Acts 2:37-39 – Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
I think many Christians tend to overlook the amazing work of the Holy Spirit. In this passage
Peter is describing the calling of the Holy Spirit, calling us to just be with Jesus. The Holy Spirit carries out the purposes of the Father and the Son, in this promise Peter is describing how the Lord calls those who are His by the moving of the Holy Spirit. Paul described this work of election by the Holy Spirit very clearly in 1 Thes. 1:4,5 – “knowing, brothers and sisters, beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit..”. Paul was describing one of the functions of the power of the Holy Spirit being poured out, He uses it to call people to Himself.
Acts 2:38-39 – Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
We can also see in Peter’s statement an echo of what Jesus had said to the disciples just fifty days previously, “not many days from now you will receive the promise of the Father”. Peter said that this promise of the Spirit was for everyone whom the Lord called to Himself. Apparently this was the distinguishing factor for the disciples in these early days. For them a Christian was someone who had the evidence of the Holy Spirit upon their life. This is exactly what happened in Acts 10. The Jewish Christians accepted the Gentiles because they had received the baptism in the Spirit and were speaking in tongues.
Continued tomorrow…