Acts 22:16

A common misinterpretation of Acts 22:16 is that baptism alone, as a ritual act of water, mechanically washes away sins without requiring personal faith or calling on the Lord's name, reducing it to a mere work; conversely, others dismiss its salvific role entirely as purely symbolic, ignoring the direct imperative linking baptism to sin's removal and the urgency against delay, while some proof-text it to argue baptismal regeneration excludes prior belief, overlooking the context of Paul's faith-filled conversion experience recounted throughout the chapter.

In Acts 22:16, Ananias urgently calls Paul to immediate baptism as the divinely appointed moment to have his sins washed away through calling on the name of the Lord, underscoring the essential connection between repentance, faith expressed in invocation of Jesus, and baptism in the process of receiving forgiveness and entering into salvation, reflecting the New Testament pattern where baptism marks the response to Christ's gospel.