Acts 2:37-38 ... "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?' And Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
What question could be more fundamental, more important, or more critical than the one asked by these people in Peter's audience in Jerusalem, "What shall we do?" The context indicates the subject of concern, namely, what can people do to be saved from the consequences of their offenses against God? The violation of God's will is sin, and it is a fact that everyone sins, (Rom. 3:23). Sometimes we all disregard instruction from God and commit sin. We must recognize that from the beginning God has decreed we must pay a price for our sin, and that price is ... death! (Rom. 6:23). The greatest problem anyone faces in this life is his sin, and the greatest benefit is the removal of that sin and release from its dreadful penalty. Those who heard Peter's sermon in Acts 2 had the problem of sin brought poignantly right into their faces, and they were quite shocked by it. In addition to the sins common to all people, these people were guilty of the atrocious act of murdering the very Son of God. In his message Peter had told them pointblank: "By the hands of godless men (Roman soldiers) you nailed to a cross and put to death" the Man sent by God to save you from spiritual destruction, (v.23). This accusation found its mark and suddenly activated the consciences of these people, for "when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart." Immediately, they felt an urgent need to do something to have their sin forgiven and avert the dreadful response of God.
Peter's answer was from God and is therefore the ultimately authoritative statement of the way sin is removed from the soul. The apostle by inspiration directed the people to do two things, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. To repent means to turn away from the life oriented toward sin and redirect one's life according to the instruction of the New Testament. To be baptized means to be buried momentarily in water, (Rom. 6:3-4). Sprinkling or pouring as other "modes of baptism" are perversions of the New Testament Greek term baptizo, which means to "submerge, plunge, immerse." Furthermore, baptism is only valid when performed "in the name of Jesus Christ," which means "by His authority." In other words, baptism must be a response to the commandment of Jesus; it must be for the purpose He specified, the "remission of sins"; and it must be by the approved method, burial in water. Any other baptism, or lack of it, is human interference with divine will and thus invalid.
If this question, "What must we do to be saved?," is asked today, many will answer, "Only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." While there are numerous places in the New Testament which emphasize the necessity of faith for salvation, they do not isolate faith as the ONLY factor. In fact, there is but one occurrence of the words "faith alone" in the New Testament, Jas. 2:24, and it clearly states that a person is justified "not by faith alone." In Mk. 16:16 Jesus inseparably joined faith and baptism as co-factors in human salvation when He decreed, "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved." To deny the necessity of baptism in salvation also denies the integrity of I Pet. 3:21, "Baptism now saves you -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but the appeal to God for a good conscience." Actually, faith, repentance, verbal confession (Rom. 10:10) and baptism are all integral parts of the ONE process that results in the remission of sins and salvation. In no way does one of them exclude the other three. Because faith begins the process and leads one to perform the other three, it may be used to represent the whole, just as it is sometimes used to mean the entire gospel, (Jude 3). One must not take this use of "faith" (as in Rom. 5:1) and declare that faith alone justifies. (Observe that the apostle who wrote Rom. 5:1 also wrote Rom. 1:5, where he spoke of "the obedience of faith.") True faith leads to obedience; otherwise, it is "dead" according to Jas. 2:26. And that obedience is realized in baptism.
