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in the name o f Jesus Christ, unto the remis sion o f our sjns. It is not enough that there be an inward acceptance o f Jesus Christ and renunciation o f sin, there must be,an open Confession o f our acceptance of Christ, and o f our renunciation o f sin, and God’s method o f making this confession is baptism. There was to be on the part o f Peter’s hearers an outward water baptism, but there must be more than the mere out ward symbol, there must be the great inward fact for which the baptism stood, the renunciation o f sin, faith in Christ, the putting on o f Jesus Christ (Gal. .1:26, 27), and our identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3, 4). Being “baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” means more than' having water sprinkled upon us, or being immersed in water, while a certain baptismal formula is repeated, it means confession o f our renunciation o f sin, faith in Christ’s death and resurrection in Our behalf, identifica tion with Christ in His death and His res urrection, and appropriation to ourselves of what H e accomplished by His death and resurrection. When there is real repentance as ttescribed above, and real baptism, there will be “ remission o f sins” and the reception o f the gift o f the Holy Ghost. Remission o f sins means the sending away o f siri, the absolute dismissal from God’s thoughts of our sins as related to us, so that God no longer regards us as sinners, but regards us as those who have not sinned. When God remits our sins He removes them as far from us in His thought, as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12). As already said, when we have thus repented, etc., we receive the Holy Ghost. “The gift o f the Holy Ghost” is the blood-bought birthright o f every believer in JesUs-Christ, but not every believer has claimed ( his birthright. The word translated “ receive” in verse 38 means primarily “ take.” It is not a passive receiving, but a positive taking. I f any one does not have the “gift o f the Holy Spirit” experimentally, it is either because he does not take or claim his birthright by simple Rrayer and faith (Acts 4:31; 8:15, 16; Luke 11:13; 1 John 5:14, 15; Mark 1:24,
R. V .), or it is because he has not really made Jesus “ Lord and Christ” by an abso lute surrender o f his will to Him, and by identification with Him in a real baptism, o f which his water baptism is the symbol. ,v. 39. “For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him." In these words Peter told them that all who repented and were hap- tized should “ receive the gift o f the Holy Ghost.” The expression, “the promise” as the language used (cf. ch. 1:4, 5; 2:33, 38) and the context (v. 38) unmistakably dem onstrate, means the promise: o f the “bap tism with” or “gift o f” the Holy Spirit. Peter here declares that this baptism o f the Holy Spirit, or gift o f the Holy Spirit, was for his hearers as well as for the Apos tles, but not only i o f them, but for their children, and not only for them, but “ for all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto H im ;”- i.e., for Gefitile as well as Jewish believers, for every coming age o f the world’s history. In other words, by God’s own explicit state ment here, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is for every child o f God, Jew or Gentile, in every age o f the church. vs. 40, 4L “And with malty other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked genera tion. They then that received his word Were baptized; and they were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls.” The words recorded in verses 14 to 39 give only part o f Peter’s sermon on the day o f Pentecost, but the all-important part. , The substance o f the rest o f the sermon was “ Save yourselves from this crooked gener ation.” The way to save yourself from that crooked generation has just been told them in verse 38. Receiving by the Word o f God as preached by Peter was followed by a definite public confession in baptism o f their receiving the truth. The sermon had tremendous effect—no less than three thousand persons were added to the num ber o f disciples on that day. The reason why“there was such tremendous result was
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