John 3:5
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Acts 2:38
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ forthe forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
1 Peter 3:20-22
God patiently waited in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water. 21 And this prefigured baptism, which now saves you —not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience to God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who went into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers subject to him.
Is Christian Baptism a Salvation Issue?
If there is a God, it would be better that he communicates with us than not. If God only tells us things (to do, for example) that are the very best for us, then those things would be necessary for us and not superfluous. That is, God wouldn’t command superfluous things, but only those things that are necessary for our best life. If baptism is not normatively necessary for salvation, then it is superfluous by definition. And why would God have us do superfluous things? Just because? Is God capricious? Or, is God purposeful? If God is purposeful, then why would he command us to do something that was not necessary to do? If God is God, then we must do everything that God commands, or we are in opposition to God. That would make, by definition, Christian Baptism necessary for salvation.
Jesus said, “If you love me you will obey my commandments” (John 14:15). If Jesus commands baptism, and we willfully do not obey that command, then we do not love Jesus.
And not loving Jesus is a salvation issue.