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Scripture Reading: Acts 2:14-47
In 2:22-36 Peter witnesses of the Man Jesus in His work, death, resurrection, and ascension. In verse 36 Peter declares, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.” Jesus was made the Lord to possess all, and He was made the Christ to carry out God’s commission. As God, the Lord Jesus was already the Lord, and in His divinity there was no need for Him to be made Lord. Nevertheless, in His ascension He, as a man, was made the Lord of all by God. God made Jesus the Lord of all to possess all things, including us.
The Lord Jesus was also Christ, even from eternity. Furthermore, He was born as the Christ (Luke 2:11). However, in His ascension He was officially made the Christ of God. This means that in His ascension God inaugurated Him officially into the office of the Christ. God had already appointed Him, but in His ascension He still inaugurated Him into His office as the Christ to carry out God’s commission. May we all be impressed with the fact that in 2:36 “Lord” refers to possession, and “Christ” refers to commission.
The record in 2:14-47 emphasizes Peter’s speaking concerning Christ. Peter spoke of Christ, and he even spoke forth Christ. This is the first case of the speaking of Christ by the believers. In his speaking, Peter presents to us the Man Jesus and witnesses to us concerning Him. In particular, Peter speaks of the Lord Jesus in His work, death, resurrection, and ascension.
In his speaking concerning Christ in chapters two through five of Acts, Peter does not refer to Him as the Son of God. Peter’s emphasis here is not on the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. Rather, in these chapters Peter stresses that the Lord Jesus is a man. The reason for this emphasis is that the Jews crucified Christ as a man, regarding Him merely as a despised man, a Nazarene, a person of low estate. Therefore, Peter said that the One regarded by the Jews as a lowly Nazarene was approved by God in all that He did.
As we shall see, Peter’s speaking of Christ produced the propagation of Christ. On the day of Pentecost this propagation included the three thousand souls who were saved. Such a propagation was the result, the issue, of Peter’s speaking concerning Christ. From this we see that the speaking of Christ surely leads to the propagation of Christ in those who believe in Him. Furthermore, the believers as Christ’s propagation become the church. Therefore, in chapter two we see that the speaking of Christ produced a church in Jerusalem. In this chapter we have both the propagation of Christ and the church life.
After Peter spoke concerning the Lord Jesus in His work, death, resurrection, and ascension, he instructed and entreated the Spirit-moved ones to repent, to be baptized, and to be saved (vv. 37-41). Acts 2:37 and 38 say, “And when they heard this, they were pierced in the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, What should we do, men, brothers? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, each one of you, upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Here Peter first told the people to repent. To repent is to have a change of mind issuing in regret, to have a turn in purpose. Literally, the Greek word for repent means to think differently afterward, that is, to have a change of mind. To repent is to have a change of mind with regret for the past and a turn for the future. On the negative side, to repent before God is to repent not only of sins and wrongdoings, but also to repent of the world and its corruption that usurp and corrupt people whom God made for Himself, and to repent of our God-forsaking life in the past. On the positive side, to repent is to turn to God in every way and in every thing for the fulfilling of His purpose in making men. Therefore, it is a repentance unto God (20:21).
Peter also instructed the Spirit-moved ones to be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ. To baptize people is to immerse them, to bury them in water, signifying death. The command that a repentant one be baptized indicates that such a one is good only for burial. Baptism, therefore, signifies the termination of the old person so that a new beginning may be realized in resurrection by Christ as the Life-giver. Baptism in the Bible implies death and resurrection. To be baptized into the water is to be put into death and buried. To be raised up from the water means to be resurrected from death.
In Matthew 28:19 the resurrected Christ charged the disciples to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of baptism is to bring repentant people out of their old state into a new one by terminating their old life and germinating them with the new life of Christ. After the Lord Jesus accomplished His ministry on earth, passed through the process of death and resurrection, and became the life-giving Spirit, He charged His disciples to baptize the discipled people into the Triune God. This baptism has two aspects: the visible aspect by water and the invisible aspect by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-41; 10:44-48). The visible aspect is the expression, the testimony, of the invisible aspect, whereas the invisible aspect is the reality of the visible aspect. Without the invisible aspect by the Spirit, the visible aspect by water is vain; and without the visible aspect by water, the invisible aspect by the Spirit is abstract and impractical. Therefore, both are needed.
Not long after the Lord Jesus charged the disciples to carry out this baptism, He baptized them and the entire church in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13) on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:5; 2:4) and in the house of Cornelius (11:15-17). Then, based on this, the disciples baptized the new converts, not only visibly into water but also invisibly into the death of Christ (Rom. 6:3-4), into Christ Himself (Gal. 3:27), into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), and into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). The water, signifying the death of Christ with His burial, may be considered a tomb to terminate the history of the baptized ones. Because the death of Christ is included in Christ and because Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, who is one with the Body of Christ, to baptize new believers into the death of Christ, into Christ Himself, into the Triune God, and into the Body of Christ is to do just one thing: on the negative side, to terminate their old life, and on the positive side to germinate them with new life, the eternal life of the Triune God, for the Body of Christ. Hence, the baptism ordained by the Lord Jesus is to baptize people out of their life into the Body life.
In Mark 16:16 the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” To believe is to receive the Lord (John 1:12) not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23), so that those who believe may become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). To be baptized is to affirm this by being buried to terminate the old creation through the death of Christ and by being raised up to be the new creation of God through Christ’s resurrection. Such a baptism is much more advanced than the baptism of repentance by John (Mark 1:4; Acts 19:3-5). To believe and to be so baptized are two parts of one complete step for receiving the full salvation of God. To be baptized without believing is merely an empty ritual; to believe without being baptized is to be saved only inwardly without an outward affirmation of the inward salvation. These two should go together. Moreover, water baptism should be accompanied by Spirit baptism, even as the children of Israel were baptized in the sea (water) and in the cloud (Spirit — 1 Cor. 10:2; 12:13).
In Acts 2:38 Peter speaks of being baptized “upon the name of Jesus Christ.” The name denotes the person. Here Peter tells the people to be baptized upon the Lord’s name.
The New Testament uses three different prepositions to describe the relationship of baptism to the Lord. The first of these prepositions is en, in (Acts 10:48). To be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ is to be baptized in the sphere of the name of Jesus Christ, within which is the reality of the baptism. The second preposition is eis, into (Matt. 28:19; Acts 8:16; 19:5; Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27). To be baptized into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, or into the name of Jesus Christ, is to be baptized into a spiritual union with the all-inclusive Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God. To be baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus is to be baptized into the Person of the Lord, to be identified with the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ, to be put into an organic union with the living Lord. The third preposition used to describe the relationship of baptism to the Lord is epi, upon or on, used in Acts 2:38. To be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ is to be baptized upon the ground of what the name of Jesus Christ stands for. It stands for all that the Person of Jesus Christ is and all that He has accomplished, both of which constitute the belief (the faith) of God’s New Testament economy. It is on this ground that the believers in Christ are baptized.
According to Acts 2:38, baptism upon the name of Jesus Christ was for the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is based upon the redemption of Christ accomplished through His death (10:43; Eph. 1:7; 1 Cor. 15:3). It is the initial and basic blessing of God’s full salvation. Based upon it, the blessing of God’s full salvation goes forth and consummates in the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In 2:38 Peter tells the people to repent, be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, and they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not any gift distributed by the Spirit, as mentioned in Romans 12:6, 1 Corinthians 12:4, and 1 Peter 4:10; rather, it is the gift which is the Holy Spirit Himself, given by God to the believers in Christ as the unique gift that produces all the gifts mentioned in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and 1 Peter 4.
The Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38 is the all-inclusive Spirit of the processed Triune God in His New Testament economy, both essential for life and economical for power, given to the believers at the time of their believing in Christ (Eph. 1:13; Gal. 3:2) as the all-inclusive blessing of God’s full gospel (Gal. 3:14), so that they may enjoy all the riches of the Triune God (2 Cor. 13:14).
The apostles preached and ministered Christ. But when their hearers repented and believed in Him, they received the wonderful Spirit of the Triune God. This implies that this Spirit is just the resurrected and ascended Christ Himself. The receiving of the Spirit here is both essential and economical, in a general and all-inclusive sense, differing from the receiving of the Spirit in Acts 8:15-17 and 19:2-6, which is particularly the receiving of the Spirit falling upon the believers economically.
In 2:39 Peter went on to say, “For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all those who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.” In this verse “you” refers to the Jews, and the “promise” denotes the Holy Spirit. Those who are far off are the Gentiles, included in “all flesh” (v. 17). Those whom the Lord our God calls to Himself are the ones chosen and predestinated by God in eternity (Eph. 1:4-5) and called by Him in the New Testament age (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2).
Acts 2:40 says, “And with many other words he solemnly testified and entreated them, saying, Be saved from this crooked generation!” Here we are told that Peter testified and entreated. To testify needs experiences of seeing, participation, and enjoyment. It is different from mere teaching.
Peter entreated the people saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation!” Here “be” is active, and “saved” is passive; hence, we may say “be saved” is in the “active-passive” voice. It is to be done by God, but man needs to be active to receive what God intends to do. At the time of Pentecost, everything concerning God’s full salvation was prepared, and the Holy Spirit was poured out as the application and full blessing of God’s salvation ready for man to receive. In this matter God is waiting for man, and man needs to take the initiative. Although we cannot save ourselves, we must be willing to be saved by God. God is willing and prepared to save us; nevertheless, we need to be saved; that is, we need to take the initiative to receive God’s salvation.
In 2:40 Peter entreated the people to be saved from this crooked generation. Peter, at the conclusion of his message, does not say, “Be saved from God’s condemnation,” or, “Be saved from eternal perdition.” Instead, he says, “Be saved from this crooked generation!” This crooked generation refers to the perverted Jews in this age who rejected God’s Christ (v. 36) and were considered by God as the present evil age (Gal. 1:4). For the crooked Jews to be saved from their present evil age requires a genuine repentance of their crookedness toward God and a real turn to God. This indicates that they need to turn to God not only from their sins but also from their generation, their Jewish society, including their Jewish religion. The result of such a salvation is not an entrance into heaven; it is an entrance into a new generation — the church. Thus, the saved ones will be separated from Jewish society unto the church. To be saved this way implies to be saved from God’s condemnation and eternal perdition unto God’s eternal purpose and His pleasure (Eph. 3:11; 1:9).
Acts 2:41 says, “Those, then, who welcomed his word were baptized, and there were added in that day about three thousand souls.” These ones were baptized by water (10:47-48). In this verse “souls” denote persons created by God (Gen. 2:7).
According to 2:41, about three thousand souls received Peter’s word and were baptized. This, no doubt, was a good response to Peter’s speaking concerning Christ. However, those who received the word and were baptized were only a small percentage of the ones in Jerusalem at that time. Of the many thousands of Jews in the city, only three thousand were saved on the day of Pentecost. This indicates that the Jewish people were still very stubborn. A great many Jews lived in Jerusalem, and a large number had come to the city for the celebration of the feast of Pentecost. Therefore, comparatively speaking, the number who were saved on the day of Pentecost was not great. In this we see the stubbornness of that crooked generation. It is not surprising, then, that Peter said, “Be saved from this crooked generation!”
