So it’s your claim one is justified by baptism?
If so, Christ never had to be crucified and then rise again.
We would only need the testimony and ministry of John the Baptist. No need for all those epistles on what’s the true meaning of the Gospel. That means Paul should have preached justification by immersion in water.
the issue isn’t what you or I “claim”, but what has the Holy Spirit revealed?
the Holy Spirit has spoken to us through the Apostles ( whether it is Scripture or Apostolic Tradition ) once this revelation ended with the death of the Apostle John, He has guided the successors to the Apostles into all truth.
please see Acts 8 for this principle in action.
the Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion and He will not guide someone to believe something in the 16th century in opposition to what He guided everyone up to that point to believe. but there is a spirit that is more than happy to use the Scriptures to oppose the Church and to bring confusion as to what is truth.
quite simply, NO ONE in the Scriptures was ever told to be baptized as an act of obedience or as an outward sign of the salvation that had already occurred. this is all made up man made tradition.
everyone has a choice, they can accept the Apostolic Faith taught and believed for approx. 2,000 years or they can believe the 16th century tradition of man.
peace.