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Edward Fudge
'REMISSION OF SINS' -- FAITH AND BAPTISM (1)
Peter unequivocally states in Acts 10:43 that whoever believes on Jesus has remission of sins. Yet to a different audience under diffferent circumstances, the same apostle commands baptism "for remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). How are we to understand these apparently different statements?
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One way, which some have followed, is to make Acts 2:38 the measuring-stick of all else, so that any passage which speaks differently must be clipped, stretched, hacked, trimmed and packed down to fit into Acts 2:38. Thus,"whoever believes in him has remission of sins," must become instead, "whoever believes in him and is baptized has remission of sins."
Far better, I think, to accept both texts as true, significant and meaningful in different contexts. In Acts 2, the audience has helped kill Jesus. These people had an urgent need to be baptized -- visibly and publicly -- "in the name of" the same Jesus they had recently clamored to crucify. When they heard Peter's words, they would not focus on "be baptized" -- John and others had done that for years. The words that would make them take a deep breath were those next ones -- "in the name of Jesus Christ!" What a drastic, complete U-turn Peter is commanding for these people -- and not in secret either but right out in the open, in baptism.
The Cornelius relatives and friends are in a different place, literally and historically. They are eager to hear about Jesus. They trust him for salvation as they hear the message. God receives them on that basis, for there is no other basis on which he bestows all Christian blessings to accountable people today. This leaves poor Jewish Brother Peter standing there with his face hanging out. He had doubts about being here in the first place, and now this! But on reflection he decides he is on safe ground. If God has accepted these Italians (and that is absolutely clear), it must be safe for Peter to do the same. So he commands them to be baptized in the name of the Lord -- which evidences his reception of these Gentiles into the messianic community which we usually call "the church."
How do we put "remission of sins" with baptism and also with faith? I understand it like this. Whoever believes has remission of sins (Acts 10:43). Jesus expects the one who believes to be baptized (Mk. 16:15-16). When one is baptized because she or he believes, and to obey Jesus Christ in whom he or she believes, that baptism is also "for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Neither baptism nor faith has saving power or merit in and of itself. Baptism is significant because it expresses faith. Faith is meaningful because of the One in whom it is reposed, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son and our Savior. He is the one, finally, whose blood was shed "for remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28), and from his wounds flow our salvation, our healing and our hope of life beyond the grave (Isa. 53:4-6; Rom. 3:25; 1 Pet. 2:24).
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Edward Fudge
'REMISSION OF SINS' -- FAITH AND BAPTISM (2)
In response to my observation that "remission of sins" is joined to faith in Acts 10:43, as well as to repentance-baptism in Acts 2:38, a gracEmail reader asks: "Are we to conclude that Acts 2:38 and Acts 10:43 are different? Can either text be used to the exclusion of the other?"
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I don't know how anyone could read the two verses side by side and not conclude that they are different. Yet I would certainly not recommend that we use either passage to the exclusion of the other. We should be on solid ground if we begin with Acts 10:43 and the unanimous verdict of all the prophets -- endorsed, apparently, by the apostles as represented by Peter -- that "whoever believes in Jesus has remission of sins." In that light, we may then read Acts 2:38 with its command to "repent and be baptized for the remission of sins," understanding gospel baptism to be an expression of the faith by which one has remission of sins. But back of both these statements of the Apostle Peter is the more fundamental truth expressed in Matthew 26:28, which tells us that Jesus' blood was shed "for remission of sins."
God forgives sinners gratuitously and without anything in exchange, based solely on his reconciling love as demonstrated in the blood of Christ. Since we sinners cannot merit or earn that divine forgiveness, we must simply trust God's promise that he has forgiven us and set us right with himself in Jesus Christ. We express that trust (faith) by being baptized in obedience to Jesus who commands it. It is scriptural to speak of "baptism for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). It is also historically orthodox to do so, for the expression appears in the Nicene Creed. This is how I put it all together.
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Edward Fudge
'REMISSION OF SINS' -- FAITH AND BAPTISM (3)
A different brother objects to the previous gracEmail as follows: "You are waffling, my friend. I hope you will not think me too forward if I press for an answer to the gentleman's question more definite than 'I would not recommend that we use either passage [Acts 2:38 and Acts 10:43] to the exclusion of the other.' If a person successively believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized, at what point is his name added to the Book of Life?"
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The person who reads Acts 2:38 will likely think her sins forgiven after repentance and baptism. The person who reads Acts 10:43 will just as likely claim forgiveness when he believed. If we really want to be particular about it, we must acknowledge that the names of the saved were written in the Book of Life before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8; 17:8).
God is not sitting in heaven with a stopwatch waiting for people to check items off a list until they reach a magic moment, at which point he will love and forgive them. He loved sinners so much he sent his Son to die as an atoning sacrifice (John 3:16). The gospel is the "good news of your salvation" (Eph. 1:13), and it tells us of "the hope laid up" for us in heaven (Col. 1:5). "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor. 5:19) and the gospel is the announcement of that reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18). Jesus did not die to make salvation a theoretical possibility -- he died "to save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21; John 10:15). By his offering made once for all time, Jesus "perfected forever" all his people (Heb. 10:14).
The important thing about the person you mention, in my opinion, is that he or she responded faithfully to the gospel according to the Great Commission, no matter which account we might read (Matt. 28:19-20; Mk. 16:15-16; Lk. 24:46-47). And we may be absolutely sure that God will keep all his promises -- no matter which text of Scripture we might happen to pick up and read. God's love is personal and divine and far too great to be crunched into anybody's formula.
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Edward Fudge
CONVERSION FOR ALL -- ONE AT A TIME
Someone asks: "Why do some of Peter's commands in Acts 2:38 use plural verbs and pronouns and others use singular word forms?"
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If we translate Acts 2:38 literally, we find that Luke quotes Peter as saying: "Repent [plural] and let each one of you be baptized [singular] in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your [plural] sins." If we read the sentence with the plural words together, it says: "Repent [plural] for the remission of your [plural] sins, and let each one of you be baptized [singular] in the name of Jesus Christ." This focus highlights both the background in Luke's Gospel and also the specific audience to whom Peter was speaking.
The special link between repentance and forgiveness coincides precisely with Luke's Gospel account of Jesus' final commission, "that repentance and remission of sins be proclaimed in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46-47). Now, in his second volume, Luke shows exactly that occurring. Here, in Jerusalem, Peter commands repentance for the remission of sins and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.
The singular and plural words also highlight the nature of Peter's audience on that Pentecost Sunday, a crowd which included some of the very people who had demanded the death of Jesus less than two months before. To these people, who fancied themselves as God's covenant people based on physical birth, Peter now says: "Repent [plural] for the remission of your [plural] sins." There is no group security here -- the whole crowd must repent! But there is no hiding in a crowd, for this collective repentance calls for an individual response: "Be baptized [singular], every one of you." Finally, this individual response of baptism explicitly contradicts the group's previous rejection of Jesus, for it is a baptism "in" (epi = 'based upon') the name (authority or person) of Jesus Christ" himself. Conversion is still for everybody -- one at a time -- and it means nothing less than wholehearted surrender to Jesus Christ.
For more on water baptism and salvation, click here.