“And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord”
(Acts 22:16 NKJV)

baptism washes away sin

The change of Saul of Tarsus into Paul the apostle is surely the most unexpected conversion in the New Testament. He set out from Jerusalem to persecute saints in Damascus. By the time he arrived, he had seen Jesus and was told to wait in Damascus for further orders. He would be told what he must do, Acts 9:6.

Ananias dutifully came and commanded Saul to be baptized and wash away his sins. Both baptized and wash away are imperatives (commands) describing what a sinner must do to be saved.

Denominational preachers often assert that Saul was saved on the road. If so, Saul did not know it (he has spent three days fasting). Ananias did not know it, or Luke. or the Lord, or the Holy Spirit. Does anyone really believe that Ananias would tell a saved man to be baptized, and wash away his sins? A saved man could reply, “What sins? I was saved three days ago on the road.”

Saul “called” on the Lord to save him just as the people on Pentecost had done (Acts 2:21, Acts 2:37-38): they called on the Lord by baptism in His name for the remission of sins. Can we do any less?

– Rick Duggin