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Examination of Acts 22:16 regarding Saul's baptism
Whole denominations subscribe to false and misleading doctrine relating to Christian baptism, by trying to give Acts 22:16 the sense that the sins of a gospellized human are not forgiven by God until the candidate is subjected to the external application of water to his/her body in the rite of baptism. This, of course, is utterly incompatible with the plan of salvation documented by Jehovah throughout the corpus of His Holy Scriptures, the Bible: salvation in both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant through God's forgiveness of sins is solely conditional upon the committed trust of the human in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ alone; nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else.
The New Testament rite of baptism by immersion does not and cannot effect salvation. Rather, it is a symbol of the human's profession of faith in Christ, and a rite of induction into Christ's company of dedicated believer-disciples and its regimen of training for service. Thoughts on the ministry of Ananias to the new-born disciple-apostle Saul, by the great Bible scholar and commentator Matthew Henry:
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4. The counsel and encouragement he (Ananias) gave him (Saul) to join himself to the Lord Jesus by baptism (Acts 22:16):
Arise, and be baptized, He had in his circumcision been given up to God, but he must now by baptism be given up to God in Christ - must embrace the Christian religion and the privileges of it, in submission to the precepts of it. This must now be done immediately upon his conversion, and so was added to his circumcision: but to the seed of the faithful it comes in the room of it; for it is, as that was to Abraham and his believing seed, a seal of the righteousness which is by faith.
(1.) The great gospel privilege which by baptism we have sealed to us is the remission of sins: Be baptized and wash away thy sins; that is, "Receive the comfort of the pardon of thy sins in the through Jesus Christ and lay hold of his righteousness for that purpose, and receive power against sin for the mortifying of thy corruption;" for our being washed includes our being both justified and sanctified, 1 Cor. 6:11. Be baptized, and rest not in the sign, but make sure of the thing signified, the putting away of the filth of sin.
(2.) The great gospel duty which by our baptism we are bound to is to call on the name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus; to acknowledge him to be our Lord and our God, and to apply to him accordingly; to give honour to him, to put all our petitions in his hand. To call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord (Son of David, have mercy on us) is the periphrasis of a Christian, 1 Cor. 1:2. We must wash away our sins, calling on the name of the Lord; that is, we must seek for the pardon of our sins in Christ's name, and in dependence on him and his righteousness. In prayer, we must not any longer call God the God of Abraham, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in him our Father; in every prayer, our eye must be to Christ.
(3.) We must do this quickly. Why tarriest thou? Our covenanting with God in Christ is needful work, that must not be deferred. The case is so plain that it is needless to deliberate; and the hazard so great that it is folly to delay. Why should not that be done at the present time that must be done some time, or we are undone?
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Of particular and most doctrinally critical is that the verb "wash"--in the Greek απολουσαι--is in the aorist tense, the middle voice, and imperative mode, with the subject in this verse second person singular. That is, Ananias was ordering Saul to wash his own sins away. That is, if the washing refers to the baptism in this verse, it would mean that Ananias is ordering Saul to baptize himself. Now that simply cannot be as the proponents of baptismal regeneration wish that verse to mean. They believe from this that water baptism washes sins away, which is a very impudent claim.
Since we know that some other individual must be the one administering Paul's baptism, the only logical and reasonable interpretation is that the washing is a separate active procedure that Paul must conduct on himself. And that washing then cannot literally mean soap-and-water to the exterior, so it must be that in the figurative-literal sense Paul must identify sinful behavior, confess it, and effectually repent of it to be forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness (with the washing medium being the Blood of Christ).
Matthew Henry's analysis of the passage considers the act(s) of washing away ones own sins, that is, repenting and confessing old sinful habits as they are pointed out to us by the Holy Ghost, to be now agreeing with God's command to abandon (aphiemi) habituated sinning, is a function in which then God will Himself dismiss and permanently abandon those sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9).
When one places a criminal under arrest, he will be warned, "I arrest you in the name of the law." This is a peculiar expression, but it means, "I arrest you by the authority vested in me by the Law." The phrase "calling on the name of Christ" means exactly the same thing. It is not some kind of magical mantra employing the Lord's title or personal sobriquet. Rather, here it is simply directing Paul to "call on the authority of Christ" to enable dismissing his own sinful habits, to possess his own vessel inin sanctification and honour as one matures spiritually.
Through exercising the new will-power granted by the Holy Spirit by the authority conferred on the believer, one can break the power of cancelled sins through the the authority of having Christ as our Master, and begin to walk the road of progressive sanctification.
What that means is that the baptism and the washing are two separate but important operations in becoming more holy, more spiritually mature in our conversation and deportment:
(1) The baptismal rite of submitting oneself passively to a rite thar is actively administered by the authority of the Godhead vested in His human representative, the baptizer, is a one-time passive statement of public profession and induction not meant to be repeated, the beginning of a lifelong career of discipleship by surrendering oneself to the rite symbolizing death of the old human nature captive to Satan and controlled by Sin, and replaced by the revivication of the physical body now housing the spirit of the new, blood-purchased child of God and servant of Christ controlled by the Holy Spirit.
(2) In contrast, the command to wash oneself of sins is just putting other words on an oft-repeated ongoing maintenance process of progressive sanctification, the putting off of the lingering habits and customs of the "old man" that are now able to be shed by diligent examination and resistance to their automatic recurrence, through calling on the power to do so invested in us at the moment of surrender to Christ, by reliance of the Holy Spirit in the communion of prayer and spiritual discernment, and the washing by the water of the Word in personal study, meditation, instruction by both one's personal discipler-teacher, and Bible-based admonishment in the local assembly.
Ananias is simply referring to the two phases covering the entire future of Saul's life as a Christian. First, Saul should directly submit himself to the Disciples' Baptism, a one-time ritual of public profession of faith in Christ and symbolizing entry into His visible Church for worship and service. Then, he should go on in a life of sanctification by washing away (discarding) his old sinful beliefs, attitudes, and habits, thus demonstrating the effect of allegiance to Christ in his life through the disappearance of consequences of Sin's controlling causes, and instead begin to exhibit holy behavior testifying that he is set aside, consecrated for service in the Kingdom of God.
That is what Ananias was conveying in this verse.
It was exactly the same encouragement that he would give to any new convert to The Faith, and not unique to Saul. And that is why one cannot say that it is a special revelation from Christ to Ananias of a previously unknown command to be given just to Saul. Hence, though a wise admonition based on Ananias' experience, verse 16 was not a God-breathed new Scriptural principle.
However, the telling of the whole story of Ananias in this vignette, in which his uninspired words of Acts 22:16 are embedded, as related by Paul and written by Luke, is inspired and profitable for doctrine of baptisms, for reproof of mockers, for correction of misinterpreters, for instruction in righteousness of the believer's sanctification: That the man of God sent to proclaim the truth may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works in presenting deeper understanding of His Holy Word and obedience to it.