If I am on an airplane and telling the person next to me about the gospel and the plane starts to go down and crashes, will that person be saved if they are not baptized? There is no way to get them baptized. Are they doomed, even if they believe on Jesus and confess Him? What does the Bible say in this instance?
The only answer that we know to any question is what the Bible says. Sometimes there is an answer that we would “like to hear.” Sometimes there is an answer that we have “heard others say.” But none of those matter.
What I think or want or feel is NOT our authority (Prov. 14:12; Jer. 10:23; Acts 23:1; 2 Kgs. 5:11-12; 2 Sam. 6:3-6). What others say about a matter is NOT our authority (Matt. 15:3-9; Mark 7:1-13; Gal. 1:8-9; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). Jesus Christ has “ALL authority” (Matt. 28:18), and all that we do and teach must be by His authority (Col. 3:17) and in accordance with His inspired Word (John 12:48; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
So, what about this question above? If I am “telling” someone “the gospel,” what does that involve? First, I am telling them what Jesus did for us (creating us, coming to earth to redeem us, dying on the cross for us, shedding His blood to save us and being raised from the dead for us) and why He did it (because He loves us, wants to save us and wants to take us to heaven). Second, I am telling them what Jesus expects of us (to believe that He is God’s Son, to repent of our sins, to confess our faith in Him, to be baptized into Him and to live faithfully to Him) and why He expects that (to prove our love for Him, to be saved from our sins and to go to heaven). I cannot “tell” someone “the gospel” without telling them ALL of that.
Does a person have to be baptized in order to be saved? The question is asked above regarding a person being “saved if they are not baptized.” Can someone be saved who is not baptized? Remember, the Bible is our only authority! What I think or feel or want or have heard has ZERO authority in any religious question!
Here’s some of what the Bible, our only authority, teaches about baptism. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Rom. 6:3). “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). “Baptism doth also now save us” (1 Pet. 3:21).
The Bible teaches clearly, emphatically and repeatedly that baptism is essential in order to be saved from sins!
In asking the question like the one above (and numberless other scenarios like the above that have been presented over the years, such as a person getting in a car accident on the way to get baptized), a questioner is often (although I am not judging the motives of this particular questioner) seeking an exception to the clear teaching of Scripture about baptism. They are often looking for a hypothetical situation that can prove to be a loophole to the law of God, and human reasoning and human emotions are often used to fortify their case.
But consider carefully what else the Bible says. Read this verse carefully. Underline the word “anyone.” “If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9). The Bible says that baptism is essential to forgiveness of sins. If “anyone” says that a person can be saved without being baptized, then that person is saying something that contradicts what the Bible teaches. So, in trying to “save” someone else by eliminating the essentiality of that person being baptized (in a hypothetical scenario), that “anyone” who changed God’s teaching makes himself a subject of the anathema curse of God (Gal. 1:9). To “save” someone else, he condemned himself!
None of us are God! There is only one God (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4)! And the one God is the only Savior (Isa. 43:11)! Thus, the ONLY way to be “saved” from sin requires that a person do ONLY what the ONLY Savior commands to be saved (Matt. 7:21-23; John 14:6). There is NO other way to be saved (Acts 4:12)! No person today has the right to change the Savior’s clearly revealed conditions for salvation (Rev. 22:18-19), including stating that a person does not need to be baptized.
Sometimes people want to come up with a scenario like this in order to prove once and for all that baptism isn’t essential for salvation. For, if they can prove that this airplane incident is an exception to the baptism requirement, then other exceptions can be found, which proves (in their minds) that baptism is not essential. That’s why God did NOT leave it up to us to decide or to judge. He tells us what is required to be “saved” and He Himself includes baptism (see the verses above again). He was very straightforward and did not leave any ambiguity.
With a question like this, all we can do is “tell” the “gospel,” ensuring that we tell ALL that the Bible says. We cannot change it or make it more palatable to anyone’s conscience. Fortunately, NONE of us will not be the Final Judge. All of us can let God be the Final Judge, and He gives us the responsibility to “speak” only “as the oracles of God” (1 Pet. 4:11).