Page 82 - SoulWinning Crash Course

Saul was saved after Ananias met him. Ananias called him "Brother Saul"
only in the sense that Jews are "brothers" to each other (Genesis 29:10-15,
Exodus 4:22-23) or because he considered Saul as good as saved in the
sense that Saul's salvation was a drawn-out event that began on the road to

Damascus.

When he told Saul to be baptized, he was speaking of the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. Since Ananias was sent to Saul by a vision from God, he could
easily have been made aware of the possibility of Spirit-baptism without
water-baptism. And it would be perfectly appropriate for Saul to experience
this, being the apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13, 15:16, Galatians 2:8-9,
1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11), who were the first to experience it in front

of Peter (Acts 10) the apostle to the Jews (Galatians 2:8).

Since the Damascus road event and the Ananias event were only 3 days
apart and connected with 3 days of blindness, both of the 2 views above
could fit with the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:8 which takes "born" to
be a reference to Paul's new birth. 1 Corinthians 15:8 "And last of all he
was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." In the case of the

2nd view, Saul's blindness could be a devotional pun with the word "see" in
John 3:3b "...Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God."! It's also interesting to note that the book of Acts doesn't start calling
Saul "Paul" until he tells Elymas the sorcerer that God will blind him (Acts
13:8-13)!

Acts 9:17 "And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and
putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that

appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou
mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and
he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized."
Nothing in the context proves this baptism was a water-baptism. The end of
verse 17 makes Spirit-baptism more likely.

In Acts 22, Paul described what happened in Acts 9. In 22:16, Paul quotes
Ananias as saying (shortly after Paul got his sight back, between the words
"forthwith" and "and arose" in Acts 9:18) "And now why tarriest thou?