Acts 22:16
in Acts 22And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.
KJV
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
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This verse in Acts 22
Commentary
10 notes on this verseArise, and be baptized - Take now the profession of Christ’s faith most solemnly upon thee, by being baptized in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Wash away thy sins, etc. - Let this washing of thy body represent to thee the washing away of thy sins: and know that this washing away of sin can be received only by invoking the name of the Lord.
This site's exposition
to see the Righteous One
on Acts 22:14-16
Ananias says Paul is appointed to see the Righteous One and to hear His voice, making him an eyewitness like the twelve. The words His witness to everyone carry the vocabulary of witness running from chapter one.
This site's exposition
wash your sins away
Wesley holds baptism to be both a means and a seal of pardon for the penitent. Barnes treats the washing as a sign of the heart made clean, and the traditions still read the verse both ways.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on His name." Here it is a great thing he has uttered. For he said not, "Be baptized in His name:" but, "calling on the name of Christ." It shows that He is God: since it is not lawful to "call upon" any other, save God. Then he shows also, that he himself was not compelled: for, "I said," says he, "What must I do?" Nothing is left without witness: no; he brings forward the witness of a whole city, seeing they had beheld him led by the hand. But see the prophecy fulfilled. "To all men," it is said. For he did become a witness to Him, and a witness as it ought to be; by what he suffered, by what he did, and by what he said.
Since sins are not remitted save in the baptism of the Church, he who admits a heretic to communion without baptism does two things against reason: he does not cleanse the heretics, and he befouls the Christians.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Be baptized, and wash away thy sins - Baptism administered to real penitents, is both a means and seal of pardon. Nor did God ordinarily in the primitive Church bestow this on any, unless through this means.
(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. i.
And now why tarriest thou?....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
be baptized and wash away thy sins--This way of speaking arises from baptism being the visible seal of remission. calling on the name of the Lord--rather, "having called," that is, after having done so; referring to the confession of Christ which preceded baptism, as Ac 8:37.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And now why tarriest thou? - Why dost thou delay, or wait any longer? These words are not recorded by Luke in Acts 9, where he has given an account of the conversion of Paul; but there is nothing here contradictory to his statement. And wash away thy sins - Receive baptism as emblematic of the washing away of sins. It cannot be intended that the external rite of baptism was sufficient to make the soul pure, but that it was an ordinance divinely appointed as expressive of the washing away of sins, or of purifying the heart. Compare Heb 10:22. Sinners are represented in the Scriptures as defiled or polluted by sin. “To wash away the sins” denotes “the purifying of the soul from this polluted influence,” 1Co 6:11; Rev 1:5; Rev 7:14; Isa 1:16; Psa 51:2, Psa 51:7. Calling on the name of the Lord - For pardon and sanctification, Rom 10:13, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It was proper that this calling on the name of the Lord should be connected with the ordinance of baptism. That ordinance was emblematic of a purifying which the Lord only could produce. It is proper that the rite of baptism should be attended with extraordinary prayer; that he who is to be baptized should make it the occasion of special and very solemn religious exercises. The external rite will avail nothing without the pardoning mercy of God.
The words behind it
15 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| νῦν | nun | now | G3568 → | 145 times |
| τί | ti | why | G5101 → | 563 times |
| μέλλεις; | melleis | delay you? | G3195 → | 109 times |
| ἀναστὰς | anastas | Having arisen | G450 → | 107 times |
| βάπτισαι | baptisai | do yourself be baptized | G907 → | 76 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἀπόλουσαι | apolousai | do yourself wash away | G628 → | |
| τὰς | tas | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἁμαρτίας | hamartias | sins | G266 → | 173 times |
| σου | sou | of you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἐπικαλεσάμενος | epikalesamenos | calling on | G1941 → | 30 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὄνομα | onoma | name | G3686 → | 227 times |
| αὐτοῦ.¶ | autou | of Him. | G846 → | 5565 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
νῦνnow
nunG3568 →145 times
τίwhy
tiG5101 →563 times
μέλλεις;delay you?
melleisG3195 →109 times
ἀναστὰςHaving arisen
anastasG450 →107 times
βάπτισαιdo yourself be baptized
baptisaiG907 →76 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἀπόλουσαιdo yourself wash away
apolousaiG628 →
τὰςthe
tasG3588 →19766 times
ἁμαρτίαςsins
hamartiasG266 →173 times
σουof you
souG4771 →2973 times
ἐπικαλεσάμενοςcalling on
epikalesamenosG1941 →30 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
ὄνομαname
onomaG3686 →227 times
αὐτοῦ.¶of Him.
autouG846 →5565 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Titus 3:5He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:11
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 2:8–9
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
- 2 Timothy 1:9
He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.
- 1 Peter 3:21
And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 6:11
Through
Acts 2:38Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
it leads to
- Mark 16:16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
- Acts 8:12
But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
- Luke 24:47
and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
- Acts 3:19
Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
- Mark 16:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Acts
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyprian, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 47; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.