If baptism saves then why is there so much of an emphasis on faith for salvation throughout the Bible? What I mean by that is if salvation saves (which is usually administered upon infants) why does the Bible seem to suggest that the initial act of salvation begins when a person puts their faith in Jesus Christ?
I would encourage you to look into Lutheranism on this subject to see how we Lutherans talk about these things.
To provide a brief and overly simplistic summary of what Lutherans believe:
We begin with the assertion that salvation is the free gift of God that comes to us entirely by God's kindness and generosity, His grace; because Christ has made perfect satisfaction for sinners by His righteous life, and His suffering and death on the cross. The way we receive this gift from God is through faith.
Faith, however, is not our contribution to God, as though we come to God with our little faith and God rewards us by saving us. Rather faith is, to use Luther's own analogy, the empty hands of a beggar. We don't bring our faith to God, rather God gives us faith, works faith, creates faith, strengthens faith. God does this, so that faith is not our work, but God's work in us. How does God work faith in us? By His word.
So, therefore, wherever God's word is, there God is active and at work; He is active and at work to give, create, work, and strengthen faith to us and in us.
So, for example, when the Gospel is preached there God is present and active working, giving, creating, strengthening faith. Where there was no faith, there is now faith--that is what it means to be "born again". To be a brand new person, alive by the power of the Holy Spirit where before we were spiritually dead--dead in our sin, dead to God. God does this by His grace, through His word.
That leads us to baptism. What is baptism? Is baptism a work we do for God? Is baptism a law that God says we must do in order to earn salvation? Well, no. We look at Scripture and in Scripture baptism is always a downward act of God; we don't "do baptism" we
receive baptism, we
are baptized. We are passive in the Sacrament. And so then when we see the ways Scripture talks about baptism, we see that here God connects with ordinary water something extra, namely His word. Notice what Paul says in Ephesians 5:26, he does not say that we were washed merely with water, but that we were washed with water
with the word. Where else can we see God attaching His word to the water of Baptism? God attaches His word to Baptism in several ways, He gives His word that whoever is baptized is forgiven of their sins and receives the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), He gives His word that whoever is baptized has been buried with Christ, has died with Christ, has been raised up to new life with Christ (Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:11-13), He gives in His word that whoever is baptized has been clothed with Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:27). And so on and so forth.
So what is Baptism? Baptism is a precious means of God's grace whereby uniting His word, His promises, with ordinary water He declares our sins to be forgiven on Christ's account; that we have been born again, that we are new creations in Christ, that we belong to Christ and are in Christ.
For this reason it is impossible to separate faith and baptism. It's not an either-or. It's that the one who is baptized has faith given to them, God Himself works, creates, gives, and strengthens faith by His word which is in the Sacrament of Baptism. So that, yes, even the infant who is baptized has faith. For faith does not come from ourselves, but instead is extra nos, from outside of ourselves, from God, a gift of God and not of ourselves (Ephesians 2:8).
It's not that one can either be saved by hearing the Gospel or by being baptized. It's, as Christ says in Mark 16:16, "Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved". Simultaneously, it is not the lack of baptism that brings condemnation, but the absence of faith, "But whoever does not believe is condemned".
The one who is baptized believes, we know this because God is there in Baptism to work and create faith. The same faith He works and creates through the preaching of the Gospel. The same faith He works and creates through the Lord's Supper, and through the declaration of our forgiveness in the Sacrament of Absolution.
So that in Word and Sacrament God is active, powerful, speaking and declaring us justified on Christ's account. Saving us, through faith, because He is the One giving us faith, creating faith, working faith, strengthening faith in us.
It's not that we just one day made a decision to come to Jesus (in fact, we can't do that at all, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and there is no one who seeks after God, and faith is the gift of God not of ourselves). It's that God comes down and meets us in the Gospel, in the preaching of the Gospel, in Baptism, in the Lord's Supper, etc; and in coming down He says to us, "Christ died for you, your sins are forgiven, you are justified". Justification isn't a moment where we went from unsaved to saved. Justification is the ever-present reality of God declaring us righteous on Christ's account. So that we can confess with the Prophet Jeremiah, "The steadfast love of YHWH never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness!" (Lamentations 3:22-23). We can confess with St. Peter, "The word of the Lord endures forever!"
God is faithful toward us in the Gospel, for Christ has accomplished the work so that it is finished and complete. But unless it were granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we could not and would not know Christ as our Savior. That's what the Great Commission is all about. We don't say, "Do all these things and God will reward you" we say, "Christ died for you, believe the Good News!".
-CryptoLutheran
