Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation?

One thing that I think goes unnoticed by most Christians is that water baptism has fallen out of favor with a majority of the Christian world. There are several reasons that have led to water baptism being separated from salvation over the past couple hundred years.¹ These arguments can get quite elaborate, but what I believe they all have in common is that they try to mold God's word to fit man's thinking. Which, as we will see, is not what God wants.

First, I want to clarify that we are not going to cover all beliefs that Christians have about baptism. We are also not trying to call anyone false for their beliefs. We will be looking at one reason that people use to argue that baptism is not needed to be saved. That being that if you require someone to be baptized to be saved you are saying that what Jesus did on the cross was not enough. We will go about this in three parts. We will first look at what they say and why. Then we will show how salvation can be looked at from two perspectives. Last we will address the thief that was on the cross with Jesus.

So let's look at what Jesus told his disciples to do.

Jesus commanded his disciples to baptize and teach them to keep everything he commanded. So is this something we need to do to be saved or is it something we do after we are saved?

There are many reasons that people use to argue against water baptism being required for salvation. I will not try to answer them all but believe that they all come from the idea that we are saved by faith alone. When they say faith they are referring to believing that Jesus died for our sins and rose on the third day. Some will argue that you need to confess with your mouth along with believing and others will not.²

What we are arguing for is that you must be baptized to be saved. This is commonly referred to as baptismal regeneration. I know this is not a biblical term and is usually used in a negative light by those who don't believe you have to be baptized. But I feel it's the best term to describe what we believe so I will use it.

I think it's only fair to allow the other side to make their case. Below is a good description of why some believe that baptism is not required for salvation.³

When you break this down it's pretty simple. They are saying that if you require anyone to do anything else to be saved you are saying that the cross was not enough. If that is true then you can be baptized after you are saved. We will look at whether that statement is true in scripture.

I think there is truth to what they are saying. When someone says that you need to be baptized to be saved they are not saying that Jesus didn't die for our sins. They are saying that "you need to work with what Christ did on the cross to be saved". Well, I believe there are two ways to look at salvation.

God made it possible for us to be saved from our sins.⁴ Without us helping him in any way. We can also look at salvation from our side. God gave us the opportunity to be saved by meeting certain requirements that he has given us.⁵ When we look at salvation from these two views we are not taking anything away from God.

What can we do as sinners to be saved from our sins? Nothing. That's why God sent his Son to die in our place.⁶ But God can't repent for us of the sins we have committed. Only a man can repent for himself. God gave us the ability to be saved and we need to do what he tells us to.

Let me give you an example. A king could decide to spare the life of a man that he sentenced to death. Only the king can decide to spare his life. The man can only beg for his life. But he still has to beg for his life. No one would say that by begging for his life he helped the king. In the same way God has asked us to have faith in him. Faith that says he died for our sins is not enough. You have to do what he tells you to do.⁷ Repent of your sins (feeling sorrow for your sins and wanting to turn from them, a death to sin) and be washed of your sins in water. Where we are buried with Christ.⁸

Peter says that the Lord does not want anyone to perish but for all to repent.

So what type of salvation do you think the ones that don't repent are saved with? Do you think you can be saved by God's grace and not repent of your sins? Paul tells Timothy that by following God's word he will save himself and those that hear him.

Another way to look at this is that Christ is the cure for our sins. His blood paid the price for us to be saved. But we have to take the medicine the way God told us to in order to be healed. We also shouldn't look at baptism as "our" good work. If Christ had not died, been buried and risen again then our baptism would not mean anything. It's because of what he did that we can be saved.⁹

So when we are baptized we are not adding to what Christ did. We are allowing what Christ did to be added to us.¹⁰

Now we get to what everyone brings up when we say that you need to be baptized to be saved. The thief that was crucified next to Jesus. He was never baptized and Jesus told him he would be with him in Paradise.

I believe this is a valid question and here is my answer. What this scripture shows is that God can save anyone he wants to. It does not show that we can be saved without being baptized. At that time no one could be baptized into the death of Christ. Because it had not happened yet. We are baptized into the death of Christ.¹¹ You can't be baptized into something that hasn't happened.

Which leads me to believe that the thief on the cross is not an exception to what the apostles were teaching about baptism. He lived and died before Christ could finish what he came to the cross to do. He was saved by the Son of God that was next to him. After Christ died, was buried and rose again we are told to be baptized.¹² The apostles started teaching this to those that wanted to be saved.¹³ And Paul explains that when we are baptized we are being buried with Christ.¹⁴

This is something that people fail to understand. If the thief couldn't be baptized into the death of Christ because he hadn't died yet. Then what stops us from being baptized into his death? The thief was saved without being baptized. We are told to be baptized. This just shows that God can save whoever he wants to. It doesn't show that we can be saved without repenting and being baptized.

We looked at one argument that people use to say that baptism is not required to be saved. We saw that there is nothing about water baptism that says what Christ did on the cross was not enough. Water baptism shows us what Christ did for us. Only the blood of Jesus can save us from our sins and allow us to live with God forever.¹⁵

You could say that water baptism is a good work. But it's not something that we do. It's to wash away our sins and show that we have been raised to new life.¹⁶ It's not something that we can do for ourselves. It's something that God allows us to do.