Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
- KJV He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
- NKJV He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
- NASB The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned.
- NLT Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Those who believe and are baptized will be saved; those who refuse to believe will be condemned. Salvation hinges on faith in Christ.
Overview
The verse joins faith with baptism as the believer's response to the gospel, while making clear that the decisive ground of condemnation is unbelief, not lack of baptism. Salvation comes through trusting the crucified and risen Lord. The contrast presses the urgency of receiving the message the church is sent to preach.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 36
- John 11:25–26Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
- John 3:36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- Rom 10:9–14that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
- John 3:18–19Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
- John 3:15–16that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
- Acts 2:38Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- John 5:24Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.
- John 8:24That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
- John 12:46–48I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.
- 1 Jn 5:10–13Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.
- John 6:29Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”
- John 3:5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
- Acts 10:43All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”
- John 7:37–38On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- John 20:31But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
- Acts 16:30–32Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
- Rev 20:15And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
- 1 Pet 3:21And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
- John 6:35Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.
- Mark 1:15“The time is fulfilled,” He said, “and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel!”
- Acts 22:16And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’
- John 6:40For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
- Acts 2:41Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.
- John 1:12–13But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
- 1 Pet 1:21Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.
- Matt 28:19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
- Luke 8:12The seeds along the path are those who hear, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
- Heb 10:38–39But My righteous one will live by faith; and if he shrinks back, I will take no pleasure in him.”
- Rev 21:8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
- Acts 13:39Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
- Acts 8:36–39As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”
- Rom 4:24but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
- 2 Th 2:12in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.
- 2 Th 1:8in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- Acts 13:46Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
- Rom 3:6Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 16:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.