Through the years, I’ve heard a lot of people claim that baptism is not an essential part of our salvation because the thief Jesus took into Paradise was not baptized. Is this sound reasoning? I don’t believe it is for a number of reasons, a few of which I will try to explain below.

#1 That thief lived and died under the Old Testament, or Covenant - He died next to the Lord in a time of transition between the Old Covenant and the New. Having lived as a Jew, he was not responsible to obey the gospel at that point in time as his only means of salvation. The letter to the Hebrews teaches us that the New Covenant was not fully ratified until Jesus did so with His death, 9:15-17. The kingdom itself was not even fully ushered in until it came with power (as Jesus said it would, Acts 1:4-8) at Pentecost following the resurrection (see Acts 2 on that).

#2 Jesus could forgive sin (thus saving a soul) simply by declaring it so – We can read of Him doing just that in Mark 2:1-12. He also makes the point here that He doesn’t even have to mention the forgiveness of sin per se. He proved powerfully, that forgiveness was implied in His command to the paralytic to simply pick up his pallet and go home. The effect of Jesus’ command on the paralytic was immediate and complete. The statement, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise” would have certainly accomplished that same soul-saving forgiveness without regard to any other covenant.

#3 No one mentioned in the New Testament reasoned from the thief’s salvation to either avoid or play down the importance of baptism – As a matter of fact, the rest of the New Testament elevates the role of baptism from many aspects: 1) It is in order to receive remission of sins and the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:38, 2) It is the point at which sins are “washed away”, Acts 22:16 & Revelation 1:5, 3) It is the point at which the circumcision made without hands takes place, Colossians 2:9-14, 4) It is the point at which we join Christ in His death, Romans 6:1-3, 5) It is the point from which we rise to walk in “newness of life”, Romans 6:4 & John 3:3-5, 6) It is the point at which we are saved by faith and clothed with Christ, Galatians 3:26-27, 7) It is the point at which we are saved, First Peter 3:21 & Mark 16:15-16. No, no one in the New Testament ever minimized the importance of baptism.

#4 While we’re on the subject, who says that thief wasn’t baptized? In John 3:22-4:2 (right after Jesus teaches Nicodemus that he needs to be “born again” by water and the Spirit) we can read that Jesus and His disciples were baptizing more people than John, who was known as, and called the baptizer. So, who is to say that the thief in question was not one of these many who were baptized? His statements about Jesus and his request to be remembered shows that he certainly knew some-thing of the character of the Lord and the kingdom He preached, Luke 23:39-42. It is a moot point anyway, due to #1 & #2 above, but it is definitely worth considering.