The Bible tells us, by implication, when one should be baptized. When the multitudes on the day of Pentecost heard the first Gospel sermon (preached in its fullness), Luke records the response as follows: “They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). It is highly unlikely that any of these had come to this remarkable occasion with a change of clothes and a towel tucked under their arms, yet they obeyed the apostolic command immediately. When Philip “preached Jesus” to the Ethiopian on the road to Gaza,
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the man did not want to wait until they came to the next town, but besought the evangelist to stop at the first body of water sufficient to immerse him: “And as they went on
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36). Philip immediately complied with the man’s request (vv. 38–39). “When the jailor at Philippi asked Paul and Silas what he should do to be saved, it was already past midnight (16:25). Yet, upon being told what he should do, they did not wait for the dawning of the day. The jailor and his household were baptized “the same hour of the night” (vv. 30–34). When Ananias came to Saul of Tarsus, he urged the sinner seeking salvation to wait no longer to secure it: “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name” (22:16). The narrative implies that Saul did this very thing. The immediacy and urgency of these baptismal responses in each case are unmistakable. The preachers did not suggest