No. My bible says "whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be saved."
Does it? Mine says: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Ok, so it's not *my* bible per se, it was the first e-bible that came up on Google. Hence being a KJV.
But the point stands. Christianity, or even simply the Christian concept of salvation, cannot be summed up with a single verse.
I suppose the point I was trying to make was that it doesn't say 'whoever is baptised with water in my name will be saved'. The christian concept of salvation centres on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and that this sacrifice is what brings salvation, not water baptism.
Of course the sacrifice of Jesus is what brings salvation, but does that mean that we don't have to do *anything* to participate in that sacrifice, or accept it, etc?
We accept the sacrifice by accepting Jesus into our heart. Baptism is not a means of salvation, it is an act that comes out of salvation. It is an act which renounces the ways of the past and a public declaration of a change of allegiance, i.e turning one's heart to God. Galatians 3:26 says that it is an act of joining the body of Christ i.e the people of God. So again, I think baptism comes out of salvation and it is an important part of the discipleship process, but I can't find anywhere in the bible that explicitly says that it is required for salvation; that comes from the cross and the cross alone.
Well, it's really *not* important at all if it's meaningless and has nothing to do with salvation. Jesus commanded us to do a lot of things: is it all just kind of "eh, do it if you want, but once you've "accepted me as your lord and savior", you're really done, so take it or leave it"? And as an aside, the whole "accepting Jesus into your heart" being some kind of central ritual to Christianity doesn't really make sense biblically, because the passages used to support it are usually referring to baptism. As in, I think they're supposed to go together.
So just because it is not required for salvation it is meaningless? True, there are lots of commands that Jesus/the bible gives us, but not all of them are centred around salvation; does that make them all meaningless? Not at all, they are all important facets of the Christian life. The only command that is required for salvation is the acceptance of Jesus as Lord. John 1:12 says "To all who recieved him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God".
I totally agree that they are meant to go together (baptism is usually done at or near the beggining of someone's Christian walk, after their repentance and their acceptance of Christ), but the question that the OP is asking is whether it is required for salvation, which I don't believe it is.
If a person dies who loves God with every fibre of their being and accepts the atonement Jesus gives for their sins, then the question of whether or not they have been baptised with water is irrelevant. God's grace is enough.
You mean, God's grace is enough, as long as they have "loved God with every fibre of their being and accepted the atonement Jesus gives for their sins"? That's a "work" in itself, just like baptism.
No, that is not what I'm saying at all. The first part was meant as a hypothetical situation, to illustrate why I believe baptism by water is not required for salvation. What I'm saying is, if a person receives Christ, and dies a minute later without having the chance to be baptised, they are still saved because baptism itself is an outworking of one's desire to follow Christ, NOT a requirement to ensure salvation.
When I say God's grace is enough, I mean that there are no boundaries to God's love, all we have to do to receive salvation is receive Christ, believe in him and his sacrifice and the gift of forgiveness, grace, love and (John 3:16). It has nothing to do with 'works' (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is not bound by rituals or acts. All we have to do is receive. Of course, given the chance, we are to do all that we are commanded to do by Jesus, but above all else, God sees our hearts and thats what matters the most to him (1st Samuel 16:7).