Tertullian, On Baptism 12

Since the rule states that no one attains salvation without Baptism, grounded on the Lord's own pronouncement — "Unless someone is born of water, he will not have life" (John 3:5) — certain people raise scrupulous, or rather reckless, objections: how can this rule apply to the Apostles, whom we do not find baptized in the Lord except for Paul? Because Paul alone among them has put on Christ's Baptism, either the verdict on the danger facing the others who lack Christ's water must be prejudged so the rule stands, or the rule must be rescinded if salvation is also granted to the unbaptized. I have heard such things, with the Lord as my witness, so that no one thinks me so lost as to voluntarily stir up with my pen's lust what causes scruples for others. Now I will answer, as best I can, those who deny the Apostles were baptized. If they had undergone John's human baptism and desired the Lord's, since the Lord Himself defined one Baptism by telling Peter, who resisted being washed, "He who has been washed once has no need to be washed again" — which He would not have said to someone never baptized at all — this is the proof brought against those who deny the Apostles even John's baptism, aiming to destroy the sacrament of water. Can anyone believe that the very persons then preparing the Lord's way, that is, John's baptism, destined to open the Lord's way throughout the whole world, did not undergo it? The Lord Himself, who owed no debt of penitence, was baptized; was it not necessary for sinners? What then? Were others baptized? Yes, but not the companions of Christ — rather the rivals of faith, the teachers of the law, and the Pharisees. Hence it is also suggested that when those opposing the Lord refused baptism, those who followed Him were baptized and did not share their rivals' mindset, especially when the Lord to whom they adhered extolled John with the testimony: "No one among those born of women is greater than John the Baptist." Others crudely force the issue, claiming the Apostles then fulfilled Baptism's role when they were sprinkled and covered by waves in the boat, and that Peter was sufficiently immersed when he walked on the sea. But in my opinion, it is one thing to be sprinkled or overtaken by the sea's violence, another to be baptized by the discipline of religion. Moreover, that boat prefigured the Church, which is troubled in the sea, that is, the world, by waves, that is, persecutions and temptations, while the Lord is asleep, as it were, through patience, until, aroused by the prayers of the Saints in the last times, He restrains the world and gives tranquility to His own. Now, whether they were baptized somehow or remained unbaptized, it is nevertheless too rash to judge the Apostles' salvation, because they could have been granted the privilege of Baptism by the prerogative of their first calling and subsequent intimate familiarity with Him. For they followed Him who promised salvation to every believer, saying: "Your faith has saved you," and: "Your sins are forgiven," to the believer, indeed, even if not baptized. If the Apostles lacked this, I do not know what their faith was; at one word of the Lord, the tax collector rose and left his post; he deserted his father, his boat, and the trade by which he made his living; he despised his father's funeral: he fulfilled that greatest commandment of the Lord, "Whoever prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me," before he even heard it.