Many today think and preach that baptism is not related to salvation. This thought is not according to the Bible. The Bible solemnly, definitely, and clearly says that baptism is related to salvation and that the relationship is a direct one.
1. “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
Our Lord said that in order to be regenerated into the kingdom of God, one must be born not only of the Spirit but also of water. When the Lord spoke of being born of water, He was referring to baptism. Thus, baptism causes a person to enter into the kingdom of God; it is a requirement for one’s entrance into the kingdom of God. This, of course, does not refer to the outward appearance of baptism but to the reality of baptism. However, we cannot spiritualize the reality and say that we do not need the practice. If a person wants to enter into the kingdom of God, he must repent and believe to receive the Lord’s life through the Holy Spirit, and he must also be baptized to terminate everything of himself through the water of baptism.
2. “Rise up and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name”; “Repent and each one of you be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 22:16; 2:38).
The Lord’s word in these verses clearly indicates that baptism washes away our sins, causes our sins to be forgiven, and enables us to receive the Holy Spirit. The term wash away your sins in the verses above refers to the washing away before others of our sins in our rebellion against God and opposition to the Lord (see the section “Cleansing at the Time of Salvation” in chapter 7). Forgiveness of your sins refers to more than the forgiveness of our sins in that aspect. This shows that baptism is related to the forgiveness of our sins; baptism along with repentance and believing on the name of the Lord are requirements for the forgiveness of sins. Furthermore, baptism, repentance, and believing on the Lord’s name are also related to receiving the Holy Spirit and are requirements for receiving Him. Therefore, if, before others, we want to be washed of our sins of rebelling against God and opposing the Lord, and if we want our sins to be forgiven and to receive the Holy Spirit, we must not only repent and believe on the Lord’s name, but we must also be baptized.
3. “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”; “All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death”; “Buried together with Him in baptism, in which also you were raised together with Him” (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12).
These verses in the Bible show how closely baptism is related to our salvation in Christ. Baptism is the process by which we are put into Christ. It is also the way we are put into His death, are buried together with Him, and are raised together with Him. Through baptism, we are put into Christ and into His death, and we are buried and raised together with Him. Thus, baptism does not represent our co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection with Christ, as is taught by many in today’s Christianity; rather, baptism is the reality of our entrance into Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection. This requires faith, but our inward heart of faith also requires the outward act of baptism to work together with it. If we want to enter into Christ and into His death and to be buried and raised together with Him, we must have the inward faith and the outward act of baptism.
4. “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved”; “Which water, as the antitype, also now saves you, that is, baptism...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (Mark 16:16; 1 Pet. 3:21).
Many say that it is enough to only believe and that we do not need to be baptized. But the Lord said, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” According to the Lord’s word, if a person wants to be saved, he needs to believe and he also needs to be baptized. Just as believing is a requirement for salvation, baptism is also a requirement for salvation. Therefore, Peter said that baptism saves us.
Many change the Lord’s word, which says, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved,” into “he who believes and is saved shall be baptized.” They think that believing is a procedure prior to salvation and that baptism comes after being saved. Actually, the Lord means that both procedures, believing and baptism, come before salvation. Although salvation is just one step, it requires the movement of two feet. The first step is believing, and the second step is baptism; both feet together add up to one complete step, or procedure, through which we receive the Lord’s complete salvation. There are different parts to the Lord’s salvation; some parts are obtained by our faith and some are participated in through our baptism. Faith is the inward aspect by which we inwardly receive the Lord’s salvation; baptism is the outward action by which we outwardly apply the Lord’s salvation. If we have only faith without baptism, we can receive only one aspect of the Lord’s salvation; that is, we will have only a partial salvation and will not utilize or apply all aspects of the Lord’s full salvation. If we want to participate in all aspects of the Lord’s salvation, if we want to be fully saved, we must believe and be baptized.