Question posted on Yahoo! Answers: If I am baptized, but I do not believe baptism is a requirement for salvation, am I saved? I am baptized but I do not believe that it is necessary for salvation through Christ. Am I saved?

What are your thoughts?

I am continuing the theme started by JackNathan on his post, What is the Purpose of Scripture?. Nathan asked us at the end of his post to think of other passages of Scripture that depicted stories of redemption that point to Christ.

The first story of redemption that I thought of was the account of Lot and his family being rescued from Sodom and Gomorrah. The story really begins in Genesis 18:16 where Abraham was seeing off the men that were sent by God to visit him. God contemplated whether or not to reveal to Abraham his plans for Sodom and Gomorrah. God did decide to reveal this to Abraham. Abraham then exhibits what I believe to be a shadow of Christ’s intercession for us. Abraham interceded, even negotiated, on behalf of the righteous that lived in the cities. In the end, God agreed not to destroy the cities if there were ten righteous people that resided there.

Unfortunately, there were not even ten. The men went to the city of Sodom and were greeted at the gate by Lot, one of the less than ten righteous people in the city. He was hospitable to the men and protected them from the wicked men of the city with every resource available to him. However, everything he had wasn’t enough. Everything we have isn’t enough either. We cannot save ourselves from our sin any more than Lot could save his guests from the wicked men of the city.

Fortunately, God had a plan all along. A perfect plan that worked to redeem the righteous and to judge the wicked. The men sent from God warned Lot to escape with his family from the city before judgment came. God then baptized the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire. They were utterly destroyed because of their wickedness. God’s righteous judgment along with His loving mercy came together to reveal His holy character.