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Acts 2 Salvation message
Acts 2 Salvation message
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:36–38).
How would this question be answered today? Mostly, differently than Peter did! Just believe? Repent and believe? Some would dismiss this entirely by teaching that it was only for the Jews of the first century.
In reading the great commission accounts in the gospel it is interesting to see that none of them contain all of what Peter instructed these people to do.
· 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:18–19).
· 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15–16).
· 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46–47).
What we learn by putting this is all together:
Gospel preached to All people
They are to respond:
Believing the message / trusting Jesus
Repenting of sin
Being baptized
The Result:
become disciples
remission of sins
Saved
Peter preached the gospel (Mark/Luke), these people believed (Mark), were commanded to repent (Luke), and be baptized (Mark, Matthew), so that they would have remission of sins (Luke) / be saved (Mark).
It is also instructive to note their response as written by Luke: “as many as received the word were baptized”. I hold that this same gospel will save people the same way today. Have you received the word by being baptized?
Hugh DeLong
