Objection 3

From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions

Mark 16:16, 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.'

Answer. Read the whole verse. Damnation is attached to unbelief alone, not to non-baptism, a telling omission if baptism were essential. Belief and baptism describe the ordinary, commanded path of the regenerate under gospel light, and "saved" here carries its frequent temporal sense: delivered into the joy, safety, and fellowship of discipleship. Moreover, persistent unbelief in the face of light is the mark of one not of Christ's sheep ("ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep," John 10:26), belief does not create sheep; it reveals them. The thief on the cross believed and was never baptized, and entered paradise the same day. If baptism were the gate of heaven, Paul's statement "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" (1 Corinthians 1:17) would be an apostle thanking God he rarely administered the instrument of eternal life.