How important is baptism? What happens if someone dies without being baptised? Could it still be that they were saved? Salvation is for those who were liars before they died, or cowards, murderers of fornicators, in short, serious sinners. That includes most of us. Assuming the person believed in Jesus, who died on the cross for them and rose again, did they believe in his fame for saving those who belong to him, his fame in saving them from their enslaving sins: In other words, did they believe in his name? And did they belong to Jesus as a disciple of his? Maybe they believed in him so much that they effectively became his disciple. This takes more than belief in him. It takes more than calling him “Lord”. It means going further and hearing his teachings but also keeping them and actually starting to practice these teachings. If they did so, although not yet being baptised, he might have accepted them as disciples with a view to saving them, purifying them by Holy Spirit power experiences, and by prophetic words of spirit he caused to be spoken to them, even before their baptism. Hopefully so. Otherwise they died in their sins. Jesus has a tremendous reputation for saving people who belong to him from many kinds of sins, and he can do it quickly, even before they die. That is why he is named Jesus, meaning he saves. He has many friends and servants he can use to reach out to save. He saves those who belong to him as disciples, but a major factor in becoming a practising disciple is baptism.
