Romans 10:9 states it very clearly...”If you confess with you mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the grave, then you shall be saved.”
While baptism is the commanded next step it is not the “saving” next step. Confession of faith and internalized active belief are the saving steps!
Romans is addressed to Christians, all of whom had already been baptized. That’s the context of Rom 10:9. It’s not giving you an alternative to baptism, it assumes baptism already.
Never understood this claim by Protestants, to me it's like predestination, just as no one knows for sure if they are one of the predestined, no Protestant can know if they have the "faith", or if they are really have an "internalized active belief", both requisites are undefined. A Protestant can partake in all kinds of mortal sins, as always defined by the Catholic Church, like divorce and re-marriage, use of contraceptives, lying, stealing, hate of his neighbors, even homosexuality (there are actually ordained ministers that preach proudly their homosexuality), etc., and all say that they have "the faith and have internalized active belief".
A Protestant says: "I'm saved by Confession of faith and internalized active belief".
The Catholic Church responds:
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, “Cantate Domino,” 1441, ex cathedra:
“The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives; that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia productive of eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”
I'll side with Scripture on that one:
1 Pet 3:20 Which had been some time incredulous, when they waited for the patience of God in the days of Noe, when the ark was a building: wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. 21 Whereunto baptism being of the like form, now saveth you also
Note the the analogy of the actual water of the flood in context with the statement about baptism ---real water.
There are scripture verses that connect each of the following to salvation: faith, confession, repentance, and baptism.
Do we pick which we agree with and pass over the others cafeteria style?
The new testament over and over again makes it plain that baptism is how our sins are remitted. It is the point where God acts on us and forgives us.
The televangelist gospel is not the gospel of the new testament.