Why Was the Apostle Paul Baptized?

Many Christians understand Paul’s (previously named Saul) water baptism as the moment when his sins were washed away. This view is often based on Paul’s account of his conversion in Acts 22, where he recalls the words that Ananias spoke to him:

This raises an important question: were Paul’s sins washed away by water baptism, or had he already been forgiven and experienced salvation before he was water baptized?

In the days after the stoning of Stephen, Saul was “yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” He obtained letters from the high priest authorizing him to arrest any who belonged to “this way” in Damascus and bring them bound to Jerusalem.

As Saul and his companions drew near Damascus at midday, suddenly a light from heaven shone round about him. He fell to the earth and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”

Trembling, he answered, “Who art thou, Lord?”

The Voice replied, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” Then, in the words Paul would later recall before the crowd in Jerusalem, Saul asked the risen Lord the most important question of his life: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

Jesus answered, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” (Acts 9:6; Acts 22:10).

Saul rose from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. His companions led him by the hand into Damascus. For three full days he remained blind. He neither ate nor drank. Instead, he prayed.

During those three days of blindness and prayer, Saul was already a changed man. He had met the risen Christ. He had acknowledged Him as “Lord.” He had asked what he must do and received his marching orders. His heart had turned from persecuting Christ to submitting to Him. Saul was already saved by grace through faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, the Lord appeared in a vision to a disciple in Damascus named Ananias and told him to go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for Saul of Tarsus. “Behold, he prayeth,” the Lord said.

Ananias went, laid his hands on Saul, and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”

Immediately something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes. He received his sight, arose, and was baptized.

In Paul’s own later account of that moment, Ananias had said to him:

“The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:14-16)

Notice the order the Scripture gives us:

Paul was saved the moment he believed in the risen Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. He was regenerated, forgiven, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit before he ever entered the waters of baptism.

Ananias baptized Paul because “that was the only message he knew.” Ananias was operating under the earlier “kingdom program” (the gospel of the circumcision/kingdom message associated with Israel in early Acts, including commands like “repent and be baptized… for the remission of sins” in Acts 2:38 and similar instructions in Acts 22:16 to “arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins”).

The new program of pure grace—salvation by faith alone apart from water baptism, with Christ sending Paul “not to baptize” (1 Corinthians 1:17) and only “one baptism” (the spiritual baptism into the Body of Christ, Ephesians 4:5; Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13)—had not yet been revealed to Ananias. It was revealed gradually and progressively to Paul himself later.

Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 1:15-16 that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of himself being chief (the first saved by grace through faith), and that he is the pattern or prototype for all those should hereafter believe on Jesus Christ to life everlasting.

When we rightly divide the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15) and compare Scripture with Scripture, the conclusion becomes clear: water baptism did not wash away Paul’s sins.
Rather, Paul stands as the first pattern of one saved by grace through faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ under the dispensation of grace—a message he would later receive by revelation from Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:2).