When Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:16), did the apostles (and later the early church) understand Him to mean that baptism was an essential part of His plan to save from sin?  To answer this vitally important question we need only go to the book of Acts where we have an inspired record of the apostles as they carried out the Great Commission, as they told men what they must do to be saved.  The very first sermon preached under the commission (Acts 2), the people were convicted of crucifying the Son of God.  They cried out and asked, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"  Peter, with the words of the Lord still burning in his heart, said, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:37-38).  This should put the answer beyond dispute: the apostles did understand Jesus to condition salvation upon obedience to His command to be baptized. But not being content with one verse alone, let us look now at another, this time Acts 22:16. The passage reads, "And now why tarriest thou?  Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

A little background will be helpful.  These words were spoken to Saul of Tarsus (later to become the apostle Paul), who had up to this time been a very zealous Jew in the business of persecuting Christians. With authority from the court, He was on his way to Damascus to bind, imprison, and even put to death Christians who would not renounce their faith.  But as he journeyed something happened that changed his whole life… and then changed the whole course of history.  The Lord appeared to him in a light so bright that it blinded him and told him to go into Damascus where he would be told what he must do in order to have his sins forgiven.  Because of his blindness he was led into the city.  There he fasted and prayed for three days.  In this condition he was waiting on the word of God (through a gospel preacher) to be delivered to him and tell him what he must do.  A man by the name of Ananias was sent to him.  When Ananias came he spoke to him saying, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins."

There are some things that should be especially noted about this case:

1. Paul evidently became a believer on the Damascus road.  We have yet to meet anyone who would deny this.
2. The fact that he fasted and prayed for three days abundantly shows that he had repented, that is, he had changed his mind to the extent that it would lead him to change his life.
3. He was told by the Lord, not that he was already saved, but to go to Damascus and he would there be told what he must do.
4. While in Damascus, fasting and praying, he did not believe or understand that he was saved.  There remained something for him to do.
5. When Ananias arrived, he was willing to submit to Christ as Lord by doing whatever He commanded.
6. In instructing him as to what he must do, Ananias said, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins."

By taking a more detailed look at Acts 22:16 we can surely see that both Saul and Ananias believed that salvation was conditioned upon baptism by the Lord Himself.  When Ananias asked, "And now why tarriest thou?" he was simply asking, "Why wait?" the time was right for him to do the Lord's will.  But he did not stop here.  He informed him as to what the will of the Lord was – what it was that he must do.  What Ananias told him was clear and easy to understand.  He said, "Arise (from your position of fasting and praying) and be baptized (immersed in water) and wash away your sins (be baptized in order to have your sins remitted or forgiven), calling on the name of the Lord (calling on the Lord to keep His promise to save, as made in Mark 16:16, by arising and being baptized)."  There is simply no easy way to misunderstand the import of this verse.  Saul was to be baptized to wash away his sins (a metaphorical expression meaning to have sin remitted or forgiven).

One more thing:  this is Paul's own account of his conversion.  It was made after he had done most of the missionary work recorded in the book of Acts and even after he had written the book of Romans, in which some erroneously conclude that he taught salvation by faith alone.  But not so.  Paul himself tells us that he, as a penitent believer, had to be baptized to wash away his sins, to have his sins forgiven, just as Peter had commanded on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38).  This shows conclusively that Paul, as well as the other apostles, and the whole early church, understood the words of Jesus in the Great Commission to mean that baptism is a part of God's plan to save….Anyone who would attempt to explain away the force of this, and say that baptism is not essential to salvation, would have no problem explaining away every single teaching in the Bible with which he disagrees.

Howard Winters