Peter was finishing his sermon; he had wrapped up his discourse with an exposition of Psalm 110, proving that Jesus of Nazareth, the descendant of King David, was now reigning at the right hand of his Father in heaven. He pressed his point home: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:14-36)

His hearers were stunned. Convicted of the truth that they were in the gravest danger, they ask, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

Peter summons them to cease their rebellion and bow their knees to Jesus, publicly acknowledging him as Israel’s true King.

Throughout our Lord’s earthly ministry, he had had secret followers, people like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. But Jesus had now received the promise of the Spirit from the Father and had baptized the Church with power, giving his people boldness and authority unknown in history. Such an event demanded decisive action. The time for quiet belief must now give way to bold confession. Following his preaching of the gospel, Peter summons them publicly to pledge allegiance to the King of kings and take the mark of this, Christian baptism. If you turn and come to him in this way, he will spare you and your children the terrible judgments to come. (Acts 2:19-21) ‘And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”’ (Acts 2:40)

In Acts 2:38, Peter commands his hearers to repent, and presses them:  “Let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” The wording is a bit unusual; instead of being baptized in or into (eis in Greek) the name of Jesus Christ, he commands them to be baptized upon (epi) the name of Jesus Christ: “17. marker in idiom of authorization . . . ‘in connection with, or by the use of, i.e. naming, or calling out, or calling upon the name’ . . . Ac 2:38.”  [Walter Bauer, Frederick William Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, third edition (Chicago, 2000) p. 366]  Peter then adds, “for the forgiveness of your sins.”

He promises: “and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In other words, if these Jewish hearers will publicly submit to the good news about Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah of Israel, they will become full-fledged members of the New Community, experiencing the same fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy as the followers of Christ just had, the baptism or outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

From Acts 2:38, then, it is clear that many things are related to baptism, including the forgiveness of sins. This not a strange idea in an isolated text; Peter repeats this concept decades later, not long before his martyrdom, when he states, “baptism now saves you.” (1 Peter 3:21) And as Paul recounts his conversion, he relates how Ananias told him, “Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins.” (Acts 22:16) But these verses throw much light on Acts 2:38 and help us answer the question how baptism is involved in the forgiveness of sins.

How Baptism Saves us

Acts 22:16 tells us how sins are washed away in baptism: “calling on his name.” And Peter goes on to tell us explicitly that it is not the water of baptism on the body that is important but something else: “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 3:21) This fits in very well with Paul’s unambiguous statement in Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8, 9)

Therefore, the way that we receive God’s forgiveness and are declared righteous is by faith: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” (Romans 3:28) But true faith, faith as only God can see it and which is his gift, is never by itself; true faith is always accompanied by confession, or, perhaps we might say, the inner trust of true faith is always exhibited in outward confession. (Romans 10:9, 10) We do not have to wonder whether or not our faith is genuine, because true faith is always accompanied, though imperfectly and incompletely, by acts of obedience, one of which is baptism with water. But those things are not the root of our salvation. The root of our salvation is God’s sovereign, electing grace, climaxing in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And the sole means of our receiving that grace is our faith, faith alone, but a faith that is never alone, because salvation always bears fruit in good works, works that are good because they are cleansed by the blood of Christ.

The fundamental reality of baptism, then, and what saves us, is God’s sovereign work of grace, centered in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, received by faith, a faith that eventually results in assurance of salvation: “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22) Nowhere does the Bible teach the idea that mere water baptism washes away people’s sins ex opere operato (by the work having been performed). Just as many people were circumcised and later perished, so a person may receive baptism and be “in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” (Acts 8:23)

As such, both true circumcision and true baptism may be experienced without the physical act occurring. We see this with Abraham in Romans 4:9-12 (“Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised . . .”) and with Cornelius’ family and friends in Acts 10:44 (“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message”) Witnessing this event lead Peter to ask, “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” (verse 47)

As we think about the importance of baptism, it is good to remember the distinction between the visible and invisible things, that is, the way things are seen by God and the way that we can see them. We may distinguish between an outward and an inner call of the gospel: people regularly resist the outer call, but no one has ever resisted the saving inner call. (Romans 10:21; John 6:37) It is also important to maintain that distinction when thinking of the Church. The visible Church is the Church as it can be seen by people: within varying degrees of corruption and perfection, the visible Church (which goes by such names as Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Baptist, Assembly of God, Christian, and so on) proclaims the teaching of the Apostles; it administers baptism and the Lord’s Supper; and it shepherds God’s flock. It is made up of all kinds of folk, some saved, some lost. It is far from perfect and is often divided. Many will fall away from it. (Matthew 13:28-30, 38, 41)

The invisible Church is the Church as only God can see it. It is perfect, because its righteousness is that of God himself, imputed to his elect for the sake of his Son. (Romans 3:21-6:23) It is one, but believers never fully experience that unity in this world (John 17 has been fulfilled already and will be fulfilled completely when Jesus returns). No one who has ever become part of this Church can live on and on in known sin, finally fall away or be lost. (The whole First Letter of John, particularly 1:8, 10; 2:19, 20; 3:2-10; 5:13)

By a visible and invisible Church, one should not understand two separate entities. Rather we are talking about one and the same thing, and how it is observed differently by God than by people. It is very similar to Paul’s analogy of the true Israel within Israel. (Romans 9:6) The same thing is true of baptism. It is not so much the idea that there are two radically distinct and unrelated baptisms, one with water and one with the Spirit, as that only God knows those who have truly been baptized. We confirm that we have been truly baptized as we live a life marked by faith and love, even though we do so imperfectly in this life. (1 John 1:8; 3:2; Hebrews 12:23)

True baptism, then, is a means of grace, just as the preaching of the Word and prayer are, but all these means are utterly dependent on God’s sovereign, effectual call. Immediately after Acts 2:38, Peter adds: “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” Ultimately, then, all these questions and issues are resolved in God’s eternal decree.

Election to salvation is based solely on grace: “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” (Romans 11:5, 6) The fact that some experience God’s grace in baptism while others do not is based ultimately on God’s eternal and immutable decree to elect some of the human race in his Son Jesus Christ. Everything flows from that decree, including the very faith by which we lay hold of Christ. (Acts 13:48) Our following the Lord in baptism, our choosing not to violate the Ten Commandments, our regular participation in the life of the Church, our progress and continuance in sanctification, as well as our final perseverance in Christ, are all due entirely to God’s unconditional and gracious election of us in Jesus Christ. “We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will . . .” (Ephesians 1:11)

God’s sovereignty does not rule out his use of various means to bring his elect into union with his Son. Working through the Holy Spirit, the Father effectually draws his elect. Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, prayer and praise, and especially the anointed exposition and application of Holy Scripture, with a focus on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, are the ordinary means that the Spirit uses to engraft us into Christ. Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) God is sovereign, and he is free to move in extraordinary ways, using extraordinary means, and sometimes bypassing those means altogether.

Our concern in Acts 2:38 is with the ordinary means that God uses. While baptism is not part of the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:17, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel . . .”), it is a major God-ordained means to confess Jesus as Messiah—more Scriptural than the modern summons to walk an aisle and say a prayer with the preacher down at the front of the church. Furthermore, as we read the New Testament, we see that everyone who is part of the Church has been baptized. In other words, the Bible knows nothing of isolated, non-baptized Christians, who are following Christ on their own terms in a “just me and Jesus” way. But that does not mean that everybody is automatically lost who is outside the Church or who has not been baptized; it simply means that the New Testament does not deal with the issue with sufficient clarity for us to be dogmatic. Furthermore, the Bible’s emphasis is on God’s sovereignty and graciousness, a loving Being who delights in forgiving sins and showing mercy.

Therefore, when Peter said in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,” he was speaking of true baptism, which is with water, but not merely with water, because, as Peter adds, it is ultimately due to God’s sovereign and particular grace: “even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (verse 39) Wallace is correct when he states: “Finally, it is possible that to a first-century Jewish audience (as well as to Peter), the idea of baptism might incorporate both the spiritual reality and the physical symbol. In other words, when one spoke of baptism, he usually meant both ideas—the reality and the ritual.” [Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the Greek New Testament, (1996), pp. 370-371]

From the New Testament evidence we must conclude that baptism is very important; indeed, God ordinarily works through the waters of baptism, and everyone should be baptized. Furthermore, a person who stubbornly refuses to be baptized may very well not be a Christian, but the waters of baptism are not absolutely essential to a person’s being saved, (Luke 23:43) nor does it work automatically, simply by the work having been performed, ex opere operato. (Acts 8:23)

As the sixteenth century, Italian Protestant reformer, Peter Martyr Vermigli, taught, baptism is a visible word from God: it preaches the gospel of unmerited grace. Baptism proclaims union with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection; full cleansing from sin by the sprinkled blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; rebirth by the outpoured Holy Spirit; identification with the people of God; and assurance of God’s promises to us and our families. It is part of our confession of faith in Jesus Christ and a visible dimension of that faith. Rather than being set forth as a ritual that must be fearfully done with ceremonial exactitude or there would be deadly results, it is presented as an invitation to Jesus Christ, who welcomes all with open arms of love and acceptance.

RBV