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.
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)
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)
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.
