Acts 22:16

Jon Weatherly jweather at yahoo.com
Wed Jul 12 16:18:50 EDT 2000


In terms of the sentence structure, the most obvious
verb with which to take *epikalesamenos* is
*apolusai*. However, the close coordination of
*baptisai* and *apolusai*, made even closer by the
remarkable use of middle voice to refer to baptism, an
act that was distinctly not self-administered,
suggests that the participle is modifying both
imperatives.

As far as what the participle refers to, I suspect
that it reflects an understanding of the act of
baptism as itself a calling on the Lord (Jesus) for
cleansing. The structure of Acts 2:21 ("and it will be
that all who call on the name of the Lord will be
saved"), 2:26 ("God made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ") and 2:38 ("each of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ")
suggests, I think, that baptism in the name of Jesus
is presented as the very calling on the name of the
Lord for salvation in the Joel text. The same idea is
perhaps more obvious in 1 Peter 3:21.

This is obviously a theologically charged topic,
however. I would be interested to hear others'
opinions on the syntactical options and the weight of
evidence.

Jon Weatherly
Cincinnati Bible College & Seminary

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