One last point. Peter was asked the very question about being saved. And his reply was repent and be baptised. Now peter actually walked and talked to Jesus. So why even consider someones opinion over 2000 years later as to what he really meant. Peter knew exactly what he was saying when asked what we must do. Yes Acts 2:38 is referenced because it is plain and to the point. Yes there are other scriptures where it doesnt mention Baptism but the verses that do are very clear about it being required.
It all goes back to what I said earlier in the discussion....you have to know who is being spoken to and who God is dealing with at that moment in the transition to the age of Grace. Peter did not fully understand what God was doing by opening his grace up to the gentiles and he especially did not yet understand it in Acts 2:38 which you have referenced a couple of times. The dispensation of Grace (to the gentiles) was given to Paul, not Peter. Peter himself admitted that he struggled to understand all that God was doing by opening up salvation to the Gentiles (II Peter 3:15-17). It's clear throughout the New Testament that Peter was not intended to be our priest as gentiles, but instead Paul was the recipient of God's instruction to the gentiles. The Old Testament, the Gospels, and the beginning chapters of the book of Acts are all dealing with God's covenant with Israel though, of course, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." We learn much for those books about the holiness of our God, his faithfulness, the life of our Messiah, etc. and there is absolutely no way we can understand all that we do know about God the Father without them, but those Scriptures are not our (i.e. gentiles) specific instructions for salvation. Paul took the sum total of God's history with mankind to that point and transitioned us to the age of Grace according to God's perfect will and I humbly believe he is the authority on such matters. If God trusted him, then so do I.
One cool point I meant to throw in there is that I love reading about how even though Peter was a Jewish apostle who God called to be a minister to Israel, he did get a personal taste of the expansion of salvation to the Gentiles in Acts 10 & 11. Note that the Gentiles there received the Holy Spirit as soon as they believed upon the Gospel that Peter shared with them. They were baptized AFTER having already received the Spirit. When you look at an individual set of Scripture, with the rest of Scripture in mind, it all fits together beautifully and seeming conflicts disappear.
