The question about the church being comprised of the saved is something with which we would agree...all of us I hope. Rnmom has reduced the equation to its simplest form.
The saved are those who believe in Jesus Christ. There are no saved who are unbelievers; there are no unbelievers who are saved.
I do not think the bible supports the notion that baptism confers salvation. An unbelieving atheist gets as much benefit from baptism as does a duck from a good roasting.
Both will be consumed.
By grace we are saved through faith....
I think we've been down this highway before. I am led to believe that an unbeliever is one who REJECTS Christ, knowing His claim. Thus, a person who has never heard of Christ cannot be an "unbeliever" in that sense. Here is the simplest sense of who will be saved:
He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 1 John 5:12
Furthermore:
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16
I do not think the bible supports the notion that baptism confers salvation. An unbelieving atheist gets as much benefit from baptism as does a duck from a good roasting.
Baptism presumes that one is willingly accepting the notion of what it is meant to do - it is a sacrament of faith which erases sin. Being freed from sin is the formula of salvation, is it not? Baptism is for the remission of sin.
Regards