Today I found a handwritten note I jotted down some time ago from the book Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text. The book was written by Martin M. Culy and Mikeal C. Parsons, and it was published by Baylor University Press, Waco, Texas, in 2003. On page 429, in a comment on Acts 22:16, Culy and Parsons observe that the form of the Greek word translated “calling” suggests that

“the whole process of baptism, washing of sins, and calling on the Lord’s name is portrayed as a single complex event.”

The word in view is epikalesamenos, the aorist middle participle masculine nominative singular form of epikaleo.

Ananias, who was sent by God to minister to Saul, had a clear understanding of the meaning of Peter’s command that is recorded in Acts 2:38. (See Acts 9:10-18.) Ananias said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Something like scales immediately fell from Saul’s eyes, he received his sight at once “and he arose and was baptized.”

As Paul recalled this event, he remembered Ananias saying, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16, NKJV).

Ananias identified Jesus as Lord (Acts 9:17), so there is no question of the name to which Acts 22:16 refers.

Paul’s baptism, the invoking of the name Jesus and the washing away of his sins occurred “as a single complex event.”

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