.  He will also receive the Eucharist weekly and go to confession often, and when he is at the point of death, he will receive the last rites.  It is a cradle-to-grave dependence upon the (Catholic) Church for salvation, through the sacraments.

All these are necessary steps in his salvation and these can only be obtained from the leaders of the Church.  And if he happens to miss a step, he can always depend on a temporary visit to Purgatory to finish the job that Jesus Christ was unable to finish with His work on the cross!  Yes, this is absolute blasphemy, yet, in practice, this is what the Catholic is expected to believe.

See this link for more on the sacraments:

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2011/01/sacraments-gods-grace-for-sale.html

See also a seven-part series on Catholic sacraments, beginning here:

https://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-sacraments-of-catholic-church-part.html

Conclusion

Yes, the (truly biblical) local church is indeed very important.  But again, the Catholic Church puts great emphasis on a person’s lifelong subjection to its sacraments and rituals for salvation. 

And this is exactly why they liken the Church to Noah’s ark, because the ark is what saved the eight people of God, and they desperately want their members to believe that their salvation comes from the Church.

But in Catholic theology, it seems that Jesus always has to take a back seat to the Magisterium, which, in practice, is the one that is actually exalted. 

Granted, in their official documents, the Catholic Church uses many sublime descriptions and eloquent language to describe their honor of, and submission to, Jesus – yet in practice it seems to be quite different.  Mother Church is the one who always seems to be in the limelight, while the work of Jesus is minimized.

When one looks deeper into their doctrines, he will see a notable disparity between those teachings and the Holy Scriptures that they claim to love and obey.

To nail it home, the event of Noah’s ark points to the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ as the one who saves mankind, not to the Catholic Church.