The Acts of The Apostles

Acts was taught by Dr. James Modlish

 

Acts 2:38

Intro:

Having dealt with the great "Christian" heresies of Post Millennialism (vs. 30,34) and A-Millennialism (vs. 16-20), and Pentecostalism (vs. 1-12), we still cannot get out of this terrific chapter without colliding with another heresy: Baptismal Regeneration. Acts 2 seems to be a nesting place for the self-righteous sinner, the emotionally unstable Christian, the allegorizing philosopher, the Bible-denying humanitarian, the intellectually twisted theologian, and the conceited scholar.

Before we launch into (vs. 38) we need to be reminded that it is a response to a question that is being asked in (vs. 37) What shall we do?" The question is being asked by a group of people within a Nation to whom a national message has been addressed, in regards to their RULER - You can read Romans - Philemon back into the passage until you are red-white-blue in the face, but you cannot make it refer to a sinner trying to find "the way to Heaven" without wresting the scriptures to your own destruction. There is no "plan of Salvation" in the chapter, at least as it is revealed and preached from (Acts 8 to 29).

The three questions in Acts are:

[1]. Israel - "What shall we do?"

[2]. The converted sinner - "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

[3]. The unsaved gentile - "What must I do to be saved?

Any promiscuous meddling with these three questions will land a man in Hell if he is not careful, for WATER BAPTISM is the answer to two of them and neither of these two have anything to do with salvation from Hell.

I. A consideration of all the Baptisms in the Bible:

A. Baptism of Moses - (1 Cor. 10:1,2)

B. Baptism of John - (Matt. 3:6,11)

C. Baptism of fire - (Matt. 3:11,12)

D. Baptism of Suffering - (Matt. 20:22,23)

E. Jewish Kingdom Baptism - (Acts 2:38)

F. Gentile Water Baptism - (Matt. 28:19,20; Acts 8:36-39; 10:48)

G. Spirit Baptism - (1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12; Eph. 4:5) 

II. An examination of Remission -

A. (Mk. 1:4) - God had forgiven Israel, her period of probation was over, and the Messiah was on the way! In view of this. Israel should prove that A they were repenting and go under the water!

B. (Matt. 26:28) - For 4,000 years God has been "forgiving sins and iniquity" that could "by no means clear the guilty,'' and these sins "that were past" had to be cleared and redeemed (Heb. 9:15) - not "remitted"! Christ states that in view of this fact, His blood was going to be shed. God had to have a basis for forgiving sin, and the blood of bulls and goats was an incomplete basis for they could not "TAKE AWAY SINS" (Heb. 10:4), so here comes "the Lamb of God that TAKETH AWAY THE SIN of the world" (Jn. 1:29) 

III. The gift of the Holy Ghost -

No matter what you do with the text, (vs. 38) teaches that "the gift of the Holy Ghost" is not available to a man unless he has been baptized in water. And (Acts 8:15,16; and 10:44-47) shows conclusively that this was a temporary setup in accordance with the truth revealed up to that time. To go on with this transitional passage through 19 centuries of church history, applying it to unsaved sinners as "the plan of salvation" or as "obey 9 the gospel" (cf. Rom. 6:17; 16:26, & 10:16), is theological and spiritual insanity.

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