4. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This is truth, but not the whole truth. Remember, this conversation began with, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” This is the same Jesus who said in Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” If you’re going to take John 3:16 alone, as the complete gospel to be saved by, you might as well take a pair of scissors and cut out the Great Commission, the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament. Moreover, the only thing John 3:16 actually tells us is why God gave His Son, and not how to be saved.
When Philip went out into the desert and preached Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch, all of a sudden there was water. Philip’s sermon is not spelled out for us, but the only thing the eunuch wanted to know was if he could be baptized. Philip said that he could be baptized if he believed with all his heart. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”
There is no record in the New Testament of any individual being converted by mental assent. NONE. Not one apostle or other preacher ever told a lost person that he would be instantly and automatically saved, born again, simply by believing on Jesus Christ. NEVER. We don’t want to end up like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, believing that John 3:16 is all there is to salvation, while completely ignoring Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16, Luke 24:47, John 3:5, John 3:8, Acts 2, 8, 9, 10, 16, 19, 22, James 2:17, 1 Peter 3:21, and others. Believing is essential, but it is only a prerequisite to actual conversion. Believing leads to repentance, obedience, and the birth of the Spirit.
Furthermore, the only scriptural way to be baptized is by immersion. When a person dies, he is buried, not sprinkled with dirt. When a person repents, dies out to his carnal lifestyle, he is buried with Jesus in the waters of baptism.
Romans 10:13 isn’t the only relevant verse in the book of Romans: Romans 6:4 – “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:” We’ll be in the likeness of His resurrection IF we have been planted in the likeness of His death (baptism). What if we’re not planted in that likeness?