You and Saul of Tarsus are good friends. Your hatred for this new religion of one called Jesus is the same at that of Saul. You travel with him on the road to Damascus. You are there when the light shone about him. You hear him ask, “What would you have me do.” You hear the answer of Jesus, and you travel with Saul into the city. You remain with him as he prays, fasts and waits for someone designated by the Lord to come and tell Saul what he must do. Finally, a man by the name of Ananias comes and tells Saul, “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Immediately you grab Saul by the arm and urge him to leave this man. “After all,” you tell him, “You were saved out there on the road. Don’t listen to this man. He believes in water salvation by telling you to be baptized. Don’t you know that baptism has nothing whatsoever to do with one’s salvation?”
If this scene had happened back there in the first century, what do you really believe that Saul would have done? After all, wasn’t it he who said, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”? The real question is, “What did Saul actually do when he was told what to do?” Have you done the same thing?
