Who will be saved?

“He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16).

Shouldn’t we just “preach Jesus”?

“Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.  As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look!  Water!  What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:35-36).

Isn’t it legalistic or pharisaical to teach baptism?

“When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God’s justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John.  But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John” (Luke 7:29-30).  “The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?  And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven’, He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’” (Matthew 21:25). 

Here is it clear that the chief priests and the elders were being very evasive and legalistic in trying to get around answering Jesus’ question about the authority behind God’s baptism.  They knew that if they admitted that this command to be baptized came from heaven, and then they were without excuse for not submitting to it.  People who seek to evade the command to be baptized and make arguments why they do not have to be baptized are acting like the enemies of Jesus in the first century.

Are only some of God’s followers baptized?

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13)

What does God require of me to be forgiven?

“Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).