Acts 2: 38 Commentary

Jesus said, John baptized with water, but I will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Th element for John’s baptism was water, now it is the Holy Spirit. Repent and be baptized is a baptism of the Holy Spirit. In context of the chapter we are talking about people who were convicted to the heart. What should we do they asked? Peter knew they needed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit once they repented of their sins. The scripture speaks about how God was adding to the church. It was a work of God and three thousand were saved that day. They had to see Jesus and be baptized (to be identified with) him. The same way Gods people were identified with Moses in the Red sea. They were identified with the work God was performing. We must read what the subject is as we read. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. May the lord richly bless you. ” For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are a far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

By richard brady (wrote 1 Bible Commentary - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 12/6/2011 02:26 am

Purification rites took place in the Jewish religion and are prominent in ancient Christianity as well. Baptism is a form of the Jewish purification rites. We see where the Jewish and Christian religons borrowed from other Mediterranean religions as well.

BAPTISM IN THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

I am an ex-church of Christ member and am familiar with its baptismal creed. Baptism was the initiation rite for the Christian religion. Here we see proof in Acts 2:38.

Also Jesus instituted it himself. We see that in Mark and Matthew.

The disputed passage in Mark 16:16 says ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved’. The passage in Mark was later tampered with because the earliest manuscripts do not have that passage.

In Matthew we see it instituted by Jesus ” Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”. Cf. Matt 28:19. Scholars note that Matthew’s gospel was written much later and borrowed from Mark’s gospel. Thus, explains why this passage is in Matthew.

Peter mentions baptism as a condition of salvation, as well. Cf. 1 Peter 3:21. 1 Peter does not carry much authority. Encyclopedia Brittaina states of it’s authorship:

“Although attributed to Peter, it is widely doubted by most scholars, on the basis of the fact that the author of this book cites Greek translations of the Old Testament, instead of the Hebrew originals.”

THE ORIGINS OF BAPTISM IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, THE TWO BABYLONS

Where did the ritual of ‘baptism’ come from? When studying the religions of the Mediterranean one will see that a lot of religions immersed (baptized) people as an initiation rite. These religions pre-date Christianity.

Interestingly, in history there are similar rituals of pagans that involve baptism. Among them is the religion of “Mithra”.

Many Christian deniers believe Christianity is a Mithrian makeover by Constantine. The Roman military worshiped Mithra. Coincidently, to be initiated into Mithra one needed to be baptized.

ALEXANDER HILSOP’S EXAMPLES OF PAGAN BAPTISMS:

“”In the Chaldean mysteries, before any instruction could be received, it was required first of all, that the person to be initiated submit to baptism in token of blind and implicit obedience.

We find different ancient authors bearing direct testimony both to the fact of this baptism and the intention of it. “In certain sacred rites of the heathen, ” says Tertullian, especially referring to the worship of Isis and Mithra, “the mode of initiation is by baptism.”

The term “initiation” clearly shows that it was to the Mysteries of these divinities he referred.

This baptism was by immersion, and seems to have been rather a rough and formidable process; for we find that he who passed through the purifying waters, and other necessary penances, ” if he survived, was then admitted to the knowledge of the Mysteries.” (Elliae Comment. in S. GREG. NAZ.)”

THE PAGAN ORIGINS OF INFANT BAPTISM:

Our own Pagan ancestors, the worshippers of Odin, are known to have practised baptismal rites, which, taken in connection with their avowed object in practising them, show that, originally, at least, they must have believed that the natural guilt and corruption of their new-born children could be washed away by sprinkling them with water, or by plunging them, as soon as born, into lakes or rivers.

Yea, on the other side of the Atlantic, in Mexico, the same doctrine of baptismal regeneration was found in full vigour among the natives, when Cortez and his warriors landed on their shores.

The ceremony of Mexican baptism, which was beheld with astonishment by the Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries, is thus strikingly described in Prescott’s Conquest of Mexico:

“When everything necessary for the baptism had been made ready, all the relations of the child were assembled, and the midwife, who was the person that performed the rite of baptism, * was summoned. At early dawn, they met together in the courtyard of the house. When the sun had risen, the midwife, taking the child in her arms, called for a little earthen vessel of water, while those about her placed the ornaments, which had been prepared for baptism, in the midst of the court.

To perform the rite of baptism, she placed herself with her face toward the west, and immediately began to go through certain ceremonies…After this she sprinkled water on the head of the infant, saying, ‘O my child, take and receive the water of the Lord of the world, which is our life, which is given for the increasing and renewing of our body.

It is to wash and to purify. I pray that these heavenly drops may enter into your body, and dwell there; that they may destroy and remove from you all the evil and sin which was given you before the beginning of the world, since all of us are under its power’…She then washed the body of the child with water, and spoke in this manner: ‘Whencesoever thou comest, thou that art hurtful to this child, leave him and depart from him, for he now liveth anew, and is BORN ANEW; now he is purified and cleansed afresh, and our mother Chalchivitylcue [the goddess of water] bringeth him into the world.’ Having thus prayed, the midwife took the child in both hands, and, lifting him towards heaven, said, ‘O Lord, thou seest here thy creature, whom thou hast sent into the world, this place of sorrow, suffering, and penitence. Grant him, O Lord, thy gifts and inspiration, for thou art the Great God, and with thee is the great goddess.’” Cf. “The Two Babylons” P.133,134 (1858) by Alexander Hislop.

By James Richter (wrote 536 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 6/26/2011 17:01 pm

Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Here we have repentance being instructed, water baptism was symbolic of their repentance— symbolic of repentance of the HEART, just like Circumcision was symbolic of Gods Covenant w/ Abraham AFTER he BELIEVED. Circumcision never saved anyone, but it was Abrahams FAITH that was credited as righteousness, THEN came Circumsion. Likewise WATER BAPTISM saves no one, nor does it guarantee the Gift of the Holy Spirit, because its just Symbolic of the HEART, its an outward appearance of an inward transformation.

The interpretation of one equating Water Baptism with AUTOMATICALLY being forgiven & Receiving the Holy Spirit is REFUTED by the story of Simon the Magician in Acts 8:9-24

Acts 8:13
Then Simon himself ALSO BELIEVED; and when he was BAPTIZED he CONTINUED with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.
And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your HEART IS NOT RIGHT in the sight of God. REPENT therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by BITTERNESS and bound by INIQUITY.”

Its v21 that states, “Your HEART is not right w/God” this is always the issue at hand, genuine Repentance produces good fruit, bitterness is not one of them.

By apollos6640 (wrote 15 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 6/26/2011 13:22 pm

I am truly thankful that the scriptures are no longer hidden from the people. The religious institutions can try there best to warp this passage. Baptism has always been associated with Christianity from the beginning.

By James Richter (wrote 536 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 1/4/2011 02:44 am

Greetings,
Your definition doesn’t stand true to the Greek that is used. Try the Blue Letter Bible web site, it is a great place to look up the Greek text.
This site is easy to use and really informative when you once get to know your way around the site. I suggest you use it to look up “for” in both verses and see how it is written in the Greek.
respectfuly submited,
Tom

By Tom Balt (wrote 6 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 12/29/2010 03:35 am

Look up the definition of “For”

In John 3:16: “FOR God so loved…” or in other words, “BECAUSE God so loved the world….”

Not much different here. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ BECAUSE OF the remission of sins…”

By Jason Elder (wrote 314 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 1/17/2010 19:13 pm

i want more informations

By mal (wrote 2 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 1/17/2010 08:50 am

please send me more information on this verse Acts 2:38.

By mal (wrote 2 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 1/17/2010 08:49 am

Correction:refer Post#8.
Please refer the following commentaries.
i)Post#5——Acts 16:33
http://www.vbvbc.org/bible-verse/acts16-33
ii)Post# 5—-1 Cor.1:17
http://www.vbvbc.org/bible-verse/1-corinthians1-17

By Alex (wrote 499 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 6/6/2009 04:42 am

Please refer the following commentaries.
i)Post#5 —-Acts 16:33
http://www.vbvbc.org/bible-verse/acts16:33
ii)Post#5—-1 Cor.1:17
http://www.vbvbc.org/bible-verse/1corinthians1-17

By Alex (wrote 499 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 6/6/2009 04:35 am

Baptism signifies the work of salvation wrought inside.But Baptism is the sign of discipleship too. The disciples were commanded to teach the nations, make them disciples and give them baptism.( Mt 28:19-20) Moses told people to go ahead into the Red sea. Israelites followed him. They did so for they believed Moses and hence obeyed him as well.They proved themselves to be the disciples of Moses in doing so.(1Cor.10:1-2)

Post# 1 tells of baptism, but then talks about the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. The crux of the matter is that it is the shed blood of Jesus in His death that gives the forgiveness of sins. People believe that. They believe in and on Jesus. But they have to prove that they believe in Jesus. They do so by obeying him. How do they show that they obey him or that they follow him or that they are his disciples? It is by being baptised in water. It is the outward testimony of the work of salvation done inside.So in essence Peter says if you have learnt from us and have believed on the Lord Jesus for your salvation, then obey in baptism showing that you have believed him for for your salvation. One is receiving baptism showing his obedience of faith for salvation which is the forgiveness of sins(Ephes.1:7) That’s why it is believe and be baptised. If one has not believed, there is no sense or benefit in being baptised.

By Jayant Christian (wrote 287 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 6/4/2009 19:09 pm

The bible uses words such as “buried” and “washed” for baptism. If your hands are dirty you don’t just sprinkle water on them, nor because you believe that soap will clean your hands, you don’t just stand there and proclaim that, yet do nothing.

By Krystina (wrote 1 Bible Commentary - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 6/4/2009 07:34 am

If water washed away sins, you’d have to soak all night

By Jason W. Elder (wrote 314 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 5/10/2009 12:41 pm

you better take acts 2:38 to heart
romans was wrote to the church in rome
they all ready followed acts2:38

By christopher burnham (wrote 1 Bible Commentary - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 5/10/2009 08:49 am

We Accept Acts 2:38, but we differ with the interpretation which makes baptism a means of actual or literal remission of sins. We believe baptism has REFERENCE to the remission of sin, but in a REPRESENTATIVE and DECLARATIVE sense rather than a procurative sense.

Acts 2:38 is the “sugarstick” for those who believe that baptism is literally “in order to” the real, actual, experimental remission of sins, and is an essential ingredient of salvation. We do not accept this view. Baptism DOES remit sins, but the entire issue is, IN WHAT SENSE does — or can — baptism remit sins?

And the answer is, the ONLY sense in which it CAN remit — as we elsewhere understand from Scripture — is as a “LIKENESS” and a “FIGURE” (Romans 6:4-6; 1 Peter 3:21). This is the representative sense.

The remission of sins in the representative sense is a very common biblical concept, especially in the Old Testament. Baptism is much like the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, which did not really or literally atone for sin but were representations of Jesus Christ who would eventually come into the world and actually atone for sin by the sacrifice of Himself. See Hebrews 10.

In language of the figurative category, there is the device called “trope,” which means the attribution of something which is “real” to that which is only a symbol, an emblem, or a representation. For example, when you show a picture of your mother and say, “This is my mother,” you are using “trope.” The photo simply represents or illustrates your mother. It is not really your mother.

For a Biblical example of this, consider the following:

Christ said, “This IS my body” when He took the bread. When He took the cup, He said, “This IS my blood.”

Of course, His literal body was His fleshly body, and not the bread itself. His literal blood was still circulating in His literal body, and was not the liquid in the cup. He was using “trope” in His teaching — attributing the reality to the emblem.

Since it is not possible for an external ordinance to do an INTERNAL work on the heart or to render real satisfaction (atonement) to the broken Law of God (Hebrews 10:1-4), baptism cannot do these things except in the “trope” sense — it represents the remission of sins by the death of Christ, which was the REAL remission (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:22, 26, 28). He put away sins by the sacrifice of Himself. Baptism no more literally remits sins than the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament.

In spiritual EXPERIENCE, this remission of sins comes to us in our hearts through FAITH (Romans 3:24-26; Acts 13:38, 39).

By gm (wrote 3 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 4/1/2009 08:58 am

Many cults like the so-called church of Christ teach that the word “FOR” here, means “IN ORDER TO GET the remission of sins,” you have to be baptized.

Lets apply that same definition of “FOR” to John 3:16. It would say, “IN ORDER TO GET God so loved the world…” But that wouldn’t make sense would it? No it wouldn’t. If we were to paraphrase the verse, it would make a whole lot more sense to say, “BECAUSE God so loved the world…”

‘FOR’ has several different meanings in the English language (and I won’t even get into Greek). Don’t take my word for it, look it up - Webster defines “FOR” as meaning: “BECAUSE; on this account that..”

ILLUSTRATION: If I said, that Jesse James was wanted for Bank Robbery.”
That would mean…
(1.)I wanted him to rob a bank. or that
(2.) he was in trouble BECAUSE he had “already” robbed a bank.

If you picked No. 2, you get a cardboard cookie and a rubber raisin. ………and I could go on, but I think you get the point.

1Cor 1:14—> http://www.vbvbc.org/bible-verse/1-corinthians1-14

By Jason W. Elder (wrote 314 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 1/12/2009 00:28 am

Don’t just be baptized as a mere sign of a salvation you think you already have. Rather, be baptized “for the remission of sins,” that is, as an appeal for the forgiveness of sins. Even as Paul was instructed in Acts 22:16 “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Not you are already forgiven so get baptized as mere symbol, but get baptized to have your sins washed away by Christ’s blood.

By rey (wrote 36 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 8/7/2008 04:10 am