What about the person in the desert / on the deathbed / hanging from a cliff?
Jacob Gwin

We received the following question through the Bible Forum website:

If baptism is required for salvation, as you teach, what about the person who wants to be saved in the desert, or on their death bed? Does this mean that they can’t be saved because they are unable to be baptized?

Answer: This question has many forms and is presented to challenge the idea that one must be baptized in order to be saved. The reasoning goes that if it can be shown that baptism is impossible for some then it must not be required for any. This logic is flawed and directly contradicts the scriptures.

The scriptures are very clear about the necessity of baptism for salvation. Here are a few passages that teach the necessity of baptism very clearly:

I Peter 3:21	The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Acts 2:38	Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Mark 16:15-16	And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

To argue that one doesn’t need to be baptized requires that one argue against these clear verses that say that baptism “doth also now save us” and is “for the remission of sins.” These verses are very clear. Baptism is required for salvation.

The question presents a hypothetical situation in an effort to prove that baptism is not required for salvation. In the situations were baptism is absolutely impossible, we must leave the judgment to God. The only revelation that we have in the Bible is that baptism is required for salvation.

Arguing based upon hypothetical situations is dangerous and care should be used when making such arguments. For example, we could use the same hypothetical presented above in an effort to show that faith is not required in order to be saved. The hypothetical situation would go something like this: “If a person has to have faith to go to heaven…what happens to a person that wants to be saved on their death bed but has never heard the gospel of Christ?” Does this hypothetical prove that faith is not required for salvation? Obviously not because we are told that we must have faith in order to be pleasing to God (Hebrews 11:6) and that this faith comes by hearing the gospel (Romans 10:17). So, then, what happens to the person in this hypothetical situation? Again, we’ll have to leave judgment of this person to God. This hypothetical situation does not prove that faith is not required for salvation just as the hypothetical situation presented initially does not prove that baptism is not required for salvation.

Baptism is clearly required for salvation. Arguing otherwise is arguing against the clear teachings of the scriptures.