Your baptism didn't save you, is all, like you might think it did. Baptism doesn't save.
Baptism has many benefits for the believers, but the most important is the forgiveness of sin. We hear this when Peter tells those in Jerusalem that it is baptism that brings the forgiveness of sin (Acts 3:38).
When Paul was recounting his conversion to the crowd in Jerusalem, he stated that he was to be baptized which washed away his sins (Acts 22:16).
In Acts, we see other benefits of baptism that God gives to the believer such as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
In Romans, Paul writes that we receive new life in Christ when we are baptized (
Rom. 6:4). We also see that baptism removes our sins (
Titus 3:5-6).
Peter writes about baptism is his first letter about how the Great Flood was a symbolic form of baptism for Noah and his family since it saved them. Peter clearly teaches that baptism now saves us. Baptism is the pledge of a good conscience. Baptism saves us by Christ’s resurrection. This is consistent with what Paul wrote in Romans 6.
It is wrong to conclude that baptism is the only way of salvation. Baptism is a way of salvation that God has given us. We find examples of those who were saved through baptism and those saved prior to their baptism or with no baptism at all.
Who is doing the Work?
When you read these verses, who is acting and who is passive? God is active in baptism while we are passive. We can only receive what God gives through baptism.
In
Acts 4:38, Peter states that we receive both forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit in baptism. We are the passive players in this action.
In both the Romans and the Titus verses, we are passive in this act.
Titus 3:5-6 states that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the active players “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit”. In
Titus 3:6, the only part we play is passive “. . . so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” An heir does not merit their inheritance, but is given to them by the generosity of another.
Who should be baptized?
Jesus simply states that we are to baptize all nations. There is no limit to gender, ethnic/nationality or age in his command.
Likewise, Peter instructed those on Pentecost that baptism and the promises associated with it is for both the adults and their children. In Acts 16:32, the jailer and all of his family were baptized into the faith after Paul and Silas presented the Gospel to the jailer.
