Repent and be baptized...for the forgiveness of sins?

Acts 2:38 - "And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Mark 16:16 - "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

These are the two main verses that people pull out in their effort to prove that you must be baptized in order to be saved.  And from the outside look of things, it would seem that they are correct.  But let's take a deeper look and use other verses to see whether this is true or not.

Let's take Acts 2:38 first.  The surrounding text (v.41) shows that people were only baptized AFTER they have received his word.  Also, if Peter believed that one had to be baptized in order to be saved, why did he not mention that in any of his other sermons? Acts 3:19 he said, "Repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out."  Acts 10:43 he said, "through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."  Now if Peter truly believed that baptism is a part of salvation, he would be obligated to mention that each time he preached the gospel.  So, it is obvious that Peter doesn't believe that.  So how do we explain Acts 2:38? 

In the book of Acts you will often see people trusting in Christ and then immediately being baptized.  They would be baptized in large bodies of water (ALWAYS), which showed to all who were present (both saved and unsaved) that they were now identifying themselves with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This was so very important to do, because as Peter mentions in a couple of his sermons, these people were the ones who crucified Jesus.  They were mortal enemies of Jesus, but now after being born again, they needed to show that they are no longer mortal enemies of Christ, but now children of the Most High God.

I will take a shorter time to explain Mark 16:16.  This passage is actually a good verse to use to prove that salvation is only by faith.  Look at the wording. it says that whoever does not believe will be condemned.  So the focus of the verse is not baptism.  It is believing.  If baptism is a part of salvation, then Jesus would have said, "whoever does not believe and is not baptized will be condemned."  BUT HE DIDN'T, because salvation all depends on faith alone, through Christ alone.  Here are some additional verses you can look up that shows, that God's Word teaches salvation through faith and not works.

Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 10:9-10; 11:6, Acts 4:12, Isaiah 45:21-22, 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5...just to name a few.  Not to mention the example set in the Old Testament of the sacrifices all pointing to Christ's work on the cross for salvation...nothing about baptism.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know.