Acts 2:38 saved 3,000 on the Day of Pentecost.
Three thousand people were saved on the Day of Pentecost, which was, of course, the beginning of the Christian era. They had been convicted by Peter’s message and asked what to do. As a result, three things are highly noticeable:
🔹1/ Peter responded with the means by which they could be saved, i.e., with the plan of salvation and they obeyed it (Acts 2:38,41).
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
🔹2/ Peter also confirmed that this would be the means by which God would save all souls whom He would call (Acts 2:39).
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
🔹3/ This was the only occasion in Acts where all the Apostles were known to be together. It is noted that what Peter had preached and enjoined was accepted by all the Apostles (Acts 2:42).
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The plan of salvation established
Acts 2:38 was how to be saved from the beginning of the Church age. It would be perfectly fine to summarily theologize the salvation experience they received by saying they were justified by faith in Christ, which they were. That is sound theology. But it must be with the understanding that, in practice, they fulfilled the tenets of Acts 2:38. Peter did not offer easy believism. If mere belief in Christ was sufficient for salvation, he would have said that. But, instead, he presented what Christ had ordered in the Great Commission, involving repentance, water baptism, and Spirit baptism. That’s what saved three thousand on that day and it still does today.
The plan of salvation cannot change.
Undeniably, Acts 2:38 was offered as the plan of salvation on the Day of Pentecost and it saved three thousand souls. Therefore, it is still the plan of salvation. That conclusion is a fact because of what Peter said in Acts 2:39. But, besides that, it is the only theological conclusion that can be drawn. The Christian plan of salvation cannot change. And, as in any dispensation, salvation for one is salvation for all. God is no respecter of persons. Therefore, what was revealed on the Day of Pentecost is what saves people today.
🔹The reason I write this particular blogpost is because many people today, while acknowledging that Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost was certainly effective to save the three thousand back then, do not believe it is the plan of salvation for everyone in our time. That’s strange! And, very often, they believe Paul taught a different message of salvation from Peter. That’s really strange. That could never be the case.
First, let’s consider some things about the plan of salvation.
Biblical tendency to longevity
Who hasn’t noticed that there is a biblical tendency to longevity in dispensational time periods? As Solomon noted, what God does, He seems to do for a long time (Ecclesiastes 3:14). It’s only reasonable to assume, therefore, that the plan of salvation would remain the same throughout the Christian era. It seems there would have to be a really good reason for God to change the plan of salvation from what it was originally. At what point would change become necessary and for what reason? And who would have the authority to change it? How would everyone know when it had changed? God changing the plan of salvation mid-stream just isn’t a likely scenario. In fact, it’s a ridiculous thought. It just doesn’t make sense. It would never happen. It cannot happen. If someone thinks Acts 2:38 has ceased to be the plan of salvation for the Church age, then he must answer all these questions that have been posed, of which there are no answers.
From a theological standpoint, if Acts 2:38 saved three thousand souls on the Day of Pentecost, then that’s what is going to save us.
By the way, what would you want to change about Acts 2:38?
The plan of salvation is perfect. As I’ve written previously, when you consider the tenets of Acts 2:38, which could you possibly dismiss?
1/ Turning to Christ in repentance? What’s untenable about that?
2/ Remission of sins in Jesus’ name? Who doesn’t want that?
3/ And receiving the precious Spirit of God? Who has a problem with that?
All the tenets of the plan of salvation are good. I can’t conceive of anything better and, certainly, I, for one, would not want any of its great tenets omitted. (Of course, people don’t want to dismiss the benefits of Acts 2:38. Usually, they just want to claim them without obeying its terms.)
Matthew 16:19
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16:19 is where Jesus gave Peter authority to reveal the plan of salvation to the world on the Day of Pentecost. He referred to this authority as, the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Everything about that expression indicates permanence of the plan of salvation.
1/ The Kingdom of heaven
The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Even as the words meet our minds, they suggest permanence. No serious Bible student would expect the kingdom of heaven, or access to it, to change in a short period of time, if ever. What was established on the Day of Pentecost would be considered to continue throughout the Church age.
2/ The keys
Keys to not suggest a temporary pass. They imply unchangeableness. They imply access at all times, under all circumstances, by anyone who uses them. They are a good analogy of the saving tenets of the Gospel, which is effective to all peoples, in all climes, and at all times.
3/ Peter’s authority to bind and loose
But Jesus says even more in this context that suggests permanence. He said Peter would have authority to bind and loose and that such binding would be recognized by heaven. When Peter fulfilled his authority in revealing the plan of salvation, he announced that it would be so for the duration of the Church age (Acts 2:39). It, therefore, became settled in heaven. Jesus didn’t change it when He personally confronted Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9). And heaven still supported Peter when the Gentiles were added to the Church (Acts 10:3-5).
If there was going to be change to the plan of salvation, it would have to be announced by Peter. But no change had ever been announced. In fact, he said the opposite. The tenets of the Gospel were based on the unchangeable Word of God (1Peter 1:23-25). By embedding a powerful Old Testament Scripture about the immutability of God’s Word in this context, Peter cements the idea that the plan of salvation cannot be altered, implying that what has existed from the Day of Pentecost is the Word of the Lord and will be in force until the Lord comes back for His Church.
John 3:5
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
In John 3:5, Jesus was unequivocal about the terms of salvation. He made them narrow, but open to all persons. He said the Kingdom would not be attainable but by a new birth of water and Spirit. He also indicated in a very strong way— in fact, absolutely— that the plan of salvation would never be alterable or editable. His terse statement to Nicodemus preempted any idea of change in the Christian message of salvation.
Earlier, we pointed out that Peter opened the door of faith to the Kingdom of heaven on the Day of Pentecost in fulfillment of Matthew 16:19. But he also fulfilled it according to the prescription of Jesus in John 3:5. The prescribed elements of water and Spirit were fulfilled in the necessary tenets of water and Spirit baptism. And it’s easy to see why the two baptisms were essential. Water baptism was for the remission of sins and Spirit baptism completed the regenerative process. John 3:5 and Acts 2:38 dovetail perfectly. Acts 2:38 is the vital born again experience involving water and Spirit.
The Great Commission
The Great Commission is one of the very most important things in the Bible. It literally governs what can be preached. All persons who share their faith in Christ are under its mandate. Anyone who tells another person he is saved or tells him how to be saved may only do so according to the tenets revealed in the Great Commission. Otherwise, he is a false witness of Christ (Luke 24:48). It is the only commission by which all Christian ministers are governed and by which all will be judged. A full-orbed study of the Great Commission reveals the tenets of salvation to be repentance, baptism in Jesus’ name, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost. It is clear from Jesus’ words that the commission was to last for the entire Church age (Matthew 28:20). It was to begin in Jerusalem and go throughout the whole world (Luke 24:47). The Great Commission still governs Christian preaching today. ( See the author’s, Water Baptism And The Great Commission, #10 on the Various Bible Lessons page. Here is a link.)
With this backdrop from the Gospels, we proceed to the book of Acts.
The book of Acts
The book of Acts fulfills what the previous Gospel references indicated— consensus and continuity. It covers a period of about thirty years, involving thousands of converts. That’s a generation. It covers many ministers. Yet there is no discrepancy in its pages concerning what was taught about salvation. Acts 2:38 was accepted on the Day of Pentecost onward as the plan of salvation (Acts 2:42). The sense one gets from reading Acts is that the same Gospel will continue throughout the Christian dispensation. The only warning of change is that of false prophets who would try to draw souls away from the truth (Acts 20:29).
The Apostles’ doctrine (Acts 2:42)
The consensus of belief among the Apostles signals an established dispensation of one, unified faith. What was preached on the Day of Pentecost was declared to be the Apostles’ doctrine— not, the Apostles’ doctrine for now. Is it reasonable to think that what the Apostles agreed on at the beginning of the Christian era would not continue for the duration of the Church age? In fact, Peter’s reason for accepting the Gentiles into the faith about ten years after the Day of Pentecost was based on what had occurred at the beginning, as he put it (Acts 11:15). The Gospel and all its tenets are unchangeable.
The Epistles
The Epistles offer no evidence of change in the Gospel message of salvation. In fact, there is much internal proof of Acts 2:38 in the Epistles. That’s to be expected since the Epistles flow out of the evangelism of Acts. Most of the writers are themselves featured in Acts. We know their salvation experience and preaching content. It only makes sense that, if the people who were writing the epistles, and those to whom they were writing, had both received the Acts 2:38 experience, it would penetrate the letter’s content.
Many references in the Epistles make it clear that the Gospel message of salvation had never changed since day one. Let’s look at some very familiar expressions in the epistles and see how they must necessarily refer to Acts 2:38.
Galatians 1:8-9
Paul stated that neither he nor angels have the power to change the Gospel. The absoluteness of that statement about the rigidness of the Gospel implies that one means of salvation has been in force since the beginning of the Christian era and that no one has the right to preach anything differently. Therefore, in a veiled way, Galatians 1:8-9 refers to Acts 2:38.
In the next chapter of Galatians, Paul admitted that he had conferred with Peter to be certain he had not been mistaken about salvation. Paul did not introduce anything new or different about the tenets of salvation.
Ephesians 4:5
This powerful summary of Christianity also ensures that nothing had changed from the beginning. The singularity of the faith and baptism imply that all preachers of all time have only one message of salvation to preach. It denotes that salvation for one is salvation for all. Therefore, in a veiled way, Ephesians 4:5 refers to Acts 2:38.
Jude 3
Jude said it so plainly. He said we are to contend for (insist on, fight to maintain) the faith that was once (and for all, by implication) delivered to the saints. That has no other possible reference point but the Day of Pentecost. And Jude was there (Acts 1:14), and was in agreement with Peter’s message (Acts 2:42). Therefore, without expressly saying it, Jude 3 refers to Acts 2:38.
Conclusion
Simple logic, based on chronology, is all that’s needed to determine the Christian plan of salvation. What has saved people on Day One saves throughout the Christian dispensation. That is evident by all the examples of salvation throughout the book of Acts where the Gospel was carried by various ministers into the whole world (Acts 2,8,9,10,19). The Gospel has never changed and never will.