Acts 2:38Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He does not continually remind them of the Cross, lest he seem to reproach them. He simply says, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins."

In earthly courts the law acts otherwise. But in the work of preaching, the sinner is saved when he confesses his sins.

See how Peter did not omit what was more important. Having first spoken of grace, he then added this also: "and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

His word was trustworthy because they themselves had received the Spirit.

He first speaks of what is easy and gives a great gift. Only then does he lead them toward life, knowing that what they had already tasted of so many blessings would stir their zeal.

Since the hearer wished to know the substance of his many words, he adds this too, showing that this is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Thus those who received his word approved what he had said, though his words were full of fear. After approving them, they came to baptism.

Or one should even say simply, "in the Son." But Peter says, "in the name of Jesus Christ," knowing that the name of Jesus is God, as is the name of the Father and the name of the Holy Spirit.

"And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Notice that he showed the gift of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit to be one and the same gift, since Their dignity is also one and the same.

When speaking above, he called this gift the promise.

The promise of God concerning salvation through the Messiah belonged first of all to them and to their children, yet until now they had been the foremost enemies of their Savior.

Remembering Jesus Christ's command to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, even to the end of the earth, the Apostle adds something here; Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15; Acts 1:8.

He says that God's salvation in Christ does not extend only to the Jews, but to all whom the Lord our God shall call.

By this the Apostle demands the same thing that the Forerunner of Christ and Christ Himself demanded of the Jews. Their first preaching, upon entering the work of public ministry, was preaching about repentance; Mt 3:2; Mt 4:17, and parallels.

Such repentance is the necessary condition for entering the kingdom of Christ, or His Church.

The Apostle’s second demand is the requirement of baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. The concept and action of baptism are already assumed to be known to the hearers from the acts of the Baptist and of Christ’s disciples.

Here it is only defined more precisely, namely, as baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, in the name of Jesus as the Messiah.

By this, faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah is already necessarily presupposed. “Jesus is the Christ”: this is the chief content of the faith and confession of those who desire to receive baptism and thereby enter the Church of Christ.

This expression does not mean that one must be baptized, or that they were then baptized, only in the name of Christ. The Lord Himself commanded the Apostles to baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19).

It denotes only the chief and fundamental content of the faith and confession of those being baptized: the recognition of Jesus as Messiah, Lord, and God.

With this is necessarily joined the acceptance of His whole teaching about God, the world, and mankind’s redemption. That is, it entails the whole Christian teaching.

Blessed Theophylact also gives this interpretation of the Apostle’s words about baptism in the name of Jesus Christ: “These words do not contradict the words, ‘baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 28:19).

“For the Church contemplates the Holy Trinity as indivisible. Thus, because of the unity of the three hypostases in essence, the one baptized in the name of Christ is baptized into the Trinity, since the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are indivisible in essence.”

“For the forgiveness of sins”: through repentance and in baptism, by faith in Jesus Christ as Redeemer, who by His death reconciled mankind with God, responsibility for sins is removed from a man. His sins are forgiven him.

This is the negative side, the putting off of the old man with his sinful deeds. The positive side is the reception by the baptized person of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the creation of the new man.

By the gift of the Holy Spirit is meant here not the gift of tongues received by the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. Rather, it means in general the grace of the Holy Spirit, given through repentance in baptism.

Yet this does not exclude that particular gift of tongues, as an external testimony, expression, and confirmation of the communication of the grace of the Holy Spirit; compare Acts 10:45 and Acts 11:17.

Nor does it exclude the other gifts of the Spirit indicated above in Joel’s prophecy (vv. 17, 18).

To assure them that those who repent and are baptized receive the Holy Spirit, the Apostle points to the general foundation: God’s promise concerning these gifts of the Spirit. He paraphrases the above-cited prophecy of Joel (vv. 17, 18).

"In speaking of baptism into Christ, the Apostles expressed only the aim and character of baptism, not the known formula commanded by Christ Himself"; see Mt 28:19.

According to the apostolic rules, as the holy martyr Justin and Origen indicate, in apostolic times baptism was performed only in the name of the Most High Trinity.

That is, it was performed through the invocation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

"Let no one be deceived by the Apostle," says Basil the Great, "because, when mentioning baptism, he often passes over the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Nor should anyone conclude from this that the invocation of the names need not be observed.

It is said, 'For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ' (Gal 3:27).

This is because the name Christ, the Anointed One, is a confession of the whole. It indicates both God Who anoints, and the Son Who is anointed, and the anointing of the Spirit.

So Peter teaches: 'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power' (Acts 10:38)."

They had also seen the gift of tongues manifested in the Apostles. Among them were many visitors from different peoples: Parthians, Medes, Egyptians, Romans, and others.

These had no occasion to take part either in the Pharisees' plot or in the rebellious cries of the Jerusalemites.

Those Jerusalemites had been deceived by a false concern for the safety of their city and land.

Yet even to those visitors the Apostle offered no other preaching than the preaching of repentance common to all.

Likewise, the Apostle Paul presents the preaching of repentance as a universal necessity and as the chief apostolic work, when he says of himself:

"I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision," that is, to the vision that called him to apostleship.

"But declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance" (Acts 26:19-20).