Here are the verses on baptism. Note the common thread of belief and confession before baptism.
The people confess, then are baptized.
Matthew 3:6
And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
Believe...then baptize.
Mark 16:16
Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
Repent, turn to God, then be baptized.
Those who believed were baptized.
Acts 2:38-39,41
Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.
They believed, then they were baptized.
Acts 8:12
But now the people believed Philip’s message of Good News concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. As a result, many men and women were baptized.
The eunich believed, then was baptized.
Acts 8:29-31,35-36,38
The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”
Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
The man replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him.
So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus.
As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look! There’s some water! Why can’t I be baptized?”
He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
Paul was preached to. He was told that God had chosen Paul. He was called "brother" and then Paul was baptized.
Acts 9:17-18
So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.
The Spirit fell on Cornelius and the men, then they were baptized.
Acts 10:44,47-48
Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.
“Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?”
So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.
The gospel was preached, people believed then they were baptized.
Acts 11:14-17
He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved!’
“As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning.
Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
Repent, then be baptized.
Acts 13:24
Before he came, John the Baptist preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn to God and be baptized.
Lydia believed, along with her household, and then they were baptized.
Acts 16:14-15
One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.
She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.
The jailer believed along with the household and then they were baptized.
Acts 16:29-34
The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”
And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household.
Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized.
He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
Crispus and everyone in the household believes, then they were baptized.
Acts 18:8
Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and everyone in his household believed in the Lord. Many others in Corinth also heard Paul, became believers, and were baptized.
John's baptism (showing there is more than one type of baptism) was not about believing. Here the disciples believe in Jesus, then they are baptized as believers in Jesus.
Acts 19:3-5
“Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked.And they replied, “The baptism of John.”
Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.”
As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
A repeat of Paul believing, then being baptized.
Acts 22:12-16
A man named Ananias lived there. He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus.
He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And that very moment I could see him!
“Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak.
For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard.
What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’
Paul only baptized believers. He actually doesn't lift up water baptism as being of any significant importance in salvation. He says Christ didn't send him to baptize. Christ sent him to preach the gospel.
1 Corinthians 1:13-17
Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!
I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,
for now no one can say they were baptized in my name.
(Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.)
For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
Here Paul expresses that baptism is useless if the dead are not resurrected. It is because Christ arose that we are baptized.
1 Corinthians 15:27-30
For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.)
Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.
If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?
And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour?
People are unified with Christ, buried with Christ and then made alive with Christ, which is what water baptism symbolizes.
Colossians 2:10-14
So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.
For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
So there is my explanation of the verses. I think they clearly reveal believers baptism as my church provides. I see no non-believers being baptized. I see no faith or the Holy Spirit being given to non-believers. I see no use of baptism as a form of evangelism in hopes that baptism might give a person faith and the Holy Spirit.
Now, will Josiah look at these same verses and explain how God ordains baptism to be given to anyone without discernment? We shall see.
