Why Do Oneness Pentecostals Emphasize Acts 2:38?

Well, that's a great question. Maybe we need to define or describe what Acts 238 is. Uh let me just actually quote it. 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 or the Holy Specal." I assumed everybody knew it. Yes. Well, I'm not going to assume that. U let me give it to you in Korean just in case. Okay, I covered all the bases. So why is this so important? Uh because it is our response to the gospel in a nutshell. It's the most comprehensive and succinct answer to the question, what must I do to be saved?

So to put it in context, the Old Testament is full of prophecy, promise, foreshadowing types. So it is pointing to the salvation that God would give in the New Testament. The four gospels present the birth, life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ who is the son of God, the savior. He is the one upon whom the church would be built, the one through whom salvation would come. So the basic gospel that is the good news is that Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again. But even there and Jesus did forgive people's sins but it was an anticipation of what would happen later.

So the church was not established in the four gospels. We rather see the foundation of the church through the ministry of Jesus Christ and his death, burial and resurrection. So then the epistles are the letters to the churches and also the book of revelation which is prophetic but it's also to the church. So the rest of the New Testament from Romans through revelation is written to the church assuming they've already obeyed the gospel they've already had the experience of salvation and they know what we're talking about. So that book in the middle the book of acts uh which is pivotal and about 1/4th of the new testament uh is composed if I remember correctly of luke acts uh telling the gospel in Luke and then the fulfillment in acts so acts is pivotable pivotal because it esta shows how the church was established the church that we're part of today how people entered the church and how local churches were established It presents the gospel message that I've already articulated, but then it presents how we respond to the gospel.

So just knowing and believing that Jesus died doesn't save you or that he was buried, he rose again. You must actively respond. So in Acts chapter 2, we have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after the resurrection ascens of Jesus. So this is the birthday of the Christian church. This is the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit which was to continue. And then the apostle Peter with the support of all the other apostles preached the first message of the church. He preached to the thousands of people who had gathered uh to see this notable event of people being filled with the spirit. And he preached the simple gospel message.

Jesus died. He was buried. He rose again. In response, the onlookers were convicted of their sins and they cried out, "Men and brethren, what must we do?" They weren't asking for extra blessings. In the context, they had been convicted that they had personally rejected Jesus as the Lord, Savior, and Messiah. They had actually called for his crucifixion. So, they were guilty of murder. Now, they realized their sin. They wanted to repent of their sin. They wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord, Savior, and Messiah. So how to do that? In other words, how to be saved? And you only have one other place. So directly that's later in acts acts 16.

What sh must I do to be saved? And the answer is believe on the lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. And that was given to pagans who had no background. Uh but then when they and and the that was in a the the jailer in Philippi was going to commit suicide because his prisoners Paul and Silas he thought had escaped and he found out they hadn't escaped. And so he he's convicted. He realized that as a pagan that some miracle had taken place and these people that he was had is responsible for keeping in prison must be men of God. Well, what do I do to be saved?

Well, from his background, all he may have known was idolatry and pagan gods. What do you tell that person? Uh, if you tell them to be baptized, they may not even know what baptism is. If you say be filled with the spirit, they don't probably probably don't know what that is. If they even say repent, what does that mean? But say believe on Jesus. And so he took him to his house and they preached to him and they baptized him that night and he received an experience that caused him to rejoice. So my point being there, that was a more general answer, but it led to the same uh conclusion.

But in contrast, getting back to your question, Acts 2 was to Jewish people who had come to celebrate the Jewish feast day of Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem. So you could expect that those Jews were Bible believers. They knew what repentance was very clearly. They knew what faith was. Uh as far as baptism, they were familiar with ceremonial washings in the Old Testament. They were familiar with what is known as pro-like baptism or baptism of converts where people were baptized by full immersion. Right there in the temple area where this all took place in Acts 2. There were these mikvas or full immersion baths and archaeologists have uncovered them.

You can go there and see it today where Jewish people that would come to the temple and they wanted to undergo certain purification rights. They would immerse themselves. So even be baptized although that was a new covenant experience it was something the Jews at that time could have easily understood. and being filled with the Holy Spirit that was prophesied multiple times throughout the Old Testament, primarily the book of Joel, but also Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and so on. My point is here you have an audience that was capable of immediately understanding the full message. Here you have, now think about this. It's the birthday of the Christian church, the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

all 12 apostles that were appointed by Jesus uh with Matias replacing Judas at the same place at the same time preaching the same message ending how to be saved. There is no other place in the whole Bible that has all 12 apostles preaching at the same time giving the same message and succinctly saying here's how to be saved under the new covenant in the New Testament church. Here is here's how to respond to the gospel. So I would explain the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for our salvation. But our response to the gospel, we die to sin in repentance. We're buried with Jesus Christ in water baptism by calling on his name.

And we rise to newness of life through being filled with the Holy Spirit. So here we have in a nutshell our response to the gospel. So that's why we emphasize it. Now, if all we know is Acts 2:38, shame on us. But we should be able to point out all throughout the Old Testament, there are prophecies, types, and foreshadowings. All throughout the gospels, there are references. John the Baptist basically preached the same message. Jesus preached the same message. You know, the beginning of his ministry, Mark 1:15, repent and believe the gospel. If you really believe, the first thing you do is repent. Mark 16:16, Jesus said, "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved." If you really believe, you're going to get baptized.

John 7:38-39 Jesus again saying, "If you really believe on me, out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water, which John said is is the Holy Spirit, which those who believe on him should receive." So where did Peter and the other apostles even get Acts 2:38 straight from Jesus? If you believe, you'll repent. If you believe, you'll be baptized. If you believe, you'll receive the Holy Spirit. It was the same thing John the Baptist preached. So the gospels pointed toward it. the epistles hearken back to it. So you can read multiple places in the epistles that talk about people having had faith, having repented, having been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, having been filled with the Holy Spirit, having spoken in tongues, having received miracles.

So really throughout the book of Acts, you find the very same experience very clearly delineated when the Gentiles first came in the church, Acts 10, when a local church was established in Ephesus, Acts 19. And so you find multiple accounts very specifically in the book of acts itself. So Acts 2:38 kind of becomes a summary of really the whole Bible and particularly the book of acts of how do you have faith in Jesus Christ? How do you respond to the gospel? How do you enter into the New Testament church? So it's interesting uh not only one is Pentecostals but many contemporary theologians have pointed out using theological terms this is conversion/initiation.

So why is acts 238 important? It shows how a person is converted from sin into the kingdom of god. It shows how a person is initiated into the new testament church. So for example a leading uh evangelical scholar James Dunn he says conversion initiation the New Testament has four components faith repentance water baptism holy spirit and then of course he sees you have it right there in acts 238 trinitarian Pentecostal scholars such as Frank Mchia probably the leading assemblies of god theologian and Amos young probably the leading Pentecostal/carismatic theologian in their books Um both uh Mchia baptized in the spirit, young spirit put on all flesh.

They both remark Acts 2:38 presents the summary and they even remark one as Pentecostals. They commend one as Pentecostals for rightly bringing attention to this vital subject. Even uh the most famous Protestant theologian of the 20th century, Carl Bart, he said, "Acts 2:38 is the one answer to the question, what must I do to be saved?" So while other theologians or movements haven't really highlighted as much as we have, uh when you read dig through their discussion, they they see the undeniable significance of Acts 2:38. So if that's all we know, shame on us. But definitely we should know it. We should preach it and should teach it because it's relevant to every human being.

It's our response to the gospel. It's the application of God's saving grace under the new covenant. It is the expression of our faith in God as we receive God's plan. And it's for everyone. Notice by its terms, repent and be baptized. I think that goes together. One without the other is not the complete work. But repent and be baptized every one of you. So repentance and baptism for everybody. Uh, I remember doing an interview on the radio with a evangelical. He says, "Why do you say everybody has to do this? Why can't everybody have their own plan? Why does it have to be just your way?" And I said, "Well, everybody must have their own relationship with God." I agree.

But there's got to be a common foundation. And when Acts 2:38 says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you." That's pretty obvious. There's the foundation for everybody. And you build on that. And then verse 39 after talking about you you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 39 says, "The promise is to you your children or who all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." That also is foundational. Everybody's supposed to receive the Holy Spirit. You, your children, that's the next generation. So no, it's not just for the apostles or the first generation of believers. All who are a far off.

Well, obviously that would mean throughout the world, but the whole world was not evangelized in the first century. For it to really mean the whole world, it would have to go to subsequent centuries. So that means all who are far off, not only in geographical space, but down through time until the coming of the Lord Jesus. And as many as the Lord our God shall call. Well, the New Testament says God calls everyone, but not everyone responds. So the the so it's it's for everyone but obviously it will only be effective for those who answer the call. So again that's foundational and I would say by the way that uh when the crowd was asking what's going on they had just observed the 120 original believers receiving the Holy Ghost with the initial sign of speaking in tongues.

So they weren't asking for some different experience and the apostles were not promising some different experience but the original experience. It would really be strange if Peter was saying and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit now. Not the way you just saw it, the way you just asked me and the way you just question what was going on. No, don't. You're you're you're not that special. That's only for us. No, in the context it demands just what you saw. you can have the same experience. Joel prophesied it and it's for you too. And so here we see this essential message is for everyone who responds to the call of the Lord Jesus Christ.