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NASB | 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. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. |
Subject: New life? |
Bible Note: Sorry I wasn't clearer. Simply put, baptism points to our justification by faith alone. It is a sign of a promise that God has made. You know Acts 2:38 very well; let's look at the next verses. '"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." And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!" So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.' --Acts 2:39-41 These next few verses answer some very important questions. 1. Baptism is for whom? A: as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself So those who are called by God are to be baptised. Those who have already been regenerated, because that is result of the internal call of God. It is pretty clear that in using a term such as "as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself," there is an implication that God may or may not call all to himself. Otherwise, Peter would have said "this promise is for everyone." Therefore, one can argue that regeneration precedes baptism, because only those who have been called by God are to be baptized. Another argument for baptism pointing to a regeneration distinct from it can be made by understanding that baptism is an act which is pleasing to God. You would agree with that, right? Looking at Romans, however, we see the following: "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." --Romans 8:6-8 So my question for you is, those people who submitted themselves for baptism, were they still "in the flesh" as they did so or not? If they were being led by the Spirit, that means that the Spirit of God was already indwelling them, showing them to be regenerate: "However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." --Romans 8:9 So looking at our two perspectives in light of this passage: 1. According to the Churches of Christ, being indwelled by the Spirit of God is the result of being baptised. The question is how someone still in the flesh (the unbaptized, according to you) would sumbit themselves to a God-pleasing and God-honoring act (baptism) if Romans 8 tells us twice that it is impossible for them to do so? 2. The other option is that the baptism of the new believers in Acts 2 were baptized as a result of them being led by the Spirit, which according to Romans 8:9 is a result of the Spirit's indwelling. That harmonizes with Romans 8, and also makes sense when we look at Acts 2. We see, prior to baptism, the people responding with a desire to be saved (a God-honoring sign of regeneration) and also receiving the word. Only those among the crowd who received the word (caused by God opening their hearts to it) came forth in obedience to the call to repentance. Because repentance and baptism are God-pleasing attitudes/acts, it is clear that they must have already been led by the Spirit of Christ and were enabled to please God -- hence God's call and regeneration had already occurred. --Joe! |