What Does "Calling on His name/Confessing" Mean? Acts 22:16

Acts 22:16 and the Question of Baptismal Regeneration

So my next scripture that I'd like you to address is Acts chapter 22 verse 16. Bro, okay. Here's what it says. And now why do you wait rise and be baptized and wash away your sins? Calling on his name.

So it clearly seems to be the case that baptism and the washing away of your sins is Very closely connected here. And so it seems to support the idea that baptism is in fact necessary for the washing away of your sins.

Which is obviously connected to this whole idea of salvation. I.

Actually love this verse because I remember just a little bit about me and my hometown and Jonesboro, Arkansas is Church of Christ are everywhere. And so that's why it's a mission field for me is because Usually someone's family member or a friend of a friend or so I have so many friends our Church of Christ and so there have been instances where I had a relationship or a friendship with somebody that attends the Church of Christ and so eventually that turned into Them calling their elders and us sitting down and just hashing it out as much loving way as possible.

And I'm so grateful for that because I remember one of them. This probably nine years ago brought up this verse and I just remember thinking man, I just I need to keep reading and studying the Bible and I love this verse now because I do feel like I have a better grasp of the context and so something else I know I'm giving you a lot here to take a consideration.

The Church of Christ Hermeneutic and Baconian Philosophy

But Church of Christ historically have a different method a different hermeneutic a different exegesis. So I wanted to tell you what that is. And this kind of stems out of their Baconian philosophy where the rational mind is preeminent.

You can you can have a clean slate no presuppositions and something that they go by the acronym is CINI C E N I and it's really just three points and it's you got to understand direct command approved example and Necessary inference.

I come back to say Okay, that doesn't really in capture the grammatical historical method of interpretation. And so what I mean is we do look at exit we do look at the original language. We look at definition of terms.

We do look at context and they would say yes to that. But I think a fatal flaw here and this kind of pertains to this verse is you got to understand prescription and description right what is indicative and What's a command ultimately?

And so how this plays out here is the book of Acts is a narrative book. You got to treat it like that when you look at the epistles. These are doctrinal letters given to the church. And so you don't interpret the doctrinal letters in light of the book of Acts you have it backwards.

You read the book of Acts and you see what Paul is teaching how Christians are supposed to understand this in light of the letter. So I'm saying that's important and you'll see this crossover here in a second.

Ananias, the Great Commission, and the Meaning of Calling on His Name

Sure I love what you did you read the whole verse because typically that's good. This gets quoted as why do you wait rise and be baptized and wash away your sins? Okay, but Calling on his name Eli, there's a lot of things going on here in the context.

This is not the Apostle Paul speaking. This is Ananias. Ananias earlier in the context when you look back to Max chapter 9 I think it's 915 where the Lord appears to him saying hey you go and prepare for Saul of Tarsus because he is a chosen Vessel of mine.

Okay, cuz Ananias was like I don't know if this is a good idea because he's literally killing and persecuting Christians. God's like I got a sovereign plan for this. Okay, and so what you see here in this verse just on Broad scope as we get closer is Ananias is being faithful to the gospel proclamation in the Great Commission.

I'm just saying that he's being faithful here. Okay, and so we need to ask the questions How what did he mean? How did the Apostle Paul understand what he means? And so what I'm getting at is rise and be baptized.

I do think that is talking about water baptism, especially with Matthew 28 and the Great Commission of mine wash away your sins calling on his name. So washing away your sins is qualified by calling on his name now the Apostle Paul goes into great detail what it means to call upon the name of the Lord or to Confess Jesus as Lord in Romans chapter 10.

Paul’s Teaching in Romans 10 on Confessing Jesus as Lord

This is a correct move. Paul's about to interpret for us what he would have understood Ananias to be saying and so in in Romans chapter 10 verse 9 Paul says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

You will be saved for with the heart one believes and his present tense Justified and with the mouth one confesses and saved and then he goes on to quote from the Old Testament. He says for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Okay now I know we got other verses, but this is so good. If we just actually just sit in this Paul is telling us that if you confess Jesus as Lord now, I've had church crosses. Well, it says with your mouth and we would say yes, but definitions are so important.

If you look up the word confession confessing. This is a transformed heart of worship that Manifests itself not with not only what you say, but how you live the rest of your life. So there's something more fundamental with confessing.

It's a matter of the heart and so the point is is if you confess Jesus as Lord that he's the risen Lord. Then you are present tense saved according to the Apostle Paul. Now, why is that important because if you go back to Acts 22 16 Eli I think this is a defeater not only for Church of Christ, but also Roman Catholicism Eastern Orthodox any baptismal regeneration.

I just I think this is a defeater and obviously there would be much debate over this but Paul Confessed Jesus is Lord before his baptism. Hmm, that's huge because the Church Christ most people say well Paul confessed Jesus is Lord at his baptism and also acts 22 16.

And I'm like, okay, so if we can show that he actually confessed Jesus before his baptism and that doesn't work. He's simply demonstrating his faith when he does get baptized and look with me at verse 8 Paul answered who are you Lord?

Paul’s Conversion on the Road to Damascus

So let me pause so he's on the road to Damascus, right? He's persecuting Christians. He wasn't seeking after God, but we understand no one seeks after God. No, none's good and unrighteous, but it's God who seeks us his own.

And so the Apostle Paul is a wonderful picture of that. Yeah, so Jesus is in the Shekinah glory of Curios, it's gonna be a key phrase here in a second. The the Shekinah glory of God is is right there in front of Saul of Tarsus and he's a Pharisee of Pharisees.

He knows he is looking at God. He is looking at the divine Lord. And he says who are you Lord? And I think he's genuinely asking the question here. Then he said to me I am Jesus of Nazareth. Whom you are persecuting now Jesus of Nazareth is key because he knows.

Exactly who he's talking about the Apostle Paul earlier in Acts had a helping hand at it. You know a helping hand in the crucifixion probably earlier on and he was there. With the the killing of Stephen.

He understands exactly who Jesus of Nazareth is. And then he says now to those who were with me saw the light. But did not understand the voice of the one who is speaking to me. So now the Apostle Paul or Saul of Tarsus here.

He is a fully informed conscience Shekinah of glory of God that he invokes the divine name Curios and now he knows it's the Resurrected Jesus of Nazareth talking to him and he says and I said to him what shall I do?

Lord.

Paul’s Faith Before Baptism and the New Birth

Hmm, and so you can continue to build on this because Galatians chapter 1 He talks about how he received the gospel not from man, but from actually Jesus himself. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

We're gonna see later that he prayed or if you go look at the context. He prayed he did all these things that someone who is born again does. And so my point is Actually 216 what qualifies the washing away your sins.

It's not the water baptism. It's calling upon his name. Paul already done that.

Hmm excellent, very good, man.