‘It is commanded of believers. Yes,’
You can either obey or not. Your call.
“Is a testimony for others. Again, no one was ever told to be baptized as a testimony to others.”
I did not say we do it to be a testimony to others. Our baptism is a testimony to others. If it were not, we would baptize ourselves.
“Who was Paul standing before when he was baptized to wash away his sins? What about the eunuch in Acts, who was his baptism a testimony to?”
At least to the one who baptized them and to all they told. Clearly, they told or we would not know.
“Biblically, we are baptized to:
1. Remit sins
2. Receive the Holy Spirit
3. Be placed into Christ.”
No.
No.
No.
You confuse Baptism in/with/by the Holy Spirit with water baptism. Catholicism is not the only denomination to make this error.
“Once the Biblical reasons for baptism were rejected in the 16th century, other reasons had to be invented for baptism, hence obedience and public testimony.”
Ha. Oh, contraire.
Ha, another 16th century tradition of men has just been introduced, namely that there are two baptisms:
1. Spirit baptism
2. Water baptism
This is totally unscriptural as the Bible is clear there is only ONE baptism, just as there there is only ONE LORD and only ONE FAITH.
The Scriptures only speak of baptism and never refer to spirit baptism and never refer to water baptism.
The Bible is clear, “baptism” is for:
1. Remission of sins
2. Receiving the Holy Spirit
3. Being placed into Christ.
Period, end of story.
If someone uses the term “water baptism” , run run run. It is a sure sign you are dealing with a false teacher. Baptism is never qualified by any other term such as water in the Bible, because there is only one baptism.