And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Quoting Henry Ripley, Acts 22:16 -
The Gospel regards all men as sinners, needing not only forgiveness, but also the purifying of their hearts from sin. This purity of heart, produced by the Holy Spirit’s influences, and a reception of Christ as the crucified and risen Saviour, is emblematically signified by the ordinance of baptism in the purifying element of water. Hence a believer in Christ, when receiving baptism, may justly be said, in a figure, to be washing away his sins; as he is, by that ordinance, showing externally what has been commenced in his soul, and is manifesting his serious purpose, through divine influences, perpetually to cultivate holiness of heart and life. Baptism is the external public entrance on the Christian life; so that the Christian may be said at his baptism to lay aside his sins, to cleanse himself from moral defilement, and to commence a new life. As the body is made clean by water, so the soul is cleansed by divine grace; and what is thus inwardly performed, is outwardly expressed by this significant emblem. It was customary, also, in the first years of the Gospel, for some external token to be granted from above at the administration of baptism, as showing God’s approval of the act, and acceptance of the persons; and thus the finishing evidence of pardon and of acknowledged discipleship was bestowed in connection with baptism; so that that ordinance was eminently a washing away of the person’s sins. The external token to which reference is made, was the imparting of special gifts by which God manifested his approbation of the Saviour’s followers, and fitted them for giving effectual testimony to the Gospel. And not unfrequently, in every succeeding age, has it been the case, that the reception of baptism has been honored by the Lord, as the occasion of a peculiar manifestation to the soul of his pardoning mercy and sanctifying power.[1]
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