There is an astounding and often forgotten fact about our salvation. The simple and most basic ideal that the resurrected Jesus Christ before He was lifted in to His former glory said this as a crucial part of The Great Commission being the core vision of Christianity.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
He did not say He that believeth is saved; but rather He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved meaning it is principle of salvation that until you have believed and have been baptized you are not saved. We need to not beat about the bush about this ideal as it is a matter of life and death. Without the believing and the baptizing we cannot assure you as having apprehended the salvation. The ideal being the baptismal pool is where we die so that we can be Born Again; no longer born of the desire of flesh and blood but the Spirit of God; the same that resurrected Christ.
Christ did say it to Nicodemus as did tell him the advantage of being born again. A thing that can only be achieved by going back in to the water where we broke forth from the travail of our first birth; being born by a woman so that we may be born of God; only going back in to the water will do, so we may be born of the Spirit. In the way that Christ has set the great commission before the apostles, one would soon say He did not change His narrative even after the crucifixion. He still demanded that when they believe they have to be baptized for them to be saved. A thing that means what Nicodemus did get from Him that night was not just a momentary Order but the way to life.
John 3:1-4, 6-12 KJV There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
This means salvation is set on an end condition; being to be baptized. Which is not just a symbol of death but also a new birth; as we break out of the water again, by our own choice to die to self and to live to Christ. That is to say until you are sure that you have approached the baptismal pool and have been fully submerged there in in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; you are not yet saved. It does begin with believing.
This calls for caution because it would mean salvation is a three step process that one has to be shown deliberately to make that concerted choice of being a believer and be deliberately brought to the baptismal pool for the slaughter of self, so that Christ may rise through them from the baptismal pool.
