Are we to understand that these verses of scripture point to baptismal regeneration or are you just trying to avoid the inevitable? Is this your way of hiding from us what you believe in your heart or perhaps from the church you serve God in? If you really believe in baptismal regeneration just say so. Why should you be ashamed if that is what you truly believe and adhere to in your faith? Is there excommunicating issues involved? Anyone can quote verses of scripture, but God has given teachers and preachers to the church, who labor in the word and doctrine who are enabled to bring us into the unity of the faith through the Spirit. Baptismal regeneration is false doctrine that Lutherans adhere to and you may not want to be associated with it, but if you do adhere to it, then that is a serious issue of our faith that needs to be addressed. Salvation or regeneration by association or proxy is not what the cross of Christ has provided to man. Water baptism by sprinkling or immersion provides nothing in terms of grace that bring salvation to any sinner, conceived and born in sin.
Here is a reminder just in case some have gotten off course with their faith.
Rom 10:9-17
In the above passage there is no mention of water baptism as a prerequisite for salvation or regeneration and God made that point on the cross with the thief who asked for mercy and with the publican in (Luke 18:13,14). Water baptism is not even an after thought of confirmation that is given to relegate as something that 'seals the deal' or makes salvation or regeneration a sure thing.
SO THEN ...
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God ...
Perhaps, to be a little fundy, we should review (one verse theologies versus exegesis and) the concept of 'baptism' from it's original Greek -- Immersion.
The issue for now, is not one of sprinkling or dunking in the physical sense, tho they be good metaphor. In fact, the Greek for baptism is somewhat best related to a metaphor, so often posted here I will leave it to the interested student to look into it.
The concept is
IMMERSION in a new way of life ... Dead to the old man - buried with him in Immersion, washed from the old way of life, and rising up again into a new life in which we become
engrossed *(
see end note)
this all gets back to the concept, if not doctrine of separation, for how can we be 'immersed' if we are diluted, deluded and polluted by the world. The same concept applies to the parable of the sower and the seeds. A little gets snatched up right away, maybe evaporates in the sense of water. When shallow (as in ground or heart or in a shallow religion) or shallow water, a thing tries to take hold but cannot. When diluted as in waters - or better yet, meal mixed with leaven, or contended for as in weeds or associations (versus separation) there may be growth again for a time, but then a corruption or choking out of the intended growth.
End Note -
Synonyms for engrossed ---
adj preoccupied; attentive to
absorbed, captivated, consumed, engaged, enthralled, submerged, bugged, busy, fascinated, gone,
gripped, hooked,
immersed, intrigued, lost, monopolized, occupied, riveted, all wound up, assiduous,
caught up, caught up in, deep, diligent, fiend for, head over heels, heavily into, hung up, industrious,
intent, into, rapt, really into, sedulous, taken up with, tied up, turned on, up to here in, wrapped up
Antonyms for engrossed
existing, idle, inactive, bored, disenthralled, disinterested, ignoring, inattentive, oblivious, uncaring,
uninterested, unoccupied, Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.