’s not an either or. Baptism saves through Jesus’s death and resurrection. 1 Peter 3. Take it up with Peter if you don’t like it.
***Thief on the cross. Take it up with Him if you don’t like it. Take it up with Paul who didn’t question BELIEF when he found unbaptized believers. Acts 19:2 He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you BELIEVED [in Jesus as the Christ]?”
Thief on the cross isn’t an argument. Jesus told him directly he was going to heaven. He’s not here to physically tell us that, that is what baptism is for.