peter taught baptism

8/14/2019 Peter Taught Baptism

1/5

1

tismBap

And Peter said to them, Repent, and let each of

you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for theforgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift ofthe Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

Peter was brought to Jesus by his brother,Andrew (John 1:40, 41). As a disciple of John (John1:35), Andrew had been baptized with the prepa-ratory baptism of repentance for the remission ofsins. He was anxious to bring Peter to meet Jesusafter learning about Him from John (John 1:35-42);most likely, he had also shared Johns messagewith Peter. Peter, then, would have been familiar

with the baptism of repentance for forgiveness ofsins. He may have received the baptism which

John was preaching (Luke 3:3). Followers of Jesus became disciples through being baptized (John4:1). Peter most likely was baptized when he be-came a disciple of Jesus (Luke 6:13, 14).

PETER TAUGHT BAPTISMPeter stood out prominently among the apostles

and disciples of Jesus. Significantly, his name ap-pears first in all the lists of the apostles (Matthew10:2; Mark 3:16; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13). Even though,

after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, heimmediately took the lead among the followers of

Jesus (Acts 1:15; 2:14, 37), this fact does not meanthat Peter had more authority than the rest of theapostles. It simply means that Jesus gave him aleadership role in the beginning days of the church.

Jesus said that what he and the other apostleswould bind and loose shall be bound and shall

be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19; 18:18). TheNASB faithfully represents the Greek perfect pas-

sive participle in these verses, indicating that the

apostles would not be binding and loosing on theirown, but would be binding and loosing what al-ready had been bound and loosed in heaven.

When Jesus, after His death, burial, and resur-rection, sent the apostles into all the world topreach the gospel, Peter was present and heard

Jesus say that all authority had been given to Himin heaven and on earth. Jesus told them,

All authority has been given to me in heavenand on earth. Go therefore and make disciplesof all the nations, baptizing them in the name ofthe Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

(Matthew 28:18, 19).

He who has believed and has been baptizedshall be saved; but he who has disbelievedshall be condemned (Mark 16:15).

And that repentance for forgiveness of sinsshould be proclaimed in His name to all thenations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47).

Along with the other apostles, Peter waited inJerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit (Luke24:49; Acts 1:4-8), who would help them rememberall that Jesus had said (John 14:26) and guide them

into all truth (John 16:13). They were to begin theirwitness for Jesus in Jerusalem and then take thegospel into the rest of the world (Acts 1:8). Beingprepared in this way, Peter (and the other apostles)could accurately reveal the teaching of Jesus toothers.

In JerusalemOn the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1), in Jerusa-

lem (Acts 2:5), Peter preached forgiveness of sins

Peter Taught Baptism

by Owen Olbricht


2/5

2

in the name of Jesus Christ for the first time in thehistory of the world (Luke 24:47). This gospel wouldlater be preached to the rest of the world (Acts 1:8).Peter had understood the statement Jesus madeconcerning His having all power in heaven and onearth (Matthew 28:18) to mean that He wouldimmediately ascend to power at the right hand ofGod (Acts 2:33; 1 Peter 3:22), where He would

begin His role as Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). In hisfirst sermon Peter sought to convince his Jewishlisteners of these facts and to place on them theguilt of crucifying their Messiah (Acts 2:33-36). Heconcluded by saying that Jesus is Lord and Christ.

This pronouncement cut deep into their hearts,an indication that they believed Peters statementthat Jesus is both Lord and Christ. Believing in

Jesus as Lord and Messiah means seeking forgive-ness in His name (Acts 4:12) through His blood(Hebrews 10:19, 20) and submitting to Him asmaster and king (Luke 6:46).

The New WayPeter offered this new way of forgiveness by

stating: Repent, and let each of you be baptized inthe name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of yoursins; and you shall receive the gift of the HolySpirit (Acts 2:38). The first edition of the NIV says,Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in thename of Jesus Christ so that your sins may beforgiven. And you will receive the gift of the HolySpirit.

THE FORGIVENESS OF SINSSome have taught that baptism is not a prereq-uisite of salvation, and others have asserted that itis not necessary to understand that ones sins are

being forgiven when he is being baptized. Theformer view is taken because of a theology thatsalvation is by faith only. The latter is based on thetheology that if one is being baptized so that hissins will be forgiven, he is trying to obey a promiserather than a command.1For this reason, it is taughtthat one does not need to understand his sins are

being forgiven when he is baptized.If one tried to wash away his sins with water

the same way he washes dirt from his body, thenhe would be seeking to make baptism a work toremove his sinsa kind of work the Bible teacheswill not save (Ephesians 2:8). On the other hand, ifhe submits to baptism because of his faith in Jesus

blood to wash away his sins,2 then his baptism isnot a work of righteousness (Titus 3:5), but ratheran act of faith in the work of God, who raised Jesusfrom the dead (Colossians 2:12). Baptism from thisstandpoint is not a work of man that removes hissins, but rather a response based on faith in thecleansing power of the blood of Jesus to remove hissins.

FORGIVENESS IN JESUS NAMEThe faith in Jesus brought about by Peters

preaching motivated people to ask the question,What shall we do? Peter told them what to do.Receiving his word (Acts 2:41) meant that theywould accept Jesus as the Messiah, amend theirways, and be baptized in Jesus name for the for-giveness of sins.

Peters telling them to repent meant thatthey were to realize their sins were their problem,and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the

forgiveness of your sins meant that they were torealize that cleansing came from Jesus for thosewho repented and were baptized. No one men-tioned in the New Testament who subsequentlyrepented and was baptized is shown to have un-derstood differently than these first converts to

Jesus. What was preached to them was to bepreached to all successive hearers (Luke 24:47),which means that the same requirements for for-giveness would be preached wherever this mes-sage was taken.

Both repentance and baptism were for the

forgiveness of sins. Peter did not say, Repent sothat your sins can be forgiven and be baptizedbecause your sins are already forgiven. For theforgiveness of sins is equally related to repentand to be baptized. The same purpose associ-ated with repentance is also associated with bap-tism. If they were to repent so that their sins could

be forgiven, they were to be baptized so that theirsins could be forgiven. If they were to be baptized

because their sins were already forgiven, then theywere to repent because their sins were alreadyforgiven. The conjunction and equally joins re-

pent and be baptized to the purpose forgive-ness of sins. They could not repent for one pur-pose and be baptized for another purpose; bothrepentance and baptism were to be for the samepurpose.

Newman and Nida wrote that the phrase sothat your sins will be forgiven (literally into a

1Rubel Shelly, I Just Want to Be a Christian (Nashville:20th Century Christian, 1986), 120-27; Jimmy Allen, Re-baptism? (Monroe, La.: Howard Publishing Co., 1991), 41,48, 155, 206, 210, 211.

2This is according to the fourth principle in the discus-sion of principles governing response to the will of God inlessons 2 and 3.


3/5

3

forgiveness of your sins) modifies both mainverbs; turn away from your sins and be baptized.3

The word for in the phrase for the forgive-ness of sins is the Greek word eis, which has theprimary meaning of into. The weight of scholar-ship rightfully supports eis in this passage as mean-ing with a view to, or resulting ini.e., final orconsecutive. 4

Oepke listed eis (Acts 2:38) under the headingConsecutive and final eis. He stated, The prepo-sition denotes the direction of an action to a spe-cific end. Later he added, The final force ofeis isincreased to the degree that the associated prepo-sitional expression becomes an independent ad-verbial definition. Along with other examples ofthis he presents, John baptizes, and Jesus shedsHis blood for the forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1:4; Lk.3:3; Matt. 26:28; cf. Ac. 2:38).5

Thayer placed eis associated with baptism un-der the heading the end which a thing is adapted

to attain.6 His lexicon refers the reader to thearticle on baptism, where Acts 2:38 is translated,. . . to obtain the forgiveness of sins.7

Bauer, Gingrich, and Danker listed eis in Acts2:38 under the heading to denote the goal andthe subheading to denote purpose in order to.They then translated the phrase as used here and inother passages, for the forgiveness of sins, so thatsins might be forgiven Mt 26:28; cf. Mk 1:4; Lk 3:3;Ac 2:38.8

The phrase for forgiveness of sins in Mat-thew 26:28 is the same phrase which relates to

baptism (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Acts 2:38). If Jesusdied for (eis), in order to obtain, forgiveness of sinsfor us, then we are to be baptized for (eis), in orderto obtain, the forgiveness He has provided for us,for the phrase for the forgiveness of sins in-cludes the same Greek words in these passages.However, ifeis in this phrase means because, thennot only are we to be baptized because our sins are

already forgiven but Jesus shed His blood becauseour sins were already forgiven. This interpretationwould make His death a senseless shedding of

blood, as empty a ritual as is baptism if sins arealready forgiven before the act. Since Jesus died fora reason, this usage ofeis must express intent andpurpose.

Jesus consciously, knowingly, and intention-

ally died for (eis) the forgiveness of sins. Heknew and understood He was shedding His bloodfor (eis) the forgiveness of our sins; therefore, ifwe are baptized for (eis) the forgiveness of sins,we also must know and understand the purposefor which we are being baptized. Ifeis means Jesuswas shedding His bloodfor a known purpose, thenit follows that we are to be baptized for a knownpurpose. Who will contend that eis in Matthew26:28 does not express the fact that Jesus knew thepurpose for which He was shedding His blood?Since the same phrase is used relative to baptism,

does it not follow that eis expresses the fact that weare to know the purpose for which we are being

baptized?The Jews in Acts 2:5, 37, 38, because of the

instruction Peter had given them, understood thepurpose for which they were to be baptized. As thefirst converts under the new covenant, they set apattern for all succeeding generations of all na-tions. If they understood that they were to be

baptized in order to receive forgiveness of sins, thenwe must understand the same truth in order to beforgiven of our sins. An action without the right

intent and purpose is as much disobedience as afailure to act at all. The one who is being baptizedmust know that he is being baptized in order toreceive the forgiveness of sins.

Some have agreed that for means with aview to receiving forgiveness of sins, but theyargue that since verbs must agree with their sub-

jects in person and number, and since repent issecond person plural and be baptized is thirdperson singular, repent and be baptized can-not be combined to modify for the forgiveness ofsins. From this they conclude that forgiveness of

sins should be associated with repent and notwith be baptized.

Even though this may seem to violate a gram-matical principle in the Greek, ample evidence isavailable to show that the usage of a second personplural along with a third person singular is normalas a Greek idiom. Instances of the subject and theverb failing to be in agreement in idiomatic usagesappear in John 9:3; Luke 8:30; Matthew 6:19; Mark4:41; 1 Corinthians 15:50; and James 5:2, 3. These

3Barkley M. Newman and Eugene A. Nida, A Trans-lators Handbook on the Acts of the Apostles (New York:United Bible Societies, 1972), 60.

4C. F. D. Moule,An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek,2d ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953), 70.

5A. Oepke, eis, in Theological Dictionary of the NewTestament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, trans. and ed. Geoffrey W.Bromiley (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub-lishing Co., 1976), 2:429.

6Joseph Henry Thayer,A Greek-English Lexicon of theNew Testament (New York: American Book Co., 1973), 185.

7Ibid., 94.8Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New

Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2d ed., rev.William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich, and Frederick W.Danker, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 229.


4/5

4

are not violations of rules in the Greek, but ratherare established idiomatic usages.

Instead of weakening the connection betweenbaptism and forgiveness of sins, the constructionin Acts 2:38 emphasizes the importance of baptismin relationship to forgiveness of sins. An article byCarroll D. Osburn provided examples of such us-ages of Greek idioms.9 Of special interest is a

quotation from a thesis by J. Glaze in this samearticle:

. . . the third person singular imperative doesfunction idiomatically in concert with a secondperson plural imperative so as to allow thespeaker addressing a group to address mem-

bers of that group individually. In this dis-tributive imperatival usage, the speaker at-taches such tremendous importance to the com-mand that he makes it clear with the thirdperson singular imperative that not a singlemember of the group is exempt.10

Examples of this usage are found in Exodus 16:29;Joshua 6:10; 2 Kings 10:19 and Zechariah 7:10 in theSeptuagint.

Rather than disassociating baptism from for-giveness of sins, Peter was making more emphaticthe necessity that each one of his hearers receive

baptism so that their sins could be forgiven. Otherexplanations that seek to remove the importancePeter was placing on each of his hearers being bap-tized for the forgiveness of sins do injustice to anestablished idiomatic manner of Greek expression.

The command is to be baptized for the for-

giveness of sins. The command is not just bebaptized. If this had been the command, then onecould be baptized as a matter of obedience to Godfor any reason, and in so doing completely obeyGods command. However, the command is notsimply to be baptized. When a sinner comes to

be baptized, forgiveness of sins is to be his goal.He is to recognize his lost condition, accept Jesusas the Messiah, have faith in His cleansing blood,and resolve to change his life in obedience to Hiswill.

Peter had been conditioned for this by the

message preached by John (Matthew 3:2) and Jesus(Matthew 4:17), and by the apostles message tochange sinful lives because the kingdom of heavenwas at hand (Matthew 10:2, 7). He also was obey-ing Jesus command to preach the gospel and bap-tize those who would believe (Matthew 28:19; Mark

16:15, 16).1 PETER 3:21

In a letter Peter wrote later, he corroborated hisstatement on the Day of Pentecost, And corre-sponding to that, baptism now saves younot theremoval of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to Godfor a good consciencethrough the resurrection of

Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21).

Concerning this verse Robert G. Bratcher wrote,

. . . this translates what is literally which baptism, as an antitype. An antitype is athing or event which is considered to be re-ferred to by a previous thing or event, which isknown as a type. The water of the Flood wasa type of baptism.

. . . now saves you: this now answers to theformerly of verse 20. A translation should rep-resent the meaning faithfully and say quiteclearly Baptism now saves you. Of coursesalvation is always Gods action, but here bap-tism, as defined below is what brings salvation.

At once the writer defines what he means bybaptism saving someone: it is not a physical actof washing dirt off the body, but the spiritualexperience of the inner self.11

Arichea and Nida stated concerning 1 Peter3:20, 21,

The type foreshadows the antitype, thatis, it is an imperfect symbol of a reality which isnow revealed fully in the Christian faith.

At any rate, it is this antitype, whatever itis, which now saves them.

The text as it stands makes baptism (or thewater of baptism) as the agent that saves. A

careful reading of the whole verse, however,indicates that which now saves you should per-haps go with through the resurrection of JesusChrist at the end of the verse (compare 1:3).12

After other considerations, they suggested that intranslating the verse, It may be better to combinethe last clause of verse 21 with the expression whichnow saves you, for example, by means of being

baptized, God now saves you through Jesus Christsbeing raised from the dead.13

This statement by Peter is consistent with hisstatement in Acts 2:38. The faith in God that moved

Noah to build the ark, because of impending doom(Hebrews 11:7) is the same kind of faith that movesa lost person, motivated by his conscience, to seeksalvation through being baptized in the name of

11Robert G. Bratcher,A Translators Guide to the LettersFrom James, Peter, and Jude (London: United Bible Societies,1984), 109.

12Daniel C. Arichea and Eugene A. Nida,A TranslatorsHandbook on the First Letter From Peter (New York: UnitedBible Societies, 1980), 119-21.

13Ibid.

9Carroll D. Osburn, The Third Person Imperative inActs 2:38, Restoration Quarterly 26 (Second Quarter 1983):81-84.

10Ibid., 83.


5/5

5

Jesus Christ. Baptism is somehow inseparably as-sociated with the salvation provided by the deathand resurrection of Jesus.

Another consideration in 1 Peter 3:21 is theexpression an appeal to God for a good con-science, better translated, the appeal to God of agood conscience.14 Regardless of which transla-tion is correct, the conscience is involved in the

appeal. If one does not understand that for whichhe is appealing, how can he make his appeal? Mostreasonably the appeal is made to God for salvation

by a sinner who has a good conscience, a con-science like that of the persecutor Saul (1 Timothy1:13), even before he became a Christian (Acts23:1). A corrupted conscience would not motivatea person to make such an appeal.

The appeal for salvation from sin does notmean that one is seeking to forgive his own sins byobeying a command. It means that his consciencehas moved him to be baptized for the forgiveness

of his sins, appealing to God for salvation. Onlythose who understand the proper connection be-

14Hugo McCord, New Testament (Henderson, Tenn.:Freed-Hardeman College, 1988).

tween baptism and the forgiveness of sins canmake such an appeal.

Peter considered baptism a necessary responseof faith in order to receive the benefit of Jesus actof redemption. No wonder Peter commanded hishearers to be baptized (Acts 10:48; cf. 2:38).

CONCLUSIONPeter was trained and selected by Jesus to be

the first to preach salvation in His name. In Jeru-salem he helped those in his first audience torealize they were lost. They came to believe in

Jesus and inquired what to do. Peter told them tomake the necessary changes in their lives so theycould follow Jesus. Those who gladly received hiswords were baptized, evidently with the under-standing that their sins would be forgiven whenthey repented and were baptized in Jesus name(Acts 2:38-41). This message was not only for the

Jews whom Peter taught on that great Day of

Pentecost, but is also for the rest of the world(Luke 24:47).

Copyright, 1994-1998 by Truth for TodayALL RIGHTS RESERVED

peter taught baptism

Documents