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eternally-gratefull · #13 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by superdave5221

Acts 2: 38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins ; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation !" 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized ; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

Peter seems to think that being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, which we know is water baptism, kind of counts for something. It precedes the receiving of the "gift of Holy Spirit". That is a gift worth receiving. And it would appear from verse 41 that the water baptism is the event which signifies that one is "added to Christ's church".

Now we know that water baptism was believed by the early church fathers and apologists to be necessary for salvation. These are those people who either knew the apostles, or knew someone who knew the apostles.

I can't imagine how those church fathers, who were closest to the apostles, and who were responsible for recognizing the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, could have gotten it wrong.

I would think that they knew more about this subject then did Zwingli 1500 years later.

By the way, in the name of Jesus Christ, means that Jesus Christ is responsible for the forgiving of sins, not the person administering the baptism, nor the water itself.

Thanks for your response. But Peter did not think any such thing. The interpretors who interpreted his words just got the wording mixed up.

Repent is 2rd person plural. It is a command given to everyone who he is speaking to. Gift of the HS is also 2nd person plural. It is what everyone who repents will recieve for repenting.

Baptize is a 3rd person singular. Meaning Peter is no longer talking to everyone who is listening to him. But only certain people individually (A third person command is general to everyone, a 2nd person command is an individual command given to certain listeners. not all) to find out who he is talking to, we must find the third person command is we look for the third person singular command. It just happens to be "baptize", in other words he is only telling specific people, not all, to be baptized. Now to find out who? What is the "thing" which is 3rd person singular? Remission of sin is third person singular.

In other words. Peter is telling them all to repent, and if they repent, they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then he continues by telling those who have received remission of sin because of their repentance to be baptized.

Remember in Acts 10: 43 the same author writes this;

Acts 10:43
To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

If baptism was essential to receive remission. and not just faith. then Peter would have said so here in acts 10. But he does not, beczause he understands it is not a requirement, but happens after, proven by his next words.

Peter then continues by saying this,

47 “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.

so we see, the gift comes first. Remission comes through faith and repentance. then comes water baptism.