Water baptism in the new testament church of Acts is in the name of Jesus Christ FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS per Acts 2:38.
The Holy Ghost will lead you to this event.
This is why many get the Holy Ghost prior to baptism.
The Holy Ghost is not a replacement for Acts 2:38.
Christendom teaches this absurd doctrine.
I see what you are saying, but there is nothing in Acts 2:38 about water.
Acts 1:5,
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
This is pretty clear. While true that John baptized with water, Jesus said things will change and they will be baptized in holy spirit. How else can this verse be taken? Very simply declaration.
Jesus changed many things. He boiled down the entire law into 2 commandments (love God, love your neighbor). He became the final Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7). He ended all the animal sacrifices (Heb 10). He changed many other things including baptism. As Acts 1:5 says, John baptized with water
BUT (small word with huge implications) Jesus would baptize them in holy spirit.
Also, remember that Acts is a transition between the OT and the NT. The earliest church was still very Jewish in nature. They continued meeting in the temple for prayer at the required times, they continued with circumcision, and pretty much everything else they did before the Day of Pentecost. It wasn't until some time passed that they began to understand the true implications of Jesus' life. It was the Apostle Paul who really laid out the differences and he didn't come along until some time after Pentecost. Still, it is clear they did get the difference between water and holy spirit (Acts 1:5) that very day.
As I've said before, there is nothing at all wrong with water baptism. I would never criticize a believer for getting water baptism. But that doesn't change the truth that water never made anything perfect.
Heb 9:9-10,
9 Which [was] a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
10 [Which stood] only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed [on them] until the time of reformation.
Meats, drinks and washings, though all instituted by God, did not make anyone perfect. They were all fleshy ordinances imposed only until Jesus came along. They foretold the Messiah. People baptized by John with water
confessed their sins, but it says nothing about those people being saved or born again. In Acts 2:38 they were baptized in holy spirit (as per Acts 1:5) and their sins were remitted (a removal of sin).
How about Jesus' baptism by John? I don't think it insignificant that the holy spirit descended upon him when he got the water. Surely that has some bearing on our discussion. I believe it pointed to Acts 1:5.
Having said all of that and in the interest of fairness, I must include:
Mark 1:4,
There came John baptising in the wilderness, and preaching [the] baptism of repentance for remission of sins.
This seems to fly in the face of many other verses. Here it looks like water does result in the remission of sins. But didn't Hebrews (and many other places) say nothing was made perfect by carnal ordinances? So here we have what appears to be a contradiction in the Bible. Yikes! That can't be!
A general principle in reading the Bible is that when there are many clear verses on a subject along with one or two that appear to contradict the many, it makes way more sense to make the few unclear fit with the many clear than the other way around. Right now, I don't know how Mark 1:4 fits with the other verses I quoted, but I know it does and if I don't find out how in this lifetime, I will find out when he returns. It'll be great to meet you at that time brother.
God bless...Rich
