22:16 Are we to understand from this that baptism cleanses one from sin?
22:16 Are we to understand from this that baptism cleanses one from sin?
No, although many in the professing church teach that it does.
But when one remembers that Paul was already saved, healed, and filled with the Holy Spirit when Ananias told him to "arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord," as Ac 9:17-18 clearly teaches, then we can see the fallacy of that teaching (CP Ac 9:17-18).
Ac 22:16 does not teach that one's sins are remitted by the waters of baptism, but by calling on the name of the Lord (CP Lu 13:3; Ac 2:21; Ro 10:9-10; 1Pe 3:18-21; 1Jn 1:9). "Calling on the name of the Lord" simply means confessing Christ as Saviour
(see also comments on Mt 28:19-20(B); Mk 16:16; Ac 2:37-38; 1Pe 3:20-21 and author's study Water Baptism in his book Foundational Truths of the Christian Faith).