Friday
Friday
Jesus’s Salvation
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
Conscience stricken, Peter’s hearers asked anxiously what they must do. Peter replied that they must repent, completely changing their minds about Jesus, and be baptized in his name, submitting to the humiliation of baptism (which Jews regarded as necessary for gentile converts only) and submitting to it in the name of the very person they had previously rejected. This would be a clear public token of their repentance and also of their faith, since Peter later called them believers.
Then they would receive two free gifts of God—the forgiveness of their sins (even of the sin of rejecting God’s Christ) and the gift of the Holy Spirit to regenerate, indwell, and transform them. For they must not think that the Pentecostal gift was for the apostles alone, or for the 120 disciples who had waited ten days for the Spirit to come, or for any elitist group, or even for that generation alone. God had not placed any such limitation on his offer and gift. On the contrary, the promise or gift or baptism of the Spirit (interchangeable terms) was for those also who were listening to Peter’s speech and for their children in subsequent generations, indeed, for all who were far off (whether Jews of the dispersion or even the gentile world), in fact, for all without exception whom the Lord would call to him. For the gift of God is coextensive with the call of God.
Next came Peter’s final appeal: “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (v. 40). Peter was not asking for private and individual conversions only but for a public identification with other believers, thus transferring their membership to the messianic community.
The amazing response to Peter’s appeal is now recorded. About three thousand people accepted his message and were baptized. According to Peter’s promise, they must have received forgiveness and the Spirit, although this time apparently with no supernatural signs. At least, Luke makes no mention of phenomena like wind or fire or languages.
For further reading: Acts 2:37–41