To the OP. You've mixed and and conflated many things here on the subject of baptism only to not prove your point.
Ephesians 4:5-6 says there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. And that one baptism is the one that's important.
Baptism is transliterated from baptizo, meaning to dip, plunge, immerse.
The one baptism that is of importance is the one that gets you into the body of Christ which is his church and that one is immersion in water (Acts 2:38-47).
That one baptism has it's NT origins traceable back to Luke 3:3, John's baptism. It was the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and was done as recorded in the Jordan River. The baptism recorded in Acts 2:38 was identical to that one except done in the name of Jesus Christ as aforementioned and for not only the remission of sins, but also to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and to be added to the Lord's body. Without this being done, you're still in sin, not part of the Lord's body (the church), and do not receive the gift (singular, not gifts) of the Holy Ghost.
Note in Acts 19 wherein the Ephesians were initially baptized unto John's baptism and were re-baptized into Jesus Christ afterwhich and subsequent to the laying on of Paul's hands (an apostle's hands) did they receive miraculous gifts (plural) of the Holy Ghost and not until then.
If you read carefully Acts 2:38, it says you'll receive THE GIFT of the Holy Ghost, meaning the Holy Spirit itself. It doesn't say you'll receive a gift or various gifts of the Holy Ghost, but rather the Holy Ghost itself and not the gifts miraculously manifested by the Spirit via the laying on of the apostle's hands.
The gifts were promised as the power from on high to the apostles as recorded in Luke 24:49 and Acts 2. This was the miraculous manifestation of the Holy Ghost that fulfilled John's words in Luke 3:16.
You mentioned or rather asked why Paul came not to baptize but to preach refering to 1 Cor 1:17, but the answer is clear what was meant by that and his disortation in 1 Cor 1, by reading a bit further in 1 Cor 3:6-7. Paul planted Apollos watered. Read the surrounding text there too.
Water baptism cannot be denied as essential to salvation, no different than are belief faith, confession, and repentance likewise all as well essential to salvation.
Ephesians 4:5-6 says there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. And that one baptism is the one that's important.
Baptism is transliterated from baptizo, meaning to dip, plunge, immerse.
The one baptism that is of importance is the one that gets you into the body of Christ which is his church and that one is immersion in water (Acts 2:38-47).
That one baptism has it's NT origins traceable back to Luke 3:3, John's baptism. It was the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and was done as recorded in the Jordan River. The baptism recorded in Acts 2:38 was identical to that one except done in the name of Jesus Christ as aforementioned and for not only the remission of sins, but also to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and to be added to the Lord's body. Without this being done, you're still in sin, not part of the Lord's body (the church), and do not receive the gift (singular, not gifts) of the Holy Ghost.
Note in Acts 19 wherein the Ephesians were initially baptized unto John's baptism and were re-baptized into Jesus Christ afterwhich and subsequent to the laying on of Paul's hands (an apostle's hands) did they receive miraculous gifts (plural) of the Holy Ghost and not until then.
If you read carefully Acts 2:38, it says you'll receive THE GIFT of the Holy Ghost, meaning the Holy Spirit itself. It doesn't say you'll receive a gift or various gifts of the Holy Ghost, but rather the Holy Ghost itself and not the gifts miraculously manifested by the Spirit via the laying on of the apostle's hands.
The gifts were promised as the power from on high to the apostles as recorded in Luke 24:49 and Acts 2. This was the miraculous manifestation of the Holy Ghost that fulfilled John's words in Luke 3:16.
You mentioned or rather asked why Paul came not to baptize but to preach refering to 1 Cor 1:17, but the answer is clear what was meant by that and his disortation in 1 Cor 1, by reading a bit further in 1 Cor 3:6-7. Paul planted Apollos watered. Read the surrounding text there too.
Water baptism cannot be denied as essential to salvation, no different than are belief faith, confession, and repentance likewise all as well essential to salvation.
