I asked you in a previous post but never saw an answer: If baptism is merely symbolic and not efficacious, why go through the trouble?
If it is not efficacious, that makes it an empty ritual. If this is the case, I find it odd that Christ would replace one empty ritual by instituting another. Furthermore, if it is merely an empty ritual and not efficacious, it does not make sense that Christ tied salvation to it. (cf Mark 16:16)
Help me understand.
Was the celebration of Passover and the symbolism in the Seder meal an empty ritual? Was God wrong in instituting it for the nation of Israel?
The efficacious immersion (baptizo) is not into water when a priest performs a ritual.
The efficacious immersion (baptizo) is when the Holy Spirit immerses the redeemed sinner into Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:3-4 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Notice that water is not the object into which we are immersed. We are immersed into Christ Jesus.
Who does the immersion? The Holy Spirit.
Baptism is a very common word in Greek. It simply means to immerse or to dip. The context tells us into what element the object is being dipped. In Romans 6, the object is not water. The object is Christ Jesus.
So, why water baptism at all, if it's not efficacious? Because water baptism is a physical symbol to the world that expresses what the Holy Spirit has accomplished when he immersed us into Christ Jesus.
Secondly, we water baptize because Jesus commissioned his children to baptize disciples who have believed (Matthew 28). This also means that infants are not baptized because they cannot confess faith in Christ. They have not, at that moment, been immersed by the Holy Spirit into Christ Jesus. They are sinners.
What then should happen if an infant dies as a sinner? Well, we trust that the Creator who brought them into the world will extend grace to them. David declared that he would one day see his infant child again after he died. By faith we trust the same thing for all these babies who die.
Ultimately, water has no power. Water does not save. Being dipped into water does not save.
Being immersed into Christ Jesus, however, actually...effectively...saves.