The Roman church, was Already saved. Paul was not telling how to be saved, because they already knew how to be saved; rather he was quoting an Old Testament verse (Note verse 8).
Romans 10:8 "BUT WHAT SAITH it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;"
Deuteronomy 30:14 "But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it."
Acts 22:16 "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of The Lord."
You CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD in baptism, buy being baptized in his name.
It takes BOTH, belief John 3:16 AND BAPTISM Mark 16:16.
It's not a choice, it's both; we don't get to custom order our salvation.
James 2:19 "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
NOTICE: the devils even BELIEVE. But they are obviously NOT saved.
Many modern day Christians do everything in the name of Jesus, but they refuse baptism in HIS NAME. AMAZING
Matthew 7:22-23 "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
I have to respectfully disagree with you my friend. Baptism is an important step of obedience for a Christian, but one must adamantly reject baptism as being required for salvation. As I said, I believe that each and every Christian should be water baptized by immersion. Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Rom. 6:3-4 says........
“Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
The action of being immersed in the water illustrates dying and being buried with Christ. The action of coming out of the water pictures Christ’s resurrection.
Requiring anything in addition to faith in Jesus Christ for salvation is a works-based salvation. To add anything to the gospel is to say that Jesus' death on the cross was not sufficient to purchase our salvation. To say that baptism is necessary for salvation is to say we must add our own good works and obedience to Christ's death in order to make it sufficient for salvation.
Yes, there are some verses that seem to indicate baptism as a requirement for salvation. However, since the Bible so clearly tells us that salvation is received by faith alone (
John 3:16;
Ephesians 2:8-9;
Titus 3:5), there must be a different interpretation of those verses.
Scripture does not contradict Scripture. In Bible times, a person who converted from one religion to another was often baptized to identify conversion. Baptism was the means of making a decision public. Those who refused to be baptized were saying they did not truly believe. So, in the minds of the apostles and early disciples, the idea of an un-baptized believer was unheard of. When a person claimed to believe in Christ, yet was ashamed to proclaim his faith in public, it indicated that he did not have true faith.
If baptism is necessary for salvation, why would Paul have said, “I am thankful that
I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius” (
1 Corinthians 1:14)? Why would he have said, “
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (
1 Corinthians 1:17)?
