There are other terms for symbolism.

“who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, even as Moses was warned by God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for he said, “See, you shall make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.””
Heb 8:5 WEB

So when a person, place, thing, or event in history is symbolic of some future person, place, thing, or event, it might be called a “copy,” or a “shadow,” or a “pattern.” In this verse the word translated “pattern” is the the word tupos, which also sometimes translated as “type,” as for instance in Rom 5:14 in the New American Standard 95 ed., and the New King James Version. Other words are also used at times.

Moses is clearly a “type,” symbolic
of the Christ

As Moses said,

“Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you shall listen;”
Deut 18:15 WEB

That is an unequivocal statement of symbolism, and has been discussed in more detail in previous posts.

And Adam is announced as a type of the Christ. He is the head and the first of new race of men who will all be like Him.

“Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.”
Rom 5:14 WEB

“Foreshadowing” is here another translation of the Greek word tupos or “type.”

The fulfillment of a symbol/type is in Greek sometimes
called an antitype.

The Greek word is anittupos (anti-tupos), and in Greek the word or prefix anti has the idea of replacement. Thus an anti-type is the fulfillment/replacement for the symbol, the type. Antitupos is used in this sense in 1 Peter 3.

“19 … while the ark was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you …”
1Pe 3:19-20 WEB

So Peter says that the waters of Noah’s flood, while destroying the wicked, floated Noah and his family to safety, and that is a “symbol” (antitupos) of baptism. The New King James Version gives a very literal translation here: “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism …”

So here is another type which is announced in Scripture, the waters of the flood being symbolic of baptism.

Of course this is NOT saying we are saved
by any work of man.

Baptism is NOT a work of man! You do not DO baptism, rather you ARE baptized. Baptism is something you must SUBMIT to.

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
1Cor 12:13 KJV

The One who works in baptism is the Holy Spirit of God, changing your soul, and washing you in the blood of Jesus Christ. Otherwise, all you did was to have a bath.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901