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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. |
Bible Question: I recently read the Purpose Driven Life. In it he states there are "no" delayed baptisms in the Bible. If there are "none" in the Bible, why are there "any" today. In fact being baptized is commonly put off months if not years in most churches. If you substitute Peter's sermon in all of the conversion stories(spoke the word of Lord to him, began with that passage of scripture and told about Jesus, opened her heart to respond to Paul's message, he told the people to beleive in the one coming after him that is Jesus, etc. I think they all responded to the message by being baptized immediately because "that was the message" they all heard. When sharing our faith today, no one ever hears Peter's sermon. Insted they hear "pray jesus into your heart", or accept Christ as their personal saviour so that is all they do. Different sermon evokes a different response. Doesn't it make sense that everyone would have the same response to the Gospel message that the people in Acts did if they all heard the same message today as well! |
Bible Answer: Evangelical churches generally delay baptism because as you correctly observe they pray Jesus into their heart. Baptism apparently does not save and is only an ordinance. Many historic Protestant denominations as well as Roman Catholics and Orthodox contend that baptism together with a profession of faith is what saves and is the beginning of the Christian life. It is called "baptismal regeneration" and is a key area of disagreement between the two main branches of Christianity: those who emphasize the historic creeds (catholics) and those calling themselves evangelicals. For Baptismal Regeneration http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/a25.htm Against Baptismal Regeneration (Baptist) http://www.fundamentalbiblechurch.org/Tracts/fbcbaptr.htm I always recommend investigating both sides rather than entrenching myself in one position. Furthermore it is always a problem reading the Bible objectively once you have a fixed intepretive system in place. |