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Paul gives a list in Acts 22:16: “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’”

All those things were appropriate, including rising. Note it does not say “be baptized TO wash away your sins, but “AND” - part of the list.

Had God wanted to convey the idea that water baptism causes regeneration, He could easily have had SOMEONE say “be baptized in water TO wash away your sins and give you life” - but He did not.

Instead, we see an emphasis on the Baptism of Jesus being a Baptism in the Holy Spirit:

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

We see there the difference between water baptism and what Jesus does in saving us: one is a physical immersion to show repentance that has already taken place, while the other is the difference between Heaven and Hell!

From Jewish thought:

“The second stage was tebela. Tebelawas immersion into water. Having been circumcised, the Gentile proselyte was then immersed in water. Why? Because they said it identifies a Gentile as dying to the Gentile world. The old life is dead, the old life apart from God, apart from the promises of God, apart from the knowledge of God, apart from the truth of God, that is dead and he comes forth a new person with a new life and a new family and a new relationship to the true God. And so they said nothing illustrates that better than immersion and so it was in proselyte Gentile immersion that baptism first appeared in redemptive history...

...This is such a beautiful theme in the New Testament, with the epistles. Galatians 3:27, “For all of you who were baptized,” that doesn’t mean water, but all of you who are immersed into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. And it’s symbolized in water.

In Colossians chapter 2 verse 12, “Having been buried with Him in baptism,” it doesn’t mean water there, it means you were literally immersed into His death and you were raised up, it says. “You have been made alive together with Him having forgiven us all our transgressions.” It’s the immersion into Christ’s death, immersion spiritually into His burial. The immersion into His resurrection so that we die and He lives in us and Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet it’s not I but Christ lives in me. I die in Him, I rise in Him.”

And perhaps the most explicit passage of all, Romans 6, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ,” that’s not water baptism there, that’s immersed into Christ, have been immersed into His death, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” We are dying with Him. We are buried with Him. And we rise with Him, immersed into Him. And though those passages are not referring to water, it is water baptism that symbolizes that spiritual reality. And when Peter says in 1 Peter 3:21 these words, he makes that distinction, he says, “Baptism now saves you.” What baptism? “Not the removal of dirt from the flesh,” not the water baptism, it is the spiritual union that saves you. “That is the washing of regeneration,” Titus 3:5. “That is the washing away of your sins,” Acts 22:16. But baptism is the symbol of it, water baptism...”

http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/80-57/understanding-baptism?Term=baptism

Folks need to remember that “baptism” doesn’t always refer to baptism in water, or even in the Holy Spirit. Jesus talked about death as a baptism. It means immersion, and immersion covers the meaning. It is used to mean identify with Moses, and it is used to mean identifying with Christ.

As a Baptist, I believe in water baptism. In fact, I probably believe in it stronger than many Freepers, since I believe it ought to naturally follow conversion almost immediately. It is an act of obedience that unites us with Christ. It marks our new life, our request for God to change us and make us like Jesus...but it is nonsensical for a baby, or for anyone who does not first believe. It cannot give life, only reflect the life given by Jesus thru the Baptism that Jesus does - baptism in the Holy Spirit:

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”