I feel it is an act of obediance. We must consider those who are not physically capable of being baptized...the ill, disabled or elderly. Certianly they aren't condemned because they were not baptized.
In John 3:16, Jesus refers to himself in third person (grammarically), but elsewhere in scripture, He refers to himself in first person (I come that they may have life...I and the Father are one). Does any one have any ideas on this?