Faith & Works FAQ
Question:
We can do nothing to earn or merit salvation.
Answer:
I completely agree. Salvation is all God, not me. But must I do anything to receive salvation? Think carefully before you answer. Here is the dilemma: if you admit that a person must do a single solitary thing on his own initiative (whether it is pray, confess, climb a mountain, whatever) then I will ask why baptism can't be part of those things necessary to an obedient faith?
If you say a person does nothing, totally passive, then you will have to explain why God doesn't save everyone (John Calvin's position) which makes God a respecter of persons (contra Acts 10:34) or you will be a universalist who does say God saves all regardless of what they do.
You know faith is a requirement of salvation, and you know that a person must exercise that faith in confession (Rom. 10:17). Such does not earn salvation in any way or merit it. So I ask: why can't faith also be exercised in baptism, which wouldn't earn salvation or merit it?