Matthew second here from Verity Baptist Church Manila providing another video on
the topic of repentance moments. And so one of the big arguments that people use
to say that you must repent of your sins is Acts chapter 2 verse 38. I've even
knocked doors and I'll ask people hey what do you think it takes to get to
heaven and they'll just say Acts 2 38 brother. Now the Pentecostals are very
famous for this and the Church of Christ in America is very famous for this as
well as they often use it to say you must be baptized to go to heaven and
basically everyone who says you have to be baptized to go to heaven also thinks
you have to repent of your sins but what you've seen is that some Baptists will
say you have to repent of your sins and other you know so-called Christians that
don't believe you have to be baptized. Well this is what Acts 2 verse 38 says
then Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost. And so the Bible talks about baptism, repenting, and the remission of
sins and people kind of lump them all together and say well see you got to
repent of your sins you got to get baptized in order to get forgiven and in
order to get to get to the Holy Ghost. Now this is one of the more tricky
verses that they use but if you look at it closely you're gonna see that this
does not teach at all that you must turn from your sins to be saved and it does
not teach you have to be baptized to go to heaven. Now if you notice this verse
it says repent comma and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins comma and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost. Now whenever you have commas like that you can take out the part
that's in between the commas and then the sentence will still make logical
coherent sense. So if it said repent and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost that's still gonna make sense okay. And so let's talk about the part in
between the commas first. Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins. Now people will say well see you got to be
baptized to get the remission of sins but the word for can have multiple
different meanings. It can mean in order to obtain or because you already have
obtained. What do I mean by that? If I said you know he is wanted for murder
he's not wanted in order to get murder he's wanted because he's already
committed murder or if I say take two Tylenol for a headache you're not
taking two Tylenol to get a headache you're taking two Tylenol because you
already have a headache. So when it's saying be baptized for the remission of
sins it's not be baptized in order to get or in order to obtain the remission
of sins it's saying be baptized because you have the remission of sins. Now if we
look at the other part though not in between the commas but repent and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost I do believe this is referencing
salvation. And the reason why I believe that is if you look at three verses
later it says then they that gladly received his word were baptized. So
certain people were glad that they received his word. Receiving is
synonymous with believing on Jesus Christ but as many as received him to
them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his
name. So they gladly received and gladly received when you cross reference means
you not only get saved but you actually do something with it. And so because of
the fact he preached salvation and also talked about baptism it caused them to
not just receive the word but gladly received it and they did get baptized. So
I do think this is in reference to salvation but you say wait a minute it
says repent and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Well look it does
not say repent of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost
it says repent and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. You look at the
context of Acts chapter 2 and he's basically talking about how Jesus Christ
is the one. He's the way to heaven. He's the one who died. He's the one who rose
again and he's trying to convince and compel people to change their mind about
what they believe. And so this is like all the other verses we have in the
Bible about repentance where it says repent and believe the gospel. It's not
saying turn from your sins and believe the gospel it's saying change your mind
about what you believe and believe the gospel because you can't believe what
you used to and then believe on Jesus Christ. You must make a change in what
you believe. So in summary what we're seeing in Acts 2 38 we're seeing where
Peter's telling them hey repent change your mind about what you believe and
you'll receive gift of the Holy Ghost and hey you know if you receive the Holy
Ghost what should you do after that? Well be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins. Be baptized because you have the remission of sins.
Be baptized because you have been forgiven. Be baptized because you are on
your way to heaven. And so I will admit that this is one of the more tricky
verses in the Bible but look there's hundreds of verses that are super clear
that's just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. If
somebody throws one verse at you that could be interpreted a different way you
don't just change everything you believe when you have hundreds of verses that
say whosoever believeth. So what is being said in Acts 2 38? It's simply just
saying that hey you know what change your mind about what you believe and you
receive the Holy Ghost and then once you are saved hey be baptized because you
have been forgiven and your sins are already washed away. Thank you and God
bless.