Now I see more fully.
Baptists and Catholics agree that water baptism makes one a member of the Church.
For a Catholic, membership in the Church, the Body of Christ, is the equivalent of being saved.
For a Baptist, being saved is one thing --that has nothing to do with baptism–and church membership is another thing that does depend on baptism.
Water baptism, that is, because if we go by what allischalmers said, Baptists make a distinction between *spiritual *baptism which does save us and *water *baptism which does not. Presumably they divvy up the NT verses on baptism into the buckets of spiritual baptism and water baptism. This distinction is never made in the text itself, though.
So, I wonder how they explain 1 Cor 12:13 “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…” Clearly, being “baptized into one body” means church membership, but it is done by the Holy Spirit, which they claim does not operate in the ordinance of baptism.
BTW, 1st Baptist’s statement of faith makes no mention of “spiritual baptism.”
firstdallas.org/About/what_we_believe.html
Do they not want to confuse people, or does allischalmers not speak for all Baptists?