Credo-Baptism Answers Does Mark 16:16 teach water Baptism Required to be saved?

1. It seems that many if not all of the comments by church fathers on the matter think that baptism was crucial to salvation.

2. How do we know that the thief on the cross wasn't one of the thousands of people baptized by John the Baptist?

3. I don't think it stretches Calvinism too much to assume that God will infallibly decree both the fact as well as the means of salvation for all of His elect. If baptism were necessary to salvation, then I would assume that God's Providence would ensure that baptism came to each one of the elect.

4. Comments on Points 1-3 above notwithstanding (I merely mentioned them for sake of argument), I don't believe that Mark 16:16 or any other passage of scripture teaches that salvation is impossible without water baptism. I believe that water baptism is a normal means of grace, but He is certainly within His sovereign prerogative to work in extraordinary ways in extraordinary cases if He so wills.

EDIT TO ADD [For the benefit of future spectators]: This post was in reply to a post that has since been deleted.

 

Moderator Note:
Unless a paedo-baptist has a serious question, let's let the credo-baptists respond in this thread.

 

David, did you intend to put this in the credo answers forum or the general baptism forum? It's not clear to me why you'd limit it to Baptists.

An antipaedobaptist immersionist who believes you have to be baptized to be saved is in the company of Campbellites and Oneness Pentecostals.

 

I do think there is a sense in which baptism is our profession of faith, rather than an "altar call" or the sinner's prayer or some other act.

We baptistic folks are wont to emphasize that in pagan cultures, it is often baptism that gives rise to persecution moreso than a profession of faith or other actions. In the NT it is "Believe and be baptized" over and over again but we want to wait for weeks, months, or even a year or more baptizing those who have evidently been converted. We want to avoid false converts as much as we can and we want to avoid implying that baptism saves or that it is absolutely necessary for salvation. But I wonder if too much of a divorce is made in an attempt to get as far away as we can from those errors.

 

What have I said that could have given you that idea? I think my Point #4 makes my position plain.