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Originally Posted by Semper Fidelis 
So Christ's command to His apostles to make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them everything He commanded is a superfluous step to what it means to be a disciple?
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We were discussing what is a Christian. I guess we need to define Christian and disciple. I do believe they may be synonymous but not necessarily in all situations.
And you seem to make an assumption that I think baptism is a superfulous step. I didn't say it wasn't a necessary step. I said I think one can belong to Christ, having the Spirit of Christ (thus be a Christian), without having been baptized. I don't think Baptism is makes one a Christian as does a persons faith in what Christ has done for him and on behalf of him does.
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As I see it, you detach the elective work of God (the hidden things) from the revealed things. The revealed things belong to us Randy. Where do the Scriptures reveal that a man may be a disciple apart from baptism and the doctrine of the Apostles? You speak theoretically of the things hidden but the revealed things of the Covenant of Grace show a sign ordained by God to mark out those that are Christians.
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I do believe that a man can become a disciple and a believer before he gets baptized. Why would a man be baptized if he wasn't being taught and disciplined in the faith? I am not speaking theoretically. You are flattening out and pressing together things that are not necessarily to be pressed together the way you are. Yes, they belong together but not they way you are making them fit.