Monday, October 1: Acts 2 � Repent and be baptized…

 

It comes down to Jesus and whether we are willing to repent and be baptized … in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (38).

For the apostles, this is the eternal decision all people must come to grips with.

'Repent' and 'baptize' are religious words, so I decided to spend a few moments looking into their meanings and roots rather than simply going with my church-i-ainity definitions.

REPENT: According to a scholarly source the verb repent means "to change one's 'noús,'" i.e., opinion, feelings, or purpose. If it is perceived that the former noús was wrong, it then takes on the sense "to regret," "to me," in various constructions, and often with an ethical nuance.*

'To change one's opinion, feelings regarding Jesus… hmmm, that means to change the place Jesus holds and plays in one's life, changes. Listening to the whole of Peter's words, Jesus becomes the center, the object of devotion, reverence and worship. Jesus becomes both Lord and Christ (36) of one's life.

BE BAPTIZED: Again the same source writes: báptō, "to dip in or under," "to dye," "to immerse," "to sink," "to drown," "to bathe," "wash." The NT uses báptō only in the literal sense, e.g., "to dip" (Luke 16:24), "to dye" (Rev. 19:13), and baptize [word in our text] only in a cultic sense, mostly "to baptize."

To dip in or under," "to dye," "to immerse," "to sink," "to drown," "to bathe," "wash… in a [religious] sense.* To be baptized in the name of Jesus was a public demonstration that one believes in, follows and worships Jesus as Lord and Christ. To be baptized was an outward action declaring one's inward repentance and turning to Jesus by faith/belief.

This was and still is God's call to a new way of life, a new way of living. Think of this as the doorway into a new world, new life, new reality that will take a lifetime to grasp and incorporate in to our living.

Are you willing to repent and be baptized … in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins? Are you?

Lord, I pray for myself and everyone who has made the choice to repent and be baptized, that each of us will follow through giving the new reality of following Jesus, our all. Through Jesus, I pray. Amen

 

*Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: Abridged in One Volume.