And having heard [it] they were pricked in heart, and said to Peter and the other apostles, What shall we do, brethren?
Peter had just told this crowd that the Jesus they killed is the One God raised and exalted. This verse is their reaction, and it shapes what Peter says next.
Their response shows the Holy Spirit at work in the hearers, not only through the preacher.
Peter testified about the One whom they had refused and killed, but whom God had exalted. That testimony had the most powerful effect: "They were pricked in their heart." That is, they were convicted. You have there the very first effect of the action of the Holy Spirit on the souls of men. The Spirit convicted them of their sins and reached their consciences. These men stood face to face with their guilt. The Lord put them on trial, so to speak, and brought them into the presence of God. He did not only charge their sin on them; He made them conscious of what that sin was. There was a clear break between them and God.
A response on this scale invites an obvious explanation: a gifted speaker, or an impressive movement to join.
Three thousand were added to their number — many times the size of the original company. This addition did not come from Peter's striking eloquence. It did not come from anything powerful or attractive in the company of those who professed the Lord Jesus Christ. It came entirely from the power of the Holy Spirit.
The same sermon can wound two ways. Older translations say these hearers were "pricked in heart." One writer sets that beside a later scene in Acts, where hearers were "cut to the heart" and stoned Stephen.
When the gospel went out, many were pricked in their hearts. This was not like some in Acts 7:54 who were "cut to the heart" — there the flesh was cut, and they stoned Stephen. Here they were pricked in their heart, in their affections, and were brought down in repentance. They ask at once, "What shall we do?"
Being cut to the heart could look like a wave of emotion or a change of opinion. One writer shows it was neither.
It was a real work of God in the conscience. They were not merely persuaded, but pricked in heart. There was submission to His person whom they had just crucified, and this through faith in God's word. This was not mere remorse. It was not just a change of mind either. It was real judgment of self before God. They now took His side against themselves and against their own unbelieving evil in the past. And they cast themselves on Him whom they had so bitterly despised to their own ruin.
These are the people who had shouted for His crucifixion. Their question shows how far they have moved.
Their sin was set before the people. They were pricked to the heart, and said to Peter, What shall we do? The loud, unruly will was gone: no more "Crucify Him, crucify Him." Sin has done its act, and can never undo it. The folly of it comes home to the heart with distress. "What shall we do?" They are turned; they have come to distress and godly sorrow.
They address the apostles as "Brothers." Older translations expand this to "Men and brethren." The word carried more than family ties.
Besides its literal meaning, the word was used for people linked together morally or as a nation. It was also used for those who made up the Jewish nation. Acts 2:29, 37 (where the expression "Men and brethren" should be translated simply "Brethren").
A conscience awake is real. But one writer warns against reading more into this verse than it says.
These people were pricked in their heart and said to the apostles, "What shall we do?" It would not be scriptural to say they were already saved. For that would set aside what Scripture means by being saved in the full sense of the word.
Peter does not leave the question hanging. His answer has two steps.
Where conscience is seriously affected, the answer is near at hand. First they are to repent. That points to the way they had treated their own Messiah. Then they are to be baptized, which publicly reverses their public rejection of Him.
- Word. Peter told them what they did to Jesus and what God did with Him; the Spirit made those words land.
- Wound. The word wounded them into repentance, unlike the crowd who were cut to the heart and stoned Stephen.
- Weight. This was conscience, not feeling. They judged themselves before God and took His side against themselves.
- Will. The crowd that once shouted "Crucify Him" now asks what to do; the will that shouted for His death had broken.
- Way out. Conviction is not yet salvation. But the answer is close: repent, and be baptized — publicly undoing their public rejection of Him.
And Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter has just told the crowd at Pentecost that the Jesus they crucified is Lord and Christ, and they cry back, "Brothers, what shall we do?" His answer names four things — repentance, baptism, forgiveness, and the Spirit — and how they fit together is the question.
Peter preached Christ, and then he called for repentance. One writer puts that demand and its result side by side:
Listen to Peter's address on the day of Pentecost, at the opening of the book of Acts. It was the most fruitful sermon ever preached in this world. It ended with the glorious result of three thousand souls! And what did Peter preach? He preached Christ, and he called on men to repent. Yes, the great apostle to the Jewish people insisted on repentance — judging yourself — real sorrow of heart before God.
Repentance is more than regret, and baptism was the public test of it. It also reversed what these same voices had shouted weeks earlier:
"Repent" — a good word… What is repentance? It is judging yourself… Why be baptized? That would test the reality of their repentance, if it existed. Go, and publicly own His name in the waters of baptism, as seven weeks ago, in Pilate's hall, your voice was heard crying, "Away with him, crucify him."
This order is not the order found elsewhere in Acts. One writer explains why:
Baptism before remission! This is not God's usual order, but the very reverse. When Peter proclaimed Jesus to Cornelius and his friends, they first received the remission of their sins, then the Holy Spirit, and after that baptism was granted to them (Acts 10:43-48). God departed from the usual order on the Day of Pentecost for a very important reason. Only seven weeks earlier these people had been guilty of the murder of the Son of God… Their baptism put them outside "the crooked generation." God's judgment was about to fall on that generation through the Romans.
That separation is the point. Baptism marked a break from that nation. It did not buy salvation:
Baptism saves in a similar way, not for eternity but from a world that rejects the Lord Jesus Christ… By being baptized they publicly dissociated themselves from their own nation, which had rejected the Messiah. Of course, baptism is a symbol of burial with Christ in His death (Romans 6:4). So baptism saves outwardly, but it is only a picture of what saves for eternity — the precious sacrifice of Christ. That sacrifice becomes yours only through faith in Him.
The words read like a formula, and people have built far too much on them:
Peter's words, wrongly interpreted, have led to much confusion. People have built doctrines on these words, especially about water baptism. Those doctrines are taught nowhere else in the Bible, and they contradict the gospel… Remember that Peter was speaking to people who had openly rejected Jesus. So they had to admit their wrong in public. They had to own Him openly as Messiah — the one they had disowned when they handed Him over to lawless men.
The gift Peter promises is not a power but a Person:
The great point of the passage is the personal coming of the Spirit. The power to speak in unknown tongues, the power to do miracles, and the power to preach were only the signs and effects of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Receiving Him personally is the grand thing in Acts 2. The gift itself is infinitely greater than any effect it could produce.
Peter offered that gift to "every one of you." One writer notes the phrase:
There was no discrimination now.
One writer traces the order seen after Pentecost:
They heard of forgiveness of sins through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believed on Him. They received forgiveness. At once, without a moment's delay, God gave each of them the Holy Spirit… Paul's teaching in Ephesians agrees perfectly with what happened at Caesarea, where Cornelius heard the gospel: "In him, when you believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit."
- Pierced — Peter preached Christ, then called for repentance, and three thousand were reached.
- Judged — repentance means judging yourself, not just feeling sorry. Baptism was the public test of whether it was real.
- Severed — their baptism cut them off from a nation under judgment. It saves outwardly, as a picture of the sacrifice that saves for eternity.
- Guarded — Peter spoke to people who had publicly rejected Jesus. His words are not a rule that water baptism buys salvation.
- Given — the promise ends in a Person, not a power. It was offered to "every one," and God still gives Him to all who believe the gospel.