[This question is a follow-up to “Crucifying The Old Man”]

I wanted to follow up on the post about Romans 6 and "died to sin":

I have read several commentaries, and all have a little different opinion.  Zerr seems to take "died to sin" is at repentance, but others agree with you and I and put it at baptism.  My preacher likes Zerr, and this topic has been a bane of contention in our studies on salvation.  I really believe it is important to understand the importance of baptism is a death with Christ that occurs when we are crucified with Him and baptized into His death.  Is this disagreement important enough for me to lose sleep over?  Thanks!
Sincerely,
To The Water!

Dear To The Water,

The most well-documented and clearest doctrine in the New Testament is baptism… yet, it is also the most commonly ignored topic in the religious world.  It is impossible to be saved without being baptized.  Peter said it best when he said, “Baptism saves you” (1 Pet 3:21).  Every person that became a christian in the New Testament was baptized – immediately.  You won’t find a single person in the book of Acts that wasn’t baptized.  When the first sermon was preached after Christ ascended into heaven, the apostles told the people that they needed to “repent and be baptized… for the remission of their sins” (Acts 2:38).  Paul tells us that baptism is a burial with Christ, and only after that burial do we receive a new life (Rom 6:3-4).  Baptism was so important to Paul that he was baptized even before eating or drinking (Acts 9:18-19), which shows how important it is because Paul hadn’t had food or water in three days (Acts 9:9)!  Belief is not enough; even the demons believe in God (Jas 2:19).  It is only when our belief is combined with obedience that we have living faith (Jas 2:17-18), and the very first command to obey that God gives us is to be baptized in the name of His Son (Matt 28:19, Mk 16:16).
The reason that your preacher is standing so firmly against the necessity of baptism is because once he says baptism is necessary to salvation, he is agreeing that there are works we must do to be saved.  The religious world as a whole argues against baptism because it opens the door to accountability.  If we are accountable for our behavior, then we can be lost if we fail to live faithfully.  It all traces back to a religious movement called Calvinism (read “Calvin and Sobs” for more details).  John Calvin taught that since we are saved by faith, what we do doesn’t matter – but the Bible says the exact opposite (Jas 2:20-26)!
This is an issue worth losing sleep over because your preacher isn’t teaching people what it takes to be saved!  If he isn’t baptizing for salvation, then he isn’t teaching people how to be saved!  If the foundation of a religion is wrong, everything else crumbles.   SB