Acts 22:16 and the Necessity of Baptism
Acts 22:16 and the Necessity of Baptism
Some have suggested that the grammar of Acts 22:16 demonstrates that salvation precedes water baptism. In reality, just the opposite is true. Here are the grammatical features of the verse:
An adverbial participle is a participle that is used as an adverb to modify the verb. “Calling” is an adverbial participle of manner. It shows the manner in which the main verbs are accomplished. The verbs (“baptized” and “wash away sins”)—joined by the coordinate conjunction “and” (kai)—are “causative middles”1 in the aorist tense and so relate to the aorist middle of the participle that follows (“calling”). Hence, a literal translation of Acts 22:16 would be: “Having arisen, get yourself baptized and get your sins washed away and you will have been calling on the name of the Lord.” In other words, Ananias was telling Paul that the way to accomplish “calling on the Lord” was to be baptized and have his sins washed away.
To “call” upon the Lord is used throughout Scripture as a euphemism or idiomatic expression to mean accept God by complying with His commands.2 To call upon the “name” of the Lord refers to submitting to His authority (Colossians 3:17; Acts 4:7).3 In any given context, the commands to which one must submit vary. Read carefully the following verses where the literal sense of opening one’s mouth and audibly calling on the Lord cannot be intended: Genesis 4:26; Psalm 145:18; Isaiah 55:6-7; Acts 9:14,21; Romans 10:12-14; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Timothy 2:22. It is simply a generic expression similar to “names the name of Christ” (2 Timothy 2:19) or “follow Jesus” (Matthew 8:22; Mark 8:34). In the case of initial conversion, Acts 22:16 informs us that water baptism and washing away one’s sins constitute “calling on the name of the Lord.” Notice that the connection between baptism and the “name of the Lord” was made by Peter also in Acts 2:21,38. A person has not “called on the name of the Lord” until and unless he/she is baptized in water.
Endnotes
1 A.T. Robertson (1934), A Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press), p. 808.
2 Eric Lyons (2004), “Calling on the Name of the Lord,” https://apologeticspress.org/calling-on-the-name-of-the-lord-775/.
3 See Dave Miller (2012), Surrendering to His Lordship (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press), https://apologeticspress.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Surrendering-to-Lordship_w.pdf.
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