| As far as I know, there is no place in Scripture that actually says that salvation occurs at baptism. There are a couple of verses that, at least at first glance, may appear that way. I think the Peter passage says "baptism now saves you," but it goes on to clarify what it means. "Not the washing of dirt from the body." In other words, it's not a reference to water on flesh there, but an appeal to God for a clean conscience. I was just reading today in the book of Acts, as Paul gave his testimony in Jerusalem, he mentions that he was told when he was blind to arise and be baptized and wash away his sins. So there is a suggestion that that may be the case there. However, there are so many other counter-indications in Scriptures that I think there must be another understanding for that verse.
I would say that salvation happens at the moment you are regenerated. We can discuss how that happens. Do I choose and then God regenerates me? Personally, I think that God does the choosing and that He changes us in such a way as we make a decision for Him, so I am not offended at all by decision theology. What happened when Peter said in Acts 2, "Repent and be baptized....Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." He was asking for people to make a decision. Change your mind. Come down and have a public demonstration of this change of mind by immersing yourself in water. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is a decision that is enjoined. My personal feeling is, the decision can't be made unless the Holy Spirit is already working on you in a dramatic fashion.
To put it more specifically, I guess, I'd have to say that I don't think that you can make an outward manifestation of a decision for Christ unless you have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit in a prior fashion. It's the regeneration that God works in you that allows you to make this outward manifestation of coming forward or making a decision. I don't think the decision saves you. I think God's sovereign act of selection and election saves you, it brings you into the kingdom and it's manifested in these external actions.
you hear the message, you believe, you are sealed. It's all part of the package. Nothing is said of baptism.
If that is the case, obviously it is very clear that baptism doesn't save you because baptism happens after the decision, which happens after the regeneration, which is when you get your new birth. Here is the way I would argue that more explicitly.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with the decision coming before or after regeneration, I think it is really easy to show that baptism comes after regeneration. In Romans 8 Paul talks about those who are in the Spirit and those who are in the flesh. He means something very precise when he says that. He doesn't mean like modern day evangelicals mean that when they are in the Spirit that means that they are walking with the Lord and have their eyes on the Lord, and when they are in the flesh they are sinning and really screwing up. He means those words to be synonymous with regeneration and utter fallenness. In other words, those who are in the Spirit are those who are regenerate. Those who are in the flesh are those who are unregenerate.
Another way of putting it is those who are in the Spirit are by definition those who are saved. And those who are not in the Spirit, or rather in the flesh, are those who are not saved. He says that if you are in the flesh it is impossible to please God because you don't even desire to do so. The flesh can't please God, it says in verse 8. However you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
This is what makes the definition clearer. You are in the Spirit if the Spirit dwells in you. Period. If you are regenerate, you are in the Spirit, by his definition. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
If you are saved, you are regenerated by virtue of the fact that the Holy Spirit is now in you. If you don't have the Spirit, you are out of it. If you do have the Spirit, you are in. It's very clear.
Now the question becomes, when does a man get the Spirit? Ephesians 1:13 says, "In Him, Christ, you also after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise." So, you hear the message, you believe, you are sealed. It's all part of the package. Nothing is said of baptism.
1 John 5 puts it a little differently. He says, "If you have the Son, you have eternal life. If you don't have the son, you don't have eternal life. I am writing these things to you who believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life." So you have eternal life connected with the Son, who we understand in the New Testament economy is in the person of the Spirit--the Spirit of Christ, in other words. If you have the Son living inside of you, then you have eternal life, and if you don't, you don't. This is a watershed way of understanding salvation because John says, I want you to understand this so you can know , be certain, be confident of the fact of eternal life. That is, that Jesus lives within you in the Person of the Spirit.
Now the last defense for that comes from the book of Acts. In Acts 15 we see Peter at the Jerusalem Council there making a defense for bringing the gospel to the gentiles because a lot of the Jews were upset because Peter had gone to the gentiles with the gospel. He had gone into the home of Cornelius the Centurion in Acts 10. He says, Listen, here's the deal. God made it really clear to me that I had to go talk to this guy. The vision of the sheet with the hoofed animals and everything. And then he says, I was chosen by God to go to the gentiles and here is what happened. God who knows the heart (verse 8) bore witness to them giving them the Holy Spirit just as He also did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
Peter is saying, these gentiles got the Holy Spirit and they were cleansed by faith. In other words, they are brothers and sisters in Christ. Notice again, no reference there to baptism. However, in the incident itself that he is recounting here in Acts 15, there is a reference to baptism. This is Acts 10 where you actually read the account itself. Peter begins to declare the gospel in Acts 10:34, "Opening his mouth Peter said...," and it goes on to explain the gospel. He starts giving this presentation and right in the middle of this presentation, in fact, verse 44 says, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who were listening to the message." Now what are we going to conclude by that? That the Holy Spirit fell upon those who that were listening. Would it be fair to assume that these people have just been regenerated? It says that all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also. They were saved, regenerated.
Now watch this, verse 46, "For they were hearing them speak with tongues and exalting God. 'Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did.'" Whoa, here's where the water comes in. It's coming in after regeneration. After they have certainty that they belong to God because now they are in the Spirit. After they have been regenerated. After they have Jesus inside of them, having been cleansed by faith. After they have the certain knowledge that they have eternal life, according to John in 1 John 5. Now the water comes into play.
When people become Christian, they get baptized as they ought because Jesus commanded it. But they get baptized because they've been saved, regenerated, not in order to get saved.
To me, this is a very profound biblical proof that water is not necessary for salvation.
With all the respect I have for Lutherans, my theology is principally reformed, so I am pretty much in lock step with them on many things. I think they just missed it here. My personal feeling is that this is a carry over from Romanism. It just was the habit of Luther and the others raised in this environment to baptize infants and so they kept doing it and they sought a biblical justification. But I don't think the biblical justification is sound whether the justification is being voiced by Lutherans, or by Roman Catholics, or by Mormons, or by Oneness Pentecostals, or by the L.A. Church of Christ. All of those people are arguing inaccurately about the necessity of baptism for salvation. Baptism does not accomplish regeneration. The explanation that I gave you is a pretty good case against such a thing.
When salvation is referred to doctrinally as a theological reality itself, baptism does not come into the picture. We see baptism happening connected with salvation, but incidental to the act of salvation. In other words, it doesn't procure salvation. When people become Christian, they get baptized as they ought because Jesus commanded it. But they get baptized because they've been saved, regenerated, not in order to get saved. We see that clearly in Acts 10 and Peter argues that even with the Jewish Council there in Acts 15. That's pretty straightforward, as far as I'm concerned.
There was also a question about what part does the will play. We make a contribution and God makes a contribution to the issue of salvation. What is our contribution or the contribution of our will? The human contribution to salvation is sin. Man's contribution makes it necessary for him to be saved. The choice of our will is rebellion against God because we are lost so utterly. Because our will is set against God, He has to intervene and save us Himself by changing our will.
Some people might get upset about that. "God doesn't tamper with your free will." That's not in the Bible. It just is not there. If God changes your will to love Him, it doesn't make you into a robot because you have a free will that operates in some measure. In our fallenness, we don't have the free will to pursue Him. Our will turns us away from Him. God must change our will and conform it to His both to work and to will for His good pleasure in order that we can turn to Him.
God is a necessary element in this. He provides all of the positive direction for our salvation. It's not like we are both doing it. My will and His will, no. My will is going the other direction, in fact. It's His will that changes my will to turn to Him. Once we do that, we make a choice from a human perspective. We go forward, we raise our hand, we say, Yes I confess Jesus. Those are all things that we do and they are meaningful because they are acts of our will. But they are acts of our will which has already been touched by the Holy Spirit. | 
