Question: Doesn’t the case of the penitent thief crucified with Jesus prove that one can be saved without being baptized?

Answer: In light of numerous clear and explicit statements by Jesus, Peter, Paul, and others (Matthew 28:19, 20; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6:1-7; 1 Peter 3:21), is it reasonable that the story of the thief is intended to encourage sinners to seek salvation apart from baptism? Whatever the story of the thief is intended to teach, surely it is not intended to call in question the clear teaching of scripture regarding the purpose of baptism. In Scripture, baptism is portrayed as inseparable from faith and grace (Galatians 3:26, 27; Titus 3:3-5) and as an experience in which God is the one acting (Colossians 2:12) rather than as a human work in contradistinction to salvation by grace through faith. When this is understood, the incentive to interpret the story of the thief as contradictory to the unquestionable purpose of baptism as taught by the Lord and his apostles is eliminated. Our desire should be to interpret each of the scriptures in harmony with all the others!