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Acts 2:38 – When A Preacher Can’t Quote Scripture
I listened to a famous and respected preacher on Acts 2:38; and he deserves respect. I wanted to learn from him about receiving “the gift of the Holy Spirit” (a requested sermon I will preach Sunday). But today’s thought got interrupted by other things he said.
1. He said we receive the Holy Spirit by “repenting and identifying with Jesus”. I agree baptism is identifying with Jesus. But he never simply quoted the Holy Spirit through Peter. To him identifying was a public. The eunuch didn’t have to go back to Jerusalem to have a crowd (Acts 8).
2. Then later he said, “repent, and to show forgiveness had been accomplished, be baptized.” Again, he doesn’t quote Peter.
3. Further along he said, “We receive the Spirit when we repent, not by water baptism.” Doesn’tthe inspired Peter put both repentance and baptism, before both forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit?
Isn’t it sad (and scary), he couldn’t just quote what Peter said? “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” If we can’t quote scripture to get people to believe scripture then maybe we aren’t teaching scripture!
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