Remember how Jesus had said that in Damascus Saul would hear all that he had to do (Acts 22:10). Saul heard about his future mission, but that was not “all.” Now, Jesus gave something more “to do.” But, for the first time in the account, this doing is linked with the removal of sins—this has to do with justification. Until then, Saul’s sins—including his terrible crimes against God and God’s family—still covered him with filth. Saul’s sins needed to be washed away. While “sins” remain, they are the barrier that separates the sinner from God (Isaiah 59:2). Yes, the Lord’s spokesman was saying, “your sins” must be cleansed away, removed from God’s holy sight! So, the order gave an action (rise) that led into submissive obedience (be baptized). This obedience had the clear aim of grace (wash away your sins) and proved to be the place of effective appeal (calling on His name).
Nothing could be clearer. Saul’s ‘faith only’ or ‘prayer only’ or ‘repentance only’ had not removed his sins. His three days of fasting and prayer had not cleansed him. Human efforts cannot force heaven’s door, no matter how sincere or spiritual! How can they, when sins still make them filthy? “The face of the LORD is against those who do evil” (Psalm 34:16).
That is why human initiative can never work. Salvation comes only through divine initiative. Now we begin to understand the necessity of baptism. For Heaven’s supreme initiative is the Savior’s death, burial and resurrection—the very essence of the Good News (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). And Heaven plunges the repentant believer into this Good News event through water baptism (Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:11-12).
This baptism is not about human work. (The human, Saul, had not conceived it and had not pursued it.) Rather, this is about how God chooses to work. God knows very well that He will turn Saul into Paul, the ambassador to the Gentiles, the apostle of grace, faith and freedom. As God’s inspired spokesman, Paul explains the powerful working of God in baptism, not just for Saul alone, but for “all” who come to Christ.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4).
… having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2:12).
God well knows that He is making Paul “an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16). That may be why Paul’s initial story is told three times. And there is no doubt that baptism plays an essential role in that conversion.
(For uninspired versions of Saul’s story, see Study Note Three).