The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Acts 2:37-40, “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?’
38 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.
39 ‘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.’
40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”

Preaching today can often be of the “touchy-feely” kind. Filled with epigrams and witticisms, sermons often commensurate the joviality of a stand-up commedian. Simon Peter’s words were as far removed from such frivolity as the nearest star. So startled were his hearers that they cried aloud, “Brethren, what shall we do?”

Serious messages from the pulpit provoke serious responses from the congregation. “Brethren,” while plural in context, elicits a serious and somber response from Peter: “Repent… ???????? metanoeo. Change your mind; change your purpose in life.” What Peter demanded was a serious alteration in their attitude. It seems especially a sound rebuke to those who had earlier said, “They are full of sweet wine” (2:13).

Further, Peter instructed them to be baptized –not as a saving grace per se, but as a symbolic representation of having genuinely turned from sin and signifying a positive, spiritual change in their behavior. The believer’s baptism in Scripture is a total immersion in water, signifying death to sinful ways and resurrection to a new and vibrant life in the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Perhaps, the best Scriptural commentary on baptism comes to us from Acts 8:36-38. Philip had presented the Gospel to a court official of an Ethiopian queen. He responded, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.”

If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior and LORD, you, too, may be baptized as a sign of your trust in Him. But, the trust always precedes the baptism.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom