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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: Holy Spirit evidence of Salvation? |
Bible Note: Greetings Grace and Truth! First of all, I have noticed in several of your posts that you are quoting from other sources. You really ought to identify your sources! ;-) Secondly, it is my position that one cannot receive the gift of the Holy Spirit without being saved. The Holy Spirit does not inhabit sinners. So, trying to explain away the contradiction between Acts 2:38 and Acts 10:45 under your view by simply saying that they were not saved until they were baptized doesn't convince. However, we may or may not agree on that point. Fortunately, we don't have to, because the exact words of Scripture demostrate that your interpretation of Acts 2:38 is wrong and you still haven't addressed this exact issue. Let me state the problem again (under your interpretation of Acts 2:38): 1) Everyone must both 'repent' and 'be baptized' (Acts 2:38). 2) Those who do these 'two' things will receive 'forgiveness of sins' and 'the gift of the Holy Spirit'. 3) Acts 10:45 specifically says that they had received 'the gift of the Holy Spirit' prior to being baptized. 4) Therefore, your interpetation of Acts 2:38 is wrong. Mark Copeland can argue that they weren't saved until they heard and did everything that Peter commanded them, but the simple fact is that Acts 10:45 says that they had already received 'the gift of the Holy Spirit' prior to their being baptized. In fact, their reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit was the basis on which Peter argued that they should be allowed to be baptized. Therefore, your understanding of Acts 2:38 is simply wrong (unless you want to admit to a contradiction). However, under the tradition view, Acts 2:38 and Acts 10:45 make perfect sense. They 'repented' at the preaching of Peter and received the 'gift of the Holy Spirit', which are the plural phrases connected together grammatically in Acts 2:38. Then, and only then, each one was baptized, in accordance with the singular command of Acts 2:38. Surely you can see my brother, that this view is not consitent with these two verses, not with the rest of Scripture. I use to always tell my congregation that one very important clue to a false doctrine was that it's proponents had to go to extraordinary lengths to explain away Scripture which told against their doctrine. Mark Copeland's attempt to explain away Acts 10:45 falls into this category. It is very clear! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |