Ananias called Saul “Brother” before he was baptized.
Does this mean Saul was saved before he was baptized?
No, it does not! The account is found in Acts 9:17-18 –
“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.” Those who suggest that because Ananias
called Saul “Brother” before he was baptized that this means
he was saved before he was baptized desperately need to go
back and study their Bible! Ananias was not referring to Saul
as brother in the Lord, but a fellow Jew. Ananias being a
Jew meant that Saul was a fellow kinsman.
In Acts 1:16, Peter said to his fellow Jews, “Men and
brethren.” In Acts 2:29, Peter addressed the Jewish crowd
on Pentecost as “Men and brethren.” The Jews assembled
on that occasion were Peter’s brethren – not Christians, but
fellow kinsmen. Several other scriptures could be cited in
this regard (see Acts 3:17, 22; 7:2, 23, 26; 13:26; 22:1; 23:1, 5,
6).
The term “brother” or “brethren” is merely a common
term of friendship that any Jew would have used.
Saul of Tarsus was not saved until he was baptized. Acts
22:16 records the words of Ananias to Saul. He said, “And
now why tarriest thou? arise and be baptized, and wash away
thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Why did Saul need to
be baptized? Being baptized would result in the washing
away of his sins. Saul, therefore, was still in his sins before
he was baptized, hence not saved. Of course, it is not the
water that washes sins away. Only the blood of Christ can
accomplish this (Eph. 1:7; Rev. 1:5). However, the way a
person appropriates the saving benefits of the blood of Christ
is to be baptized into the death of Christ, as Paul put it in
Rom. 6:3.