Is Baptism necessary for salvation?

Act 2:38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

1. Nothing man can do can save them, no works can help fulfill, complete or contribute to salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. By grace means that salvation is entirely a gift of God, not procured via water baptism (or any work!) (Act_10:43 [cf. Act_2:47]; Act_13:38-39; Act_2:48; Act_15:11; Act_16:30-31; Act_20:21; Act_26:18); (
Baptism is a work therefore it cannot save or complete salvation. I have tons of other Scriptures to back salvation as a gift and salvation is of grace and nothing man can do can save them.


2. What is the Gospel? How is one “saved” consistently through-out the Bible?
Rom. 10:13 and just a few verses before this one in Acts 2:22

3. Let’s take a deeper look at the verse in question:
Act 2:38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
A. Only by Jesus are we forgiven, not by baptism
B. What they are receiving is the GIFT of the Holy Spirit. They have already received the Holy Spirit as a regenerator, that is they have already received the Holy Spirit when they called on the His Name in salvation. The gift of the Holy Spirit , is like the gift of teaching, the gift of speaking in tongues. God enables these gifts after baptism. It is the first command we are to be obedient too and He wants to empower us after we have made the public confession.
C. The verse is not to be understood as teaching that the gift of the Spirit was conditional upon baptism because in other places through-out Scripture we see that gift of the Spirit is not dependent on baptism. These are two clauses” “be baptized” and “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” that are separate statements.
D. Peter gives a promise that you will receive the GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. It is a promise not a conditional statement.
E. We see in Scripture that men were allowed to be saved without an immediate baptism: Acts 10, Cornelius’ prayers have been heard and he is saved yet they wait several days before baptism.

4. Finally Baptism is to be both Spiritual and physical. We are spiritually baptized when we accept Christ as Lord and call upon his name. Then we are commanded to make that a public statement with a physical baptism. It is a necessary commandment of obedience, but it is not required for salvation.

Sources:
John Gill
not that forgiveness of sin could be procured either by repentance, or by baptism; for this is only obtained by the blood of Christ; but the apostle advises these awakened, sensible, repenting, and believing souls, to submit to baptism, that by it their faith might be led to Christ, who suffered and died for their sins, who left them buried in his grave, and who rose again for their justification from them; all which is, in a most lively manner, represented in the ordinance of baptism by immersion: the encouragement to it follows,
grace of the Spirit, as a regenerator and sanctifier; for that they had already; and is necessary, as previous to baptism; unless it should mean confirmation of that grace, and stability in it, as it appears from Act_2:42 they afterwards had; but rather the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, particularly the gift of speaking with tongues, which Christ had received from the Father, and had now shed on his apostles; see Act_19:5.

Baker NT Commetary
What is this gift of the Spirit? Peter puts the noun gift in the singular, not in the plural. By contrast, Paul writes to the Corinthian church about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, among them wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophecy, tongues, and interpretation (1Co_12:8-11, 1Co_12:28-31; 1Co_14:1-2). But to the people who were present at Pentecost Peter says that the baptized believer will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The expression gift appears in the passage about the outpouring of the Spirit on the Samaritans; Simon the sorcerer tried to buy this gift with money (Act_8:20). The term also occurs in the account of Peter's visit to Cornelius, who with his household received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Act_10:45; see also Act_11:17). From these passages we are able to learn that this gift refers to the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Notice, however, that in Act_2:38-41 Luke makes no mention of the converts speaking in tongues (Act_2:4) or of the apostles laying their hands on the converts so that they might receive the Spirit (Act_8:17). We assume, therefore, that “speaking in tongues and laying on of hands were not considered prerequisites for receiving the Spirit.”

The context of the Pentecost account indicates that the gift of the Spirit is not dependent on baptism. The two clauses “be baptized” and “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” are separate statements. In a detailed study of this point Ned B. Stonehouse observes, “One may conclude with confidence that Act_2:38 is not to be understood as teaching that the gift of the Spirit was conditional upon baptism.” A study in Acts on baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit reveals that these two are related but do not necessarily follow each other. Hence, in verse Act_2:38 Peter instructs the people to repent and to be baptized; then he adds the promise (in the future tense) that they “will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”


2 other recommended articles :
Can I Be Saved without Getting Baptized? CRI
Is Baptism Necessary for Salvation? Matt Slick/CARM