Many objections to God’s teaching on baptism result from a misuse of His statement “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
These verses teach that we do not earn or deserve salvation. Salvation is a gift of God (cf. Rom. 6:23) given to those who walk by faith. What the verses do NOT say is that (1) God cannot require works from us to receive salvation (cf. Phil. 2:12), or (2) man is saved by faith only.
To know what God thinks of “faith only,” we can turn to James 2:24: Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. We are saved by grace through faith, but we are NOT saved by faith only or faith alone, just as we are not saved by baptism alone.
If we look at the “complete picture” of God’s Word, we will see that God’s grace and our faith in Christ are among things essential for salvation, as is baptism. Baptism is how we can get into Christ (Gal. 3:27), and is necessary for remission of sins (Acts 2:38).
– Michael Hickox