Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Jack Cottrell on Acts 2:38

  

The argument begins with Beisner noting that the verb “repent” is plural, and that the “your” in “for the remission of your sins” is also plural. (Beisner inserts “plural” that these points.) But, he says, the verb “be baptized” is singular: “Let each one [hekastos] be baptized.” Beisner concludes, “This makes it clear that ‘remission of your (plural) sins’ is the result of ‘you (plural) repenting,’ not of “each one (singular) being baptized.’”

 

John MacArthur agrees that this is a proper interpretation. “Support for that interpretation comes from the fact that ‘repent’ and ‘your’ are plurals, while ‘be baptized’ is singular, thus setting it off from the rest of the sentence [as parenthetical]. If that interpretation is correct, the verse would read ‘Repent (and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ) for the forgiveness of your sins.’ Forgiveness is thus connected with repentance, not baptism.” (in a letter from MacArthur shared with me by Don Wallace, spring 2001.)

 

Those who use this argument seem to deliberately ignore the fact that the singular verb “be baptized” is emphatically pluralized by the word hekastos humōn, “each one OF YOU (plural). The word humōn, “of you,” is the exact same plural word used in the phrase “remission of your (plural) sins,” But Beisner chooses not to insert “(plural”) after this humōn, because this would basically show that his argument is without foundation. (See John 7:53 for a similar combination of plural verb with a singular hekastos.) The only reason for ignoring the obvious is the tyrant of the sola fidei paradigm. (Jack Cottrell, One Baptism Into Christ [The Collected Works of Jack Cottrell 5; Mason, Ohio: The Christian Restoration Association, 2018], 75-76, emphasis in original)