And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6: 11) And now why do you wait? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. (Acts 22: 16) You are confusing spiritual washing/purification of the soul (which is accomplished by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation through repentance/faith BEFORE water baptism - Acts 10:43-47; 11:17,18) with water baptism. The "washing away of sin" in water baptism was only "formal" or symbolic. As Greek scholar AT Robertson points out - baptism here
pictures the washing away of sins by the blood of Christ. Water baptism does not cleanse the soul from sin.
Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary makes not of the importance of the Greek in Ananias' statement. When Ananias tells Paul to "arise, be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord," the tense of the last command is literally "having called" (aorist middle participle). "Calling on [epikalesamenos] --- 'having (that is, after having) called on,' referring the confession of Christ which preceded baptism." [Jamison, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, vol. 3 pg. 160]. Kenneth Wuest picks up on this Greek nuance and translates the verse as follows: "And now, why are you delaying? Having arisen, be baptized and wash away your sins, having previously called upon His Name." (Acts 22:16, Wuest's Expanded NT).
*No Scripture is to be interpretated in isololation from the totality of Scripture. Practically speaking, a singular and obscure verse is to be subservient to to multiple and clear verses, and not vice versa.
Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. (Acts 3: 19)
Repentance is a "change of mind" and the new direction of this change of mind is faith in Christ for salvation. Two sides to the same experience. Acts 20:21 - testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of
repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. May grace and peace be with you in the fullest. (1 Peter 1: 2)
Do you understand what "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" means? Sanctification begins with justification (when the new believer is accounted as righteous through faith and set apart/made holy positionally in Christ) and progressive sanctification continues as a process in which the reality of that holiness becomes more and more evident in our actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and motives. Believers are set apart for obedience to Christ. The shedding of Christ's blood on the cross gives the believer atonement for sin and brings the believer into covenant with God.
Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our heats sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hen 10: 22)
Hebrews 10:22 in the NASB reads - let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. *Notice the order. Reference to this verse as proving regeneration, or the new birth, by water baptism ignores the point of the contrasting of that sprinkling which affects the heart, removing from it an evil conscience, and that washing of the body with pure water. It is the sprinkling (with the Blood of Christ- Hebrews 9:14; I Peter 1:2) which touches the heart. The washing of pure water affects the body.
The writer of Hebrews shows us that no outward ceremony affects the heart (Hebrews 9:13ff.). He would not, and does not contradict himself here by teaching that the washing of the body in water accomplishes an inward cleansing. The former is inward and spiritual, "of the heart" (Romans 2:28-29), and the latter is outward and physical, or "of the flesh" (Romans 2:28-29). The washing of the body in pure water does not present baptism as the means of the cleansing or purifying of the heart. The sprinkling with the Blood of Christ is, and washing our bodies with water is expressly distinguished from sprinkling with the Blood of Christ. Since water baptism is not the means of purifying the heart from sin, it is not the means of regeneration, and it is not absolutely necessary for salvation.
Sometimes we can confuse our terms if we don’t pay close attention to the Scripture. Clearly, forgiveness of sin is called “redemption” not justification and forgiveness of sin is associated with repentance and baptism in water, in the name of Christ; where in we are washed from our sin. When we obey Jesus Christ (through repentance and baptism) we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ, the ultimate cleaning agent. How do we have this assurance? Because God says that when our bodies are washed with pure water, you are also being sprinkled with His blood. God does not lie.
God does not lie, but man does not always correctly interpret God's word (1 Corinthians 2:14). When we obey Jesus Christ by choosing to believe the gospel, we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ and receive cleansing from sin BEFORE water baptism. You continue to confuse the picture (water baptism) with the reality (Spirit baptism).
