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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: jcsav, baptism does not save. |
Bible Note: Greetings Doc! Forgive me for being lazy my friend, but Searcher has reposted my comments on this verse. You can also look up my user name and 'Acts 2:38' for further information. The short version is this: There are two possible ways of looking at Acts 2:38 other than the baptimal regeneration view. The first, which is the most likely, is that 'for remission of sins' is not grammatically associated with the singular command to 'be baptized'. Thus, the promise of 'remissions of sins' is only grammatically associated with the plural command to repent. This is the most likely view in my opinion. The second view is that 'for the remission of sins' refers to the basis of baptism, not the result of baptism. This is certainly grammatically possible, though rarer. Greek prepositions are very fluid and can have a wide range of meaning in different contexts. There are a couple of instances in Scripture where 'eis' clearly has the meaning of 'because of' or 'at'. In Matthew 3:11a, John says, "I baptize you with water for repentance..." The baptismal regenerations would even says (based on Acts 2:38) that repentance precedes baptism. Yet, if one takes 'eis' in Matt. 3:11 to indicate result, then John is baptizing people that they might repent. ;-) It seems much more likely that 'eis' here means 'because of' or 'as a result of' repentance. Mt. 12:41 is an even clearer example. Jesus says, "The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here." 'Eis' is here translated as 'at'. If 'eis' always indicates result, then Jesus was saying that Jonah preached to Nineveh because they had already repented. Yet, most understand this verse to be saying that Nineveh repented because Jonah preached. ;-) Mark 1:4 would be another example of the first illustration. So, clearly 'eis' can mean 'as a result of' in Scripture, though it is also clearly a rarer usage of the preposition. For me, the parenthetical argument holds much more weight, especially when one compares Acts 2:38 with Acts 10. If the baptismal regenerationists are correct in their understanding of Acts 2:38, then God violated His own command in Acts 10 by allowing someone to 'received the gift of the Holy Spirit' prior to being baptized. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |