John, Acts, Volume Two by Clinton E. Arnold

Author:Clinton E. Arnold [Köstenberger, Andreas J. and Arnold, Clinton E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-310-87285-6
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2011-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

A Great Response to the Message (2:37-41)

The crowd had listened intently to everything Peter declared. Rather than rejecting what Peter said about who Jesus was and what he had accomplished on the cross, they became profoundly aware of their own sinfulness. Many in this crowd, no doubt, were among those in the Passover mob who yelled “Crucify! Crucify!” when Pilate mockingly presented Jesus to them as their king (John 19:14-15). They now plead with Peter and the other apostles to tell them how they should respond to his words.

Peter directly tells them to repent and to express their commitment to Christ through baptism. He assures them that Christ would forgive their sins and endow them with the promised Holy Spirit.

The response to this Spirit-inspired message is astonishing. Three thousand Jews from all over the Mediterranean world receive Christ. They are immediately baptized and become the first converts in the beginnings of a movement that would spread rapidly throughout the extent of the Roman empire and ultimately all over the world.

They were cut to the heart (2:37). Luke uses a term that literally means, “to be stabbed (with a knife).” It came to be used to express deep anxiety or profound regret. This is the only time the word is used in the New Testament.

Repent (2:38). This became the central call of early Christian preaching. Repentance (metanoia) involves primarily a radical change in a person’s central affections, convictions, and life direction. It signifies a recognition that one’s life has been oriented around self and sinful pursuits and an embracing of God’s will and priorities. The call to repent is a continuation of Jesus’ own ministry introduced by John the Baptist with his call to repentance (Luke 3:3) and repreatedly urged by Jesus himself in his earthly ministry (Luke 13:3, 5; 24:47).

Be baptized. … Those who accepted his message were baptized (2:38, 41). From the beginning, baptism has been the central rite performed for incorporating new believers into the church. The word itself is a Greek term, a transliteration of baptizō, meaning “to dip (in water),” “immerse,” “sink,” or “drench.”30

What Peter calls for here in conjunction with their repentance is an entirely new rite for the people of God. This is appropriate since baptism is associated with the new covenant and the gift of the Holy Spirit. There was some similarity in form, however, to contemporary practices in Judaism. Gentile converts to Judaism were required to be purified in a ritual bath. There is also evidence that many Jews throughout the land performed daily washings in special pools as a way of maintaining ritual purity. This was particularly true at Qumran, where numerous ritual baths (miqva’ot) have been discovered.

There were many places in Jerusalem where these new believers could have been baptized. A number of ritual baths were located within the walls of the temple as well as a number of installations west of the temple mount. There were also six large pools in Jerusalem (mentioned by Josephus): the pool of the

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