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We have passages in the Bible such as Mark 16 that say baptism is needed for salvation and we have passages such as John 3:16 that speak only of belief to be saved, with no mention of Baptism. In fact, the passages that speak only of belief far outnumber the ones that mention baptism, nevertheless, there is confusion in these passages. The answer comes down to what it means to be truly saved.

There are two types of salvation when people speak of being saved. One is salvation from Gods wrath. This salvation is most commonly referred to as eternal life. The other salvation is being saved from the world. Both of these are needed for "true" salvation. One can have eternal life, but not yet be saved from the world.

To see this in action, one but has to look at the Israelites fleeing Egypt. The OT is a wonderful guide for our faith. The Israelites through their belief were saved from the wrath of God (through the angel of Death) and the plagues that were meted upon Egypt. They were then freed from their slavery to Egypt. This is analogous to the believer being freed from a slavery to sin and the wrath of God's judgement upon him. But the Isrealites, although freed from this bondage were not yet free from Egypt. For Egypt still followed after them, attempting to destroy them. It was not until the Isrealites passed through the waters of the Red Sea and the Egyptians were drowned that they were truly free from them. This is analagous to our being baptized in water. When we are baptized we are saying that we have died to this world and in effect the world has died to us (the Egyptians were drowned!!!) and we are identifying our selves with Christ. We have been saved from the world. We no longer have the Egyptians on our tail.

Another example would be that of marriage. The wedding ring is a symbol of our union. It tells the world that we are married and now have certain privileges that we did not have prior to marriage. Baptism is a symbol telling the world that they have no part in us and that we are Christ's alone. We now also have certain privileges. Christ's ministry did not begin until after He was baptized and I believe that our ministry cannot begin until we have been baptized. As long as we remain unbaptized we are still identified with the world and seen as being a part of the world. It is not until we are baptized that the world sees us as dead to them and therefore an enemy.

To sum up, baptism is symbol of our death and new life in Christ. It is not needed for eternal life, but is necessary to be saved from the world.

JM