Friday, April 30, 2021

Carol R. Holladay on Baptism being Salvific in Acts 22:16 and 10:47-48

 

 

“Get up [anastas, 22:16, with the participle functioning as an imperative], get yourself baptized [baptisai, aorist middle imperative, thus indicating action that ls self-referential rather than purely passive: “Be baptized”], and wash away [apolousai, aorist middle imperative, again reflecting Paul’s initiative] your sins [tas hamartias sou],” the first time Paul’s actions are described as sinful. Paul’s action thus qualifies as a baptismal initiation that bestows forgiveness of sins, comparable to that of his fellows Jews on the Day of Pentecost. “Calling on his name,” meaning the name of the Lord Jesus, connotes prayer, especially confessional prayer, yet here expresses newly redirected loyalty. (Carol R. Holladay, Acts: A Commentary [The New Testament Library; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2016], 425, emphasis in bold added)

 

Peter’s remark in Acts 10:47 equates the gentiles’ reception of the Holy Spirit with that of the apostles and other Jews at Pentecost: “they have received the Holy Spirit in the same way we did.” As at Pentecost, baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is required for gentiles to be admitted to full fellowship (2:38; 8:16; 19:5; cf. 1 Cor 1:13-15); and given the promise in the concluding words of Peter’s sermon (10:43), baptism also bestows forgiveness of sins. Peter’s willingness to remain a few days with these new gentile converts signals his full acceptance of them and his willingness to fellowship with them (cf. John 4:40). (Ibid., 240, emphasis added)

 

Further Reading


Robert S. Boylan, Born of Water and of the Spirit: The Biblical Evidence for Baptismal Regeneration

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