Context is king Baptism

Story: I love asking questions

… when I was little I was limited on how many times I could ask why

Acts 2:37–38 NASB 95

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 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.

Some churches take this to mean that repentance and baptism are both required to receive the holy spirit.

There are a number of questions that we should ask about it

Who heard this? Audience matters?

What was going on at the time?

What is Peter trying to communicate?

What does scripture say about this?

Who was the audience?

Jews in town for the festival

Jews knew what baptism was

It was for gentiles that wanted to become jewish

Peter told them that they needed to leave their old identities and instead become Christians

What was going on at the time?

Jesus had just ascended and the holy spirit went out to the 120 that was previously in the upper room

Those 120 then went out and drew a large crowd

These 3,000 are that crowd

Peter is reminding them that they were the ones that crucified Christ their own Messiah

What is Peter trying to communicate?

Peter wants the jews to understand that their heritage is not what saves them