This paper on baptism as calling on the name of the Lord to be saved was originally delivered to the Reformation Society of Western New York on March 12, 2026. For readability, it has been converted into a series of articles. A PDF version is available.
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Baptism in the Gospels
Part 3: Baptism in the Book of Acts
Part 4: Baptism in the Epistles
Part 5: Conclusion
It must be said at the outset that the situation in the book of Acts is, in one sense, very exceptional. It was the overlap of the old and new ages, the time between the birth of the church and the destruction of the temple, when the Apostles were present and the gospel was going to the nations in extraordinary ways. In another sense, though primarily descriptive rather than prescriptive, the book of Acts is instructive for the new covenant reality in which we find ourselves today. For our purposes, we will focus on the response demanded by the gospel of the risen Lord Jesus. The events in Acts make it clear that baptism was understood as an essential part of conversion.1Cross, Recovering the Evangelical Sacrament, 58, Kindle edition. It was both the dramatic expression of repentance and faith in the promises of God, as well as the supreme occasion of salvation and initiation into the church. In other words, we find that baptism was considered to be the divinely appointed meeting place for the grace of the Savior and the faith of the sinner.
A brief survey of the various conversions in the book of Acts will reveal a number of differences in the pattern of events that occur. In particular, the response of baptism and the reception of the Spirit do not always take place in the same order or with the same results. This is due to the unusual situations that came about during this unique time in the history of the church, as Samaritans and other Gentiles were being added to the restored people of God in Christ. What is crucial to notice is that the elements themselves (whether mentioned directly or implied) are always the same. Repentance, faith, baptism, and the Spirit go together because, as Jamieson notes, they “are all components of the same unified conversion event.”2Jamieson, Going Public, 48. To understand the normative relationship between these components, we should look not so much to the diverse narrative accounts but to “statements declaring what is expected to occur,” such as Acts 2:38.3Fowler, More Than a Symbol, 160.
Baptism and Conversion
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:38-39)
Peter had just proclaimed to the Jews gathered in Jerusalem that God’s promised king, David’s greater Son, had been enthroned and his promised Spirit had been poured out. Those who heard this were cut to the heart and asked: “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).4There are a number of verbal and conceptual parallels between Luke 3 and Acts 2: both John and Peter proclaim good news (Luke 3:4-6, 18; Acts 2:14-36) and a baptism of repentance for forgiveness (Luke 3:3; Acts 2:38); their hearers ask, “What shall we do?” (Luke 3:10, 12, 14; Acts 2:37); they mention the promise of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16; Acts 2:38-39) and “exhort” the people with “many other” words (Luke 3:18; Acts 2:40). This suggests that just as John’s baptism was given for conversion in the purpose of God (Luke 7:30), so is Christian baptism today. That their concern was about what they must do to be saved is made evident by Peter’s response in verse 38, which recalls what he previously said in verse 21. There, he quoted the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32). Because the day of salvation had dawned with the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus, Peter rephrases Joel’s words in light of this good news. The response, “everyone who calls upon,” is now clarified as everyone who repents and is baptized. The name, “of the Lord,” is now understood specifically as the name of Jesus Christ. And the result, “shall be saved,” is now explained as the forgiveness of sins and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.5Conrad Gempf, “Acts,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1072. It is in this way that Christian baptism is an act of faith in the promises of God whereby the penitent sinner calls upon the name of the risen Lord Jesus to be saved.
As in the preaching of John, repentance and baptism are joined together. Baptism is simply not baptism without repentance. It demands repentance, and this implies faith, since repentance is not just a turn from sin and self but a turn towards God and all that he is for us in Christ. Because “repentance and faith are the two sides of the same coin,” baptism is thus rightly understood as an “expression of faith.”6I. Howard Marshall, Acts: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 86. Peter then states that the purpose of responding to the gospel in such a way is the blessing of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit.7Stein, “Baptism in Luke-Acts,” 49, notes: “Although some have sought to interpret the expression ‘for [eis] the forgiveness of your sins’ as ‘in the hope of forgiveness’ or ‘because of your forgiveness,’ it is best to interpret the expression as indicating the purpose of repentance-baptism.” Even if one tries to maneuver around the fact that the baptism of repentance is for divine pardon (as John also proclaimed), the promise that follows is even more unavoidable: “… and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). These twin blessings are the result of being united with Christ both in his death and resurrection, a reality which Paul says occurs through baptism (Rom. 6:4). But, again, when baptism is rightly understood as an act of faith, it should not be hard to accept it as the moment when the vilest offender, who truly believes, from Jesus a pardon receives. To clarify: “The power of forgiveness is not in the water or in the act. The power is in God and the blood of Christ; it is received because one calls on the name of the Lord, and it is received in baptism. The act is an appropriate expression for what God does.”8Ferguson, The Church of Christ, 183–184. And neither should it surprise us that the gift of the Spirit is associated with baptism in the name of the risen Lord Jesus, since it was he who had received the Spirit from his Father for this very purpose: “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (2:39).9Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament, 104. Those who come to Jesus in baptism will receive the living water of his Spirit to drink (see Isa. 55:1; John 7:37-39; 1 Cor 12:13; Rev. 22:17).
None of this is to suggest that the penitent’s faith or the Spirit’s work are restricted to the moment of baptism. Saving faith is present before baptism (bringing us to the waters), in baptism (calling on the name of the Lord), and after baptism (working through love). The Spirit also works before, in, and after conversion, which is why Beasley-Murray warns: “We must beware of exaggerating distinctions in the various stages of what the New Testament writers probably saw as a unitary process.”10Ibid., 96-97. Caneday likewise views conversion in this way when he writes:
Against the trend of conceiving of conversion in terms of elements abstracted from one another in these post-Augustinian times, without theological embarrassment the apostles preached, as expressed in Acts 2:38, that baptism and repentance are indivisible elements of conversion to Christ. Baptism is an indispensable aspect of conversion along with at least four other elements: repentance, faith, confession, and regeneration.11Caneday, “Baptism in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement,” 313–314.
Yet while the different elements in the complex of conversion should not be isolated from each other, there is a sense in which baptism “is the gathering, visible, effective sign around which the others can be grouped.”12Lars Hartman in Jamieson, Going Public, 41. This is why, in Acts 2:41, we read that “those who received his word were baptized” and added to the number of the church, when Luke could just have easily said that three thousand souls believed the gospel and were savedthat day. For him, to come to the waters of baptism in repentance and faith was to come to Jesus to receive his salvation by grace, be welcomed into his church, and become a Christian. Michael Green says it well: “There is the human side, repentance and faith. There is the churchly side, baptism into the visible family of Christian people. And there is the divine side, forgiveness of sins and reception of the Holy Spirit. All three belong together. All three are necessary parts of Christian initiation.”13Michael Green, Baptism: Its Purpose, Practice and Power (Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 1987), 8.
Baptism and Faith
“And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (Acts 22:16).
Paul’s account of his conversion before the crowd in Jerusalem further elaborates upon the words spoken to him byAnanias. In Luke’s narrative, Paul is told that Jesus had sent Ananias to lay hands on him so that he might regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17). In Paul’s retelling, after he had received his sight (22:13), we learn that Ananias exhorted him to “rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” (22:16). The implication is that his baptism was the occasion when he was filled with the Spirit. But it is not the case that baptism would automatically convey this gift or effect the forgiveness of sins. For Paul to have his sins washed away, he would need to call upon the name of the risen Lord Jesus, the only “name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (4:12). He would need to repent, humbly admit his need for cleansing, and put his confidence in God’s gracious provision of forgiveness by invoking the name of Jesus.14Eckhard J. Schnabel, Acts, Expanded Digital Edition, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 906. He was to do all of this in baptism.15Martin M. Culy and Mikeal C. Parsons, Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text, Baylor Handbook on the Greek New Testament (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2003), 429, note: “The whole process of baptism, washing of sins, and calling on the Lord’s name is portrayed as a single complex event.”
In the narratives of Acts, despite the unusual circumstances of this unique time in redemptive history, baptism is consistently regarded as “the occasion and means of receiving the blessings conferred by the Lord of the Kingdom.”16Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament, 102. It is how penitent sinners, in response to the gospel, confess with their mouths that Jesus is Lord, believe in their hearts that God raised him from the dead, and are saved. For whether Jew or Gentile, “the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Rom. 10:9-13). Baptism, as a dimension of the divine-human encounter of conversion, is where the forgiveness and the Spirit of God meet the repentance and the faith of man.17 Ibid., 272: “From the human side baptism is a confession of that faith in Jesus as Lord, a joyful committal of self to Him unto the sharing of his death and resurrection, and an appropriation by faith of the boundless grace the Lord has brought through his redemption. In baptism the Gospel proclamation and the hearing of faith become united in one indissoluble act, at one and the same time an act of grace and faith, an act of God and man.” To be sure, salvation from beginning to end is entirely the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-10), and the faith that receives is incomparable to the grace that gives, but a response is still necessary.18Ibid., 269.
To insist upon another moment of salvation is to replace the ordinance of baptism with some other occasion or means of calling on the name of the Lord. If not baptism, it will be a prayer prayed, a feeling felt, or a decision for Christ made. None of this is to say that such prayers and decisions of faith are wrong or inappropriate. It is not that “God is gracious to sinners only in baptism, but rather that one may expect him to be gracious in baptism.”19Fowler, More Than a Symbol, 234 (emphasis added). Baptism is the better way God has provided for us to pray the sinner’s prayer, call upon his name, enter his kingdom, and be saved.
