Be careful.  Bible studies, like this one, that follow a topic through the Scripture can be dangerous.  They are useful to gain a fuller understanding of the topic, but they also can create a false reliance on a certain collection of verses.

Some people who have looked closely at baptism in the Bible have fallen into a trap called “Baptismal Regeneration,” a false doctrine that teaches that the mere act of baptism will save you.  The most important thing, they will tell you, is that you get baptized.  Then God has to let you into heaven.  It is a doctrine that leads to the baptism of babies, having forgotten that God also calls us to believe (Acts 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”), repent (Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized.”), confess (Romans 10:10 “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”), have faith (Hebrews 10:29 (“But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”), and live lives in harmony with the Spirit (Romans 8: 1,2 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”).  Baptismal Regeneration turns baptism into mystic ritual, a magic act.

Like the baptismal regenerationalists, various people have sought to create lists of the “necessities” of coming into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Such lists might include logical items (like hearing the gospel proclaimed), volitional items (like recognizing one’s own sinfulness and need for a Savior, repenting of one’s sins, believing that Jesus is Savior and turning to him in faith), or behavioral items (like making some kind of public confession or affirmation of faith, being baptized in the name of Jesus, and living a life befitting one’s new found status as a child of God.)

At one end of the spectrum are the folks who believe that the proper completion of a collection of physical and/or mental activities can force God to accept them. They follow either the path of the Pharisees and believe they can achieve their own perfect righteousness by the completion of their list of necessities, or, more likely, subscribe to a belief in the magical power of words and deeds. They baptize babies, like the mother of Achilles, to protect them from God’s wrath. Or, they pigeon-hole strangers on the street, extract a repetition of the “sinner’s prayer” and checkmark them as sinners saved.  Some of them invoke the name of Jesus, like a magic word, for protection or to claim promises, sometimes even promises clearly made to other people.

At the opposite extreme is a particularly strict theology which would have a list with nothing on it. Those folks believe that everything, including your response to God’s gracious offer of salvation, was inalterably established before the beginning of time. Your sense of free will is but an illusion. Studies like this one are of no consequence to them and would be blasphemous, if blasphemy were possible within their theology.

Neither of these extremes can pass the test of common sense and, more importantly, neither can be supported by God’s word.

In a larger and more important sense, the very idea of a list opens the door for a prideful, even arrogant, assumption.  A battle has raged for centuries between a doctrine of grace and one of works.  The reason it remains unsettled is that “proof” for both positions can be found in Scripture, but only if the reader fails to understand the true nature of God’s grace and salvation.  You see, we are entirely incapable of saving ourselves.  No amount of effort can make us right with God.  Neither can any amount of sorrow or repentance make us right with God.  No amount of prayer, or calling on his name is enough.  No amount of faith is sufficient to make us right with God.  (“Wait,” I can hear you saying, “Are these not the very things God calls on us to do in his Word?”  The answer is “Yes, of course,” but the key to your objection is in that God calls us to do them.

There is only one essential for salvation – God’s decision to save us.  If God had not made the decision in the beginning to save us, no amount of believing, or repenting, or baptizing would do us any good at all.  It really is all about God and his sovereign choices.  We often talk of God’s grace and the gift of eternal life, but it is very easy to inject our own thoughts, wishes, actions and pride into the equation turning his gift of salvation into something we think we have some right to because of our actions or beliefs.

We are not totally depraved.  After all, God declared his creation, including us, to be good.  However, we are fatally flawed by sin and simply incapable of saving ourselves.  The more one comes to know the power and majesty of God and the more clearly one is able to see himself, the more obvious it becomes that we have nothing in us sufficient to commend ourselves to Him.

But, we very much want to have a formula – an abracadabra that causes the door of heaven to swing open.  We want to be in control of our own salvation.  But we cannot be.  It is only and always a pure and undeserved gift.  So what should we do, we who wish for eternal life?  The answer is deceptively simple – anything and everything that God asks us to do.

You see, the conditions for the receipt of a gift are entirely under the control of the giver.  If your rich uncle leaves you a gift in his will of a thousand bucks, but only if you shave off that hideous mustache, you probably should show up in the lawyer’s office clean-shaven.  In the same way, you would be foolish to arrive at wedding banquet still dressed in your street clothes. (Matthew 22: 11-14)  “Hey, chill,” you can say to the angels on your way to the outer darkness, “I know the invitation said, ‘wedding attire’ but it didn’t strike me as very important.”

God chooses to count our faith as righteousness – we should approach him in faith.  God chooses to hear those who call upon his name – we should call upon his name.  God chooses to forgive the sins of those who are baptized and grant them the gift of the Holy Spirit – we should repent and be baptized.  It is always the same.  God chooses to give us the gift of his salvation and we accept the gift by becoming obedient to his Word.

Take a look at what the Gospel authors had to say – Baptism in the Gospels