Question about Acts 2:38

Originally Posted by Sam

So, are you saying that in the original Greek it says:

"Repent for the forgiveness/remission of you sins, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ..."?

Yes, the second person singular 'you' referring to only thopse people who've come to true saving faith.

Originally Posted by Chan

I don't see how he could come up with something like that. I would agree that the passage should be translated "for the forgiveness of sins" instead of "for the remission of sins" (whether it's "for" or "into" or something else is subject to debate) but to say that "for the forgiveness of sins" comes after repent and not after "be baptized," well, I'm not convinced.

Acts 2:38 has two verbs, repent is a plural and baptised is a singular, you can't link them both together in a single command. Acts 2:38 probable reads this way in the English translation becasue most versions are translated by Roman CAtholics and Anglicans who teach baptismal regeneration.

If you read Acts 2:37-43 carefully you’ll discover that Acts 2:38 cannot be an instance of the use of the actual baptismal formula, because this isn’t a baptismal verse. What I mean by this is that the actual baptisms of the 3,000 take place in verse 41, the point which I am trying to make is that Acts 2:38 is only a command to go and to get baptised. The baptismal formula is used in verse 41 and not in verse 38, and yet God regarded the actual baptismal formula of such little importance that verse 41 does not record the words spoken over the candidates for baptism. The word name (onoma) at Acts 2:38 implies the authority of the Messiah in whom Peter is commanding these Jews to trust and to repent, so that they might be saved. So the Bible should not be used as a ‘Harry Potter book of spells’ where words are said to possess magical powers which must be recited absolutely exactly for the ‘power to work.’

Originally Posted by Iron_Bladder

Acts 2:38 has two verbs, repent is a plural and baptised is a singular, you can't link them both together in a single command. Acts 2:38 probable reads this way in the English translation becasue most versions are translated by Roman CAtholics and Anglicans who teach baptismal regeneration.

I don't see them as a single command. I see two commands and a promise.

Originally Posted by Chan

I don't see them as a single command. I see two commands and a promise.

You’re welcome to read this verse however you choose to Chan, for God gives both of us the freedom to either obey or to twist the Bible to the destruction of our own souls. Secondly , it’s what the text states that’s important, not what we see for ourselves or how we choose to read it. Two verbs are used at Acts 2:38, one singular and the other plural, that’s the only point which I’m making.

Originally Posted by Chan

I don't see them as a single command. I see two commands and a promise.

Chan please explain the dual use of a singular and also of a plural verb to me at Acts 2:38, thanks. What do these verbs (and their subjects) mean?