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Hello John, I've never heard that before (where did you hear it?).
Roman Catholic, Greek & Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, the Churches of Christ, as well some of the Christian cults come to mind, as those who hold to water baptism being salvific.
It's the people who AREN'T sinlessly perfect that need baptism. You come out of your baptism perfectly sinless.
It isn't in the Bible that you have to be sinless BEFORE being baptized.
Those who know about 1 Peter 3:21.
I agree with chevy, those who are sinners need baptism, but also, logically, you would never be absolutely sure if you were sinlessly perfect without absolute certainty through the visible Sacrament of Absolution, which you cannot find in most reformed circles, as they believe repentance comes through confession to Christ through prayer alone; I'm not saying it isn't possible, but its a real gamble: think of it this way, imagine you think you confessed your sins to Our Lord properly, then you (by this logic) go and try to get baptized, yet Christ did not absolve that sin and thus your baptism is invalid. It's a big grey area that could cause one great anxiety, as without the Sacrament of Absolution [as we know it in the Orthodox-Catholic Church(es)], you would not have a verifiable declaration of that absolution and would thus be basing your salvation (via baptism) on your gut feeling that you prayed right, you were truly confessant, and Our Lord heard and acted upon your prayer.
Whether the baptism takes place in the sea, a river, a pool or a purpose-built baptistry, no, you don't need to be sinlessly perfect in order to be baptized. Who told you that? It is certainly not in the bible. When an Ethiopian man asked Philip if he could be baptized, Philip didn't say, "You can if you are sinlessly perfect." No. We read:
Baptism don't save you .... Jesus does.
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
For Credobaptists, Baptism is a human work.
And have yet to see a verse where GENTILES are to be BAPTIZED to enter the BODY of Christ as written in 1 Cor 12:13 and
Baptism in water was not only given to Israel. We have the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius, the jailer at Philippi, and others who were not Israelites, but who were baptized (in water).
Counterfeit Christianity often does not agree with Scripture, but continues in deception.
Yes, Thus saith Scripture.
