Since it's the holiday season, lets do some doctrinal thinking. From a protestant perspective, does the ritual of baptism bring salvation?

Short answer: no.

Long answer:

Let’s start by defining the Gospel we, as Christians, adhere to. The Apostle Paul defines it for us in 1 Corinthians 15:2-4;

“By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (NIV)

Now, the first logical question to ask is, why did Christ have to die to save us? First, it was prophesied as Paul says;

“Dogs surround me,

a pack of villains encirlces me;

they pierce my hands and my feet.

All my bones are on display;

people stare and gloat over me.

They divide my clothes among them

and cast lots for my garmet.”

Psalm 22:16-18 (NIV)

“because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.”

Psalm 16:10 (NIV)

“Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:4-6 (NIV)

As the end of Isaiah says, another reason is because we needed to be saved. If we needed to be saved, this would imply that we cannot save ourselves. The Bible’s testimony to the depraved nature of humankind is nothing short of crystal clear;

“The heart is deceitful above all things

and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?”

Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me”

Psalm 51:5 (ESV)

“As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.””

Romans 3:10-18 (NIV)

“Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Ephesians 2:3 (ESV)

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us”

1 John 1:8

“If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

1 John 1:10 (ESV)

“Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

Romans 1: 32 (NIV)

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

Romans 5:12 (ESV)

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

After having established this terrible reality; that humanity is evil, sinful and in fact, according to Romans 1, reject God himself, the Bible also clearly spells out the punishment for sin;

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

Galatians 6:7 (ESV)

“Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

James 1:15 (ESV)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

The punishment for sin is death, but there is good news, as Romans 6:23 spells out, God has given us a way to escape punishment. Now, keep in mind that Romans 6:23 calls this a gift from God. Romans 6:23 is not the only verse that testifies to the fact that eternal life, or salvation, is a free gift;

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”

John 1:12 (NIV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”

John 3:16 (NIV)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

Romans 1:16 (NIV)

“That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved”

Romans 10:9 (NIV)

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

“For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast”

Ephesians 2:8-9

These verses would indicate that salvation is a free gift from God. Not only that, but Ephesians 2:8-9 takes this a step further by explicitly stating that this is not of works, but it is by faith alone.

But wait! What if Ephesians 2 isn’t addressing salvation? What if it’s just addressing a division in the church and Paul goes on to define what he means by “works” in Ephesians 2:11, “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)...” (NIV)?

It is true that Paul is addressing divisions in the church and he shows the Ephesian church that they are united because none of them have earned their salvation; that God has brought them together through the cross, as said in Ephesians 2:15-16,

“...by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (NIV)

To address the second point, it is clear that Paul establishes the principle of salvation by faith alone, then uses the example of circumcision to convey his point, otherwise the rest of the passage does not make sense. If Paul was saying that the only works that cannot save you are the Old Testament laws and more specifically, circumcision, are there other laws and other traditions that can? Can Hindu/Buddhist meditation save you? Can you save yourself by suicide bombing? Drinking poisoned Kool-Aid?

Hold on, isn’t there a law that we can observe that can save us; James 2:12,

“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom…” (NIV)

This verse says that we should align ourselves with the law that gives freedom, but James never specifically says that this law saves us. He says it gives us freedom, yes, but he is addressing believers, not non-Christians. He is encouraging believers to walk out their faith, as he continues to to for the rest of chapter 2.

Yes, this is a lot of verses and many of them don’t even address baptism, but the point I want to establish goes beyond baptism. There is no ritual, there is no sacrament, there is no profession that can save us.