Subject: Unforgivable sin |
Bible Note: Greetings Teacher! We must be about the same age if we were both delivering papers in 78! :-) I hope you aren't implying that I'm not a reputable English nor Greek scholar! ;-) I do need to make one clarification in your comments. The pronoun 'you' associated with 'each' is actually plural. Now, on to your observations. If a command can be given to a crowd to repent, then why can't a command be given to a crowd to be baptized? This question is especially pertinent if one believes that baptism is 'necessary' for salvation. In this case, both repentance and baptism would be necessary for the crowd to be saved. Therefore, one would expect both imperatives to be plural, yet they are not. What does a real Greek scholar say about this verse? Here are A. T. Robertson's comments on Acts 2:38: ************************************************** "Change of number from plural to singular and of person from second to third. This change marks a break in the thought here that the English translation does not preserve. The first thing to do is make a radical and complete change of heart and life. Then let each one be baptized after this change has taken place, and the act of baptism be performed "in the name of Jesus Christ"" Source - A.T. Robertson's, "Word Pictures" ************************************************ It simply makes more sense logically, grammatically, and Scripturally to see a break in the thought here and to understand that baptism plays no role in the promises of 'forgiveness of sins' and the reception of the 'gift of the Holy Spirit'. Else, how do you explain that those in Acts 10 received the 'gift of the Holy Spirit' prior to being baptized? Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |