Peter's words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"

Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:37-38 (NLT)

Peter had just finished preaching the first sermon in the newly developing Church. These first believers were convicted of their sinful deeds and asked what could be done. Peter replies to them in the same way he would reply to us today, “repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

In an article by Rick Warren that I read this morning, he said that the biblical word for changing one’s mind is repent. Repent means to change. In a biblical sense it means changing from the ways of sin and turning to God’s ways for our lives. So repenting and turning to God really aren’t two different things. They become one action that each of us must have in our lives to be saved.

Then Peter tells them to be baptized in the name of Christ. Being baptized is something we do. Remember, salvation is a gift. Baptism is a response to this gift. And if something happens to us before that baptism occurs, it won’t mean that we’re not saved. Being baptized in the name of Jesus is as much about us choosing to believe the message of Christ and following him as Lord and trusting Him as Savior.

In reality these three things that Peter tells the people to do is what we mean when we say to have faith in Jesus. Peter says to repent, turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus (or accept Him and His ways for your life). That’s faith. That’s salvation.

In the love of Christ,
greg