What is baptism doing here? Acts 2:37-41

Ruh-roh

We’re going to try and keep it short here because I know we have a big afternoon ahead. And we’ve just celebrated two baptisms. We’re going through the book of Acts and our passage today is so timely. I thought about moving ahead, but it’s just sitting there ready to help us understand what we’ve just seen this morning. In fact, you’re going to hear me say some things today… and you’re going to say, well, you didn’t say all this 10 years ago. You’re right. I didn’t. I was wrong. About all of it.

In thinking about baptism in Acts 2, we have to say that the context is one big ruh-roh moment. There is an a-ha moment that stops everything. Today’s story begins at the very beginning of Acts 2. The Holy Spirit descends on the followers of Jesus and they begin speaking in the languages represented at the Temple at the feast of Pentecost. The crowd in the temple claims Jesus’ followers are drunk. But St. Peter gets up and he preaches a sermon there in the temple. That’s almost the entire chapter of Acts 2. For our purposes we’re skipping the sermon, but the upshot of the sermon is showing the crowd how Jesus the rabbi really was the one that had been promised in the Old Testament, the Messiah. And the throne of David that had been promised to David’s family forever. That same rabbi Jesus is now sitting on David’s throne. Peter says Jesus died, he rose from the dead, and now he’s on David’s throne, just like he promised… and we saw it happen. Which is exactly what happened in the ascension. He rules over the whole universe from David’s throne as the Promised One, the Messiah.

And oh, by the way… you killed the very one you had been waiting for thousands of years. You killed God. And they’re like, “oh snap”. Really… they didn’t get mad. That might be the one of the biggest shockers in all of the Bible. Peter says you killed the Chosen One, the Promised One, the guy you’ve been waiting for and here’s their response:

Acts 2:37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

Oh snap. We believe you. You’re right. We blew it. Now what do we do? And their question, “what should we do?” is absolutely fascinating. When confronted with the biggest sin of all-time, killing God himself, they want to know what to do? How do we fix this? There’s got to be something we can do.

Peter tells them what to do? Not!

We are constantly getting this story and this text totally wrong. The crowd is "cut to the heart" by the Preached Word. They then ask, "What should we do?" And we look at that story and seem to think that's the right question. Of course... they have to fix this. We need to fix this. We need to do something. And we continue the question of “what should be do?” by reading Peter’s response as, Peter then tells them what to do.

Here’s Peter’s response:

Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

There you go. Peter answers their question. “What should we do?” they want to know. Peter says, “here’s what you do: repent and be baptized.” And that’s how we read this story. Repent is something for us to do. Be baptized is something for us to do. We’re going to make good on our killing of God.

But the problem is that this is all wrong. The whole thing is wrong. The crowd is cut to the heart and they ask “what should we do?” hoping to fix things and the reality is that IT IS THE WRONG QUESTION. They think they can fix it. We’ll do whatever it takes to get on God’s good side, and the reality is… there’s nothing that can do to fix it.

Further, Peter’s response is not telling them what to do. Peter’s response is “don’t do anything”. Repentance is not an action on our part. Being baptized is not an action on our part. I grew up in a world that got Peter’s statement all wrong because we get repentance and baptism all wrong.

Mythbusting repentance

The world has turned repentance into another version of penance. One big myth regarding repentance is the way we talk about the word "sorry". We were always told as kids in the Baptist world that repentance isn't being sorry for your sin. And I saw it on social media again this week. Our "pound of flesh" culture is going to insist that repentance "means more than." I've come to believe that the popular adage "repentance isn't being sorry for your sin" is an attack on Jesus himself, salvation itself, The Gospel, sola fide, insert your favorite "extra nos" reality here.

Being sorry for sin is exactly what repentance is. Luther uses the word contrition to describe repentance. Contrition is another word for "sorrow" or "sorry". "Sorry" takes it on the chin in our society because since forever, repentance is awalys defined by something we do, just like penance. You have to do something to make up for something or to prove your faith. Repentance literally means “to turn away from”, but way too often, as I saw this all the time as a kid, turning away from was walking in one direction, turning around and walking the other direction. That’s doing something. The way the Bible describes it, repentance is turning away from in the mind… being sorry. It involves sorrow and nothing more.

When works are involved, when "turning away from" involves doing something, the Gospel is lost. Free grace is lost. Every. Single. Time. If repentance means stop shacking up, stop beating your wife, stop cheating with the time card, well then... you're having "to do" in order to get salvation. Repentance as "do" or doing something is works salvation under a different label.

Peter's answer to the crowd that day is not telling the crowd, “here’s what you do”. Peter is effectively telling them, "Don't do anything. You CAN'T do anything." "Repent and be baptized" is doing nothing for forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Full stop. They've already been "cut to the heart." There's your repentance, the Word already doing its salvific work. God creates repentance through the preaching of the Word. This is God’s doing, not theirs.

Mythbusting “baptism”

And then there’s the second part of the phrase: "be baptized". Even our English word structure here shows that “be baptized” is passive. Peter is saying “let this be done to you”. It's an act of God on the sinner. The sinner isn’t doing anything in baptism. Peter is literally saying: Be sorry for your sin and be baptized. Don't do anything. You can't do anything.

That brings us to another myth. We were always told that the Greek word here for baptize means to immerse in or under water. It doesn’t mean that at all. The answer is much more simple: the word literally means to wash. It is an echo of what the priests did in the tabernacle when they washed in the basin of water, what’s known as the laver. Priests would wash themselves so that they would be clean before approaching God. That is exactly what’s happening in baptism. It is a literal, not symbolic, washing. Claiming this is metaphor or symbolic ignores the plain reading of the text and quite frankly ignores Jesus’ and the apostles clear, literal teaching all over the New Testament. Anytime you see the word wash? That’s a reference to baptism. Any time you see the word baptism? That’s a reference to baptism. Holy spirit baptism and baptism are all one and the same thing.

Baptism is a washing. The recipient of baptism is washed, is cleansed and cleaned, made perfectly clean for a Holy God. Acts 22 says that baptism washes away sins. St. Paul doubles down on the washing idea in Titus 3 and Ephesians 5. It is literally a washing away of sin, the purification act of God.

What is baptism FOR?

And why should they repent and be baptized? FOR… two things:

FOR the forgiveness of sins

FOR receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit

This verse means exactly what it looks like. There’s no extra explanation needed. We take Peter’s words to mean exactly what he says… because he’s saying the same thing as Jesus and saying the same thing as John the Baptist. That preposition FOR states purpose… it shows a causal relationship. People not only get this wrong because they believe all of this is us doing something, they’re convinced that Peter is talking about different stages of the Christian experience and Christian walk… first you repent… then you get baptized… and then at some point you’ll get forgiveness, and then you’ll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That’s not what’s happening here. Peter is saying this is all one act of God on the sinner, this is all one event all happening at the same time. In fact, Peter here is repeating what Christ had said twice… be born of water and the Spirit… one event. Make disciples by baptizing… one event. Repentance, forgiveness, gift of the Holy Spirit… it all happens at the same time.

Repentance, baptism, forgiveness, the gift of the Holy Spirit: All one event

Repentance, baptism, forgiveness, the gift of the Holy Spirit: It’s all one event. We get all enamored with breaking this up into pieces and stages, and we end up saying things the Bible isn’t saying. Peter is not saying that here. Baptism is totally God’s work or God’s action on the sinner for the sinner’s salvation.

Baptism is Jesus for us, in our world

One thing we didn’t mention… Peter says be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Today is Trinity Sunday, a reminder that we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God shows up for you in baptism, just like he was present at Jesus’ baptism.

So what did we see here this morning? Baptism is a Jesus thing. Our entire life is bound up with what we have witnessed. God does his work on us as He promised in His Word through baptism. And the rest of life is living out what has been done to us in baptism. Baptism provides identity. You’ll often hear us say “remember your baptism”. Because that’s where Jesus gives us our identity: forgiven, child of God. You’re having a bad day.. you remind yourself “I’m forgiven, a child of God. Jesus loves me.” And how do we know this? Our baptism. It’s where Jesus did all of that for us?

This is why we celebrate this morning. We saw a washing, a washing of water through the word. We saw God washing a sinner clean. We saw forgiveness being granted. We saw faith and repentance being created. We saw the Holy Spirit being given. There is no human effort here. Baptism isn’t something you do. Baptism is something done to you. Baptism is God’s actions on a sinner. Baptism is God giving the Gospel to the sinner through His Word… His promise.

Baptism is Jesus for us in our world. And there’s no better time than to think about this. This week we’ve seen all sorts of bad news on our screens. LA. Minnesota. Israel and Iran. Russia and Ukraine. You watch all that long enough and you begin to think this is what life is. But here in these baptisms, in the midst of chaos is hope. Baptism is Jesus having the last word. The entire world could burn down and Jesus still meets us here in the Water and the Word providing new life, providing hope, providing forgiveness, the very things that are warfare against all the sin and evil in the world. You want to talk about spiritual warfare? That’s baptism. That’s Jesus killing sin, killing death, giving life, giving hope. Giving identity.

And this is also Jesus giving hope in San Benito. If you follow baptism throughout the book of Acts, it becomes the way God is expanding his kingdom.

Here’s the result of baptism that day:

Acts 2:41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.

God uses baptism to add to his church. Our prayer here in San Benito is that these baptisms are the first of many in this space as Jesus uses us to connect people to himself. Through baptism.

Let’s pray.

The Table

This Table is baptism in action. Baptism and The Table are closely related. Baptism brings us into the kingdom. The Table sustains our lives in the kingdom. Baptism is life, forgiveness, and salvation. The Table is life, forgiveness, and salvation all over again. This table is where baptism is maintained and renewed as we receive Christ’s body and blood in faith.