Christ said he allowed it to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). But nowhere does he, or John, or any of the apostles say water baptism is required for salvation or intiates you into the body of Christ.
Colossians 2:11-13
Romans 6:3-4
Galatians 3:27
1 Peter 3:21
The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance, but he was only a forerunner of Christ. He foretold one coming who was greater and whose shoes he wasn't worthy to untie. This coming one would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire and the miraculous manifestations served to confirm it was Christ that John foretold. But salvation can only be found in the person of Christ.
We're not talking about John's baptism, we're talking about Christian Baptism. Read Acts 19:1-7, here St. Paul encounters a group of John's disciples who had only received John's baptism of repentance, which was in anticipation, pointing to the coming of the Messiah. And so Paul has them baptized with Christian baptism, then places his hands on them to seal with with the Holy Spirit.
The laying on of hands is not "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" by the way, nothing in the Bible says this. Neither is "Baptism with the Holy Spirit" an invisible happenstance that transpires at a personal moment of conversion.
If you want to know what the Bible means when it talks about baptism with the Holy Spirit, then look to where the Bible mentions it. And if we do that we find there are only two instances: The pouring out of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at the household of Cornelius.
What is significant about these two events that makes them stand out? Well on Pentecost we have the inaugurating moment of the Church, this is what Jesus told His disciples to wait for in Jerusalem, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the promised Paraclete, who would empower and embolden the apostles to go forth as His witnesses throughout the world. But what about what happened at the household of Cornelius? It is here that God shows as a sign the full acceptance of the Gentiles into the Church's sacred mission. Up until this moment it does not seem that the apostles yet understood that Christ's sending them out is not just for the Jews, but for the Gentiles as well. So it is here that God demonstrates powerfully that the Gentiles are included, by doing for Cornelius and his household what had been done for all the disciples in the beginning. St. Peter even says this in Acts 11:17, "If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?"
These two events are the only times in the Bible where "baptism with the Holy Spirit" is mentioned. It is not mentioned where the laying on of hands takes place, note that the laying on of hands is absent both at Pentecost and at Cornelius' house; and note that the laying on of hands is never called "baptism with the Holy Spirit".
So if we are being strictly biblical here, then this is what we have to go by.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13
Yes, and it is through the preaching of the Gospel and the Sacrament of Baptism that God accomplishes this, that is why St. Paul in Romans 10:17 says that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ", and also in Ephesians 5:26 speaks of Christ cleaning the Church "by the washing of water with the word"
This is why in Matthew 28 Jesus commissions His apostles to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and instructing them in all which I have taught you." Disciple-making is bringing people into the Church through the preaching of the Gospel and the administering of Baptism, it is through these precious gifts and means of God's own grace that God works to convert us, by giving us the free gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8), uniting us to Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 2:12-13). This is the working of God, not of ourselves, so that we cannot boast except in the cross of Jesus Christ.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9-10
Keep reading, Paul is clear, "How can they call on One whom they have not heard? How can they hear unless one is sent?" One cannot call upon the Lord except with faith, and that is why the Gospel is sent out, that through the very word of God faith is given that they now might, with faith, call upon the Lord. It is not our works which save us, it is God's work which saves us, for we are saved by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Therefore do not boast in your works, but boast in the work of God who saves you by sending His only-begotten Son, who suffered, died, was buried, and rose again--for you. And this God gives you through His precious means of Grace, Word and Sacrament. So that you can trust the word which you have heard since the beginning, and believe in your baptism by which you were born again and received newness of life from God in Jesus Christ, and the Spirit Himself dwells in you, the guarantee of these things, by which you can cry out, "Abba! Father!" For you are the child of God, not by what you have done, but by what God has done for you, by His grace alone--and this is yours through faith.
-CryptoLutheran