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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: Water baptism unnecessary for conversion |
Bible Note: If washing Saul's sins was by baptism it would need to read, "wash away your sins by being baptized." The grammar and word order of the sentence doesn't even come close to allow this. Sual was saved on the road to Damascus: 1. Ananias called him "Brother Saul" (Acts 9:17, 22:13). 1 Corinthians 5:11 says that "brother" means "a believer" ... Saul was called a brother. 2. Saul called Jesus, Lord (Acts 9:6, 22:10) ... "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor 12:3). 3. The Lord called Saul His chosen instrument (Acts 9:15) ... the reason Ananias called him brother. Now from an expert .... …be baptized…" (baptisai, 2 person, singular, aorist 1, imperative mood, and middle voice, Analytical Greek Lexicon, pg. 65). The second person is the usual posture of a verb when one is the recipient of what is being said. The aorist 1 and imperative mood indicate that Saul was commanded to be baptized. The middle voice is technical and hard to convey in English grammar. Ray Summer wrote thus regarding the middle voice: "This voice depicts the subject as participating in the action, either directly or indirectly, and yet the action is also upon the subject itself" (Essentials of New Testament Greek, pg. 48). The Holy Spirit appears to have used the middle voice in the case of Acts 22: 16 to show the activity of the one thus addressed; whereas, the Spirit simply supplied the passive voice (subject as acted upon) in the case of Acts 2: 38. Water baptism is something that is done to one; however, the person receiving the action is also active (middle voice of the verb). "…wash away thy sins…" (apolousai tas hamartias sou). Water baptism that is preceded by belief, repentance, and confession of Jesus' deity is "for the remission of sins" (eis aphesin ton hamarton humon, Acts 2: 38). The "wash away thy sins" is in keeping with baptism being a washing, spiritually speaking (I Cor. 6: 11). In I Corinthians 6: 11, Paul mentions a number of specific sins such as "fornicators," "homosexuality," and "drunkards" and then uses three words to describe their changed and forgiven condition: "washed," "sanctified," and "justified" (I Cor. 6: 9-11). These three words describe the same saved state. Just as sanctification and justification are essential to salvation, so also is baptism ("washed," cp. Heb. 12: 14; Rom. 5: 1). Again, this "washing" is not physical but it is the "answer of a good conscience toward God" (I Pet. 3: 21, the one thus baptized has a good conscience in that they have obeyed, cp. Heb. 5: 8, 9). Man often cannot understand the connection between wash away thy sins pertaining to water baptism and Jesus' blood being, "…shed for many for the remission of sins" (eis aphesin hmartion, Matt. 26: 28). Hence, they seek to find ways to deny the obvious teaching of Acts 22: 16. Others who have embraced the theology of "salvation by faith only" view baptism as a meritorious work, which would be condemned (Eph. 2: 8, 9). http://www.bibletruths.net/Archives/BTAR247.htm |