I was just curious. Does one have to be baptized to be considered saved?
Hi jake,
All the evidence that we can gather on this subject is only what's in the Scriptures. Throwing out any claim or understanding of any particular denomination, here's what I find as evidence for or against the understanding of our gaining salvation on the day of God's judgment or not, so far as it relates to a person being baptized.
The most direct evidence is found in the Scriptures in the writings of Mark.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16
However, there is some disagreement as to whether the few verses at the end of Mark 16 were actually in the original MSS. We don't know and we cannot be 100% sure because we don't have the originals any longer with us. However, no matter how the passage came to be attached to Mark's account, it does give us some indication of the importance of baptism as understood very shortly after Jesus ascended to the Father. If Mark didn't write these words to be included as a part of his account of Jesus' ministry, someone did add them and it would have been within the first 100 years or so of Mark's writing the account.
Of course, whether or not Mark did write these words in his account, the real question is whether or not Jesus actually spoke the words in question. Did Jesus say these words? I believe that if we have an understanding of the Scriptures that leads us to believe that the Holy Spirit is still today watching over the work that man is doing with God's words, that if Jesus didn't say these words, then the Holy Spirit would have long since had them removed from any consideration. But, that's strictly my understanding of the Scriptures and that God is still keeping them safe from being torn apart.
However, setting that arguable position aside, let's look at the other evidences found in the Scriptures.
When Philip was teaching the gospel to the Ethiopian riding in the chariot, and the man came to belief through Philip's explanation of the gospel, the very first request that he made was to be baptized. It would seem obvious that as a part of Philip's explanation, he had made it of paramount importance to the man that if he believed what he was being told the first step from that point was to be baptized in water.
Pretty much every time, in the Acts of the Apostles, when someone came to believe, they were either baptized or instructed to be baptized.
We also know that John the baptist was baptizing people and that at least once, Jesus sent his disciples out to baptize people. Finally, we have Jesus' final instructions to his disciples that they go into all the nations preaching the truth of the gospel and baptizing those who believed.
So, the evidence would seem to me to be that we certainly need to be baptized. Whether it will or won't affect our eternal salvation we can argue till the cows come home, but the evidence seems to be that it needs to be done.
Now, the greatest argument against the 'baptism is necessary for salvation' understanding is usually the argument that the thief on the cross had no time to be baptized. While it is certainly true that he didn't have any time to be baptized while on the cross, we can't know that he hadn't been baptized at some point earlier. As I mentioned, John the baptist had been baptizing and also the disciples had gone throughout all of Israel baptizing. We really don't know the previous state of the thief as to what his understanding of 'who is Jesus'. He may well have heard and believed the gospel given by the disciples and been baptized, but like many of us, still attached to sin by stealing. We just don't know. But, I'd be careful using that particular account of the Scriptures to justify a position that seems to go against so many other instructions and accounts found in the Scriptures regarding baptism.
And, if nothing else, it shows our desire to be obedient. Jesus is pretty clear that we are only his disciple if we are obedient to his commands.
As far as I am aware, that's pretty much all the evidence regarding the matter that is found in the Scriptures. Now, some say that there are two different types of baptism: water baptism and Holy Spirit baptism. While I agree with this understanding, I'm not so sure that one replaces or suffices for the other. In the singular example where Paul gave the baptism of the Holy Spirit to a group, they had already received water baptism for repentance and now were being given an even better baptism. But they had already been baptized.
God bless you.
In Christ, Ted