Why is baptism necessary for salvation?
For some reason, baptism (a transliteration of a Greek word meaning “to immerse” or “to dip”) is a doctrine over which many stumble. The Bible is clear, however, that it is a necessary step in the plan of salvation. In Romans 6, for example, Paul compares the conversion process to the crucifixion of Christ; this is why we call conversion “obeying the gospel.” The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We “obey” this by copying it in symbolic form. We “crucify” ourselves in the sense that we reject all sins we have committed and vow to commit them no more; we “bury” ourselves in the act of baptism, being immersed in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and we are “resurrected” to walk in what Paul calls “newness of life” – i.e., the Christian life. Those who omit or trivialize the imperative step of baptism are missing its importance – namely as a “burial” of our non-Christian selves. Those who claim a person can be “saved” and then baptized t
