"Then he said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.'" (Luke 23:42-43)

In order to justify their rejection of "baptism for the remission of sins," many assert, "The thief was saved and he wasn't baptized!" Their argument is built on at least three bold assumptions: (1) The thief was never baptized. The thief could have been baptized under John (Matt. 3:5), or under Jesus (John 4:1). We don't know if he was baptized; they assume that he wasn't. (2) They can be saved in the same manner as the thief. The only way one could be saved as was the thief is having Jesus say to him, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise." Of course, since Jesus has gone back to heaven, this could never happen. (3) They are under the same law as the thief. Christ's law did not go into effect until after His death (Heb. 9:16-17); hence, the thief lived and died under a different law than ours.

Will you not be baptized "for the remission of sins" as commanded in God's holy law?