Acts 22:16
What is written? (ESV)
And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.
What does it say?
Don’t delay, rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
What is its immediate context?
Paul is testifying to the Jews about his personal salvation, including the three days he spent blind and fasting before Ananias arrived. Also told by Luke (9:1-19) and again by Paul (26:12-18).
How Acts 22:16 is applied across Bible answers
Top 4: Results of baptism?
Baptism washes away one's sins.
Top 5: Images for baptism?
Baptism washes away sins.3
Was Saul saved on the road to Damascus?
Paul's first-person account before a Jewish crowd. Saul asks Jesus what he should do, and he's told to go to Damascus, where he will be told what to do. Subsequently, it is in Damascus where Ananias tells Saul/Paul to immediately be baptized for the forgiveness of his sins (e.g. "calling on his name").
What does it mean to ‘call on the name of the Lord?’
Paul, in his conversion, called on the name of the Lord (and washed away his sins) by being baptized.
What is the purpose of baptism?
In this case, Paul doesn't mention that he actually believed in Jesus but it's obviously inferred and unquestioned. Instead, he connects the visible action of being baptized as his converting act (and connects it to "calling on the name of the Lord").
