I was completely immersed in obedience to Christ before becoming involved with Pentecostals; however, water baptism saves no one. Baptism into Christ brings salvation.
**water baptism saves no one**
Without the name of Jesus invoked, it is of little good.
The command in Acts 2:38 is not important then, in your opinion.
“..days of Noah,...eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ...” 1Peter 3:20,21
Why a good conscience....because of obeying “from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered” to us. “Being THEN made free from sin..” (Rom. 6:17,18) A few verses earlier Paul reminded the saints at Rome of their conversion; “how that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death”. (If you could have been literally buried with Jesus Christ, you would most likely have been stained with some of his blood.)
Paul’s own conversion shows a man brought low by God himself; how he was even spoken to by the Lord, and given INSTRUCTIONS to follow. Paul was well aware of who Jesus was, short of realizing until that point, that he was indeed the Christ. At that blinding appearance, Paul was told that he would be “a witness.....of those things..”.
Yet, even after that, and meeting Ananias, and hearing his testamony as well, Paul was still in his sins, for Ananias commanded Paul: “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord”. Acts 22:16
Some food for thought:
The weak things confound the the things that are mighty. And devout tradition can be ignorantly flawed tradition. Young King Josiah was completely immersed into following God’s will, doing all that the priests and scribes advised him to do, as well as what God had put on his heart. Josiah’s earnest devotion led to getting all spiritual things back to as original condition as possible, including the temple of the Lord. This great desire led to finding the ‘lost’ book of the law, and for it to be read. It was shocking to him, causing him to rend his clothes and declare that the they were in big trouble for not keeping the word of the Lord.
In Acts 19, Paul encountered some devoted men in Ephesus, and asked them “Have ye received the Holy Ghost SINCE YE BELIEVED?” Since they had not heard of the Holy Ghost, Paul asked them of their baptism, and found that they had been baptized unto repentance after John’s baptism. Paul reminded them of John’s message to “believe on him which should come after him, that is on Jesus Christ”. This leads to the possibility that these men had heard of Jesus, but were evidently not baptized in his name, since Paul promptly baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus.
This is just a start. I have much more, but must break off for tonight.