“"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 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. 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." And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
Acts 2:22-24, 32-33, 36-41 ESV
http://bible.com/59/act.2.22-24,32-33,36-41.esv
• As clear as the above text is (to me, at least), there are so many people who claim that baptism is not essential for salvation. Does the text make it clear that the promise of repenting and being baptized to receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit applies to everyone, including all of us today? "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. 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”. So an argument could be made that “everyone of you” could only be referring to those people that Peter was specifically addressing if the next part wasn’t also said: “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." But since that statement is included there is simply no getting around the idea that: A. It is a promise from God that if anyone (believes) repents and gets baptized, he or she will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins (of course one has to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God and that He was raised from the dead, like the people described in the above text did. Why else would they repent and be baptized if they didn’t believe). B. This promise is for everyone, including us, and beyond us. How could the text makes these points any clearer than it does? How did the people who heard Peter’s words respond? Did they “pray Jesus into their hearts?” Did they “accept Jesus as their personal savior”? Did they “let Jesus in the door of their hearts because he was knocking?” Did they tell Peter, “Salvation is not from works and since baptism is a work, we are not going to be baptized”? What did they do? “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” Did they get baptized as a sign that they already were saved? We may not have everything that Peter said to them but it would make a lot of sense if these people repented and baptized for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, since that is what Peter told them to do and what would happen. Again, even though I believe God has made this as clear as possible, I’d say most people who say they are Christians, do believe believe that baptism is essential for salvation. If you don’t believe me, research this yourselves. Go to websites and ask people if they believe that repentance and baptism is essential for salvation and I believe some will say a lot but not address the issue and many will say that salvation is not by works and since baptism is a work, it is not essential for salvation. By the way, it is true that we are not saved by works, but baptism isn’t a work. It is an acceptance of God’s promise.
