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.
The answer to a pierced conscience
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, and the test of it
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."
Baptism before forgiveness
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.
A verse often misused
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 itself
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.
The pattern that followed
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."
Summary
- 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.