Christ requires it of us. It was one of His first commandments to what would become the Church, and it identifies us with His death, burial, and resurrection.
If you're asking if it's a means by which Christ saves us, I'm currently studying this myself, but many of the early Christians believed so and a literal reading of 1 Peter 3:21 seems to imply it, unless I'm missing something. However if baptismal regeneration is true, that doesn't change the fact that you must receive it by faith in Christ alone and His work, and you need to understand that.