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QUESTION 5:
Peter tells some inquirers, "..Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:38. Why is this not preached and practiced today?

ANSWER:
It is important to note here that Peter is talking to Jews who heard a similar message from John the Baptist. "And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" Luke 3:2-3. "Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." Acts 19:4. The order was to repent, baptism, forgiveness, to believe on Christ, and then you would receive the Holy Spirit. "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" Luke 16:16. This ended the dispensation of Law. The dispensation did not begin until Acts 10, when Peter opened the door of salvation to the Gentile world. Acts 10:43. There was a transition period from John (law) to Cornelius (grace), in a span of about eleven years. Peter was partially into that period in Acts 2. He repeats some of what John had already told them. Acts 2:38). Any other message to them would have been confusing. No Jew ever received the Holy Spirit in the New Testament until they repented and were baptized in water. This was John's and Peter's message to them. When Peter went to the Gentiles, he did not preach the same message. His order there was "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" Acts 10:43. Immediately they received the Holy Spirit. No water baptism yet. The order here is, to believe, to be forgiven, to receive the Holy Spirit, and then baptism in water. [Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. Acts 10:47-48]. To verify this order he took a double amount of witnesses with him, six brethren. Acts 11:11-12. Here was the order of this day of grace. A transition message is only for that period. Today it is "Whosoever believeth in Him."[To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Acts 10:43.

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen