Calvin on Baptism

Let’s start by considering our verse. This comes in the context of Peter’s preaching at Pentecost. Acts 2:38 says, “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…’”

The word “baptized” in the text means “immersed”. There have been a lot of studies done on the word, but you simply cannot get around the fact that baptism means the immersion of the body into water. One guy from church history you may have heard of, John Calvin, said it this way, “it is evident that the term baptise means to immerse, and that this was the form used by the primitive Church.”[1]

This is a short point in my argument but it’s not a minor detail; the ordinance of baptism is the biblical picture of what happens when a believer publicly identifies with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (for the theology of immersion read this).

The Church of Christ Error

Acts 2:38, however, is not settled yet, even with this reality. In Stuttgart, AR, for example, there’s a huge Church of Christ building that says at the very top in beautiful letters: “Obey Acts 2:38.” This is because the Church of Christ believes baptism is the necessary mechanism for forgiveness of sins. And where do they get that? Well, reread Acts 2:38.

But is it case closed? Does this verse teach baptism as the means by which we receive the forgiveness of sins? What does Peter mean? Peter means exactly what Baptists mean. He was Baptist after all! So, I have a few important pushbacks to the Church of Christ interpretation that I believe honor the full counsel of God’s Word.

First, let’s just take a brief survey of Acts itself—quite a few places that discuss salvation and, by no accident, exclude baptism as a necessary mechanism for the forgiveness of sins:

  • Acts 5:31: “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
  • Acts 10:43: “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
  • Acts 10:48: “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.” (Note: Baptism follows belief and receiving the Holy Spirit here.)
  • Acts 13:38-39: “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”
  • Acts 16:31: “And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.'”

These passages consistently tie forgiveness to repentance and faith in Christ, not to the act of baptism as a causative mechanism.

For What?

Secondly, let me make a grammatical case with our verse. What does Peter mean by the word “for”? I’ll illustrate it this way: Let’s say it’s forecasted to rain. You see me wearing my rain jacket, and you say, “Why did you bring your raincoat?” And I say, “I brought my rain jacket for the rain!” I am saying, “I brought my rain jacket on account of the rain.” My rain jacket is not the cause for the rain. Rather, the rain is the cause of the rain jacket.

This is the exact point Peter is making. Repentance and, thus, the forgiveness of sins, is the cause of our baptism. We are baptized on account of the forgiveness of sins rather than baptism being a mechanism to receive the forgiveness of sins.

Now, I think grammatical arguments are important and helpful. But really, I think Acts 2:38 is even simpler than that. Any average Bible reader can understand this if they would just read the Bible in context.

As Curtis Vaughan notes, “Peter had challenged his audience to accept Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Their baptism in the name of Jesus Christ would be a public acknowledgement that they had done this.” That is, baptism is outward evidence of true repentance. And how far do you really have to read to find out that Holy Spirit-wrought faith and repentance is the key?

Well, you have to read a whole three more verses to get to Acts 2:41: “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

And then from Acts 2:41, you have to read a whole 25 verses more to get down to Acts 3:19-20: “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

Peter is not arguing that baptism is the “mechanism” for forgiveness of sins. If we really want to obey Acts 2:38 in context, we will preach to people to repent and believe the gospel, and as a sign of their repentance, they ought to be baptized.

It would have been easy for the Jews to verbally say they believed Peter’s message. But Peter was showing that true repentance will lead to a person willing to publicly identify with the Lord Jesus Christ in believer’s baptism.

As Sam Waldron notes, “It is the teaching of Scripture that baptism symbolizes a saving response to the gospel.” Sam Renihan puts it this way: “Baptism is…a two-way declaration. On the one hand, it is God’s visible promise that all who are in His Son are new creations by virtue of their union with Christ in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). And on the other hand, it is the individual’s profession of faith in those very promises (1 Pt. 3:21-22).”

How to Consider Acts 2:38

Peter puts the above argumentation together in our text. We must understand Peter’s organization this way:

1. The Precept: Repent. Peter is carrying out the commission of Luke 24:45-47. He is preaching repentance. There is no hope for salvation apart from repentance from sin. This is the precept.

2. The Promise: Forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

3. The Picture: Be Baptized. This is an outward picture of an inward reality. You are outwardly immersed in water because inwardly you’ve been cleansed. You are outwardly signifying death because inwardly you’ve died to self. You are outwardly raised out of the water because inwardly you’ve been brought to newness of life. And the whole act pictures the gospel where Jesus died, was buried, and rose again from the dead.

This is exactly what Peter is preaching in verse 38.

In no way does this undermine the precious ordinance of baptism! It strengthens it and understands it for what it is and as applied only to believers (you cannot have baptism any other way). And “each one of you,” Peter says, must be baptized. Baptism is a command to be followed by each and every individual Christian.

The Error of Jesus-Name-Only Baptism

Verse 38 does say to be baptized—”in the name of Jesus Christ.” But, think about the context. The preaching here centers around the person and work of Christ as the King upon David’s throne. As Lord and Christ (see v.22-36). 

The point here is not a formula. The point is certainly not a trinitarian heresy where you say Jesus is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No, the point is that true saving repentance acknowledges the kingship of Christ and that His accomplished work alone is the way whereby we are made fit for heaven.

The whole sermon of Peter centers around Jesus Christ. It makes perfect sense for Peter to say it this way. And throughout Acts, the apostles are careful to distinguish between John the Baptist’s baptism and Christian baptism. It makes perfect sense to understand being baptized in Jesus’s name as something distinct from being baptized by John the Baptist.

So, why do we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Well, first, Jesus told us to do it that way (Matthew 28:19). And second, this is a whole-Bible understanding of baptism rather than cherry-picking verses from Acts. We understand salvation focuses on Christ but is definitely a full trinitarian work.

The Error of Pedobaptists 

Pedobaptism is not a biblical practice. Our pedobaptist brothers—and I mean conservative Presbyterians, conservative Anglicans, conservative Dutch Reformed, conservative Lutherans, and hopefully I didn’t miss any, but people who are actually born again but get baptism wrong—they use the verse after our text as a proof text for their practice: verse 39 says, “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Now, first of all, we’ve already addressed the word “baptism.” It means immersion. You cannot get around that meaning. Even Calvin agrees.

But the pedobaptist, that is, those who sprinkle infants, they argue that the promise is for you and your children. So, the logic is, baptize babies.

But this is really not airtight at all. First, what does the text say? It doesn’t stop at children. It goes on to say, “and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” So, if this text means you should baptize your unconverted children, then, logically, it also means you should baptize the unconverted people who are far off. Right? Find the unconverted, baptize them, and then give them the gospel.

But that’s completely backward to the passage. Remember verse 41: Baptism is for those who have received God’s Word. It is for believers. It is, as verse 39 says, for “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

That is, those who receive the effectual call of God and thereby cry out to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance—it is those this promise is for. Only those.

Pedobaptism (infant baptism) is actually a violation of the regulative principle of worship. It goes against what the Scriptures have commanded and makes up a manmade tradition to go in its place.

I do not mean to be unkind or uncharitable to our pedobaptist brothers and sisters. But I am also not apologetic for being a Baptist, and when we have a passage like this, I believe it’s important to explain it well.

Who Should We Baptize?

So, who should we baptize? Let me say it in a way I’ve heard before: The only people who should be baptized are the true sons and daughters of Abraham. For clarity, Galatians 3:7 says, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”

Circumcision was given to the physical offspring of Abraham, but it was never a sign of the covenant of grace. It was a reminder of the need of one to keep the whole law and that those who broke God’s covenant would be cut off (see Gen. 17:14).

But here we have baptism, which is not the replacement for circumcision—remember, circumcision was only for males anyway. But baptism is the sign of the New Covenant and is only for the true sons and daughters of Abraham, which are who? Not physical offspring, but those of faith. Those who call upon the name of the Lord because the Lord our God has called them to Himself (Acts 2:39).

This is why Acts 2:38 is only a Baptist verse. It calls for repentance, promises forgiveness and the Spirit to believers, and pictures that reality through immersion for those who have been called by God. Let’s hold the line on this biblical truth with kindness and firmness, preaching the gospel faithfully.

Baptist responsibly.

[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997).