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“Cut to the Heart”
Theme: “When is a person truly ‘in’ the people of God?” From a Wesleyan Armenian view.
Passage: Acts 2:37-41
Introduction
The book of Acts is referred as the “Acts of the Apostles” and is written by Luke. The book is divided into two simple folds where the one part of the book is about the ministry of Peter and the other part is about Paul. However, the ministries of Peter and Paul are not different stories; they are related and have overlapped in many of the chapters (Robinson, 2008). The book was written for Theophilus as the proposed reader and it is believed that the book of Acts was written approximately two years after the imprisonment of Paul in Rome. Luke did not write anything about Paul during his two years imprisonment which leads to other believing that the book may possibly have been written two years after Paul’s arrival in Rome.
Literally Context
In this scripture, Luke wanted to write about the message of baptism that was preached by Paul. The intention of this scripture was to warn the intended audience that they had to repent and get baptized in the name of Jesus for their sins to be forgiven as explored by the article, “What does the Bible say about Baptism”. In verse Acts 2:38, there is a promise to all those who wish to do this that they will receive the Holy Spirit. In verse 39, the promise is further extended to the future generations of all those who chose to be baptized to have their sins forgiven. This statement is contrary to many philosophers saying that baptism should not be linked to salvation as is implied in the verse (Barich, 2010). The verse right before 2:37 acts as a warning to all Israelites that the Jesus crucified by them was made Lord and therefore, if they needed God’s favor, then they had to get baptized in order to gain God’s favor.
Historical-Cultural Context
Many Biblical verses indicate that baptism is a ritual performed in the washing away of sins as discussed by Robinson (2008). In the book of Acts 22:16, Luke calls upon all people to be baptized calling upon the name of the Lord in order for their sins to be forgiven. 1 Corinthians 12:13 talks about people who have been baptized being one in the Spirit regardless of them being either Gentiles or Jews. In this scripture baptism was regarded as a unifying factor so that all can be full of the Holy Spirit.
The ritual of baptism is not explored in the Old Testament; it was preached by apostles in the New Testament and was widely accepted after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist as discussed by Robinson (2008). The ritual was performed by immersing the body of the individual completely in water. Contrary, in the current form of baptism a little amount of water is sprinkled on the individual as discussed in the article “What does the Bible say about baptism?” When all this was done, the person was said to be baptized in the name of Jesus and all their sins were washed away.
Conclusion
Conclusively, Acts 2:37-41, is a warning to both all Christians that if they do not repent and accept to be baptized, then they shall not be forgiven their sins. This scripture promises that whoever makes the decision to be baptized, then their sins together with those of their coming generation will be forgiven. This verse is also a warning to Israelites who crucified Jesus that they will suffer the consequences for their action unless the repented their sins and were baptized in the name of Jesus. According to the article “Ex-Evangelical Protestant dissects conflict with Catholics”, most protest criticize the view of Catholics that baptism should be done during infancy. They dispute this because repentance comes before baptism and yet an infant is unable to repent their sins.
References
Acts 2:37-41 New International Version of the Bible
Barich, A. “Ex-Evangelical Protestant dissects conflict with Catholics” The Record
July 21, 2010
Robinson, A. “What the Bible says about baptism” Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance March 8, 2008
Water & the Spirit, a United Methodist Understanding of Baptism. “What does the
Bible say about baptism?”
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The post the book of acts in the bible on baptism appeared first on Grade Ninjas.
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