Is Baptism Salvific?

Friends at Bible study discussed this inconclusively while I was sick and I studied this exhaustively a couple of decades ago so I'm dusting off my notes.

First of all, it's a core Christian belief that salvation is through grace alone through faith alone through Jesus alone. There's a difference between a command by the King and a thing that is salvific. In the same Great Commission where Jesus commanded we baptize people, in the same sentence, He explicitly commanded that we go out into all the world. No one says being a permanent foreign missionary is required for salvation. Jesus also commanded that we observe communion, but that's not salvific either. But let's use some Bible to do a Bible Study not just discuss opinions.

If we do a text search for baptism in the NIV translation of the Bible, we'll see 18 results (not counting made up section titles) plus 50 for baptize. It's mentioned in a positive way all 60+ times, so at a minimum it's a good thing. Let's review some of the most positive verses which are evidence it's important.

• Matthew 3:13-17 WEB: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
• Matthew 28:19 WEB: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
• Mark 1:4-5 WEB: John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins.
• Romans 6:4 WEB: We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

So we've established it's important (Jesus did it, and He commanded we perform the ceremony on others) but is it more than important? There are verses where if God thought of baptism as salvific (required for salvation) then He could've said so, but He chose not to. Let's start here:

• Mark 16:16 WEB: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
  
  He gave a true positive but stopped short of giving a true negative. He did not say those who don't get baptized will be condemned. This would've been an important element in elevating the practice above important to required.

John 4:2 was the final reference to baptism in the 21 chapters of his book. If it was more than theologically important, wouldn't the most theological gospel writer have mentioned it again in the other 80% of his account? For compare and contrast, sexual immorality is also important. God defined it in Exodus 22, Leviticus 18-21, and in Deuteronomy. He basically never defines it again but he mentions it about 3 dozen times in the New Testament. He didn't "set and forget" sexual immorality like John did with baptism, he provided reminders about how important it is. Mentioning baptism up front and then not again supports the perspective that it's important but not required. If it was required then he'd have thrown in a reminder somewhere in the other 17 chapters (plus his 2 epistles) since it was so critical. Anything else, including claiming the thief on the cross may have been previously baptized because of Jesus's comment in ___, is nothing more than wishful thinking, and that is not the kind of theology God calls us to have.

There is no reference to baptism nor baptize in the entire book of Revelation, despite numerous opportunities.

• Revelation 7:9 WEB: After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
• Revelation 7:14 WEB: I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering. They washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.
• Revelation 14:1 WEB: I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a number, one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.
• Revelation 14:3-4 WEB: They sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth. These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
• Revelation 14:12 WEB: Here is the perseverance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
• Revelation 14:16 WEB: He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
• Revelation 15:2 WEB: I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image,[a] and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
• Revelation 18:4 WEB: I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues,
• Revelation 18:24 WEB: In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
• Revelation 19:9 WEB: He said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.’” He said to me, “These are true words of God.”

And then there's Matthew 4:17 WEB: 

He didn't say "repent and be baptized both, or your repentance isn't good enough." And it's not just here, He never said anything like that. For example, in the numerous breferences to salvation by Jesus, He didn't mention baptism in the same sentence:

• Matthew 10:22 WEB: You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
• Matthew 24:13 WEB: But he who endures to the end will be saved.
• Mark 13:13 WEB: You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
• Mark 16:16 WEB: He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
• Luke 7:50 WEB: He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
• Luke 8:12 WEB: Those along the road are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.
• John 10:8-10 WEB: All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out and will find pasture. The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

The key with Biblical worldview is you have to take all of scripture into consideration when taking a stand, not just the verses that support a stance we're tempted to take. 

Despite verses like 

• Acts 8:12-13 WEB: But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.
• Acts 8:36 WEB: As they went on the way, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”
• Acts 9:18 WEB: Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized.
• Acts 10:47-48 WEB: “Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.” He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay some days.
• Acts 18:8 WEB: Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.
• Acts 19:5 WEB: When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
• Acts 22:16 WEB: Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

There are also famous, powerful verses in the same book that omit it:

• Acts 2:21 WEB: It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
• Acts 2:46-47 WEB: Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.
• Acts 4:12 WEB: There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”

Calling the act of baptism salvific now is like calling circumcision salvific was back then. Notice in Acts 15 some people were saying believing in Jesus isn't enough, you also have to perform the act of circumcision. The Apostles said "yeah, no." Well, something like that. When they told the fellow believers all they needed to worry about, they didn't say "make sure you're baptizing everyone because unless you do those people are going to hell." And if missing the option of baptism doesn't send you to hell, then by definition it's not salvific. 

Don't even try to use Acts 16:29-33 to support baptism being salvific. This situation was an excellent example of how any sane human should come to the same conclusion that baptism is important. But the Apostle Paul and Silas didn't say "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved if you are also baptized." Belief and salvation came first, then baptism. 

Taking Acts 22:16 and basing all our theology on it could be compared to the misplaced but well intentioned theology of "asking Jesus into your heart." Never once in the Bible are people suggested to do this, yet we tell children everywhere to do this. It sounds good, but it's not technically accurate. Since He's omnipresent, he's already in our whole body, even before we're saved. Accepting Him as our savior is more technically accurate. Baptism only washes away the sins of people who've accepted Jesus as their savior, if you don't accept Him before getting baptized, then you just got wet. Same thing with 1 Peter 3:21.

This deserves more thought: 1 Peter 3:21 WEB: 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, (discuss later, compare pope verse & God wouldn't have waited until 1 Peter to introduce new theology)

There's a difference between important and salvific and it's risking unnecessary division to confuse the issue. Salvation is a decision, an admission that God is God and I am not and I need to be obedient to my Creator. It's not a decision plus one mandatory action.

• Romans 8:24 WEB: For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?
• Romans 10:9-10 WEB: that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made resulting in salvation.
• 1 Corinthians 15:2 WEB: by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
• Ephesians 2:4-9 WEB: But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.

Said another way, baptism is something we should choose to do after we have made a saving decision, it's an outward symbol of an inward choice, it's not something that saves us, it's something we do when we recognize we've been saved. Essentially it's a litmus test, and one of many ceremonies to help give the religion (the belief system) some structure to help it be more than academic. It's important because our faith is supposed to be both personal and public, along with the whole "buried with Christ, raised to new life" symbolism which is important but not salvific. Belief in Jesus is alone salvific, it's a mental concept, not physical. Real Bible believing Christians believe salvation comes from grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone, not faith plus baptism. 

Let's take another road less traveled. Infant baptism was started by the church years after the Apostles died off and was more a matter of politics than faith or even salvation. Europe was a highly power-based civilization in the middle ages. The church had grown to a political power that surpassed many nations. Power requires two things: men and money. Baptizing people into the faith, or more specifically into the religion, minimized the chance they'd grow up thinking they had a choice of what religion they believed in. If they didn't recognize they had a choice, then they could be taxed heavier. More taxes meant more money meant more power. You don't have to take my word for it, just look it up. The church had the power to levy taxes in the middle ages, and they did. While the taxes weren't one of his 95 theses directly, Martin Luther did name the church's perspective on money in 9 of his 95 concerns. The pursuit of money is where the practice of infant baptism was born. The story we tell people about making sure everyone gets to heaven by baptizing them young, is just a story made up by men, it's not Biblical, not part of God's laid out plan.

Back in 2009, I had a disagreement with a local pastor about homosexuality. He was at my house and we were having a very polite discussion. I thought to myself my point is so obvious I don't need scripture to back it up. Boy I was stupid. That's why now whenever I make a Biblical argument I always use a lot of scripture because scripture is why I believe what I believe, it's not some arbitrary nor culture-based nor feeling-based opinion.