“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
First, and this is an important preliminary statement, this portion of Mark 16, particularly verses 9 through 20, is not found in the earliest manuscripts we have of Mark’s Gospel. So, if we were teaching through this text verse-by-verse I would spend an extended amount of time dealing with the textual issue we’re presented with here, as well as the likelihood that this section was not in Mark’s original writing. But putting that aside, you can see that within the verse itself it is not the absence of baptism that condemns, it is the absence of faith – “he who does not believe will be condemned” (vs.16b). This would make sense seeing the abundant scriptural testimony of salvation by grace through faith.
