What Does Acts 22:16 Mean in the King James?
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The cleansing is paired with a call on the Lord’s nature, so “the name” is the character being invoked, not a formula appended to the washing.
THE MEANING
What you have missed is washed away; the verse holds that cleansing together with rising, immersion, and calling on the Lord’s nature. The name is the nature of the one called upon.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
What you have missed permanently defines you and cannot be washed away.
THE ROOT
ἀπολούω
apolouō
GROWS FROM
λούω
louō
Wash or bathe; the compound carries the sense of washing off or away.
“wash away” in this verse is apolouō. The verb makes the missing something that can be washed off. Its image is subtractive: cleansing removes what clings rather than adding a new identity.
ALSO GROWS
louō: Wash, bathe
λούω
This is the verb at the heart of “wash away,” keeping the cleansing concrete.
loutron: Bath, washing
λουτρόν
This related word makes washing a named act of cleansing, as in the “washing” of Titus 3:5.
ἁμαρτία
hamartia
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
hamart-
Missing, failing to hit or attain.
English “sins” can sound like a fixed category, while this word family retains the action of missing. Here, what is washed away is the missing itself, not the person.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: Miss, err, do wrong
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb preserves the action behind the noun: missing is something done, not a permanent name for the person.
hamartōlos: Sinner; one marked by missing
ἁμαρτωλός
The same family can describe a person by this condition, making the image of washing it away especially pointed.
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνοματ-
onomat-
Name, designation; here, the nature represented by the one named.
The call is directed toward the Lord’s name as his nature, not merely toward a sound or label. The verse places that appeal alongside the washing away of what has been missed.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: Name, call by name
ὀνομάζω
This verb shows the name as an act of identifying or designating someone.
epōnymos: Named after; bearing a name
ἐπώνυμος
This related word shows how a name can carry the identity of the one it designates.
THE PATTERN
What is missed is pictured as something washable rather than a permanent identity.
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;THE THREAD
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.Both verses use ὄνομα (onoma, name as nature) and ἁμαρτία (hamartia, missing): Matthew ties Jesus’ name to deliverance from the misses, while Acts joins the Lord’s name to their washing away. The repeated pair binds the appeal to the nature of the one who delivers.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us