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37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” ~ Acts 2:37-39
Today, we return to our study of Acts 2 where the Holy Spirit has come to enter into each believer who each spoke in languages that they could not understand but the Jews who were visiting Jerusalem at that time from all over the world could understand them because they spoke in their language. Through these languages the disciples of the Lord Jesus spoke of the awesome goodness of God. On the heels of that miracle Peter stood up and preached his first recorded sermon. In this sermon he clearly shared the gospel including the bad news and the good news. Today, the people will give their response to Peter's message.
In v.37 of today's passage we read, "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'"
In response to Peter's gospel message the people "were cut to the heart." The word translated "cut" is one not found elsewhere in Greek literature except in the Greek translation of Genesis 34:7. It is an intensified form of a word meaning "to pierce." Some translations of this word include the idea that these people were "stunned." It was as if their hearts had been thrust through with a spear.
With their minds and hearts arrested and pierced, these people from all over the world asked Peter and the other disciples, "What shall we do?" Their response indicates that they fully accepted Peter's words as the truth. They had gone from accusing the apostles of being drunk to seeking their advice on how to correct their lost condition. This question was asked in response to the obvious fact submitted to them that they had crucified the Lord Jesus. And, when God poured out His Holy Spirit and they had been excluded from receiving Him, it convicted them. Salvation had been presented to Israel, and they missed the offer. Strangely, it was through their sinful actions that they were made desirous of forgiveness from God.
There is a huge difference between reacting and responding. Reacting is built on emotional baggage and patterns that have long been present in our souls. Responding is a choice. Rather than letting ourselves react without thinking, we recognize we've been presented some measure of the truth. Reacting walls off humility in our hearts while responding has been known to lead us to the end of ourselves. These devout Jews who were visiting Jerusalem that Pentecost weekend chose to not be defined by the small mindedness of their ego. In fact, they were defined by the truth spoken to them by Peter.
In v.38-39 of today's passage we read, "38 Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.'"
Not a single Gentile was involved in this exchange. This is important because it was the Jews who had crucified the Lord Jesus. They had rejected Him openly. With this understanding, Peter told them to "repent." This is one of the most misunderstood and misused words in all of Christianity. This Greek word means "to change one’s mind." It does not mean to clean up your lifestyle. It just simply means a changing of the heart as the result of the reasoning process demonstrated. Peter challenged the people to change their thinking about the Lord Jesus and they did. Thus, they were born again.
Then the Apostle Peter told the people to "be baptized in the name of Jesus." A careful study of the word translated "baptized" clearly signifies it means "to be immersed in water." However, it is not water baptism that saves anyone. It is only through Christ’s finished work on the cross that we are saved. The people were to be baptized "for the remission of their sins." The word "remission" implies a total removal of the penalty and guilt associated with sinfulness. Our sins are totally forgiven by God through our trust in the sacrificial atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, some suppose that this one time in Scripture makes baptism in water a requirement for salvation. As with any single verse or passage, we discern what it teaches by first filtering it through what we know the Bible teaches on the subject at hand. In the case of baptism and salvation, the Bible is clear that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works of any kind, including water baptism. In other words, water baptism is not something that is required for salvation by anyone. Baptism, in this case, was an outward declaration of the inward transformation that God had wrought in the hearts of these people. The truest sign that we have been saved is that we have been born of the Spirit.
Any gift is something one cannot earn. The promised gift of God's very presence was a result of His grace and nothing more. With the coming of the Holy Spirit we are granted a personal relationship with God who now lives within us. Can't get closer than that. It had to be that God's Spirit would come to live within us because it is only God who makes us acceptable to Himself. As the Apostle Paul tells us later in Ephesians, "the Holy Spirit is the down payment guaranteeing our salvation." This concept is rooted in the history and culture of Israel, where inheritance typically involved the transfer of land, possessions, and status from one generation to the next. In the New Testament, the idea of inheritance is all about eternal life offered to all who believe in Jesus Christ as Messiah.
