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Remember, John's baptism is not his, but God's, and Christ's baptism is not His, but His Father's: both are from the same source; first the water then the fire (though the order is not required), yet both are simply from God, and both are only by belief--which is the only requirement that validates baptism--for there is nothing that can commence in man without belief.And I believe these words. The problem as I see it is that people like to inject their own views on this text by saying a couple things.
First, they claim that the text defines the order in which these events must occur, in other words, believe first and then be baptized. The word "and" is a conjunction and only specifies that both events are to take place and does not specify the order of events. If my wife calls me at work and asks me to stop on my way home to pick up a loaf of bread and a pound of ground beef, she is not implying that I must pick them up in that order. Her only concern is that I get both.
Second, notice the second half of that verse only speaks to he that does not believe and says nothing about he that is not baptized.
I also have to question which baptism is really being spoken of. Is it John's baptism of water or Jesus' baptism with the Holy Spirit?
These two baptisms, together, form the one baptism God commanded, which is to be in Christ; for there is only one baptism, and it is only achievable by first believing that Christ is the Son of God and Savior of men.
The question of 'which baptism' presupposes, among other things, a dichotomy in baptism that doesn't exist: believers are simply required to obey God in all that He says; whether it is baptism in water or fire, they are both the baptism that God commanded.
For example, if God says keep My commandments, for us to then ask 'which ones' is only by the presuppositions that He didn't mean what He said or, that His statement was confusing and simply needed some clarifying, etc.
God commanded baptism by John, and by His Son, and His Son commanded His disciples to baptize, and to teach others to baptize: that's all we truly need to know; to question as to whether we should or not is to imply that God was not clear in His command.
--I know that there is much to be said about these things, but that is depth not required for salvation, nor obedience.
To obey God is the requirement for salvation, and God said to believe His Son when He says, "do whatsoever I tell you." For Christ is the author of eternal salvation to us who obey Him.
Obedience is above all, and we are required to believe God when He tells us this; otherwise, bad faith is what remains.