I would like to know your teaching on Colossians 2. I see that in the Q&A there is the question of the need to be baptized. From the wording it seems that this is adding to the cross, and what Yahshua did on the cross is not enough for salvation.
Yahshua paid the death penalty for our sins with His own death. His payment for our sin did not abrogate the need for obedience, however, and even makes it more imperative that we follow His example. We individually must own up to our sins and seek His atoning blood through repentance and immersion. Having paid our sin penalty He then expects compliance with all His commands, 2Corinthians 10:5, Hebrews 5:9. Peter’s command in Acts 2:38, which was after Yahshua’s death and resurrection had taken place, was to repent and be baptized. Yahshua’s death on the stake did not change the necessity to be baptized, through which we participate vicariously in His death and resurrrection, Colossians 2:12, taking on His sacrifice for our sins. Baptism is also how we receive the Holy Spirit, without which we have no hope of the resurrection and salvation, Romans 8:9, John 3:5.
How do you explain the thief on the cross who was not baptized but was told by Jesus he would be with him in paradise?
He was an exception, not the rule. Romans 9:14-15 What then shall we say? Is Elohim unjust? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It is a blessing that Yahweh can chose to save someone when they are at the end of their life. We should celebrate that, but we should also recognize that, that is not the standard.