The Bible teaches that water baptism is unto - to obtain - the forgiveness of sins

Well, I'll go ahead and submit three more questions: 1. Were the chief rulers in John 12: 42 saved men at the point of John 12: 42? 2. How many baptisms are in force today? 3. Does the meaning of "pistis/pisteuo" include the idea of "trust conjoined with the idea of obedience" and "compliance"? I'll submit an argument that I rarely use based upon II Thess 1: 7-9: "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." I am placing special emphasis on "that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ," and submit that the "gospel" consists of certain facts, certain commands, and certain promises, but I shall concentrate simply on the facts. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)." So, strictly speaking, the gospel is (1) Christ died for our sins, (2) He was buried, and (3) He rose again. Alright, we have to obey that - somehow, and I can conceive of only two possibilities: (1) obey it literally or (2) obey it in a figure. Any feign of literally obeying these facts falls of its own weight; one cannot "obey" facts by simply believing them. However, "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." (Rom 6: 2-6). Hence, one dies to sin - repents, followed by an immersion (buried with Him by baptism), followed by an emersion, an emergence, a figurative resurrection ("like as Christ was raised ... even so we should walk in newness ... ") This parallels perfectly the facts of the gospel and is obedience to the gospel as taught in II Thess. Baptism is a symbol of the burial and resurrection of Christ whereas repentance technically would be a symbol of the Christ's death - "died to sin." Together, repentance and baptism predicated upon a trusting faith constitute obedience to the gospel, and harmonize perfectly with Acts 2 as outlined in Affirmative 2. To state that one "obeys the gospel" by simply believing it is, to me, a little silly. One can believe that the speed limit is 70 MPH, but might not obey it. I will leave the affirmative at that since there was no negation on the last post.