How do we defend, as Christians, the necessity of baptism? The subject of baptism is heavily disputed amongst our friends in denominations. We can give scripture reference after reference, but what will convince them of the true Biblical teaching of baptism? Maybe we could end this dispute by answering one question, "Is baptism for the lost or the saved?" Lets turn in the Bible and look at some examples concerning salvation.

The first is that of King Agrippa in Acts 26 who most famously said to Paul "You almost persuaded me to become a Christian". Paul had just preached the Gospel to King Agrippa in the previous 26 verses. Notice in verse 27 what Paul says to the King ". . .I know that you do believe". King Agrippa believed, but did not go any further. He did not repent of his sins (Acts 2:38), confess the name of Christ (Rom 10:10), or get baptized (Mark 16:16). The Biblical account shows at this time he was not a Christian even though he believed. If belief was all that was necessary he would be saved.

Next lets examine those who decided to become Christians. We define Christian as those who are in Christ (Gal 3:2). Let's first look in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, when the Church was established. The apostle Peter preached the first Gospel sermon in history. The Jews gathered there were "pricked" to the heart with this message and asked the question in verse 37

"Men and brethren what shall we do?"

Peter's reply is simply this in verse 38

In the following verse, Acts 2:41, we see that those that "gladly received the word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them."

Now let's look at the conversion of the Phillipian jailer in Acts 16. The Phillipian jailer was supposed to make sure the prisoners did not escape, but he was asleep when Paul, Silas, and the other prisoners left. In verse 27 when he realized he had let them all escape, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself. Paul stopped him by informing the jailer that he, Silas, and the other prisoners had not ran away, but were all present. The guard fell to the ground trembling and wanted to know "what must I do to be saved?"(30). In verse 31 Paul answered him: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household". So the jailer took Paul to his house, and Paul preached the word of the Lord to his family (32). In verse 33 it says

The question still remains "Is baptism for the lost or saved?". To take simply the examples provided in scripture we can see that those that wanted to be saved were baptized. It was never presented by the first Gospel teachers as an option. This truly is not up for argument since that is the only evidence we see in scripture. I can make my own efforts to hypothesize about salvation, but it won't change the Biblical account.

In the book of Acts, all those that desired to become Christians were baptized into Christ. All those that denied Christ were not baptized. Salvation is open to everyone (Rom 1:16), but it must be entered into under God's conditions (Gal 3:27).