Baptismal Salvation; Could It Be Possible?

Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Is it possible that salvation could be involved in salvation? Could it be possible that for 2000 plus years the Baptist could have been wrong about salvation? This is an easy question to answer, absolutely not! There are to gross errors with the thinking that this verse justifies Baptism Regeneration (1.) repentance is not salvation because faith in Christ Jesus is and (2.) baptismal waters do not wash away sins because the blood of Christ Jesus does. I understand what the verse says, but this is not a single verse scripture, but it is in a whole chapter, therefore it must be taken in context with the other verses. Verse 41 adds “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” That is those that gladly received His gospel message were saved and then baptized and then added to the church with the 120 members in Acts chapter one. Salvation is all about Jesus Christ it is not about baptism, works, church membership, or etc. because if it were then it would contradict Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” and Acts 16:30 - 31 “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (31.) And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” neither one of these verse gives anything outside of Jesus Christ for salvation. Now let’s look at the forgiveness of sins, can water really wash away a sinners sins? Not according to the scriptures, Colossians 1:14 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” So if the forgiveness of sins is through the blood of Jesus is a baptistery full of city tap water as powerful as the blood spilt on the cross? I know they have other verse and I particularly like 1 Peter 3:20 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” Are you really going to tell me that Noah and the other seven souls on that ark were saved by baptism, when baptism only started with John? The truth is the water saved them by raising the Ark above the rushing waters below, not by baptism. Then there is the most logical one that they have of all, Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” There are two separate items here; (1.) faith in Christ Jesus and (2.) baptism, but the question that must be answered is, are both required for salvation? The answer is in the verse, “…but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Where does it say that if I am not baptized then I will be damned? The simple answer is, no where! If baptism were included in salvation then wouldn’t God have listed it as damnation for not having it? I can show tons of scriptures were it is damnation for not having faith in Christ but none showing anything else. John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Now let’s look at one more scripture; 1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” Why was Paul not to baptize but rather to only preach the gospel? Because the gospel is the principal employment in salvation, baptism is the first ordinance after faith has come, because without faith and the cleansing of the blood of Christ Jesus for your sins nothing else matters. In other words baptism is not essential for salvation. I know this is an age old argument, but however old it is, two sides still exist to this argument because without those teaching baptism regeneration actually being saved, they will never repent and be truly baptized by one of the Lord’s churches.