Acts 2:37

We have seen the wonderful effect of the pouring out of the Spirit, in its influence upon the preachers of the gospel. Peter, in all his life, never spoke at the rate that he had done now, with such fulness, perspicuity, and power. We are now to see another blessed fruit of the pouring out of the Spirit in its influence upon the hearers of the gospel. From the first delivery of that divine message, it appeared that there was a divine power going along with it, and it was mighty, through God, to do wonders: thousands were immediately brought by it to the obedience of faith; it was the rod of God's strength sent out of Zion, Psa 110:2, Psa 110:3. We have here the first-fruits of that vast harvest of souls which by it were gathered in to Jesus Christ. Come and see, in these verses, the exalted Redeemer riding forth, in these chariots of salvation, conquering and to conquer, Rev 6:2.

In these verses we find the word of God the means of beginning and carrying on a good work of grace in the hearts of many, the Spirit of the Lord working by it. Let us see the method of it.

I. They were startled, and convinced, and put upon a serious enquiry, Act 2:37. When they heard, or having heard, having patiently heard Peter out, and not given him the interruption they had been used to give to Christ in his discourses (this was one good point gained, that they were become attentive to the word), they were pricked to the heart, or in the heart, and, under a deep concern and perplexity, applied themselves to the preachers with this question, What shall we do? It was very strange that such impressions should be made upon such hard hearts all of a sudden. They were Jews, bred up in the opinion of the sufficiency of their religion to save them, had lately seen this Jesus crucified in weakness and disgrace, and were told by their rulers that he was a deceiver. Peter had charged them with having a hand, a wicked hand, in his death, which was likely to have exasperated them against him; yet, when they heard this plain scriptural sermon, they were much affected with it.

1. It put them in pain: They were pricked in their hearts. We read of those that were cut to the heart with indignation at the preacher (Act 7:54), but these were pricked to the heart with indignation at themselves for having been accessory to the death of Christ. Peter, charging it upon them, awakened their consciences, touched them to the quick, and the reflection they now made upon it was as a sword in their bones, it pierced them as they had pierced Christ. Note, Sinners, when their eyes are opened, cannot but be pricked to the heart for sin, cannot but experience an inward uneasiness; this is having the heart rent (Joe 2:13), a broken and contrite heart, Psa 51:17. Those that are truly sorry for their sins, and ashamed of them, and afraid of the consequences of them, are pricked to the heart. A prick in the heart is mortal, and under those commotions (says Paul) I died, Rom 7:9. "All my good opinion of myself and confidence in myself failed me."

2. It put them upon enquiry. Our of the abundance of the heart, thus pricked, the mouth spoke. Observe,

(1.) To whom they thus addressed themselves: To Peter and to the rest of the apostles, some to one and some to another; to them they opened their case; by them they had been convinced, and therefore by them they expect to be counselled and comforted. They do not appeal from them to the scribes and Pharisees, to justify them against the apostles' charge, but apply to them, as owning the charge, and referring the case to them. They call them men and brethren, as Peter had called them (Act 2:29): it is a style of friendship and love, rather than a title of honour: "You are men, look upon us with humanity; you are brethren, look upon us with brotherly love." Note, Ministers are spiritual physicians; they should be advised with by those whose consciences are wounded; and it is good for people to be free and familiar with those ministers, as men and their brethren, who deal for their souls as for their own.

(2.) What the address is: What shall we do? [1.] They speak as men at a stand, that did not know what to do; in a perfect surprise: "Is that Jesus whom we have crucified both Lord and Christ? Then what will become of us who crucified him? We are all undone!" Note, No way of being happy but by seeing ourselves miserable. When we find ourselves in danger of being lost for ever, there is hope of our being made for ever, and not till then. [2.] They speak as men at a point, that were resolved to do any thing they should be directed to immediately; they are not for taking time to consider, nor for adjourning the prosecution of their convictions to a more convenient season, but desire now to be told what they must do to escape the misery they were liable to. Note, Those that are convinced of sin would gladly know the way to peace and pardon, Act 9:6; Act 16:30.

II. Peter and the other apostles direct them in short what they must do, and what in so doing they might expect, Act 2:38, Act 2:39. Sinners convinced must be encouraged; and that which is broken must be bound up (Eze 34:16); they must be told that though their case is sad it is not desperate, there is hope for them.

1. He here shows them the course they must take. (1.) Repent; this is a plank after shipwreck. "Let the sense of this horrid guilt which you have brought upon yourselves by putting Christ to death awaken you to a penitent reflection upon all your other sins (as the demand of some one great debt brings to light all the debts of a poor bankrupt) and to bitter remorse and sorrow for them" This was the same duty that John the Baptist and Christ had preached, and now that the Spirit is poured out is it still insisted on: "Repent, repent; change your mind, change your way; admit an after-thought." (2.) Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ; that is, "firmly believe the doctrine of Christ, and submit to his grace and government; and make an open solemn profession of this, and come under an engagement to abide by it, by submitting to the ordinance of baptism; be proselyted to Christ and to his holy religion, and renounce your infidelity." They must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They did believe in the Father and the Holy Ghost speaking by the prophets; but they must also believe in the name of Jesus, that he is the Christ, the Messias promised to the fathers. "Take Jesus for your king, and by baptism swear allegiance to him; take him for your prophet, and hear him; take him for your priest, to make atonement for you," which seems peculiarly intended here; for they must be baptized in his name for the remission of sins upon the score of his righteousness. (3.) This is pressed upon each particular person: Every one of you. "Even those of you that have been the greatest sinners, if they repent and believe, are welcome to be baptized; and those who think they have been the greatest saints have yet need to repent, and believe, and be baptized. There is grace enough in Christ for every one of you, be you ever so many, and grace suited to the case of every one. Israel of old were baptized unto Moses in the camp, the whole body of the Israelites together, when they passed through the cloud and the sea (Co1 10:1, Co1 10:2), for the covenant of peculiarity was national; but now every one of you distinctly must be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and transact for himself in this great affair." See Col 1:28.

2. He gives them encouragement to take this course: - (1.) "It shall be for the remission of sins. Repent of your sin, and it shall not be your ruin; be baptized into the faith of Christ, and in truth you shall be justified, which you could never be by the law of Moses. Aim at this, and depend upon Christ for it, and this you shall have. As the cup in the Lord's supper is the New Testament in the blood of Christ for the remission of sins, so baptism is in the name of Christ for the remission of sins. Be washed, and you shall be washed." (2.) "You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost as well as we; for it is designed for a general blessing: some of you shall receive these external gifts, and each of you, if you be sincere in your faith and repentance, shall receive his internal graces and comforts, shall be sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." Note, All that receive the remission of sins receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. All that are justified are sanctified. (3.) "Your children shall still have, as they have had, an interest in the covenant, and a title to the external seal of it. Come over to Christ, to receive those inestimable benefits; for the promise of the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, is to you and to your children," Act 2:39. It was very express (Isa 44:3): I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed. And (Isa 59:21), My Spirit and my word shall not depart from thy seed, and thy seed's seed. When God took Abraham into covenant, he said, I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed (Gen 17:7); and, accordingly, every Israelite had his son circumcised at eight days old. Now it is proper for an Israelite, when he is by baptism to come into a new dispensation of this covenant, to ask, "What must be done with my children? Must they be thrown out, or taken in with me?" "Taken in" (says Peter) "by all means; for the promise, that great promise of God's being to you a God, is as much to you and to your children now as ever it was." (4.) "Though the promise is still extended to your children as it has been, yet it is not, as it has been, confined to you and them, but the benefit of it is designed for all that are afar off;" we may add, and their children, for the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles, through Jesus Christ, Gal 3:14. The promise had long pertained to the Israelites (Rom 9:4); but now it is sent to those that are afar off, the remotest nations of the Gentiles, and every one of them too, all that are afar off. To this general the following limitation must refer, even as many of them, as many particular persons in each nation, as the Lord our God shall call effectually into the fellowship of Jesus Christ. Note, God can make his call to reach those that are ever so far off, and none come but those whom he calls.

III. These directions are followed with a needful caution (Act 2:40): With many other words, to the same purport, did he testify gospel truths, and exhort to gospel duties; now that the word began to work he followed it; he had said much in a little (Act 2:38, Act 2:39), and that which, one would think, included all, and yet he had more to say. When we have heard those words which have done our souls good, we cannot but wish to hear more, to hear many more such words. Among other things he said (and it should seem inculcated it), Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Be you free from them. The unbelieving Jews were an untoward generation, perverse and obstinate; they walked contrary to God and man (Th1 2:15), wedded to sin and marked for ruin. Now as to them, 1. "Give diligence to save yourselves from their ruin, that you may not be involved in that, and may escape all those things" (as the Christians did): "Repent, and be baptized; and then you shall not be sharers in destruction with those with whom you have been sharers in sin." O gather not my soul with sinners. 2. "In order to this continue not with them in their sin, persist not with them in infidelity. Save yourselves, that is, separate yourselves, distinguish yourselves, from this untoward generation. Be not rebellious like this rebellious house; partake not with them in their sins, that you share not with them in their plagues." Note, To separate ourselves from wicked people is the only way to save ourselves from them; though we hereby expose ourselves to their rage and enmity, we really save ourselves from them; for, if we consider whither they are hastening, we shall see it is better to have the trouble of swimming against their stream than the danger of being carried down their stream. Those that repent of their sins, and give up themselves to Jesus Christ, must evidence their sincerity by breaking off all intimate society with wicked people. Depart from me, ye evil doers, is the language of one that determines to keep the commandments of his God, Psa 119:115. We must save ourselves from them, which denotes avoiding them with dread and holy fear, as we would save ourselves from an enemy that seeks to destroy us, or from a house infected with the plague.

IV. Here is the happy success and issue of this, Act 2:41. The Spirit wrought with the word, and wrought wonders by it. These same persons that had many of them been eye-witnesses of the death of Christ, and the prodigies that attended it, and were not wrought upon by them, were yet wrought upon by the preaching of the word, for it is this that is the power of God unto salvation. 1. They received the word; and then only the word does us good, when we do receive it, embrace it, and bid it welcome. They admitted the conviction of it, and accepted the offers of it. 2. They gladly received it. Herod heard the word gladly, but these gladly received it, were not only glad that they had it to receive, but glad that by the grace of God they were enabled to receive it, though it would be a humbling changing word to them, and would expose them to the enmity of their countrymen. 3. They were baptized; believing with the heart, they made confession with the mouth, and enrolled themselves among the disciples of Christ by that sacred rite and ceremony which he had instituted. And though Peter had said, "Be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" (because the doctrine of Christ was the present truth), yet we have reason to think that, in baptizing them, the whole form Christ prescribed was used, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Note, Those that receive the Christian covenant ought to receive the Christian baptism. 4. Hereby there were added to the disciples to the number of about three thousand souls that same day. All those that had received the Holy Ghost had their tongues at work to preach, and their hands at work to baptize; for it was time to be busy, when such a harvest was to be gathered in. The conversion of these three thousand with these words was a greater work than the feeding of four or five thousand with a few loaves. Now Israel began to multiply after the death of our Joseph. They are said to be three thousand souls (which word is generally used for persons when women and children are included with men, as Gen 14:21, margin, Give me the souls; Gen 46:27, seventy souls), which intimates that those that were here baptized were not so many men, but so many heads of families as, with their children and servants baptized, might make up three thousand souls. These were added to them. Note, Those who are joined to Christ are added to the disciples of Christ, and join with them. When we take God for our God, we must take his people to be our people.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act_2:37

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?

It is the preaching that pricks mens consciences that saves them

It may not be well that some of you should be pleased. Sometimes, when a man grows outrageously angry with a sermon, he is getting more good than when he retires saying, What an eloquent discourse! I have never yet heard of a salmon that liked the hook which had taken sure hold of it; nor do men admire sermons which enter their souls. When the Word of God becomes as an arrow in a mans heart, he writhes; he would fain tear it out; but it is a barbed shaft. He gnashes his teeth, he grows indignant; but he is wounded, and the arrow is rankling. The preaching which pleases us may not be truth; but the doctrine which grieves our heart and troubles our conscience, is, in all probability, true; at any rate, there are grave reasons for suspecting that it is so. It is not the way of truth to fawn on guilty men. I say, the Lord uses ministries of a cutting kind to make men uneasy in their sins, and cause them to flee to Christ for peace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Conviction of sin: its naturalness

If a man really saw an angel, or one risen from the dead, we should expect that all consideration of bystanders would forsake him in the awe of the moment. And so, if in an instant a supernatural power opens the unseen world to the soul, with its one eternal Light, its heaven and its hell, although the view of these must be imperfect and confused, yet if it is a view, a sudden view, it must shoot fear, wonder, awe, through and through the soul, till man and mans opinion are as little thought of, as fashion by a woman fallen into a steamers foaming wake. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Conviction of sin: instantaneous

An unconverted man sat down to read the Bible an hour each evening with his wife. In a few evenings he stopped in the midst of his reading, and said, Wife, if this book is true, we are wrong. He read on, and a few days later said, Wife, if this book is true, we are lost. Riveted to the book, and deeply anxious, he still read, and in a week more joyfully exclaimed, Wife, if this book is true, we may be saved! A few weeks more reading, and, taught by the Spirit of God, through the exhortations and instructions of a city missionary, they both placed their faith in Christ.

Repentance

I. The inquiry made. Men always want to know what they are to do when conviction of sin is on them. This was Pauls excited cry when on the way to Damascus, and that of the Philippian jailer. And until a sinner is willing to do anything that he may, if possible, undo what he has done amiss, little evidence of a contrite state of heart does he afford. But how blessed is Gods plan of salvation. We have not to do or to undo; another has done for us what is required, and what we could not do. Jesus has died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. All left for us, therefore, is repentance which leads to the avoidance of sin in future, by submitting to His ordinances, and present realising, appropriating faith. Men and brethren! Previously any contemptuous terms were good enough for the followers of the Nazarene; but see how the change of heart affects the speech. A sinner under conviction will naturally become more guarded in language than before. How many ways has the Spirit of God of producing conviction; and how many ways has a convicted sinner of showing the conviction which is thus produced! Not only do men adopt new modes of action, but new styles of speech.

II. The reply given. How ready is the apostle to respond.

1. Repent, as if he would say, do not go about to establish a righteousness of your own; do not suppose that by costly sacrifices or penal suffering you shall be saved. Hate your sin and flee from it. Repent; sincerely, instantly, earnestly; seek mercy, for it is awaiting you.

2. Be baptized, as an expression of your determination henceforth to be enrolled under the banner of the Messiah, thus publicly admitting His claims, and showing your faith in Him, and obedience to Him.

3. Do this in reference to the remission of your sins; not supposing that baptism will save you, but rather that it will symbolise the regenerative power of the Spirit by which you have been awakened, and then you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (W. Antliff, D. D.)

Sham repentance

Confession of sin is not a mere abandonment of sin as a losing game. That was a shrewd: but not a very flattering estimate found on record in the private thoughts of an old divine. I believe, he says, that it will be shown that the repentance of most men is not so much sorrow for sin as sin, or real hatred of it, as sullen sorrow that they are not allowed to sin. When any individual surrenders an iniquitous occupation because he perceives public opinion is setting against it, and that eventually he will be injured by its continuance, it is simple mockery for him to try to make moral capital out of the relinquishment. When a young man forsakes dissipation because it endangers his place with his employer; when a merchant gives up dishonest trade-marks because his tricks are becoming transparent, and honesty seems the best policy--this is not penitence for sin; it is only the hypocrisy of worldly wisdom.

The work of conversion

Conversion is a work of--

I. Argument, for the judgment is gained by the truth.

II. Conviction, for the awakened are pricked to the heart.

III. Enquiry, for they ask, What must we do?

IV. Comfort, for its subjects have received remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Joseph Sutcliffe.)

Salvation

1. Men must be pricked in their heart before they can have the joy of salvation in their heart.

2. The conditions of salvation--how easy! Salvation has only to be accepted.

3. The conditions of salvation--how hard! Each one must repent; that is, turn from his sin; and that is no easy matter.

4. Salvation is accompanied with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Without His help, no one could conquer sin.

5. The promise of salvation and the help of the Holy Spirit is to all men of all peoples.

6. The promise of salvation is a family covenant, extending through the father to the children.

7. The exhortation, now as ever, is: Save yourselves from this crooked generation. (Sunday School Times.)

Converting power permanent in the Church

To suppose that it has been withdrawn is--

I. To suppose that the only practical end of Christianity has been voluntarily abandoned. If Christianity cannot renew men in the image of God, she ceases to have any special distinction above other religions. Her mission here was to overcome Satan in the realm in which he had hitherto triumphed, to re-establish the empire of God.

II. Not only would this practical end be abandoned, but the standing evidence to Christianity would be discontinued. The miracles and prophecies are past, and no accumulation of arguments can demonstrate to our neighbours at this moment that Christianity is a power which can actually make men superior to their own circumstances and sins. The only real and effective evidence is living men who have been regenerated. Wherever men can be pointed to whose lives are a manifest example of salvation from sin, there is the standing evidence that Christianity is the power of God unto salvation. Is it supposable that Christ has withdrawn or diminished that power which would show continually that He saves His people from their sins?

III. The converting power is also the Churchs great attraction. It is true that some would attract men by ceremonies, or talent, or the charms of architecture or music,--attract them that they may convert them; whereas the true order is, Convert, that you may attract. The one is the order of the charlatan, who trusts to factitious allurements for attracting the public, in the hope that he may cure some; the other, the order of the true physician, who trusts to the fact of his curing some as the means of attracting others. Whenever the Church sends into a family one new convert glowing with love and joy, she kindles light which will, in all probability, give light to all that are in the house. Whenever she is the means of making one shopman turn from his sins, and exhibit to his comrades a picture of holy living, in all probability she will soon have others from that shop at her altars. Whenever she brings one factory-girl to sit, like Mary, at the feet of Jesus, very probably in a little while other Marys will be with her.

IV. The converting power is also the principal lever which Christianity can use for raising the standard of morals in nations.

1. Instruction is the basis of all moral operation; but instruction in morals, as in science, is of little force unless backed by experiment. One tradesman converted, and manfully taking ground among his companions against trade tricks once used by himself, casts greater shame upon their dishonesty than all the instructions they ever heard from pulpits; or, rather, gives an edge, a power, and an embodiment to them all. One youth whom religion strengthens to walk purely, among dissipated companions, sends lights and stings into their consciences, which mere instruction could not give, because it shows them that purity is not, as temptation says, unattainable. And so with all the virtues; it is but by embodying them in the persons of men that they become thoroughly understood by the public mind.

2. Just in proportion as the number of converted men is great or small, will be the amount of conscience in the community generally. Each new convert adds somewhat to the existing moral influence, and weakens the ties which bind men to sin. Where no one is godly, moderately correct persons are almost ashamed of their lack of badness; where a tenth of the adults are godly, even ordinary sinners are ashamed of their lack of goodness; and where a fifth, or a third, of the adults are so, the hindrances to the conversion of the rest are as nothing, compared with those that exist where the great masses are still living in their sins.

V. The converting power is also the only means whereby Christianity raises up agents for her own propagation.

1. That which is wanted in an agent, above all, is zeal, burning desire to save sinners. This zeal is never a mutter of mere conviction, but always a matter of nature. It is Christ in you. It is the love of Christ constraining you. Agents with this nature we can have only by successive outpourings of the Spirit of God, by constant accessions of new converts.

2. When they who have been great sinners are themselves converted, having been forgiven much, they love much, and frequently become mighty instruments of winning others to Christ. When numbers turn to the Lord, saying, We have redemption in His blood, even the forgiveness of sins,--then some will assuredly appear with plain marks that the spirit of the prophets is in them, and that they are called to spread, far and wide, the glorious salvation of which they themselves partake.

3. Nothing so re-animates the zeal of old Christians as witnessing the joy and simplicity, the gratitude and fervour, of those who have been lately born of God. While the old disciple is to the young one an example of moderation and strength, the young is to the old an example of fervour; the one shedding upon the other a steadying influence, while he receives in return a cheering and an impelling one.

4. It is also wonderful how much the occurrence of conversions heightens the efficiency of men already employed in the ministry, or in other departments of the work of God, The preacher preaches with new heart, the exhorter exhorts with revived feeling, he that prays has double faith and fervour; and the joy of conquest breathes new vigour into all the Lords host. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Want of ministerial results to be deprecated

A farmer who all his lifetime has been sowing, but never brought one shock of corn safe home; a gardener who has ever been pruning and training, but never brought one basket of fruit away; a merchant who has been trading all his life, but never concluded one year with profit; a lawyer who has had intrusted to him, for years and years, the most important causes, and never carried one; the doctor who has been consulted by thousands in disease, and never brought one patient back to health; the philosopher who has been propounding principles all his life, and attempting experiments every day, but never once succeeded in a demonstration;--all these would be abashed and humiliated men. They would walk through the world with their heads low, they would acknowledge themselves to be abortions, they would not dare to look up among those of their own professions; and as for others regarding them with respect, pity would be all they could give. Yet, alas! are there not cases to be found wherein men whose calling it is to heal souls, pass years and years, and seldom, if ever, can any fruit of their labours be seen? Yet they hold up their heads, and have good reasons to give why they are not useful; and those reasons generally lie, not in themselves, but somewhere else,--in the age, the neighbourhood, the agitation or the apathy, the ignorance or the over-education, the want of gospel light, or the commonness of gospel light, or some other reason why the majority of those who hear them should continue unconverted, and why they should look on in repose, without smiting upon their breasts and crying day and night to God to breathe a power upon them whereby they might awaken those that sleep. Probably they have wise things to say about the undesirableness of being too anxious about fruit, and about the advantage of the work going on steadily and slowly, rather than seeking for an excitement, and a rush of converts. But while they are dozing, sinners are going to hell. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Act_2:37-42

Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart.

The effects of gospel preaching

1. Peter having explained the events of Pentecost, an immediate effect was produced. They were pricked in their hearts. So the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them as He had been poured out upon the assembly of the Church. We see here, therefore, the double action of the Holy Spirit. He is poured out upon the Church to sanctify and to confirm in the faith; and upon those who are outside that He may alarm and quicken and direct to right conclusions.

2. This was the first Christian sermon that had been preached. Jesus Christ was no longer present in the body. Now we are curious to know how the truth will make its way upon its own merits, apart from that magnetic influence which attached to the audible voice of the Divine Master. Will the truth make its way by sheer force of its celestial beauty and grace, and comfort, or will it perish under other voices than Christs own? So we wait, we hear the discourse, and when it is concluded we read--that when the people heard this they were pricked in their hearts.

3. Observe the peculiarity of that effect. Not, they were awed by the eloquence, excited in their imagination; gratified in their taste; the result was infinitely deeper and grander. An arrow had fastened itself in the very centre of their life. In their conscience was inserted the sting of intolerable self-accusation. This was the grand miracle. Truly we may say this was the beginning of miracles of the higher, because the spiritual kind. Great effects are produced by great causes.

4. A reflection of this kind would, however, have a very remote interest for us were it confined to an ancient incident. As a matter of fact, the apostle Peter preached the only sermon that any Christian minister is ever at liberty to preach. This is the model sermon. No change must be made here or a corresponding change will be made in the effect. Men may be more eloquent, literary, technical, and philosophical; they may use longer words and more abstruse arguments, but the effect will be like other talk, pointless, and there will be no answer in the great human heart--no conscience will accuse, no eyes will be blinded with tears, none will cry, What shall we do? Let us look at--

I. The sermon and see how it is made up.

1. It is full of Scriptural allusions, as is every sermon that is worth listening to. The reason why our preaching is so powerless is that we do not impregnate it with the inspired word. Peter did not make the sermon. He quoted David and Joel, the Psalms and the prophets, and set these quotations in their right relations to what had just happened, and whilst he was talking history he made history. Faithful to Gods word, Gods Spirit was faithful to him, and herein was realised My word shall not return unto Me void. Peters word would have returned void, but Gods word is as a sower in the eventide bringing back his sheaves with joy.

2. It is full of Christ. But for Christ it never could have been delivered. From end to end it palpitates with the Deity and glory of the Son of God.

3. It is full of holy unction. It was not delivered as a schoolboy might deliver a message. The great strong rough frame of the fisherman-preacher quivered under the feeling of the sacred message which the tongue was delivering.

4. It is full of patriotic and spiritual tenderness, and all the while without art or trick or mechanical skill, it led up to a vehement and solemn demand. When that demand was thundered upon the people they did not applaud the man, they were concerned about themselves; they were not pleased, they were pierced; and they were not gratified, they were convicted.

II. But even this great sermon of Peters does not explain the full result. The preacher must have had something to do with the effect. He had just received the Holy Ghost. An inspired doctrine demands an inspired ministry. The Book is inspired, but when uninspired readers read it they kill the very fire of heaven when it touches their reluctant tongues. It is there that the holy influence is lost. When the Holy Ghost is both in the doctrine and in the people who profess it, the mountains of difficulty will fly away like dust upon the mocking wind.

III. Nor have we read the full account yet of the production of this mighty effect. The people were prepared for vital statement; anything that was beautiful in nature, or in music would not have satisfied them. They would have resented any discourse that bristled with merely clever allusions or curious conceits of expression. The fire fell upon prepared material, therefore the Word of the Lord had free course and was glorified. How can we preach to a people unprepared to hear? The work is too great for any man. A prepared pulpit should be balanced by a prepared pew, Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. To the unthirsty man the Bible spring is without attraction, but to the thirsty traveller, sun-smitten and weary, how like the music of running streams! A very solemn reflection occurs here. Where the heart is unaffected, Christian service is more mischievous than beneficial. What if our notions be increased, if our motives be left unbaptized? And what if we have been flattered and cajoled and daubed with untempered mortar, if the Word has not reached the very seat of the disease? Pray for a ministry that shall affect the heart. He who seeks after a comforting ministry only, and a restful one that shall give him no disturbance, wounds his own life.

IV. The effect was grand in every aspect.

1. Three thousand souls were saved. And this will be the effect of Christian teaching everywhere under the right conditions. Again and again we read that the people who heard the apostolic preaching, cried out. We have lost that cry: we have succumbed to the cold and benumbing spirit of decorum. And whilst it is perfectly true that there may be an irrational excitement which ought to be subdued and controlled, it is also true that there is a spiritual enthusiasm, without which the Church may be but a painted sepulchre.

2. The people continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine, and in fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers.

(1) The flock kept well together for fear of the wolf. Were we ourselves in heathen lands we should realise the joy of keeping closely together. But Hying in a Christian land where Christianity has become a luxury, or in some instances even an annoyance, what wonder that we do not realise the primitive enthusiasm, and enter with delight into the original fellowship and union of the Church?

(2) The people continued in the right teaching. Until our teaching be right our life must be wrong. We must ask for the pure bread, the pure water, the undefiled Bible, and live on that; out of such nutritious food there will come proper results such as fellowship, sacramental communion, and common prayer. A man says, I can pray by myself, that is perfectly true, but you should realise that you are something more than yourself; you are part of a sum total. A man is not at liberty in the Christian sense of manhood to detach himself from the common stock to which he belongs. Herein is the advantage of common prayer and common praise. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. There is inspiration in sympathy, there is encouragement in fellowship. It does the soul good to see the hosts gathered together under the royal banner stained with blood; to see the great army marching shoulder to shoulder under the blast of the great trumpet. No man liveth unto himself who lives aright.

(3) They had all things common. This is the sternly logical outcome of true inspiration. But having regard to all the social conditions under which we live this mechanical form of union is impracticable. But having lost this form, which broke down under the eyes of apostles themselves, we still reserve the spiritual outcome and meaning. My strength is not my own, it belongs to the weakest child that I may see groaning under oppression. If I interfere, and the oppressor say to me, What have you to do with him--he is not yours? Christianity obliges me to say he is mine. If you see an animal ill-used and ill-treated, though it be not yours in any technical or legal sense of the term, you are called upon to interfere by an earlier right, and by a diviner law. Whoever has strength owns it for the benefit of those who have none. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Evangelical preaching

Preaching has ever been the principal means used for diffusing a knowledge of Christianity. It was the method adopted and enjoined by the great Author of our religion (Mat_4:17; Mat_10:7; Mar_16:15). A striking instance of its early success is recorded in the chapter before us; and we are led by our text to inquire into the nature of that preaching which was so successful; and into the effects which followed such preaching.

I. The nature of the preaching may be understood from the context.

1. The subject was Christ. The preachers name evidently was to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah.

2. The subject was of the highest importance; it was perfectly suitable to the audience;

3. And the manner of treating it was excellent. The discussion was plain--concise--clear. The mode of address was courageous.

4. The preacher who thus conducted himself, demands our consideration. It was Peter, a late fisherman of Galilee, he was Divinely called to preach the gospel; and thus qualified, he preached; power from above attended the word.

II. And the effects which followed well deserve our attention. They were pricked in their heart. Hearers treat the Word preached with indifference; or feeling its force they resist it; or happily, like those whose case is before us, they yield to its convincing influence. The address was made to their understanding--their judgment--their conscience; and being accompanied by the power of Divine grace, they were rationally, Scripturally, and feelingly convinced of the error of their ways and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? We may consider this as--

1. The language of religious concern.

2. The language of religious distress.

3. The language of humble inquiry. Think on their former prejudices. Such was the preaching, and such were the effects.

Our minds are farther led to the following improvement.

1. Christ crucified is, and ever should be, the grand subject of the Christian ministry.

2. There is salvation in no other--there is no other name whereby we can be saved (Act_4:12).

3. In religion, it is of the utmost importance that the heart be affected ( they were pricked in their hearts); See Gen_6:5; Jer_17:7; Joe_2:13; Mar_7:21; Pro_4:23; Psa_51:10; Psa_51:17. Sin hath its seat in the heart--there the change should begin.

4. Persons may be so affected on account of their sin and danger, that they cannot, in some cases, avoid strongly expressing what they feel.

5. The essential importance of Divine influence to render the word preached successful is another idea suggested by the circumstances connected with the text. (Theological Sketch-book.)

Conversion

I. Refers to what they heard. They heard--

1. An explicit statement of the truth.

2. Enforced by solid reasoning.

3. Brought home to their own Consciences with fidelity.

II. It describes what they felt--They were pricked in their heart. The expression denotes a sudden, deep, strong, anguished feeling.

1. Agonised astonishment--at this ignorance amid so much light--at the error committed against such evidence. They see that Jesus was no impostor.

2. Inexpressible conviction. They felt the guilt of rejecting a Divine Teacher.

3. Terrified apprehension. Could they forget their treatment of Jesus? Think of the alarm that now seizes them when the tumult of rage gives way to the conviction of guilt.

III. It records what they said.

1. What shall we do? This explanation is the utterance of concern--concern which it is not in the power of language to express.

2. It is the utterance of ingenuous confession.

3. It is the language of surrender. They abandon unbelief.

4. The language of anxiety for salvation. (Homilist.)

The effusion of the Holy Spirit

Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation They will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto Me;… yet thou shalt speak unto them, and tell them, thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear;… and they shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. Thus God formerly forearmed Ezekiel against the greatest discouragement that he was to meet with in his mission, I mean the unsuccessfulness of his ministry. For they are not only your ministers, who are disappointed in the exercise of the ministry: Isaiah, Jeremiahs, Ezekiels, are often as unsuccessful as we. In such melancholy eases we must endeavour to surmount the obstacles, which the obduracy of sinners opposeth against the dispensations of grace. If the angels -of God rejoice over one sinner that repenteth, what pleasure must he feel who hath reason to hope, that in this valley of tears he hath had the honour of opening the gate of heaven to a multitude of sinners, that he hath saved himself and them that heard him. This pure joy God gave on the day of Pentecost to St. Peter. In order to comprehend what passed in the auditory, we must understand the sermon of the preacher. There are five remarkable things in the sermon, and there are five correspondent dispositions in the hearers.

I. We have remarked in the sermon of St. Peter that noble freedom of speech, which so well becomes a Christian preacher, and is so well adapted to strike his hearers. How much soever we now admire this beautiful part of pulpit-eloquence, it is very difficult to imitate it. Sometimes a weakness of faith, which attends your best established preachers; sometimes worldly prudence; sometimes a timidity, that proceedeth from a modest consciousness of the insufficiency of their talents; sometimes a fear, too well grounded, alas I of the retorting of those censures, which people, always ready to murmur against them who reprove their vices, are eager to make; sometimes a fear of those persecutions, which the world always raiseth against all whom heaven qualifies to destroy the empire of sin; all these considerations damp the courage of the preacher, and deprive him of freedom of speech. But none of these considerations had any weight with our apostle. And, indeed, why should any of them affect him? Should the weakness of his faith? He had conversed with Jesus Christ Himself; he had accompanied Him on the holy mount, he had heard a voice from the excellent glory, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Could he distrust his talents? The Prince of the kingdom, the Author, and Finisher of faith, had told him, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church. Should he dread reproaches and recriminations? The purity of his intentions, and the sanctity of his life confound them. Should he pretend to keep fair with the world? But what finesse is to be used, when eternal misery is to be denounced, and eternal happiness proposed? Philosophers talk of certain invisible bands that unite mankind to one another. A man, animated with any passion, hath in the features of his face, and in the tone of his voice, a something that partly communicates his sentiments to his hearers. Error proposed in a lively manner by a man, who is affected with it himself, may seduce unguarded people. Fictions, which we know are fictions, exhibited in this manner, move and affect us for a moment. But what a dominion over the heart doth that speaker obtain, who delivers truths, and who is affected himself with the truths which he delivereth! To this part of the eloquence of St. Peter, we must attribute the emotions of his hearers; they were pricked in their heart.

II. A second thing which gave weight and dignity to the sermon of St. Peter, was the miracle that preceded his preaching, I mean the gift of tongues, which had been communicated to all the apostles. The prodigy that accompanied the sermon of St. Peter had three characteristic marks of a real miracle.

1. It was above human power. Every pretended miracle, that hath not this first character, ought to be suspected by us. But the prodigy in question was evidently superior to human power. Of all sciences in the world, that of languages is the least capable of an instant acquisition. Certain natural talents, a certain superiority of genius, sometimes produce in some men the same effects, which long and painful industry can scarcely ever produce in others. We have sometimes seen people whom nature seems to have designedly formed in an instant courageous captains, profound geometers, admirable orators. But tongues are acquired by study and time. The acquisition of languages is like the knowledge of history. It is not a superior genius, it is not a great capacity, that can discover to any man what passed in the world ten or twelve ages ago. The monuments of antiquity must be consulted, huge folios must be read, and an immense number of volumes must be understood, arranged, and digested. In like manner, the knowledge of languages is a knowledge of experience, and no man can ever derive it from his own innate fund of ability. Yet the apostles, and apostolical men, men who were known to be men of no education, all on a sudden knew the arbitrary signs by which different nations had agreed to express their thoughts. Terms, which had no natural connection with their ideas, were all on a sudden arranged in their minds.

2. But perhaps these miracles may not be the more respectable on account of their superiority to human power. Perhaps, if they be not human, they may be devilish? No, a little attention to their second character will convince you that they are Divine. Their end was to incline men, not to renounce natural and revealed religion, but to respect and to follow both; not to render an attentive examination unnecessary, but to allure men to it.

3. The prodigy that accompanied the preaching of St. Peter had the third character of a true miracle. It was wrought in the presence of those who had the greatest interest in knowing the truth of it. The miracle being granted, I affirm that the compunction of heart, of which my text speaks, was an effect of that attention which could not be refused to such an extraordinary event, and of that deference which could not be withheld from a man, to whose ministry God had set His seal. They instantly, and entirely, surrendered themselves to men, who addressed them in a manner so extraordinary, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

III. We remark, in the discourse of the apostle, an invincible power of reasoning, and, in the souls of his hearers, that conviction which carries along with it the consent of the will. Of all methods of reasoning with an adversary, none is more conclusive than that which is taken from his own principles. But when the principles of an adversary are well grounded, and when we are able to prove that his principles produce our conclusions, our reasoning becomes demonstrative to a rational opponent, and he ought not to deny it. Christianity, it is remarkable, is defensible both ways. The first may be successfully employed against pagans; the second more successfully against the Jews. It is easy to convince a heathen that he can have no right to exclaim against the mysteries of the gospel, because if he have any reason to exclaim against the mysteries of Christianity, he hath infinitely more to exclaim against those of paganism. The second way was employed more successfully by the apostles against the Jews. They demonstrated that all the reasons, which obliged them to be Jews, ought to have induced them to become Christians; that every argument, which obliged them to acknowledge the Divine legation of Moses, ought to have engaged them to believe in Jesus Christ. St. Peter made use of this method. What argument can ye allege for your religion, said they to the Jews, which doth not establish that which we preach? Do ye allege the privileges of your legislator? Your argument is demonstrative; Moses had access to God on the holy mountain. Do ye allege the purity of the morality of your religion? Your argument is demonstrative. The manifest design of your religion is to reclaim men to God, to prevent idolatry, and to inspire them with piety, benevolence, and zeal. But this argument concludes for us. Do ye allege the miracles that were wrought to prove the truth of your religion? Your argument is demonstrative. But this argument establisheth the truth of our religion. What, then, are the prejudices that still engage you to continue in the profession of Judaism? Are they derived from the prophecies? Your principles are demonstrative; but, in the person of our Jesus, we show you to-day all the grand characters which, your own prophets said, would be found in the Messiah. Close reasoning ought to be the soul of all discourses. I compare it in regard to eloquence with benevolence in regard to religion. Without benevolence we may maintain a show of religion; but we cannot possess the substance of it (1Co_13:1, etc.). In like manner in regard to eloquence; speak with authority, display treasures of erudition, let the liveliest and most sublime imagination wing it away, turn all your periods till they make music in the most delicate ear, what will all your discourses be if void of argumentation? a noise, sounding brass, a tinkling cymbal. Ye may surprise, but ye cannot convince; ye may dazzle, but ye cannot instruct; ye may, indeed, please, but ye can neither change, sanctify, nor transform.

IV. There are, in the sermon of St. Peter, stinging reproofs; and, in the souls of the hearers, a pungent remorse (verse 22). And who can express the agitations which were produced in the souls of the audience? What pencil can describe the state of their consciences? They had committed this crime through ignorance. St. Peter tore these fatal veils asunder. He showed these madmen their own conduct in its true point of light; and discovered their parricide in all its horror. Ye have taken, and crucified Jesus, who was approved of God. The apostle reminded them of the holy rules of righteousness, which Jesus Christ had preached and exemplified; and the holiness of Him, whom they had crucified, filled them with a sense of their own depravity. He reminded them of the benefits which Jesus Christ had bountifully bestowed on their nation. He reminded them of the grandeur of Jesus Christ. He reminded them of their unworthy treatment of Jesus Christ; of their eager outcries for His death; of their repeated shoutings. The whole was an ocean of terror, and each reflection a wave that overwhelmed, distorted, and distressed their souls.

V. In fine, we may remark in the sermon of St. Peter denunciations of Divine vengeance. The most effectual means for the conversion of sinners, that which St. Paul so successfully employed, is terror. St. Peter was too well acquainted with the obduracy of his auditors not to avail himself of this motive. People, who had imbrued their hands in the blood of a personage so august, wanted this mean. St. Peter quoted a prophecy of Joel, which foretold that fatal day, and the prophecy was the more terrible because one part of it was accomplished; because the remarkable events that were to precede it were actually come to pass; for the Spirit of God had begun to pour out His miraculous influences upon all flesh, young men had seen visions, and old men had dreamed dreams; and the formidable preparations of approaching judgments were then before their eyes. Such was the power of the sermon of St. Peter over the souls of his hearers! Human eloquence hath sometimes done wonders worthy of immortal memory. Some of the ancient orators have governed the souls of the most invincible heroes, and the life of Cicero affords us an example. Ligarius had the audacity to make war on Caesar. Caesar was determined to make the rash adventurer a victim to his revenge. The friends of Legarius durst not interpose, and Ligarius was on the point, either of being justly punished for his offence, or of being sacrificed to the unjust ambition of his enemy. What force could control the power of Caesar? But Caesar had an adversary, whose power was superior to his own. This adversary pleads for Ligarius against Caesar, and Caesar, all invincible as he is, yields to the eloquence of Cicero. Cicero pleads, Caesar feels; in spite of himself, his wrath subsides, his vengeance disappears. The fatal list of the crimes of Ligarius, which he is about to produce to the judges, falls from his hands, and he actually absolves him at the close of the oration, whom, when he entered the court, he meant to condemn. But yield, ye orators of Athens and Rome! Yield to our fishermen and tent-makers. Oh, how powerful is the sword of the Spirit in the hands of our apostles! But will ye permit us to ask you one question? Would ye choose to hear the apostles, and ministers like the apostles? Would ye attend their sermons? or, to say all in one word, Do ye wish St. Peter was now in this pulpit? Think a little, before ye answer this question. Compare the taste of this auditory with the genius of the preacher; your delicacy with that liberty of speech with which he reproved the vices of his own times. One wants to find something new in every sermon; and, under pretence of satisfying his laudable desire of improvement in knowledge, would divert our attention from well-known vices that deserve to be censured. Another desires to be pleased, and would have us adorn our discourses, not that we may obtain an easier access to his heart, but that we may flatter a kind of concupiscence, which is content to sport with a religious exercise, till, when Divine service ends, it can plunge into more sensual joy. Almost all require to be lulled asleep in sin. Ah! how disagreeable to you would the sermons of the apostles have been! Realise them. Ah! methinks I hear the holy man; methinks I hear the preacher, animated with the same spirit that made him boldly tell the murderers of Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders, and signs, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Methinks I see St. Peter, the man who was so extremely affected with the sinful state of his auditors; methinks I hear him enumerating the various excesses of this nation, and saying, Ye! ye are void of all sensibility when we tell you of the miseries of the Church, when we describe those bloody scenes, that are made up of dungeons and galleys, apostates and martyrs. (J. Saurin.)

The results of revivals not all known

A revival is as when a sportsman goes out with his gun, and sends its charge into a flock of pigeons. Some fall dead at once, and he sees and secures them; but others, sorely hurt, limp off and hide, to die among the bushes. The best part of this revival is, that while you can only see those who are shot dead, and fall down before you, there are, thank God, thousands in all parts of the land, being hit and wounded, to go off unnoticed to their own homes, and God heals them there.

Revival preachers

Revival preachers make their sermons like a lens, to concentrate the rays of truth, and exhibit them with unflinching hand, in near connection with the sinner, till they burn and inflame his heart. (J. Jenkyn.)

A sermon without an application

A sermon without an application does no more good than the singing of a skylark: it may teach, but it does not impel; and though the preacher may be under concern for his audience, he does not show it till he turns the subject to their immediate advantage. (Bishop Home.)

The operations of truth

Divine truth exerts on the mind of man at once a restorative and a self-manifesting power. It creates in the mind the capacity by which it is discerned. As light opens the close-shut flower-bud to receive light, or as the sunbeam, playing on a sleepers eyes, by its gentle irritation opens them to see its own brightness; so the truth of God, shining on the soul, quickens and stirs into activity the faculty by which that very truth is perceived. It matters little which of the two operations be first; practically they may be regarded as simultaneous. The perception rouses the faculty, and yet the faculty is implied in the perception. The truth awakens the mind, and yet the mind must be in activity ere the truth can reach it. And the same two-fold process is carried on in the whole subsequent progress of the soul. (Professor Caird.)

Awakened sinners

Peters hearers--

I. Were in a state of distress. Pricked to the heart. The Holy Spirit did this by means of--

1. What they saw; the wrong and folly of their action towards Jesus.

2. What they felt; that their folly and wrong-doing were sinful in the sight of God.

3. What they feared; that they might have to endure dreadful consequences.

II. Uttered a cry of distress, which meant--

1. That something must be done. The misery of self-condemnation must be ended by some means. It is a joy to an evangelist when hearers have this feeling.

2. That the apostles were able to tell them what to do. Peter had led them into that state, and it was natural to expect that he could deal with them in that state.

3. That they were ready to do what was required. The mark of true penitence is submissiveness. So long as a seeker lays down his own terms he is not fit to be saved.

III. Received an apostolic answer.

1. Turn from your sins. They were already convinced of sin and sorry for it, and were therefore ready for the direction.

2. Openly declare that you have turned from your sins. At this time baptism meant a great deal, viz., that the service of Christ was chosen at the risk of certain suffering.

3. Fulfil the appointed conditions of pardon. Repent etc. with reference to the remission of sins. So long as these are unfulfilled the sinner is morally unfit to receive pardon.

4. The Spirit who has given you this distress will give you joy. Ye shall receive the gift, etc. The fulness of the Spirits work always brings fulness of joy.

IV. Learned the ground of the answer. The promise is unto you, etc. How wonderful that their awful sin did not invalidate this promise. Who is not the subject of the Divine call? The call to repentance, faith and virtue comes by many means: by providence, the Word, the Spirit. Have you not heard it?

V. Receive a final direction (verse 40).

1. The generation was wicked. This had been abundantly proved. Is it not so with the present generation? What else mean the frauds, vices, and blasphemies of every class of society.

2. It was necessary for the followers of Jesus to be separate from the world. Reason, interest, and Christian philanthropy required it then and require it now. Jesus was separate from sinners; His kingdom is not of this world; and true Christianity and worldliness cannot coalesce. He, then, who wishes to be saved must renounce the world.

3. This direction, therefore, is properly the last to penitent inquirers. To leave the world is to give decisive proof of the genuineness of repentance and faith. (W. Hudson.)

The great question and the inspired answer

I. The questing.

1. To this question they were led--

(1) by the Spirit;

(2) by the Truth;

(3) by their conscience--a view of sin leading to a consciousness of many.

2. This question indicates their--

(1) feeling;

(2) condition;

(3) desire.

3. This question was--

(1) honest,

(2) searching,

(3) inspired.

II. A suitable and significant answer.

1. Consider who gives the answer--

(1) apostles,

(2) inspired,

(3) speaking with authority.

2. The answer urges to--

(1) repentance,

(2) profession of Christ.

(3) yielding to the Spirits control.

3. The answer rests--

(1) not on human wisdom,

(2) not on human goodness,

(3) not on human efforts,

(4) but on the promise of God (verse 39), which is as wide as the world.

III. To a right reception comes a blessed consummation.

1. In personal experience--

(1) peace,

(2) goodness,

(3) singleness of heart (verse 46).

2. Relatively--

(1) favours with God,

(2) and man (verse 47). (J. M. Allis.)

Rightly dividing the word of truth

1. The word had wounded, now the word heals. A little religion is a painful thing, but more takes the pain away. The word is a hammer to break and a balm to heal. Its first effect is to convince a sinner that he is lost; its next to make the lost rejoice in his Saviour.

2. It is important to keep these two functions distinct. To preach a healing gospel when there is no wound on the conscience is like pressing cold water on those who are not thirsty. There is nothing sweeter to the thirsty; nothing more insipid to the satisfied.

3. The apostle rightly divided the word of truth. Peters aim all through is to produce conviction of sin, and for this appeals to Scripture to bring home the guilt of the crucifixion. It was not with gladness that they received that word but with grief, shame, remorse. When the preacher saw that his first word had taken effect he delivered the second. He had succeeded in wounding; and at the cry of the suffering patient, he comes forward to heal. The old stem had been cut off and the tree was bleeding; he turns the knife, and with its other side inserts the new graft, that there may be a tree of righteousness the planting of the Lord. You pour some burning drops upon a sore; their first effect is to increase the pain; but knowing the sovereign power of the remedy you continue to pour, sparing not for the patients crying. At length continued application of that which caused the pain takes all pain away. When the word wounds, still ply the word until the sword becomes a balm. Then, in this second stage, the hearer will receive the word with joy. He who really receives the word receives it gladly, for those who do not, will not long continue to receive it at all.

3. The believers were immediately baptized. It is clear that regeneration was not the result of baptism, but vice versa. It was when they received the word with gladness they were baptized. The order of events is that which the master enjoined (Mat_28:19-20). Peter and his companions first laid themselves out to make disciples. Then, when by the successive pain and gladness produced by preaching, they perceived that disciples were made, they baptized them. Lastly, the newly accepted members of the Church were taught to observe all the commandments, for they abounded in faith and love.

4. But a dash of sadness is thrown upon the happy scene. Fear came upon every soul. But this points to the outer circle. The conversions startled the onlookers, and they were smitten with a sudden fear lest they should be left outside and perish. From the apostles view point, however, this was a hopeful symptom. The example of believers had begun to tell. It is a good sign when those living without God begirt to be uneasy; especially when it is at the sight of multitudes pressing into the kingdom. When men are delivered from the horrible pit many shall see it and fear (Psa_40:1-17.). The Christian community in the freshness of its first faith was suddenly thrown into society, and disturbed it by its unwonted presence. If a new planet should be projected into our system, it would make the old worlds stagger. Bodies in contact reciprocally affect each other, especially in respect of temperature. Pour hot water into a cold vessel; the water contributes to heat the vessel, but the vessel also contributes to cool the water. But if a constant stream of hot water is supplied, it will bring up the vessel to its own temperature. A process like this goes on continually between the Church and the world. Fervent disciples, particularly those in their first love, affect with their own warmth the society into which they are poured; but society, on the other hand, affects them with its own coldness, and being the larger body will soon cool the disciples hearts, unless they maintain constant contact with Christ.

5. A word to those who are without Christ, I confess that the Church in contact with you is more or less cold. The disciples are not so manifestly like heaven as to send a thrill of terror through you lest you should fall to join their company. But if you stumble over their coldness, to blame them for their lukewarmness will not save you when you are lost. A man on inspecting a new house he was having built found one of the men lighting his pipe in the midst of dry shavings. So he said to him, If my house is burnt the blame will rest on you. Thinking over what he had said, he added, The blame will be yours, but the loss will be mine. He saw the risk, and went away and insured his house. Go thou and do likewise. The Church deserves blame; but the loss is yours. Hide your imperilled soul with Christ in God. (W. Arnot, D. D.)

On being pricked to the heart

I. When we hear God reprove sin we should be pricked at the heart.

1. So as to be sensible of sin.

(1) The guilt of it (Psa_51:3-4).

(2) Of our defilement with it (Psa_57:5).

2. So as to be troubled for our sins.

(1) Their sinfulness.

(2) Their multitude. (Ezr_9:6).

(3) Their greatness; as being--

(a) Against knowledge (Joh_3:19).

(b) Against mercies.

(c) After judgments (Isa_1:5; Amo_4:9).

(d) Contrary to our promises.

(e) Against the checks of conscience (Rom_2:15), the motives of the Spirit, the reproofs of the word.

3. Uses: Be pricked at your hearts when sin is reproved considering--

(1) Who is it that reproves (Amo_3:8; Jer_5:21-22).

(2) Reproofs without this effect do more harm than good (Pro_29:1).

(3) God may reprove no more (Eze_3:26; Hos_4:17).

(4) You must answer for all the reproofs you hear.

II. Such as are pricked to the heart should be very inquisitive what to do.

1. We are all capable of holiness and happiness (Gen_1:26).

2. But full of sin and misery (Eph_2:3).

3. It is one part of our sin and misery that we are not sensible of

(1) sin. This appears--

(a) In that we have not grieved for it (Eze_7:16).

(b) Nor fear to commit it (Psa_18:23).

(c) Nor strive to get it subdued (Psa_57:2).

(2) Misery. This appears--

(a) In that we rejoice in it.

(b) We do not strive to get out of it.

4. The first step to holiness and felicity is sensibleness of sin and misery.

5. There is none so sensible of this, but he will be very inquisitive what to do (Act_16:30). This is essential because--

(1) Our everlasting happiness depends upon it.

(2) Unless we inquire we shall never know what to do.

6. Whom must we inquire of?

(1) God.

(2) The Scriptures (Luk_17:29).

(3) Ministers. (Bp. Beveridge.)

Being pricked to the heart

Whitefield was preaching at Exeter. A man was present who had filled his pockets with stones to throw at the preacher. He heard, however, the prayer with patience, but no sooner was the text named than he pulled out a stone, and waited for an opportunity to throw it. But God sent the Word into his heart, and the stone fell from his hand. After the sermon he went to Whitefield, and said, Sir, I came to hear you with a view to break your head, but the Spirit of God through your ministry has given me a broken heart. The man proved to be a sound convert, and lived an ornament to the gospel.

Heart-work Gods work

Heart-work must be Gods work. Only the great heart-maker can be the great heart-breaker. (R. Baxter.)

The gospel to be preached to the heart

I have an ear for other preachers, Sir John Cheke used to say, but I have a heart for Latimer. Here is a very clear and main distinction. Too often men hear the Word sounding its drums and trumpets outside their walls, and they are filled with admiration of the martial music; bat their city gates are fast closed and vigilantly guarded, so that the truth has no admittance, but only the sound of it. Would to God we knew how to reach mens affections, for the heart is the target we aim at, and unless we hit it we miss altogether.

The truth the sword of the Spirit

It is not the drapery in which Divine truth may be clothed, nor the force and beauty of the illustrations with which it may be presented, but it is the truth itself--the bare, naked, unvarnished truth-that is the instrument of the Spirits power. That is the sword of the Spirit; and it is the sword that does the work, not the scabbard in which it is sheathed. The scabbard may be finely fitted, and beautifully embellished, bound with the finest gold, and glittering with jewels of polished diamonds; but it is not the garnished scabbard, it is the drawn sword which the Spirit wields, and which, when wielded by Him, is quick and powerful, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. (J. A. Wallace.)

A famous conversion

1. It is remarkable in the very first order of it. It is the first conversion that was wrought by the apostles in the Christian Church; the first-fruits of the gospel; the first handful of ripe ears of corn offered up to God to sanctify the whole harvest; the goodly bunch of Eskol gathered by these first spies, the apostles, betokening the Churchs fruitfulness.

2. It is remarkable for the time and season when these converts embrace the faith and profess religion. We all know it was a sad time of persecution.

3. It is remarkable in the condition and quality of the persons: a mixed, confused company of men, strangely disposed and affected before their conversion. They run together, and flock about the apostles, with no very religious purpose, but merely to gaze and wonder at them. Nay, worse than so, they fall a-scoffing and deriding the apostles. Oh, the greatness of Gods mercy that He would, and, oh, the power of Christs grace that it could, convert such converts as these!

4. It is remarkable in the great number and multitude of converts. Not a cluster, or two, but a plentiful vintage. Such was the power of religion in those primitive times; so mightily grew the Word, and prevailed.

5. It is remarkable for the complete, entire fulness of their conversion. They are troubled for their sins, pricked at their heart. They repent, believe, and are baptized. They are diligent in all the duties of Gods service, and worship (verse 24). Their religion is not confined to the Church only, but they are fruitful in all works of charity (verse 45). They live together in all Christian love (verse 46). Here is an exact pattern of a through-conversion, a complete and perfect frame of a holy Church.

I. The means that wrought this anguish and compunction. It is St. Peters sermon: When they heard this. The text tells us of a wound that was given them, that pierced their heart. Here we see both the weapon that made it, and the place where it entered. In bodily strokes, he that means to hit the heart must take another aim, not run his weapon in at the ear; but he that means to wound the heart spiritually, his directest passage is through the ear. In this case there is an immediate conveyance from the ear to the heart. Men may as well expect good corn on their land without ploughing and sowing, as true sorrow and repentance without hearing and attending. The passage and entrance, then, is the ear; but what is the weapon St. Peter uses to pierce and wound them?

1. Gods Word in the general, that is the means that works this compunction, that is the choice, sanctified instrument appointed by God for this sacred work. The speaking to exhortation and doctrine is the way to convince and convert souls.

2. It is verbum convictivum. St. Peter makes choice of that Word of God that was most fit to detect and convict them; and he doth manage it so that they could not avoid the edge of it. And this he does by a close application of it to their sinful condition.

3. It was verbum convictivum de his peccatis. He charges them in a special manner with these and these sins as those that are likeliest to perplex their soul and bring them to compunction. As, in course of law, general accusations will ground no action; if we come to accuse a man, it is not sufficient to lay to his charge that he is a malefactor, but we must charge him with particulars. So, would a sinner arraign his conscience before Gods tribunal, he must frame an indictment against himself of his more notorious and personal impieties. If we trouble and disquiet and perplex your souls, we have our warrant from St. Peters example. St. Peter was even now filled with the Holy Ghost, and so the first vent that it found is in this sharp reprehension. This kind of dealing is warranted by the great success that God gave unto it. Peter hath saved thousands with it, and Paul his ten thousands. This is to cast the net on the right side of the ship, as Christ directs Peter; he shall not miss of a plentiful draught. He that means to fish for souls, let him bait his hook with this worm of conscience, and he will take them presently.

II. The paroxysm itself, the anguish and compunction they were brought into.

1. It is exceeding sharp; their soul is embittered in them. The Scripture sets out this compunction of spirit in terms of extremity (2Sa_24:10; Pro_18:14; Rom_2:9; Psa_51:17). And it is the sense of Gods displeasure causes this breaking by three apprehensions, as by so many strokes.

(1) As most deserved and due to us. We eat the bitter fruit of our works.

(2) As most heavy and unsupportable by us. Who knows the power of His anger? Who can dwell with everlasting burnings?

(3) As, of ourselves, unavoidable by us. How shall we flee from the wrath to come? A poor sinner, beset with these anxieties, tortures himself with these pensive thoughts: What have I done? What danger have I run into? How bitter are mine anguishes? Whither shall I turn myself for ease and comfort?

2. Consider the goodness of these mens compunction; and it will appear observable for our imitation in these four respects:--

(1) Their compunction is the more observable, because it is wrought in them without the help and concurrence of any outward affliction, only by the dint of St. Peters sermon.

(2) Their compunction is the more observable because wrought into them by the hearing of one sermon of St. Peter; no sooner charged with sin but they are convinced presently, and cry cut for sorrow.

(3) Their compunction is the more observable as being wrought in them only by convincing them of sin, not by threatening or denouncing of judgments.

(4) This compunction is the more observable because, ye see, it is a full yielding to the accusation. St. Peter charges them with horrid sin, and, without more ado, they plead guilty to all, confess the whole indictment. They are not enraged against the apostle for this sharp reproof. They take no exception against the accuser. They make no defence of the fact. They excuse it not. They demur not. None of all these shifts, but they accept of the accusation; they confess themselves guilty, and, with sorrow of heart, acknowledge they are murderers of the Lord of glory.

(a) Such power and such strength was in the Word of God preached by Peter. His words are like sharp arrows in the hand of a giant: they return not empty.

(b) Such prevalency hath the Grace of God in the hearts of this people. Like a sovereign antidote that served to drive the poison of sin from the heart into the outward parts by an open confession. That is the second particular of the text--their anguish and perplexity; and it briefly affords us a threefold meditation.

(i.) It lets us see the outfall of sin; the issue and end of it is sorrow and vexation. It may be sweet in the mouth, but it will be bitter in thy bowels.

(ii.) It shows the inlet and first entrance of grace; it begins with sorrow and sharp compunction. The first physic to recover our souls are not cordials, but corrosives; not an immediate stepping into heaven by a present assurance, but mourning, and a bitter bewailing of our former transgressions.

(iii.) It shows us the downfall of despair. Are these converts, whom God means mercy to, thus sharply tortured? How bitter are their torments whom He plunges into perdition I

III. The course they take for ease and remedy. They repair to Peter and the apostles, crave their help and direction: Men and brethren, what shall we do? And this course of theirs is qualified with three conditions.

1. They take a speedy course. As soon as the wound is given and felt, they presently seek for help and direction. They put it not off till some other time, as Felix did when he felt the first shiverings and grudgings of contrition. Nor think they that they shall outgrow it in time, that their hearts are like good flesh that will heal of itself. No; delays in this kind breed a double danger.

(1) Good motions, if not cherished, will vanish away, and then the heart grows harder.

(2) Hath God pricked thine heart? Take the wound timely, lest it grow worse.

2. It was an advised and proper course they make choice of St. Peter and the rest of the apostles. And the wisdom, shall I say, or the happiness of this choice will appear in four particulars.

(1) They are spiritual men, physicians for the soul. A. wounded spirit cannot be cured but by spiritual means.

(2) They repair to the apostles. Why, Peter was he that wounded them! Best of all, none like him to cure them. What Hosea speaks of God is true of His ministers in a due subordination. They have wounded, and they heal us; they have smitten, and they will bind us up.

(3) They repair to Peter and the rest; they come to men of practice and experience. These apostles knew what it was to have a wounded spirit; these had crucified Christ; Peter had denied Him, the rest had forsaken Him, and it cost them dear ere they could be recovered. None like these to direct their conscience. They do it--

(a) more skilfully,

(b) more humbly,

(c) more tenderly.

(4) They are unanimous, all here in a joint consent and concurrence of judgment.

3. It proves successful, Men and brethren, what shall we do? It discovers a threefold effect that this compunction hath already wrought in them to help forward their conversion.

(1) It represses their censoriousness. A man truly sensible of his own sins will have little lift or leisure to censure and judge, much less to reproach or slander others. It will make him judge himself, and condemn himself, and think worst of himself of all other men.

(2) This compunction and perplexity makes them reverent and respectful to St. Peter and the other apostles. Gods ministers are never in season with the world till men come to distress and perplexity. In the time of ease and jollity a minister is but a contemptible man; he and his pains may be well spared. But when sorrows surprise you, and your hearts are wounded, then one leaf from the Tree of Life to stanch the bleeding wilt be precious to you. This is the honour of our ministry to be able to help in such helpless times.

(3) It makes them inquisitive. What shall we do? Surely it is the voice of anguish and perplexity. They speak as men at a loss; they know not how to shift. But they were men acquainted with the law; nay, devout zealots of the Jewish traditions (verse 5); and yet we see they are now to seek how to ease themselves in that great perplexity. Whence arises this sudden amazement? Was it from the surcharge of sorrow that had overwhelmed their spirits and darkened that light which was formerly in them? It often proves so. It shadows out the insufficiency of the law to breed peace and comfort to us. It may perplex us, but it cannot quiet us; discover our sins, but not remove them. Or was it not they placed all their religion in some outward observations, without the life and piety of inward devotion. Rituals with substantials are the beauty of religion, but severed and divided will breed but cold comfort to us.

2. It makes them docile and tractable, willing and desirous to receive instruction. Compunction bores and opens the ear, and makes it capable of direction.

3. It begets a readiness to undertake any course that shall be prescribed for relief and comfort. In our ease heaven must fall into our laps, or we will none of it. If it put us to pains or cost it is toe dear a bargain for us to deal withal. But when our souls are in perplexity we will be glad to accept of mercy upon any terms; we will take heaven at Gods price then. I will do anything, Lord, I will suffer anything to get hell out of my soul now, and to keep my soul out of hell hereafter. (Bp. Brownrigg.)

Life-wounds

1. Peters sermon was not a fine display of eloquence.

2. Neither was it a very pathetic plea.

3. Nor a loud but empty cry of Believe, believe!

4. It was simple, a plain statement and a soberly earnest argument.

5. Its power lay in the truthfulness of the speaker, his appeal to Scripture, the concurrence of his witnessing brethren, and his own evident faith.

6. Above all, in the Holy Spirit who accompanied the Word.

I. Saving impression is a prick in the heart. To be cut to the heart is deadly (Act_5:33): to be pricked in the heart is saving.

1. All true religion must be of the heart. Without this--

(1) Ceremonies are useless (Isa_1:13).

(2) Orthodoxy of head is in vain (Jer_7:4).

(3) Profession and a constrained morality fail (2Ti_3:5).

(4) Loud zeal, excited and sustained by mere passions, is useless.

2. Impressions which do not prick the heart may even be evil. They may

(1) Excite to wrath and opposition.

(2) Lead to sheer hypocrisy.

(3) Create and foster a spurious hope.

3. Even when such superficial impressions are good, they are transient: and when they have passed away, they have often hardened those who have felt them for a season.

4. They will certainly be inoperative. As they have not touched the heart, they will not affect the life. They will not lead to

(1) Confession and inquiry, nor

(2) Repentance and change of life.

(3) Glad reception of the Word, nor

(4) Obedience and steadfastness. Heart-work is the only real work.

II. What truths produce such a prick?

1. The truth of the gospel has often, by the power of the Holy Ghost, produced an indelible wound in minds sceptical and opposed.

2. A sense of some one specially startling sin has frequently aroused the conscience (2Sa_12:7).

3. Instruction in the nature of the law, and the consequent heinousness of sin, has been blessed to that end (Rom_7:13).

4. The infinite wickedness of sin, as against the very being of God, is also a wounding thought (Psa_51:4).

5. The exactness, severity, and terror of the judgment, and the consequent punishment of sin, are stirring thoughts (Act_16:25-30).

6. The great goodness of God has led many to see the cruel wantonness of sin against Him (Rom_2:4).

7. The death of Christ as a Substitute has often been the means of revealing the greatness of the sin which needed such an atonement, and of showing the true tendency of sin in having slain One so good and kind (Zec_12:10).

8. The abundant grace and love revealed in the gospel and received by us are sharp arrows to wound the heart.

III. What hand makes these painful pricks?

1. The same hand which wrote the piercing truths also applies them.

2. He is well acquainted with our hearts, and so can reach them.

3. He is the Quickener, the Comforter, the Spirit helping our infirmities, showing to us the things of Jesus: His fruit is love, joy, peace, etc. We need not utterly despair when wounded by such a tender Friend.

4. He is a Spirit to be sought unto, who acts in answer to His peoples prayers. We turn for healing to Him who pricks.

IV. How can these pricks be healed?

1. Only One who is Divine can heal a wounded heart.

2. The only medicine is the blood of His heart.

3. The only hand to apply it is that which was pierced.

4. The only fee required is gladly to receive Him. Conclusion: Let us ask the question, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Let us then obey the gospel, and believe in the Lord Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Honest preaching

No doubt it is a high and difficult task to preach with success; far be it from us to teach that no pains should be used to gain mens ears; but the preacher who gains their ears should use his conquest to reach their consciences--and it is his business to give them pain. They are sinners, and they know it, even better than the preacher. He will not become their enemy by telling them the truth, and so telling it that their ears will tingle with shame and their consciences cry out with remorse. At all events, enemies made in that way may become the preachers best friend; and if they do not, they will carry his credentials as stigmata burnt into their memories. A man riding with his friend past a country church fell to musing with himself, and presently said: In that house, thirty years ago, I passed the most uncomfortable hour of my life. It seems but yesterday, and my pain seems as keen as it was then. The other laughed and said: I suppose it was some coquettish maiden. No. It was an honest preacher who got hold of my very soul. Such memories in the hearts of sinners are the best credentials they can give to preachers of the gospel.

Reaching the heart

Jerome used to say, It is not the clamour of praise but the groans of conviction that should be heard whilst the minister preaches. And again, The tears of the congregation form the highest praises of the pulpit orator. The anecdote of Dean Milner and Rowland Hill here is apposite. Dean Milner had a great objection against extemporaneous preaching, thinking that it warred against the precise and orthodox mode. However, being attracted by the great fame of Rowland Hill, he was led to indulge his curiosity by once going to hear him. After the sermon the Dean was seen forcing his way, in much haste, to the vestry-room, when, seizing the hand of the preacher, in his enthusiasm, he cried out, Well, dear brother Rowland, I perceive now that your slapdash preachers are, after all, the best preachers; it went to the heart, sir; it went to the heart, sir! (Scottish Christian Herald.)

Powerful preaching

John Elias was called to preach a great association sermon at Pwllheli. In the whole neighbourhood the state of religion was very low, and distressingly discouraging to pious minds, and it had been so for many years. Elias felt that his visit must be an occasion with him. It may almost be said of that day that he prayed, and the heavens gave rain. He went. He took as his text, Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered. It was an astonishing time. While the preacher drove along with his tremendous power, multitudes of the people fell to the ground. Calm stood the man, his words rushing from him like flames of fire. There were added to the churches of that immediate neighbourhood, in consequence of the impetus of that sermon, two thousand five hundred members. (E. Paxton Hood.)

Only God can heal the wounds He makes

When a man is wounded with a barbed arrow, the agonies he suffers will cause him to toss about in pain; but the harder he strives to release the weapon from his flesh, the more does it become entangled in his sinews, the wound becomes enlarged, and the torture increased. When, by the power of the Holy Ghost, a man is wounded on account of sin, and the arrows of the Most High tear his soul, he frequently tries to pluck them out with his own hand, but finds that the misery becomes worse, and the inflaming wounds at last cause faintness and despair. Only the Good Physician knows how to relieve the pain without tearing and festering the spirit. (Handbook of Illustration.)

A true saving conviction of sin

I. The instrument by which it was produced, namely, the preaching of St. Peter. The Holy Spirit was the Author, but He employed the preaching of the apostle. It is by the Word of God, and usually by the preaching of that Word, that the heart is awakened, enlightened, and impressed. See why Satan is such an enemy to the preaching of the gospel. He knows that it is the appointed instrument for overturning his kingdom. He would, therefore, gladly prevent preaching, but when he cannot do this he tries to keep men from hearing.

II. The description here given of a saving conviction of sin. They were pricked in their hearts. The Word of God, in order to be of any real use, must reach the heart. It is not enough that it enlighten the understanding, or please the fancy, or warm the affections. Nor is merely reaching the heart sufficient. It must touch it. And what is the way in which it touches the heart? We read of some who were cut to the heart. Their hearts were deeply affected; but instead of any saving conviction being wrought in them, they were only the more exasperatd and hardened against the truth. A prick in the heart, though a small wound, would be fatal.

III. The way in which such a conviction will show itself; namely, in an application for relief. Take notice to whom they made this application: to those very persons through whose preaching the wound had been inflicted. Not that the preacher, by his own power, can heal the wound, any more than he could at first inflict it. The same Holy Spirit, which alone produces conviction, can alone administer consolation. But in both eases He works by means. Attend, then, to the preaching of the Word, and you will find it a life-giving Word, mighty to heal as well as to wound, the power of God unto salvation.

IV. The humility produced by a saving conviction of sin. Such a conviction disposes men to use the remedy prescribed. What shall we do? indicates that they were not only in deep trouble as not knowing what course to take, but also that they were willing to follow any directions which the apostles might point out. To this question there is but one answer, that of Peter. (E. Cooper.)

We must preach to the consciences of men

Inspector Byrnes of New York says, The great lieutenant of every police officer is that mysterious thing called conscience. You let a man try to deceive himself and lie to himself about himself, and that something comes knocking up against the shell of his body, and thumping on his ribs with every heart-beat, and pounding on his skull until his head aches and he wishes he were dead, and groans in agony for relief. It is the same conscience that makes a criminal give himself away, if one only knows how to awaken it, or stir it into activity. I never let a man know for what he is arrested. He may have committed a dozen more crimes of which I know nothing. If I lock him up alone and leave him to the black walls and his guilty conscience for three or four hours, while he pictures the possible punishment due to him for all his crimes, he comes presently into my hands like soft clay in the hands of the potter. Then he is likely to tell me much more than I ever suspected. So the conscience is the great lieutenant of every preacher of the gospel, and this is not a lesson for the pulpit alone, for one of the most suggestive features of the Pentecost revival is that the Church members were all preachers that day. This picture ought to lead us to have courage to expect immediate results from the faithful preaching of the gospel. One of the most dangerous errors that ever was propagated by the enemy of souls, an error that paralyses the tongue of the preacher and the prayer of the Church, is that Christianity is only a system of culture, and that souls are to be ransomed by gradual stages. (L. A. Banks.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 2:37-39. Now when they heard this — Having patiently heard Peter out, and not given him the interruption they had been used to give Christ in his discourses; (which was an important point gained;) they were pricked in their heart — Or, were pierced to the heart, with deep and lively sorrow, and felt such a sense of their enormous guilt, in the injuries and indignities which they had offered to this glorious, this divine person, that, with the utmost eagerness and solicitude, they cried out to Peter, &c., Men and brethren — See how their language is altered: they did not style them so before! what shall we do? — Is that Jesus, whom we crucified, both Lord and Christ? Then what will become of us who crucified him? How shall we free ourselves from that guilt and danger in which our own folly and wickedness have involved us? Then Peter said, Repent — Of this aggravated crime, and let a sense of the horrid guilt which you have thereby contracted, awaken you to a penitent reflection upon all your other sins, and to bitter remorse and sorrow for them. This was the same doctrine that John the Baptist and Christ had preached, and, now the Spirit is poured out, it is still insisted on. See notes on Mat 3:2; Mar 1:15; Luk 3:8-14. And be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ — That is, believe in Jesus Christ, not only as a teacher come from God, but as the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world: believe in his doctrine as infallibly true and infinitely momentous, and make it the rule of your faith and practice: rely on his mediation for reconciliation with God: submit to his grace and government: and make an open and solemn profession of this by submitting to the ordinance of baptism. See notes on Mat 28:19-20; Mar 16:16. This is pressed on each particular person; every one of you, says the apostle. Even those of you that have been the greatest sinners, if they comply with these terms, shall find mercy through this Jesus: and those that think they have been the greatest saints, yet have need to comply with them; repentance, faith, and new obedience being necessary for all. For the remission of sins — Which you may obtain through Christ crucified, in this way, and can obtain in no other. Repent of your sins and they shall not be your ruin; believe in Jesus, and be baptized in that faith, and you shall be justified. Yea, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost — By which he will own and attest the work of his grace in your hearts, and will qualify you for serving that Lord, whom you have crucified. Some of you shall receive even these external and extraordinary gifts, and every one of you, if you be sincere in your repentance and faith, shall receive his internal graces and comforts; shall be sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Observe, reader, all that receive the remission of sins, and are adopted into God’s family, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, as a spirit of adoption and regeneration; to assure them of their sonship, and renew them after God’s image. For, says the apostle, the promise is unto you — To any and all of you here present; and to your children — Your posterity to the latest generation; and to all that are afar off — To the Gentiles in the most remote countries, whom God is ready to admit to the same privileges with you. It appears evidently from the manner in which St. Peter here expresses himself, that the gift of the Holy Ghost does not, in this place, mean merely the power of speaking with tongues, and working miracles, for the promise of this was not given to all the Jews there present, and their posterity, much less to all that were afar off, in distant ages and nations; but it rather signifies, the ordinary graces of the Spirit, living faith and its fruits, even righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, which certainly are free for all that earnestly desire, and will seek them in the way God hath appointed. See Luk 11:13; Joh 4:10; and Joh 7:37. Whomsoever the Lord our God shall call — Namely, by his word and Spirit, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, and who are not disobedient to the heavenly calling. It is observable, that Peter did not now understand the very words he spoke: for he knew nothing, as yet, of the intended calling of the Gentiles. He could only mean, therefore, by what he now said, that the gospel should be preached to all the dispersed of Israel, and their posterity, in distant nations; but the Holy Spirit had doubtless a further view.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL REMARKS

Act_2:37. What shall we do?—As in Luk_3:10; Luk_3:12; Luk_3:14. The cry showed how deeply Peter’s words had penetrated.

Act_2:38. Be baptised.—The rite known to the Jews as a means of admitting proselytes to the Jewish Church had been practised by John (Mat_3:6) and commanded by Christ (Mat_28:19). In or upon the name of Jesus Christ.—I.e., Not for the sake of the salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ (Hofmann), but upon the ground of the name of Jesus Christ or with confession of that which this name signified (Zöckler, Holtzmann, Hackett, and others). To the question, Why in the Acts (Act_10:48, Act_19:5) baptism is never, as in Matt. (Act_28:19), performed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost? various answers have been given.

1. Baptism in the name of any one of the Persons of the Trinity involves baptism in the names of the other two.

2. Luke, though employing the shorter, really meant the longer formula.

3. The longer formula was designed for Gentiles who had never known the Father, the shorter for converts from Jewish people or Jewish proselytes. The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve (x), seems to favour the second explanation by using as synonymous the two expressions, “baptism into the name of the Lord” (ix. 5) and “baptism into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (vii. 1). For, or in order to, εἰς, the remission of sins (compare Mat_26:28, and Luk_3:3), defines the negative aspect of the blessing which ensues upon a right reception of baptism. The gift of the Holy Ghost (compare Act_10:45, Act_11:17) represents the positive side of the same blessing.

Act_2:39. Your children.—“Little ones” rather than, though not exclusive of, posterity or descendants. All that are afar off.—Not remotely dwelling Jews only (Bengel, Meyer, Wendt, Holtzmann), but Gentiles as well (Calvin, Neander, Lange, Zöckler, Hackett), Shall call, sc. unto Him; so preserving the force of the preposition πρός.

Act_2:41. Were baptised.—How? By immersion? or by sprinkling or pouring? The Didache, vii. 2, 3 seems to suggest that both methods may have been employed. See further on this under “Hints and Suggestions.”

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_2:37-41

The First Converts; or, the Firstfruits of the Gospel Harvest

I. The anxious inquiry.—By whom it was preferred. The men and women who had listened to Peter’s sermon; who had manifestly kept awake when the Apostle preached, attended to his words, taken in and reflected on their significance, as well as applied them to their own circumstances and condition; in all which they offered an example to hearers of the Gospel in general.

2. To whom it was addressed. “To Peter and the rest of the Apostles.” From this conjunction of the eleven with Peter (see Act_2:14) it should perhaps be inferred that they also as well as Peter solicited a hearing from the crowd. Nor need it be doubted that, enjoying the same inspired assistance as Peter, they treated their themes in much the same way as he did his. In any case they were believed by the multitude to be able, as well as Peter, to direct those who asked from them guidance. It is good when preachers have the confidence of their hearers, in respect of both intelligence and willingness to place that intelligence at their service; it is better when hearers in their anxiety appeal for spiritual counsel to such preachers; it is best when they repair to Him who is the Lord both of hearers and preachers.

3. By what it was prompted.—A heartfelt conviction of guilt. Realising the terrible mistake they had been under both as to who Jesus of Nazareth had been and as to their behaviour in sending Him to a cross, they understood the heinous criminality of their lawless deed; and discerning clearly that if Christ were now exalted to the light hand of God they were in danger indeed, they became forthwith filled with alarm. Besides, by their exclamation they practically owned their sin, and openly confessed their belief that the Christ they had crucified was Lord of all. Once more furnishing a pattern to hearers of the Gospel, who should allow it when addressed to them to carry conviction of its truth to their understandings and of their guilt to their hearts and consciences.

4. For what it was directed. Guidance in their distressful perplexity: “What shall we do?” Pierced through with the arrows of conviction, rent with spiritual anguish under a sense of guilt, enlightened as to their wickedness, and alarmed for their safety, they felt that to remain indifferent or do nothing was impossible. They must escape from the peril in which they stood, know how to act in the crisis that had come upon them, find out where to turn and what to do in order to obtain remission of their guilt, peace for their consciences, and eternal life for their souls. A fourth time their behaviour was a splendid illustration of how convicted, anxious, and distressed Gospel hearers should act in time of soul concern.

II. The comforting reply.—

1. The direction. Two things were needful for all, without exception and without delay.

(1) Repentance. “Repent ye.” Without a change of mind, heart, and behaviour, salvation was impossible. Repentance for them meant an alteration in their way of thinking about Christ, who must no more be looked upon as a man, and far less as a malefactor, but regarded as Lord and Christ; in their way of feeling towards Christ, who must no more be treated with indifference and unbelief, far less with hate and persecution, but honoured with earnest faith and cordial love; in their way of acting before Christ, who must no more be pained by seeing them walking after their own ways, and far less in ways of sin, but must behold them following holiness and keeping His commandments.

(2) Baptism. “Be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ.” The repentance, faith, and obedience already demanded, if existing in the heart, must be outwardly expressed by submission to baptism, in which it was designed that all should be symbolised. Rightly viewed, this religious ordinance was intended for a material and visible representation not of the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but of the answer of a good conscience or the laying aside of the works of the flesh in repentance (1Pe_3:21), of the faith which looked for cleansing from guilt and sin to the sprinkling of a Saviour’s blood (Heb_12:24), and of that spirit of submission to Christ which acknowledged Him as Lord (Gal_3:27). That baptism was connected with repentance as necessary for the remission of sins did not signify that any saving efficacy resided in the water, or in the ceremony, but merely that without compliance with this ritual there could be no guarantee of that repentance which was required for salvation. Where, however, baptism was sincerely submitted to, it became a visible pledge to the repenting and believing recipient that the covenant of salvation, of which it was a seal, would be kept in his experience, and that the blessings of the covenant, of which it was a sign (washing from guilt or pardon, and washing from pollution or regeneration), would be bestowed upon him.

2. The promise. “Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Their cry indicated that already they had been visited by the gracious operations of that Spirit who Christ said (Joh_16:8) should convict the world of sin; what Peter’s statement imported was that the Holy Ghost should descend upon them as He had upon the Apostles themselves and their fellow-believers, and should remain with them as a permanent endowment (Joh_14:16), enlightening their minds (1Co_2:12), purifying their hearts (2Th_2:13), sanctifying their whole natures (1Co_6:11), witnessing with their spirits (Rom_8:16), and conferring upon them sundry gifts for the edification of themselves and the Church (1Co_12:7). The permanent inhabitation of the believer by the Holy Ghost is a recognised doctrine of the New Testament (Act_5:32, Act_10:44, Act_13:52, Act_15:8; Rom_5:5; 1Co_3:16; 2Co_1:22, etc.).

3. The encouragement. “The promise of the Holy Ghost,” which was virtually a promise of salvation, had been freely extended unto them, the Jews, domestic and foreign, then present in the city and listening to the Apostle, along with their children, descendants, or offspring (a warrant for infant baptism), and unto all that were afar off, not merely Jews of the dispersion, but Gentiles as well; an unambiguous hint that from the first the Gospel, as preached by Peter, contemplated the admission of the Gentiles into the Church, though Peter from the first did not understand the exact terms and conditions upon which their reception should take place. The only limitation to that universality which sounds in the Gospel offer arises from the appended clause, “as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him,” which may signify either that the promise would realise itself only in the case of those whom God inwardly called to Himself by His grace, or that it was extended only to those who were invited by the Gospel. Both propositions are correct. All who hear the Gospel call are invited freely to lay hold of the promise; but the promise is fulfilled to them alone who by faith embrace it, and so prove themselves to have been inwardly drawn by the Father (Joh_6:44).

4. The appeal. Besides encouraging his hearers Peter endeavours to arouse them to instant action, by exhorting them to save themselves from the then existing crooked generation (compare Php_2:15), for which the Hebrew Scriptures threatened ultimate destruction (Psa_125:5); and this he tells them they could do only by repenting and being baptised. In no other way yet can men rescue themselves from the doom which overhangs this present evil world (1Co_11:32; Gal_1:4).

III. The happy result.—About three thousand souls (persons) responded to this appeal.

1. They received the Apostle’s word. With faith. A customary New Testament phrase for believing acceptance of the Gospel (Act_11:1, Act_17:7; 1Th_1:6; 1Th_2:13).

2. They submitted to baptism. Whether this rite was administered on the spot, or at a subsequent hour of the same day, or still later, to suit the convenience of the recipients, is not certain from the text (see “Critical Remarks”), though the second alternative is the more probable. (On the subjects of baptism, see “Hints on Act_2:39.”)

4. They were added to the Church. The word Church, though not expressed, is understood. The new converts were reckoned to the number of professed disciples, and professed disciples form the visible Church.

Learn.—

1. The genesis of true religion in the soul. Conviction of sin, repentance, faith (implied in baptism), pardon, the Holy Ghost.

2. The defectiveness of those (so-called) evangelical systems that have no place in their teaching for conviction of sin or repentance.

3. The certain test of religion’s reality in the soul of an individual—his having received the Holy Spirit.

4. The universality of the Gospel promise of salvation, not inconsistent with Divine Sovereignty in respect of the Gospel call.

5. The urgency of seeking after personal salvation, by separation from the sinful world.

6. The necessity of confessing Christ before men by submitting to baptism.

7. The duty of believers connecting themselves with the visible fellowship of the saints.

HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Act_2:37. Conviction of Sin.

I. By whom required?—All, seeing that all have sinned.

II. Wherein lies its seat?—In the heart, as distinguished from the head.

III. By what produced?—

1. The instrument—the word of God, either preached or read.

2. The agent—the Holy Ghost applying the word to the conscience.

IV. To what it leads?—A sense of danger and feeling of alarm, prompting the cry, “What shall we do?”

V. How removed?—By:

1. Repentance.

2. Remission of sin.

3. Reception of the Holy Ghost.

The Cry of awakened Souls, “What shall we do?” The cry of:

I. Acknowledged guilt.

II. Realised danger.

III. Conscious helplessness.

IV. Earnest desire.

V. Eager hope.

VI. Humble docility.

VII. Arising faith.

The Spirit and the New Sense of Sin.—Confucius is said to have once exclaimed, in an outburst of despondency, “It is all over! I have not yet seen one who could perceive his fault and inwardly accuse himself.” Confucius is not alone in that verdict upon human nature. The lament is suggestive. It implies the enormous difficulty of bringing an average man to admit his fault. It is all but impossible to argue the world into a frank and unreserved acknowledgment of its follies and misdemeanours. The most horrible offences which have ever blotted and befouled the history of mankind find ingenious apologists. At this very hour men will write to the newspapers to defend with sociological sophistries every vice that saps and smirches our national life. Where the Spirit of God does not work in the fulness of His power true moral discernment is wanting. You might as well make a colour-blind man judge at a flower-show, as accept from one who has not the Spirit of God a verdict upon questions of morals not already determined by statute law or public opinion. To convince of sin is a work of supreme difficulty worthy of the Spirit’s matchless light and wisdom and resource. So many forces militate against the work of the Spirit in convincing the world of sin, that the wonder is we should come to see any dawning humility, reproach, and self-accusation in human nature at all.

I. The instinctive pride of human nature is arrayed against this first task of the Comforter.—The man who, born to wealth, lands himself in an unhappy bankruptcy is rarely able to adapt himself to a life of straitened circumstance. He will think he has the right to ride behind horses, to be waited on, and to drink the best wines, to the end of his days, although he may never redeem his fortunes. His habits cling to him, and he goes upon the assumption that once a merchant prince, always a prince. A fallen king can rarely reconcile himself to the position of a mere subject. Poor plaything of chance though he is, he looks upon his hereditary rights as interminable, and claims from his followers on the tossing sea, or in the mountain cave or island prison, to which his conquerors have banished him, the deference he had claimed when the head of a brilliant court. And so with human nature. It seems to possess some faint hereditary consciousness of its own high birth. It has some pathetic and indefinable reminiscence of the position to which it was designated in the beginning. The reverence of children and the honour of neighbours are demanded as rights. The Bible, too, seems to give its sanction to this code of etiquette; for, in spite of all it has to say about the depravity of human nature, it enforces the universal honour of man as man. Can we be content to honour ourselves less than it is claimed others must honour us? We are built up in pride by that habit of expecting honour at the hands of others, the germ of which is perhaps hereditary, and we repel and resent that self-humiliation to which the Spirit must needs bring the best of us.

II. The work of the sin-convincing Spirit is further hindered by the fact that we judge ourselves in the light of an imaginary future, as well as by the ideals of an outfading past. We draw the material for our own portraiture from the flattering hopes we have been wont to cherish, rather than from the practical record we have left behind us. We had meant to be holy and noble and without reproach, and have not yet relinquished our great intentions, and it is from that standpoint we form the estimate of ourselves. It is not the spendthrift youth only, with a small income and extravagant conceptions of life, who makes audacious drafts upon the future. We are all prone to live in a fool’s paradise, in the ethical sense. We are not yet at the end of our career, and of course we are going some day to be faultless from every point of view. And the glamour of that dream is always before our eyes when we are called to the task of knowing ourselves. The future, as we intend to shape it, will more than outbalance the past.

III. Another difficulty encountered by the Spirit in this preparatory work is that we find ourselves with personalities whose natural perceptions are more active than their moral.—Two diseases work within us, our physical senses are in a condition of hyperæsthesia and morbid sleeplessness, and our spiritual senses are blunted by an ominous coma and a fast-developing in-duration. The perceptions of pleasure and pain are so much keener than the consciousness of right and wrong, that we never forget the wrongs done to us by others, and spend our lives in counting up the pitiful sum, whilst our heart grows stone-dead to the trespasses we have committed against both God and our fellows. We are occupied with an arithmetic that is entirely false, vicious, and misleading, and can never give us an equation of justice and of truth. Whilst our natural sensibilities are so keen, that we can give a most minute and detailed account of all the wrongs inflicted upon us by others, our moral sensibilities seem to be represented by a single attenuated nerve-thread only, which is so obtuse that it fails to register a tithe of the wrongs we do to others; and it is hard to bring us to that state of soul described by the expression “pricked in the heart.” And we come to look upon these solitary delinquencies as more than outweighed by the losses of which we are the victims through the multitudinous delinquencies of others. And by thinking of these possible offsets in judgment, we shut out the operation of the Spirit as He seeks to convince of sin.

IV. We are sometimes trained to self-justification by the exigencies of our daily life, and a tenacious habit is formed within us adverse to the sin-convincing work of the Spirit. The current conditions of society are such that certain cardinal moralities, and a reputation for them, are necessary to worldly success. We must vindicate our name at every turn if we are to live. The competition that prevails in all sections of the world, grave and gay alike, is in the last analysis the competition of reputations, and we must keep up our reputations, unless we are to go to the wall. It has become a second nature to us to overlook our own faults entirely, and to be ever dressing out our virtues for the eye of the world; and we carry the habit of self-vindication into God’s presence, and exercise it before His bar, perhaps at the very time we are joining in the General Confession of the Liturgy. When trees have been bent by the prevailing winds that have been beating upon them for half a century, it is not easy to make them lean in the other direction. A passing hurricane will not effect the reversion.

V. Our passionate self-interests league themselves against the work of the Spirit as He comes to convince us of sin.—We live in a world sadly lacking in charity and tenderness, and to plead guilty of a trespass in the common affairs of life would often be to invite punishment more or less severe. The world gives us the full benefit of all the confessions we pour into its ear, and we soon learn the art of keeping confessions to ourselves. In very few communities indeed is the admission of error a highway to advancement. Wherever Governments are cruel and public opinion is harsh and pitiless, you will find a proportionate reluctance to admit error and shortcoming. The most immaculate people in the world, according to their own estimate at least, are to be found in the lands where rule is despotic and public opinion pitiless. And some traces of this fact are present in our own midst. For the servant to confess error would be in many instances to challenge dismissal, especially if his position is one of trust and responsibility; for a master to confess error would be to invite strikes and to risk the break up of his authority; for a tradesman to confess grave error would in some cases lead to a discontinuance of the business that has been given him. I have heard some men plead that authority must be upheld when it is wrong, because to allow that it had made mistakes might pave the way to anarchic conditions of feeling. And this repugnance to the acknowledgment of error, ingrained into us through our worldly training and experience, influences us when the Spirit begins to deal with us and to convince us of our sin. Confession is almost inseparably associated with the idea of drastic punishment. What is the method of the Spirit’s logic? By what process does He introduce into the human mind and implant there these stern, unflattering convictions of sin? His work is creative, and we cannot penetrate its many secrets; and answers to these questions are necessarily fragmentary and inadequate.

1. The Holy Spirit for the fulfilment of His appointed work puts an environment of new ideals before the mind. He testifies of Christ, and in so doing makes us see how in His humanity all divine excellencies have come down into the midst of men and made themselves a new law to the conscience. Some little time ago I was passing through a country lane, and saw a flock of sheep feeding on the hillside. They seemed to be milk-white, justifying the scriptural metaphor, “He scattereth hoar-frost like wool,” and fit to be welcomed as pets into a drawing-room. In comparison with the green pastures in which they were feeding, their fleeces seemed bleached into spotlessness. Not long after, a snowstorm came, and I had occasion to pass by the same field. But the sheep did not seem to be the same creatures at all. The background had changed as if by magic, and they were in a new world, the conditions of which served to bring out their griminess. The collier, rising out of the pit into the sunshine after a night of toil, scarcely looked grimier than those spotless sheep of yesterday. So when the Spirit brings down from the presence of God on high into these human souls new ideals of truth and righteousness, love, purity, faithfulness, the soul sees itself against a new ethical background. The philanthropist puts himself by the side of churl and niggard, and says, How open-handed I am! A man poses before the background of ethical mediocrity current in his town, or city, or nation, and is quite content with his past record. And for the time his self-satisfaction seems to be warranted. But by-and-by the new background comes in. He awakes to the fact that he is in God’s presence, and sees himself standing by the side of the spotless Son of man in whom the Father has revealed Himself, and before the great white throne of all-searching judgment, and he is filled with shame and self-condemnation,

2. The Spirit enwraps the man to whom He comes with a new atmosphere of sympathy and graciousness, unlike that which exists in the world and provokes to ingenuous self-justification. He who comes under this ministry feels almost instinctively His right to search the heart and bring every delinquency before a divine tribunal. It is useless to attempt concealment, for the Spirit knows us more thoroughly than we know ourselves, and can constrain the most reluctant natures into a consciousness of their own evil. He acts upon us, not like the angry storm which leads men to bar their doors and close their shutters, but like the soft south wind, which opens every labyrinth of the heart and life to the light. It is no treachery or ill-will or unrelenting antagonism which is bringing right home to us the unwelcome facts of the past, but helping and healing beneficence.

3. But over and above these things, a new power of moral discernment needs to be aroused in those who are to be re-created by the ministry of the Spirit. The Pharisee met Jesus, and had no sense of guilt. The idea of spiritual sin seemed to be entirely foreign to the genius of his thought. He looked upon the surpassing excellence of this man of Nazareth as mere eccentricity, a freak of fanaticism, a spasm of madness. Men needed new senses, an enlargement of the conscience that would enable them to feel the guilt of unchastened desire, evil imagination, soulless worship. And where the Spirit comes, whilst He deadens to the illusions of the world and its vain shows, He makes men conscious of the paramount significance of the faintest things which touch their relation to the invisible. By awakening these new perceptions the Spirit brings into view the countless spiritual sins of the former days, and shuts men up for hope to the one common law of mercy. The fact that the sins of the spirit as well as the sins of the body are rebuked by this inward Teacher is indicated by that expansion of the words immediately added—indeed, sins of the spirit are the roots of all outward transgression—“of sin, because they believe not on Me.” In the view of the Spirit this is the core of all heinousness in either the ancient or the modern world, and the Spirit will demonstrate it to those with whom He deals.

4. The conviction of sin is the groundwork of all religious belief, and there can be no genuine consciousness of divine things which does not begin here. Remember in what an awful state the man is who lacks this new sense of sin. If the natural senses were blotted out, a man would walk into some death-trap or other in less than twenty-four hours. And when a man lacks these spiritual senses, is the peril less tragic, think you? The highest thing that the love of God or man can seek for you is that you may have this sense of sin. Has it been born within you? Do you possess this sign of a dawning spiritual life?—T. G. Selby.

Act_2:38. The Gift of the Holy Ghost.

I. Supernatural as to its origin.

II. Mysterious as to its enjoyment.

III. Free as to its bestowment.

IV. Conditioned as to its reception.

V. Permanent as to its duration.

VI. Saving as to its effect.

Act_2:36-38. The Cross, the Crucifiers, and the Crucified.

I. The crucified One.—Let us note concerning this.

1. Who He was. “That same Jesus”; yes, Jesus of Nazareth.

2. What was done to Him. He was betrayed, tried, condemned, crucified, slain.

3. By whom was this done? By “His own”; by “Israel,” the house of Israel.

4. What God has made Him. “Both Lord and Christ.” The stone which the builders rejected has been made the head of the corner.

II. The crucifiers.—They were, as we have seen, “the house of Israel.” They had deliberately united to crucify.—

1. An innocent man.

2. A good man.

3. A prophet.

4. The Lord of Glory.

5. Their own Messiah. They were thus not merely murderers, but no ordinary ones; criminals in the highest and darkest sense.

III. The connection between the crucified and the crucifiers for evil and for good.

1. For evil. For condemnation. It was this that they felt so awfully when the Apostle had stated the simple facts.

(1) They were pricked in their hearts.

(2) They cried out, What shall we do? A full sense of their awful criminality flashed through them.

2. For good. This connection for evil might be disannulled, and a new one formed.—H. Bonar, D.D.

Act_2:39. The Promise of the Gospel.

I. As to its giver, divine.

II. As to its contents, saving.

III. As to its terms, free.

IV. As to its recipients, universal.

V. As to its continuance, irrevocable.

To you and to your Children; or, the Church Membership of Children.

I. The import of this statement.—Not that all children indiscriminately and promiscuously should be regarded as within the pale of the Church visible, but only those of such parents or parent as accepted and relied upon the promise.

II. The ground of this statement.—That children were considered as within the pale of the Old Testament Church, and that under the New the promise of salvation (remission of sins and reception of the Holy Ghost), and therefore of Church membership, is distinctly offered to men and women not by themselves, but along with their offspring.

III. The consequence of this statement.—

1. The salvation of children dying in infancy. This seems, in the case at least of the children of believing parents, involved in their relation to the promise. The promise belongs to them in virtue of their connection with believing parents, and is given to them the moment they accept it by an act of personal repentance and faith. Hence, in the case of such as die before this repentance and faith can be exercised, it seems reasonable to conclude that they are saved. Nor is it an unnatural supposition with regard to infants generally who die before attaining to years of responsibility that they also, for Christ’s sake, share in the blessing of the promise.

2. The reasonableness of infant baptism. If to them belongs the promise of salvation, why should they not receive its sign and seal? If it be answered that faith must precede baptism, the answer is that faith must also precede salvation. If, then, a child cannot be baptised without faith, the conclusion is that neither can he be saved without faith. In other words, a child dying in infancy must be lost. We prefer to believe Christ: “Of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Act_2:37-40. Words for Anxious Inquirers.

I. Their duty pointed out.—

1. Repent.

2. Believe.

3. Be baptised.

II. Their salvation assured.—

1. The Holy Ghost is for them who perform these duties.

2. As a free gift.

3. In undoubted certainty.

III. Their warrant set forth.—

1. The promise of salvation is for them. 2 They are called to believe the promise and accept the gift.

Act_2:41. The Miraculous Draught of Souls.

I. The deep sea.—The listening multitude.

II. The gospel net.—The sermon of Peter.

III. The great catch.—Three thousand converts in one day.

Act_2:38-41. Scala Salutis; or, the Ladder of Salvation.

I. Repentance cherished.

II. Faith expressed.

III. Sin forgiven.

IV. The Holy Ghost received.

V. Baptism submitted to.

VI. The Church entered.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

D.—The effect produced by the address

Act_2:37-41

The address, and the exhortations which followed it, resulted in the conversion of three thousand souls, who were added by Baptism to the disciples of Jesus

37Now when they heard this, they were pricked [pierced] in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38Then [But] Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in [upon, ἐπὶ] the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39For the promise is unto [for] you, and to [for] your children, and to [for] all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves [Be ye saved] from this untoward [perverse] generation. 41Then they that [om. that] gladly20 [om. gladly] received his [the, τὸν] word [and] were baptized: and the same day [on that day] there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Act_2:37. Now when they heard this … what shall we do?—The address made a deep impression; the hearers, that is, a large part of them, were “pierced in the heart” (κατενύγησαν), and deeply moved; the sting in the concluding words of the apostle aided largely in producing this result. When we consider the impressions made by his address, we observe that it, primarily, affected the feelings of the hearers. Pain and anguish seized them, when they saw, as they now did, that they had mistaken, despised, ill-treated and crucified Jesus, whom they were at length compelled to recognize as the Messiah and their Lord. They had grievously sinned against God and his Anointed, and incurred the just penalty of such guilt. The effect was not, however, confined to these emotions, which had been produced by the light that was dawning upon them; their question: “What shall we do?” manifests that their will had also been powerfully influenced, insomuch that they apply in a confiding and even affectionate manner to the apostles for counsel, and are now desirous to do all that their duty and the will of God demand. While they thus turn to Peter and to the rest of the apostles as to brethren, and with the utmost candor, good will, and confidence, ask for advice, they furnish the evidence not only that they are deeply concerned for their salvation, but also that faith is springing up in their souls; they trust that God will yet forgive, and guide them in the right way.

Act_2:38. Repent, etc.—Peter gladly imparts the instructions which they seek, and may be regarded as fulfilling a special pastoral duty, when he explains the way of salvation to those who now were open to conviction, or were awakened. He prescribes a twofold duty, and promises a twofold gift. He demands that these persons should, (1) change their minds, (their whole moral state should undergo a change, μετανοεῖτε), and (2) be baptized in the name of Jesus (ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰηα. Χρ., as an expression of their faith in Jesus, or a recognition of him, and as a pledge of their submission to him as the Lord and Messiah). Peter assumes that his hearers already possess a certain amount of knowledge concerning Baptism as an outward act, having derived it from the well-known practice of John the Baptist, and also from the course pursued by Jesus himself. [Joh_4:1-2]. Peter’s demand, therefore, embraces a change of mind, and faith, in addition to the outward Baptism; the latter is here viewed, on the one hand, as a moral act of the person who is baptized, but, on the other hand, (in consequence of the promise that is immediately subjoined) unquestionably, also, as a means of grace proceeding from God. The apostle promises to those who repent, and receive Baptism, (1) the remission of sins, and (2) the gift of the Holy Ghost.—A general view is presented in Act_2:40, of additional statements and exhortations, by means of which, as Peter had reason to hope, his hearers would be conducted to an immediate and final decision, before the impressions which they had received, should fade away. It was the general purpose of his remarks to urge all who were awakened, to save themselves by accepting the offered grace, to withdraw from the perverse generation around them, and to avoid all participation in the guilt and ruin of the latter.

Act_2:39. For the promise is unto you.—The apostle, after having taught his hearers to hope with confidence that the same gift of the Holy Ghost which he and other disciples had already received, would be imparted to them, proceeds to exhibit the firm foundation of that hope. He specifies those for whom this promise of God was intended: (a) It concerns “you,” the Israelites; (b) also “your children,” i.e., it is not restricted to the present moment, but extends to the future, and comprehends the generations in Israel that are still unborn. And yet the whole extent of the promise has not been presented to their view; it belongs, further, to (c) πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς μακράν, all nations, i.e., heathens, dwelling at a distance, as many as God shall summon [or, call forward unto the kingdom of the Messiah (Meyer), προςκαλέσηται.—Tr.], Beza supposed that the words re- ferred to distant generations (longe post futuri), but these are already included in τέκνα ὑμῶν. Meyer and Baumgarten understand πᾶσι τοῖς ε. μ. on the other hand, as indicating Israelites dwelling in distant countries, and they allege that the context does not suggest that Gentiles are meant. Yet the latter will appear to be really the case, when the gradual enlargement of the circle in which Peter’s words move, is noticed. He unquestionably regards his hearers as representatives of the entire nation; the Jewish diaspora [Jam_1:1], moreover, did not need a special call, since those who were “scattered abroad” originally had an interest in the promise as fully as those who were accidentally here present. Hence the interpretation adopted by Brenz, Calvin, Bengel, Lange, etc.,—that the words refer to heathens—is preferable to any other.

Act_2:41. They received the word.—The ultimate result was wonderful; a multitude, consisting of about three thousand souls, promptly and sincerely received the word which they had heard, submitted to be baptized, and were added as new members to the church of Jesus. They were baptized in the course of “that day” by the twelve apostles.—That all who came together, Act_2:6, and had been hearers, were also converted, is, of course, not implied here, for those who mocked, Act_2:13, had also been hearers, and it cannot be assumed that all of these, without an exception, changed their views.—But it fully accorded with the commandment of Jesus, Mat_28:19, that all those who received the witness concerning Jesus in sincerity, should at once be baptized; the principle was recognized, that every one who honestly desired to be a disciple of Jesus, should be baptized; fuller instructions in the doctrine could afterwards be appropriately imparted.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The order of salvation is set forth by the apostle in terms that are brief, but in entire accordance with evangelical truth. After declaring emphatically that his hearers participated with others in the guilt of having crucified the Redeemer, he demands, as the condition of the remission of their sins, not fasting, or self-inflicted torments, nor meritorious works of any kind, but simply repentance and a change of mind, on the one hand, and, on the other, their prompt consent to receive Baptism in the name of Jesus, as the manifestation of their faith in Him as the Messiah.

2. Baptism, according to the view presented in this section, is a twofold act: a human and a divine. It is a human act, first, in so far as the individual who receives baptism, thereby confesses Jesus as his Lord (in other words, confesses that the triune God is his God), and pledges himself to serve Him; secondly, in so far as the Church of Christ which imparts Baptism to him, now receives him as a member, or incorporates him with itself, ver 41. Baptism is a divine act, in so far as God separates the individual from a perverse and sinful generation (σώθητε, in Act_2:40, implies that grace is a saving power to which man yields), remits his sins, and bestows the Holy Ghost upon him, Act_2:38. This ἄφεσις ἁμαρτιῶν is unquestionably connected more intimately and directly than the gift of the Holy Ghost with the baptismal act; the former, [ἄφεσις] namely, is indicated by the word εἰς [for the remission, etc.,] as the immediate purpose of Baptism, and as the promise inseparably connected with it, while general terms are all that now succeed, viz.: “and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” But these terms do not by any means imply that the apostle’s hearers should at once receive the Holy Ghost in and with Baptism itself.

3. The congregation, or the Church of Christ. The fact that the day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, has always been recognized. The latter was founded by or through the work of Jesus Christ, as a Prophet, High Priest, and King, through the calling and installation of the Apostles, and the gathering together of larger numbers of disciples, and through the institution of the Lord’s Supper and Holy Baptism. But after the Head of the Church was enthroned invisibly in heaven, and before the Pentecostal festival arrived, the Church of Jesus resembled the human body, after God had formed it of the dust of the ground, and before the spirit which was from God, was breathed into it; it was only after that influence reached man that he became a living soul, Gen_2:7. [Job_23:4]. The Church of Christ, viewed as the new collective person, was formed and set forth in the world; but it was now only, on the day of Pentecost, that the Spirit was suddenly breathed into it, and that it became a living soul. And from that moment the growth also of the Church of Christ could regularly proceed, by the assimilation and incorporation of other souls. Irenæus says: Ubi ecclesia, ibi et spiritus Dei; et ubi spiritus Dei, illic ecclesia et omnis gratia. The second member of this entire proposition is abundantly confirmed by the contents of the chapter before us, but the general terms of the former are not sustained, since, according to Acts 1. and Acts 2 ver 1 ff., the Church of Christ existed, even when the Spirit of God was not yet present. And this fact, which cannot be controverted, shows that at other times also, the Church of Christ may be brought into such a state, that the Spirit of God can with difficulty be found in it.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Act_2:37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.—The task of so combining and setting forth the law and the Gospel, that the truth shall, like a sharp-pointed arrow, pierce through the heart, is one of such importance and difficulty, that it cannot be accomplished by the mere reason and power of man. (Apost. Past.).—Repentance, like faith, is the result of the hearing of the word [Rom_10:17].—The consideration of the sufferings of Christ, which our sins caused him to endure, is adapted to awaken a sincere and deep sorrow on account of our sins. (Starke).—“Whom ye have crucified”—this accusation at the conclusion of Peter’s address, was the hook with which, as a true fisher of men, he reached theirhearts; it was the goad with which the exalted Saviour himself pierced their souls, so that it was hard for them to kick against it; it was the two-edged sword of God, which divided asunder the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of their hearts.—Men and brethren, what shall we do?—Love awakens love; Peter’s gentle words: “Men and brethren”, find their echo in the hearts of his hearers.—What shall we do?—namely, in order to atone for the sins which we have committed, to escape the wrath of God, and to find that salvation which ye proclaim. It is the welcome question of the penitent heart that is seeking for mercy.

Act_2:38. Then Peter said unto them, Repent, etc.—When the fisher observes that his net is full of fishes, he is doubly careful in handling it. But it is a very sad spectacle, when a fisher of men has had no experience of his own, and, unable to give wise counsel to those who are awakened by his words, permits them to escape, or even casts them forth again from the net. (Apost. Past.).—If we desire to explain God’s word in a profitable manner, we must ourselves have first experienced its power. Peter had obtained a practical knowledge of repentance, after his fall, and had tasted the joy which the remission of sins produces, (ib.).—Like John the Baptist and Christ himself, the Church, too, begins her saving work by exclaiming aloud: “Repent!” For repentance is the beginning of all true Christianity. (Leonh. and Sp.).—And ye shall receive, etc.—When a pastor finds souls before him, on whom the word has made an impression, and who begin to inquire with deep seriousness, he may well spread out his sails with reanimated hope, and open his mouth with increased joy and confidence. To such souls we may promise many precious gifts, and need entertain no fear that God will withhold that which we have promised in his name, from those who submissively walk in the way which he appoints, (ib.).—There is no true repentance without a change of the heart and the mind.—Baptism is an efficient means of regeneration and the remission of sins. (Tit_3:5).—Days of humiliation which are appropriately kept, constitute a Pentecostal commemoration on which the divine blessing rests. The Holy Ghost does not proceed from us, but is a gift which we receive from God.—And thou, O Christian, art baptized. But thy Baptism should continue to manifest its efficacy in thee. Let each day appear to thy soul as thy baptismal day. Thou shouldst every morning be buried anew in thy Lord Jesus Christ, (Ahlfeld).—The men of Israel had asked: What shall we do? They are now told that they should, in a submissive spirit, yield to the operations of the Holy Ghost.—They would have made every sacrifice, in order to call back Jesus of Nazareth, to embrace the knees of Him who was crucified, to be raised up by him, and to hear him personally say; “Your sin is forgiven!” And now, behold, their desire was fulfilled. The triune God has connected his gracious presence, as revealed in the new covenant, with the water of Baptism. (Besser).—This doctrine must therefore abide, as one that is true and permanently established, namely, that the Holy Ghost is given through the ministry of the Church, that is to say, through the preaching of the Gospel and through Baptism. Let all those who desire the Holy Spirit, seek him there; let them not despise the little flock, in the midst of which the sound of the Gospel is heard; let them, much rather, join themselves unto those who are gathered together in the name of Christ, and let them assist in prayer. (Luther).—That we are saved, not so much through that which we do, as through that which the triune God does in us: I. Our repentance, which is commanded, is already a result of the preventing grace of God, by which he draws us to his Son; II. We are brought by our Baptism into the most intimate communion with Christ, our Saviour; III. Our conscious and continued preservation in this communion through the Word and the Sacraments, is one of the gracious operations of the Holy Ghost. (Langbein).

Act_2:39. For the promise is unto you, and to your children.—The gracious promises of God are of vast extent; hence we can repeat them with confidence to all who are willing to hear. (Apost. Past.).—And to your children.,—The church and the people of God had hither-to been so constituted, that not only adults but also little children belonged to the people of God, and with all these he made a covenant that he would be their God. Let us now suppose that on the day of Pentecost Peter had thus addressed the Jews: ‘Brethren, repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins; but your little children shall not be baptized; they shall remain in their sins, continue in their state of condemnation, and be counted among the people of Satan, until they grow up and reach the years of understanding.’ What answer would the devout Jews have made? (Bugenhagen).—And to all that are afar, etc.—However distant the heart may be from God, it can nevertheless hear his voice. (Starke).—God is still willing to call men unto himself, and he has still room for all who come to him, Luk_14:21. (Lindheim).

Act_2:40. And with many other words did he testify and exhort.—Testifying and exhorting belong together. Our exhortations must be founded on God’s word and testimony, and the divine testimony must be applied to the hearts of our hearers through the medium of our exhortations. (Apost. Past.).—Save yourselves, etc.—No result is produced by the operations of the Holy Ghost, as long as the soul resigns itself to the corrupting influences of society; Christians are required to shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, and to sever every tie that attaches them to a sinful world. (Apost. Past.).—True conversion to God implies an entire separation from the creature. Avoid the company of the corrupt; it is better for thee to dwell in solitude, than to be found in the congregation of the wicked. (Quesnel).

Act_2:41. Then they…received the word.—A prompt acceptance of the word is the beginning of true conversion. (Starke).—Salvation or damnation may be the consequence of a single sermon or exhortation that was accepted or rejected, (id.).—Were baptized.—They were delivered through the means of this saving flood from theperverse generation which was given over to destruction, and were added to the assembly of those who were gathered together in the true ark of salvation; 1Pe_3:20 f. (Besser).—Were added…souls.—This was an amazing draught of fishes on the part of Peter. (Apost. Past.).—If the apostles had made Holy Baptism, which is the true door of the kingdom of heaven, narrower, by instituting a baptismal examination, as those deluded spirits do, who degrade the Sacrament of Baptism to the rank of an exhibition of certificates of their full-grown “believers” (“it would be dreadful,” says Luther, “if I should be baptized on my faith”), then these three thousand could never have been added on the same day. (Besser).

ON THE WHOLE SECTION, Act_2:37-41. The Christian’s way of salvation: it is a life spent, I. In repentance toward God [Act_20:21], our Father in Christ; II. In faith toward the Son of God, our Redeemer; III. And sustained by the power of the Holy Ghost. (Leonh.).

The gracious work of the triune God: I. The Father decrees man’s redemption, in eternal love; II. The Son completes the work, in voluntary obedience; III. The Spirit appropriates that salvation to us through the Word and the Sacraments, in repentance and faith. (Leonh. and Sp.).

Repentance unto life [Act_11:18]: I. Repentance first of all produces deep grief (sorrow for sin); II. Then, it conducts to true blessedness (remission of sins); III. And the heart, strengthened anew by the message of peace, serves the Lord without ceasing, (ib.).

The effect produced by the apostolic discourse, an evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the Apostles.

What are the results of the faithful preaching of the Gospel? I. Deep feeling in the heart; II. Determination of the will.

Only be thou not so moved, that thou movest not from the place! The vital question: ‘What shall we do?’ The vast difference between the answer of John the Baptist, and that of the apostles of Jesus, to the same question: ‘What shall we do?’ Comp. Luk_3:10 ff. There, the Law, here the Gospel. The evangelical order of salvation, that is, calling, illumination, conversion, justification, renewal or sanctification. The Word and the Sacraments, the indispensable means of grace. Repentance and the remission of sins, both in the name of Jesus Christ; Act_2:38, and comp. Luk_24:47. The gift of the Holy Ghost, a general promise. The kingdom of God with its promises and blessings, governed by the law of progress. The wonders of the divine call: I. It exercises vast power, and is nevertheless consistent with the liberty of man; II. It embraces all things, and is nevertheless characterized by a gradual advance.

The opposite effects of conversion: I. It excludes, Act_2:40; II. It unites, Act_2:41. (Lechler).

The discourse on the day of Pentecost, addressed by the Spirit to the whole world: the office of the Spirit, manifested, I. In instructing, (Act_2:32; Act_2:37); II. In convincing of sin (Act_2:38); III. In consoling (Act_2:38-39). (C. Beck: Hom. Rep.).

Who is it that receives the Holy Ghost? I. All men may and should receive the gift; II. But it is bestowed on those alone who repent and believe. (Kapff.).

I, too, I. Can be baptized with the Holy Ghost; II. Such is my duty; III. And my desire. (Pressel).

The first sermon, and the first baptism. (Palmer).

It still continues to be the office of the Church of Christ, I. To receive from Christ; from the Holy Ghost; II. To possess fellowship; the Word; the Sacraments; III. To impart to those who repent and believe. (Beck: Hom. Rep.).

The Pentecostal, I. Question; II. Answer; III. Life. (Hamm.).

The effusion of the Holy Ghost, the act, and the glorification, of our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Haackh.).

The Pentecostal sermon of the Apostle, the testimony of the Holy Spirit delivered through the medium of the spirit of a man (Act_2:32; Act_2:41); I. It honors God; II. Instructs men; III. Convinces those who seek salvation; IV. Establishes and extends the Church. (Florey).

The gift of the Holy Ghost: I. How is the desire for it awakened in the heart? II. When is the heart prepared to receive it? III. What effects does it produce in us? (O. v. Gerlach).

The building up of the holy Pentecostal temple in the world and Christendom (in the Old Test, the counterpart the building of the tower of Babel; the type the building of Solomon’s temple); I. The preparations for building; II. The master who directs; III. The materials; IV. The plan; V. The completion of the building. (With references to the entire passage; A. Schmidt: Predigtstudien).

What shall I do, that I may receive the gift of the Holy Ghost? I. Look up, in faith, to the Son of God; he sends that gift from his throne in heaven, Act_2:33; II. Smite upon thy breast in sorrow, and see that thou repentest, Act_2:38; III. Attach thyself to the people of the Lord, and separate thyself from the worldly-minded, Act_2:38-40.

ON THE WHOLE PENTECOSTAL NARRATIVE.

The events of the day of Pentecost continue to occur even in our age, in order that the Christian Church may be sustained and extended: I. The commemoration of the wonderful works of God in different tongues, Act_2:11; II. The piercing of the heart, Act_2:37; III. The harmony of believers, and their steadfast continuance in the apostles’ doctrine, in breaking of bread, and in prayers, Act_2:1; Act_2:42 ff. (Schleiermacher).

How does the Holy Ghost in our day preserve and extend the Church? I. By proclaiming the wonderful works of God; II. By the powerful awakening of the minds of men; III. By the use of the appointed means of salvation. (Schütz).

It is the Spirit whose divine power creates man anew: I. He breathes into man a new breath of life, Act_2:2-4; II. Opens his mouth for the praise of God, Act_2:6-11; III. Brings loving companions to him [Gen_2:22]; Gen_2:14-21; Genesis 37-41.

“To us, O Holy Spirit, come!” Grant us, I. True repentance, Act_2:37-38; II. A joyful faith, Act_2:38-39; III. Brotherly love, Act_2:41 ff.

The festival of Pentecost, a spiritual vernal festival: I. The breezes of Spring the sound, as of a rushing wind, and the still, small voice from heaven, Act_2:2-4; II. The voices of Spring the animated voices of the apostles, praising the wonderful works of God, Act_2:6-11; Act_2:14 ff., and the trembling voices of awakened men, inquiring for the way of salvation, Act_2:37 ff.; III. The blossoms of Spring childlike faith, and brotherly love, Act_2:41 ff.

The wonderful draught of Peter, the fisher of men. [Mat_4:19]. (“Fear not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men,” Luk_5:10.): I. The deep sea before him (“Launch out into the deep,” Luk_5:4)

the agitated multitude of people in Jerusalem, Act_2:5-13, and, indeed, the vast sea of mankind, Act_2:39; II. The good net which he casts (“Cast the net on the right side” [Joh_21:6])

his discourse concerning Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Risen One, delivered with an earnestness that rebuked, and a love that melted, the heart, Act_2:14-40; III. The successful draught (“they enclosed a great multitude of fishes” [Luk_5:6]) on that day about three thousand souls at once, Act_2:41. And to-day, here, among you is there not perhaps such a soul here?

Footnotes:

[20]Act_2:41. ἀσμένως follows οὖν in the text. rec. [as in E. Syr.]. But it is a later addition, intended to add to the force of the text, and is wanting in important MSS. [in A. B. C. D., Cod. Sin.,] in ancient versions [Vulg., etc.,] and Church Fathers; hence Lachm. and Tisch. [and Alf.] cancel it.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Acts

PETER’S FIRST SERMON

Act 2:32 - Act 2:47.

This passage may best be dealt with as divided into three parts: the sharp spear-thrust of Peter’s closing words {Act 2:32 - Act 2:36}, the wounded and healed hearers {Act 2:37 - Act 2:41}, and the fair morning dawn of the Church {Act 2:42 - Act 2:47}.

I. Peter’s address begins with pointing out the fulfilment of prophecy in the gift of the Spirit {Act 2:14 - Act 2:21}.

It then declares the Resurrection of Jesus as foretold by prophecy, and witnessed to by the whole body of believers {Act 2:22 - Act 2:32}, and it ends by bringing together these two facts, the gift of the Spirit and the Resurrection and Ascension, as effect and cause, and as establishing beyond all doubt that Jesus is the Christ of prophecy, and the Lord on whom Joel had declared that whoever called should be saved. We now begin with the last verse of the second part of the address.

Observe the significant alternation of the names of ‘Christ’ and ‘Jesus’ in Act 2:31 - Act 2:32. The former verse establishes that prophecy had foretold the Resurrection of the Messiah, whoever he might be; the latter asserts that ‘this Jesus’ has fulfilled the prophetic conditions. That is not a thing to be argued about, but to be attested by competent witnesses. It was presented to the multitude on Pentecost, as it is to us, as a plain matter of fact, on which the whole fabric of Christianity is built, and which itself securely rests on the concordant testimony of those who knew Him alive, saw Him dead, and were familiar with Him risen.

There is a noble ring of certitude in Peter’s affirmation, and of confidence that the testimony producible was overwhelming. Unless Jesus had risen, there would neither have been a Pentecost nor a Church to receive the gift. The simple fact which Peter alleged in that first sermon, ‘whereof we all are witnesses,’ is still too strong for the deniers of the Resurrection, as their many devices to get over it prove.

But, a listener might ask, what has this witness of yours to do with Joel’s prophecy, or with this speaking with tongues? The answer follows in the last part of the sermon. The risen Jesus has ascended up; that is inseparable from the fact of resurrection, and is part of our testimony. He is ‘exalted by,’ or, perhaps, at, ‘the right hand of God.’ And that exaltation is to us the token that there He has received from the Father the Spirit, whom He promised to send when He left us. Therefore it is He-’this Jesus’-who has ‘poured forth this,’-this new strange gift, the tokens of which you see flaming on each head, and hear bursting in praise from every tongue.

What triumphant emphasis is in that ‘He’! Peter quotes Joel’s word ‘pour forth.’ The prophet had said, as the mouthpiece of God, ‘I will pour forth’; Peter unhesitatingly transfers the word to Jesus. We must not assume in him at this stage a fully-developed consciousness of our Lord’s divine nature, but neither must we blink the tremendous assumption which he feels warranted in making, that the exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God meant His exercising the power which belonged to God Himself.

In Act 2:34, he stays for a moment to establish by prophecy that the Ascension, of which he had for the first time spoken in Act 2:33, is part of the prophetic characteristics of the Messiah. His demonstration runs parallel with his preceding one as to the Resurrection. He quotes Psa 110:1 - Psa 110:7, which he had learned to do from his Master, and just as he had argued about the prediction of Resurrection, that the dead Psalmist’s words could not apply to himself, and must therefore apply to the Messiah; so he concludes that it was not ‘David’ who was called by Jehovah to sit as ‘Lord’ on His right hand. If not David, it could only be the Messiah who was thus invested with Lordship, and exalted as participator of the throne of the Most High.

Then comes the final thrust of the spear, for which all the discourse has been preparing. The Apostle rises to the full height of his great commission, and sets the trumpet to his mouth, summoning ‘all the house of Israel,’ priests, rulers, and all the people, to acknowledge his Master. He proclaims his supreme dignity and Messiahship. He is the ‘Lord’ of whom the Psalmist sang, and the prophet declared that whoever called on His name should be saved; and He is the Christ for whom Israel looked.

Last of all, he sets in sharp contrast what God had done with Jesus, and what Israel had done, and the barb of his arrow lies in the last words, ‘whom ye crucified.’ And this bold champion of Jesus, this undaunted arraigner of a nation’s crimes, was the man who, a few weeks before, had quailed before a maid-servant’s saucy tongue! What made the change? Will anything but the Resurrection and Pentecost account for the psychological transformation effected in him and the other Apostles?

II. No wonder that ‘they were pricked in their heart’!

Such a thrust must have gone deep, even where the armour of prejudice was thick. The scene they had witnessed, and the fiery words of explanation, taken together, produced incipient conviction, and the conviction produced alarm. How surely does the first glimpse of Jesus as Christ and Lord set conscience to work! The question, ‘What shall we do?’ is the beginning of conversion. The acknowledgment of Jesus which does not lead to it is shallow and worthless. The most orthodox accepter, so far as intellect goes, of the gospel, who has not been driven by it to ask his own duty in regard to it, and what he is to do to receive its benefits, and to escape from his sins, has not accepted it at all.

Peter’s answer lays down two conditions: repentance and baptism. The former is often taken in too narrow a sense as meaning sorrow for sin, whereas it means a change of disposition or mind, which will be accompanied, no doubt, with ‘godly sorrow,’ but is in itself deeper than sorrow, and is the turning away of heart and will from past love and practice of evil. The second, baptism, is ‘in the name of Jesus Christ,’ or more accurately, ‘upon the name,’-that is, on the ground of the revealed character of Jesus. That necessarily implies faith in that Name; for, without such faith, the baptism would not be on the ground of the Name. The two things are regarded as inseparable, being the inside and the outside of the Christian discipleship. Repentance, faith, baptism, these three, are called for by Peter.

But ‘remission of sins’ is not attached to the immediately preceding clause, so as that baptism is said to secure remission, but to the whole of what goes before in the sentence. Obedience to the requirements would bring the same gift to the obedient as the disciples had received; for it would make them disciples also. But, while repentance and baptism which presupposed faith were the normal, precedent conditions of the Spirit’s bestowal, the case of Cornelius, where the Spirit was given before baptism, forbids the attempt to link the rite and the divine gift more closely together.

The Apostle was eager to share the gift. The more we have of the Spirit, the more shall we desire that others may have Him, and the more sure shall we be that He is meant for all. So Peter went on to base his assurance, that his hearers might all possess the Spirit, on the universal destination of the promise. Joel had said, ‘on all flesh’; Peter declares that word to point downwards through all generations, and outwards to all nations. How swiftly had he grown in grasp of the sweep of Christ’s work! How far beneath that moment of illumination some of his subsequent actions fell!

We have only a summary of his exhortations, the gist of which was earnest warning to separate from the fate of the nation by separating in will and mind from its sins. Swift conviction followed the Spiri-given words, as it ever will do when the speaker is filled with the Holy Spirit, and has therefore a tongue of fire. Three thousand new disciples were made that day, and though there must have been many superficial adherents, and none with much knowledge, it is perhaps not fanciful to see in Luke’s speaking of them as ‘souls’ a hint that, in general, the acceptance of Jesus as Messiah was deep and real. Not only were three thousand ‘names’ added to the hundred and twenty, but three thousand souls.

III. The fair picture of the morning brightness, so soon overclouded, so long lost, follows.

First, the narrative tells how the raw converts were incorporated in the community, and assimilated to its character. They, too, ‘continued steadfastly’ {Act 1:14}. Note the four points enumerated: ‘teaching,’ which would be principally instruction in the life of Jesus and His Messianic dignity, as proved by prophecy; ‘fellowship,’ which implies community of disposition and oneness of heart manifested in outward association; ‘breaking of bread,’-that is, the observance of the Lord’s Supper; and ‘the prayers,’ which were the very life-breath of the infant Church {Act 1:14}. Thus oneness in faith and in love, participation in the memorial feast and in devotional acts bound the new converts to the original believers, and trained them towards maturity. These are still the methods by which a sudden influx of converts is best dealt with, and babes in Christ nurtured to full growth. Alas! that so often churches do not know what to do with novices when they come in numbers.

A wider view of the state of the community as a whole closes the chapter. It is the first of several landing-places, as it were, on which Luke pauses to sum up an epoch. A reverent awe laid hold of the popular mind, which was increased by the miraculous powers of the Apostles. The Church will produce that impression on the world in proportion as it is manifestly filled with the Spirit. Do we? The s-called community of goods was not imposed by commandment, as is plain from Peter’s recognition of Ananias’ right to do as he chose with his property. The facts that Mark’s mother, Mary, had a house of her own, and that Barnabas, her relative, is specially signalised as having sold his property, prove that it was not universal. It was an irrepressible outcrop of the brotherly feeling that filled all hearts. Christ has not come to lay down laws, but to give impulses. Compelled communism is not the repetition of that oneness of sympathy which effloresced in the bright flower of this common possession of individual goods. But neither is the closed purse, closed because the heart is shut, which puts to shame so much profession of brotherhood, justified because the liberality of the primitive disciples was not by constraint nor of obligation, but willing and spontaneous.

Act 2:46 - Act 2:47 add an outline of the beautiful daily life of the community, which was, like their liberality, the outcome of the feeling of brotherhood, intensified by the sense of the gulf between them and the crooked generation from which they had separated themselves. Luke shows it on two sides. Though they had separated from the nation, they clung to the Temple services, as they continued to do till the end. They had not come to clear consciousness of all that was involved in their discipleship, It was not God’s will that the new spirit should violently break with the old letter. Convulsions are not His way, except as second-best. The disciples had to stay within the fold of Israel, if they were to influence Israel. The time of outward parting between the Temple and the Church was far ahead yet.

But the truest life of the infant Church was not nourished in the Temple, but in the privacy of their homes. They were one family, and lived as such. Their ‘breaking bread at home’ includes both their ordinary meals and the Lord’s Supper; for in these first days every meal, at least the evening meal of every day, was hallowed by having the Supper as a part of it. Each meal was thus a religious act, a token of brotherhood, and accompanied with praise. Surely then ‘men did eat angels’ food,’ and on platter and cup was written ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ The ideal of human fellowship was realised, though but for a moment, and on a small scale. It was inevitable that divergences should arise, but it was not inevitable that the Church should depart so far from the brief brightness of its dawn. Still the sweet concordant brotherhood of these morning hours witnesses what Christian love can do, and prophesies what shall yet be and shall not pass.

No wonder that such a Church won favour with all the people! We hear nothing of its evangelising activity, but its life was such that, without recorded speech, multitudes were drawn into so sweet a fellowship. If we were like the Pentecostal Christians, we should attract wearied souls out of the world’s Babel into the calm home where love and brotherhood reigned, and God would ‘add’ to us ‘day by day those that were being saved.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 7

THE FIRSTFRUITS OF PENTECOST.

Act_2:37-39

THE sermon of St. Peter on the day of Pentecost and the sermons of our Lord present a striking contrast. Our Lords sermons were of various kinds; they were at times consoling, yet full of instruction and direction. Such, for instance, was the Sermon on the Mount. At other times His discourses were stern and full of sharp reproof. Such was His teaching in His parting addresses to the Jews delivered in the Temple, recorded in the synoptic Gospels. Yet they apparently failed, for the time at least, in producing any great practical results. In fact, His Temple discourses served only to irritate His foes, and arouse their hostility.

St. Peter delivered a sermon on the day of Pentecost which was quite as stern and quite as calculated to irritate, and yet that discourse was crowned with results exceeding those ever achieved by our Lord, though His discourses far surpassed St. Peters in literary skill, in spiritual meaning, in eternal significance and value. Whence came this fact? It simply happened in fulfilment of Christs own prophecy recorded by St. John, where He predicts that His Apostles shall achieve greater works than He had achieved, "because I go unto the Father." {Joh_14:12} The departure of Christ into the true Holy of Holies opened the channel of communication between the eternal Father and the waiting Church; the Spirit was poured out through Christ as the channel, and the result was conviction and conversion; leading the people to cry out, in response to St. Peters simple statement of facts, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

I. One of the first qualifications absolutely necessary, if a man is to write history tellingly and sympathetically, is a historical imagination. Unless a man can, from a multitude of separate and often independent details, reconstruct the past, realise it vividly for himself, and then depict it with life and force to his readers, he will utterly fail as a historian. The same historical imagination is needed, too, if we wish to realise the full force of the circumstances we are considering. It is hard even for those who do possess such an imagination to throw themselves back into all the circumstances and surroundings of the Apostles at Pentecost; but when we succeed in doing so, then all these circumstances can only be explained on the supposition-the orthodox and catholic supposition-that there must have happened a supernatural occurrence, and that there must have been granted a supernatural power and blessing on the day of Pentecost.

The courage of St. Peter when preaching his sermon is, as we have already noticed, a proof of the descent of the Spirit. The resurrection of his Master had doubtless inspired him with all the power of a new idea. But St. Peters history, both before the day of Pentecost and after it, amply proved that mere intellectual conviction could be united with grievous moral cowardice. We cannot doubt, for instance, that St. Peter was intellectually convinced of the justice of the Gentile claims, and their right to a full equality with the Jews, when St. Paul felt compelled to withstand him at Antioch. Yet he was possessed with no such spiritual enthusiasm on the question as that which moved St. Paul or else he never would have fallen into such lamentable hypocrisy as he displayed on that occasion. The gift of the Spirit was needed by St. Peter before an intellectual conviction could be transformed into an overwhelming spiritual movement which swept every obstacle from its path. Again, the conduct of the people is a proof of the descent of the Spirit. St. Peter assails their actions, charges upon them the murder of the Messiah, and proclaims the triumph of Christ over all their machinations. Yet they listen quietly, respectfully, without opposition, as mobs do not usually listen to speeches running counter to their prejudices. Some wondrous phenomena such as the gift of tongues, combined with divinely persuasive eloquence, flinging the aegis of their protection over the preachers defenceless person, must have so struck the minds of these fanatical Jews as to keep them quiet while St. Peter spoke. But the result of St. Peters speech was the chiefest evidence that something extraordinary must have happened at Jerusalem in the earliest days of the Churchs history. Secular history tells us, as well as the sacred narrative, that Christianity rose again from what seemed its grave at the very spot where, and at the very moment when, the crucifixion had apparently extinguished it for ever.

The evidence of the historian Tacitus is conclusive upon this point. He lived and flourished all through the time when St. Pauls ministry was most active. He was born about the year 50, and had every opportunity of becoming acquainted with the facts concerning the execution of Christ and the rise of Christianity, as they were doubtless laid up in the imperial archives at Rome. His testimony, written at a period when, as some maintain, neither the Acts of the Apostles nor the Gospels of the New Testament were in existence, exactly tallies with the account given by our sacred books. In his "Annals," book 15. chap. 44, he writes concerning Christianity: "Christus, from whom the name of Christian has its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out in Judaea." So that the pagan historian who knew nothing about Christianity save what official pagan documents or popular report told him, agrees with the Scriptures that Christianity was checked for a moment by the death of its founder, and then gained its earliest and most glorious triumph on the very scene of its apparent defeat where-and this is a very important part of the argument-previously the most marvellous wisdom and the most striking signs and wonders had utterly failed to gain any large measure of success. Whence, then, can we explain this fact, or how account for this conscience-stricken cry, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" unless we assume what the narrative of our text declares, that the Holy Ghost, in all His convincing and converting power, had been poured out from on high?

And surely our own personal experience daily corroborates this view. There may be intellectual, conviction and controversial triumph without any spiritual enthusiasm. Sermons may be clever, powerful, convincing, and yet, unless the Spirits power be sought, and an unction from on high be vouchsafed, no spiritual harvest can be expected. St. Peters sermon, if viewed from a human standpoint, could no more have been expected to succeed than the Masters. The one new element, however, which now entered into the combination, explains the difference. The Spirit was now given, and men therefore hearkened to the servant where they had turned a deaf ear to the Master. It is a lesson much needed for our generation, especially in the case of the young, and in our Sunday-school system. The religious instruction of youth is much more carefully looked after than it used to be. Primers, handbooks, elementary commentaries, catechists manuals, are published in profusion, and many think that provided a Sunday or day school distinguishes itself in the examination list, which is now the one great educational test, religious knowledge has been secured. The contrast between St. Peters success and our Lords failure warns us that there is a vast difference between religious life and religious knowledge. The most irreligious people, the most bitter opponents of Christianity, have been produced by schools and systems where religious knowledge was literally crammed down the throats of the children in a hard, mechanical, unloving style. But let there be no mistake. I do not object to organised religious instruction. I think, in fact, that a vast amount of Sunday-school teaching is utterly worthless for want of such organisation. Our Sunday-school system will, in fact, be thoroughly inefficient, if not useless, as a system, till every Sunday-school has its teachers meeting presided over by a competent instructor, who will carefully teach the teachers themselves in a well-ordered, systematic course. But after all this has been done, we must still remember that Christianity is something more than a system of doctrine, or a Divine scheme of philosophy, which can be worked up like Aristotles "Ethics" or Mills "Logic." Christianity is a Divine power, a power which must be sought in faith, in humiliation, and in prayer; and till the Holy Ghost be duly honoured, and His presence be humbly sought, the finest system and the most elaborate organisations will be found devoid of any fruitful life and vigour.

II. There are many other points of interest in this passage; let us take them one by one as they offer themselves. The people, seized by conviction and in acute pain of conscience, cried out, "What shall we do?" St. Peter replied, "Repent, and be baptised." Repent is the Apostles first rule, -contrasting very strongly with some modern systems which have been devised on a plan very different from that of our Lord and of His Apostles. The preaching of the New Testament is ever the same. John the Baptist came, and his teaching was briefly summed up thus, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." John was removed, and Christ came. The light ceased to shine, and then the true light stood revealed; but the teaching was the same, and the Messiah still proclaims, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The system of teaching to which I refer parries the force of our Lords example, as well as of the Baptists words, by saying, that was the old dispensation. Till Christ died, the new covenant did not come into force, and therefore Christ taught in His public ministry merely as a Jew, speaking on Jewish grounds to Jews. But let us see whether such an explanation, which makes void our Lords personal teachings and commands, is tenable. A reference, to this passage sufficiently settles this point. The Master departs and the Spirit is outpoured, and still the apostolic and inspired teaching is just the same. The cry of the multitude, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" produces, from the illuminated Apostle, the same response, "Repent," coupled with a new requirement, "Be baptised, every one of you, for the remission of sins." And the same message has ever since continued to be the basis of all real spiritual work. Simon Magus is found by St. Peter with his mind intellectually convinced, but with his affections untouched and his heart spiritually dead. To Simon Magus Peter delivers the same message, "Repent of this thy wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." John Wesley was one of the greatest evangelists that ever lived and worked for God. During the whole sixty years of his continuous labours, from the time when he taught his pupils in Oxford College and the prisoners in Oxford jail down to the last sermon that he preached, his ministry and teaching were modelled upon that of the New Testament, -it was ever a preaching of repentance. He counted it utterly useless and hopeless to preach the comforts of the gospel before he had made men feel and wince beneath the terrors of the law and the sense of offended justice. Modern times have seen, however, a strange perversion of the gospel method, and some have taught that repentance was not to be urged or even mentioned to Christian congregations.

This is one of the leading points which the Plymouth Brethren specially press in the course of their destructive and guerilla-like assaults upon the communions of reformed-Christendom. The apostolic doctrine of repentance finds no place in their scheme; while again their teaching on this subject, or something very like it, is often reproduced, all unconsciously, it may be, by the conductors of those mission services so common throughout the country. It is as hard now to preserve a just balance in teaching, as it was in the days of St. Paul and St. James. It is no easy matter so to preach repentance as not to discourage the truly humble soul; so to proclaim Gods forgiving love as not to encourage presumption and carelessness.

I have said, indeed, that the doctrine of the Plymouth body on this point is a modern one. It is modern, indeed, when compared with the genuine teaching of the New Testament; but still it is, in fact, ancient, for it dates back to the Antinomians, who, two hundred and fifty years ago, created a great sensation among the Puritan divines. A brief historical narrative will prove this. The sermons of Dr. Tobias Crisp and Fishers "Marrow-of Modern Divinity" are books whose very titles are now forgotten, and yet the diligent student will there find all those ideas about repentance, justification, and assurance which are now produced as marvellous new truths, though reprobated two centuries ago as earnestly by Churchmen like Bull, Beveridge, and Stillingfleet, as by Howe, and Baxter, and Williams among the Nonconformists and Puritans. The denial of the necessity for Christian repentance was based, by the logical Antinomians of the olden time, upon the theory that Christ bore in His own person the literal sins of the elect; so that an elect person has nothing whatsoever to do with his sins save assure himself by an act of faith, that his sins were forgiven and rendered completely non-existent eighteen hundred years ago.

The formula which they delight in and I have heard used, even by Churchmen, is this: "Believe that you are saved, and then you are saved." The result of this teaching in every age, wherever it has appeared, is not far to seek. The main stress of all Christian effort is devoted not to the attainment of likeness to Christ, or that pursuit of holiness without which the beatific vision of God is impossible. The great point urged by this party in every age is the supreme importance of assurance which they identify with saving faith. Therefore it is that they discourage, aye, and go farther, utterly reject, all teaching of repentance. The words of one of those old writers put the matter in its simplest form. In the reign of James II and William III there arose a great controversy in London touching this very point. Dr. Williams, the founder of the well-known library in Grafton Street, London, was the leader on one side, while the sermons of Tobias Crisp were the rallying-point on the other. Williams and Baxter maintained the importance of repentance and the absolute necessity of good works for salvation. On the opposite side, the views and doctrines which we have seen pressed in modern times were explicitly stated, but with far more fearlessness and logical power than are ever now used. Here are a few of the propositions which Dr. Williams felt himself bound to refute. I shall give them at some length, that my readers may see how ancient is this heresy. "The elect are discharged from all their sins by the act of God laying their sins upon Christ on the cross, and consequently that the elect upon the death of Christ ceased to be sinners, and ever since sins committed by them are none of their sins, they are the sins of Christ." Again, the Antinomians taught, in language often still reproduced, "Men have nothing to do in order to salvation, nor is sanctification a jot the way of any person to heaven. Nor can the duties and graces of the elect, nor even faith itself, do them the least good or prevent the least evil; while, on the other hand, the grossest sins which the elect commit cannot do them the least harm, nor ought they to fear the least hurt from their own sins." While again, coming still closer to the point on which we have been insisting, they declared, according to Dr. Williams, that "the covenant of grace hath no condition to be performed on mans part, even though in the strength of Christ. Neither is faith itself the condition of this covenant, but all the saving benefits of this covenant actually and really belong to the elect before they are born, yea, and even against their will"; while as to the nature of faith, they taught "that saving faith is nothing else but our persuasion or absolute concluding within ourselves that our sins are pardoned, and that Christ is ours." Hence they derived a dogma of their own, directly and plainly contradictory of the teaching of the New Testament on the subject of repentance, "that Christ is offered to blasphemers, murderers, and the worst of sinners, that they, remaining ignorant, unconvinced, and resolved in their purpose to continue such, may be assured they have a full interest in Christ; and this by only concluding in their own minds that Christ is theirs." It is plain to any one fully acquainted with modern religious thought, that all the special doctrines of Plymouthism concerning justification, repentance, and faith, are involved in the statements which Dr. Williams set himself to refute, and which he does refute most ably, in works long since consigned to the oblivion of our great libraries, though well worthy of careful study amid the troubles of the present age. Assurance, a present knowledge of a present salvation, present peace, these are the only topics pressed upon the unconverted. If the multitude at Jerusalem had asked the same question from our modern teachers which they asked from the Apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" the reply would have been, "Do you know you are saved? If not, believe that you are saved, believe that Jesus died for you." But not one of them would have given the apostolic reply, "Repent, and be baptised, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," because the doctrine of repentance and the value and use of the sacrament of baptism find no place in this new-fangled scheme.

III. "Repent, and be baptised, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." These words form the basis of a well-known clause in the Nicene Creed, which says, "I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins." They suggest in addition some very important discussions. The position which baptism occupies in apostolic teaching is worthy of careful notice. It is pressed upon the multitude as a present duty, and as a result there were three thousand persons baptised in that one day. It was just the same with Cornelius the centurion, and with the Philippian jailer whom St. Paul converted. Baptism did not then succeed a long course of preparatory training and instruction, as now is the case in the mission field. When men in apostolic times received the rudiments of the faith, the sacrament of baptism was administered, as being the channel or door of admission into Christs Church; and then, being once admitted into Gods house, it was firmly believed that the souls life would grow and develop at a vastly accelerated rate. A grave question here suggests itself, whether baptism of converts from paganism is not often too long delayed? The apostles evidently regarded the Church as a hospital where the wounds of the soul were to be healed, as a Divine school where the ignorance of the soul was to be dissipated, and therefore at once admitted the converts to the sacrament upon the profession of their rudimentary faith. The church soon reversed this process, and demanded an amount of spiritual knowledge and a development of spiritual life as the conditions of baptism, which should have been looked for as the result of admission within her sacred ranks, forgetful of that great missionary law laid down by the Master Himself, which places baptism first and teaching afterwards, "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." We freely admit that there may have been a quickened spiritual vitality, a stronger spiritual life, in the case of the earliest converts, enabling them in the course of a few hours to attain a spiritual level which demanded a more prolonged effort on the part of the later disciples. When we come to the times of the later apostolic age, and inquire from such a book as the lately-discovered "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," what the practice of the Church was then, we see that experience had taught a more regular, a less hasty course of action. The law of Baptism in the "Didache," as the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" is usually called, runs thus: "Now concerning baptism, thus baptise ye; having first uttered all these things, baptise into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in running water. But if thou hast not running water, baptise in other water; and if thou canst not in cold, then in warm. But if thou hast neither, pour water upon the head thrice, into the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let the baptiser and the baptised fast, and whatever others can; but the baptised thou shalt command to fast for one or two days before."

From these words it is plain that the immediate baptism of converts had ceased probably with the first organisation of the Church. A pause was instituted between the first conviction of the truth and the complete initiation which baptism involved, but not such a period of delay as the months and even years over which the preparation for baptism was subsequently spread. This delay of baptism sprang out of a mistaken view of this Divine sacrament. Men came to look on it as a charm, whereby not merely admission was obtained to the Divine society which our Lord had founded, but also as bringing with it a complete purgation from the sins of a careless life. Men postponed it, therefore, to the very last, so that all sins might be swept away at once. The Emperor Constantine was a good example of this mischievous extreme. He was a man who took a kind of interest in theological matters. Like our own King James I, he considered it his duty to settle the religious affairs of his empire, even as his predecessors had done in the days of paganism. He presided over Church councils, dictated Church formularies, and exercised the same control in the Church as in the State, being all the time unbaptised. He was scarce aught but a pagan too in disposition and temper. He retained pagan symbols, titles, and observances, and imbrued his hands, Herod-like, in the blood of his own family. Yet he delayed his baptism to the very last, under the notion that then there could be thus effected at one stroke the complete removal of the accumulated sins of a lifetime.

IV. The comparison of the passage just quoted from the "Teaching of the Apostles" with the words of my text suggest other topics. The Plymouth Brethren, at least in some of their numerous ramifications, and other sects, have grounded upon the words, "be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ," a tenet that baptism should not be conferred in the name of the Trinity, but in that of Jesus alone. It is indeed admitted that while our Lord commanded the use of the historic baptismal formula in the concluding words of St. Matthews Gospel, the formula itself is never expressly mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. Not merely on the day of Pentecost, but on several other occasions, Christian baptism is described as if the Trinitarian formula was unknown. In the tenth chapter Cornelius and his household are described as "baptised in the name of Jesus Christ." In the nineteenth chapter St. Paul converts a number of the Baptists disciples to a fuller and richer faith in Christ. They were at once "baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus." But a reference to the newly-discovered "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" explains the difficulty, offering an interesting example of the manner in which modern discoveries have helped to illustrate and confirm the Acts of the Apostles. In the "Didache," as in the Acts, the expression "baptism in the name of the Lord" is used. The "Didache" lays down with respect to the communion, "Let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist except those baptised into the name of the Lord." Yet this does not exclude the time-honoured formula of Christendom. The same apostolic manual lays down the rule, a little before this prohibition which we have just quoted, "Baptise into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," and then in the tenth chapter describes baptism thus administered in the threefold name, as baptism in the name of the Lord; and thus it was doubtless in the case of the Acts. For the sake of brevity St. Luke speaks of Christian baptism as baptism in the name of Christ, never dreaming at the same time that this was exclusive of the divinely appointed formula, as certain moderns have taught. The Acts of the Apostles, and the "Didache" prove their primitive character, and show that they deduce their origin from the same early epoch, because they both describe Christian baptism as performed in the name of Christ; and yet this fact does not exclude, according to either, the use of the threefold Name. It is evident that, whether in the Acts or in the "Didache," baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was regarded as baptism especially in the name of Jesus Christ, because while the Father and the Spirit were known to the Jews, the one new element introduced was that of the name of Jesus, whom God had made both Lord and Christ. Baptism in the Triune name was emphatically baptism in the name of the Lord. This passage, when compared with the "Didache," sheds light on another point. The mode wherein baptism should be administered has been a point often discussed. Some have maintained the absolutely binding and universal character of immersion; others have stood at the opposite extreme, and upheld the method of sprinkling. The Church of England, in union with the ancient Church, has laid down no hard-and-fast rule on the subject. She recognises immersion as the normal idea in a warm Eastern climate, but she allows pouring (not sprinkling) of water to be substituted for immersion, which has, as a matter of fact, taken the place in the Western Church of the more regular and ancient immersion. The construction of the ancient Churches, with their baptisteries surrounded with curtains, and the female assistants for the service of their own sex, amply proves that in the ancient Church, as to this day in the Eastern Church, baptism was ordinarily administered by immersion. The Church proved its Eastern origin by the mode wherein its initial sacrament was at first applied. But it also showed its power of adaptation to Western nations by allowing the alternative of pouring water when she dealt with the needs of a colder climate. Yet from the beginning the Church cannot have made the validity of her sacrament depend upon the quantity of water that was used. Take the cases reported in the Acts of the Apostles, or the rules prescribed in the apostolic manual, the "Didache." In the latter it is expressly said that pouring with water shall suffice if a larger quantity is not at hand. On the day of Pentecost it was clearly impossible to immerse three thousand persons in the city of Jerusalem. The Ethiopian eunuch baptised by St. Philip in the wilderness could not have been immersed. He came to a stream trickling along, scarce sufficient to lave his feet, or perhaps rather to a well in the desert; the water was deep down, and reached only, as in the case of Jacobs well, by a rope or chain. Even if the water could have been reached, common sense, not to speak of any higher motive, would have forbidden the pollution of an element so needful for human life. The baptism of the eunuch must have been by pouring or affusion, as must also have been the case with the Philippian jailer. The difficulties of the case are forgotten when people insist that immersion must necessarily have been the universal rule in ancient times. Men and women were baptised separately, deaconesses officiating in the case of the women. When immersion was used the men descended naked, or almost so, into the baptistery, which was often a building quite separate and distinct from the church, with elaborate arrangements for changing garments. The Church, in the days of earliest freedom and purity, left her children free in those points of minor detail, refusing to hamper herself or limit her usefulness by a restriction which would have equally barred entrance to her fold in the burning deserts or in the ice-bound regions of the frozen north, where baptism by immersion would have been equally impossible.

Again, the extent of the baptismal commission is indicated in this passage. "Make disciples of all the nations by baptism" are the words of our Lord. "Be baptised, every one of you, for the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off," is St. Peters application of this passage. St. Peters language admits of various interpretations. Like much of Scripture, the speaker, when uttering these words, meant probably one thing, while the words themselves mean something much wider, more catholic and universal. When Peter spake thus he proclaimed the worldwide character of Christianity, just as when he quoted the prophet Joels language he declared the mission of the Comforter in its most catholic aspect, embracing Gentiles as well as Jews. "I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh." But St. Peter never thought of the full scope of his words. He meant, doubtless, that the promise of pardon, and acceptance, and citizenship in the heavenly kingdom was to those Jews that-were present in Jerusalem, and to their children, and to all of the Jews of the dispersion scattered afar off amid the Gentiles. Had Peter thought otherwise, had he perceived the wider meaning of his words, he would have had no hesitation about the reception of the Gentiles, and the baptism of Cornelius would not have demanded a fresh revelation.

We often, indeed, invest the Apostles and the writers of Holy Scripture with an intellectual grasp of a supernatural kind, which prevents us recognising that growth in Divine knowledge which found place in them, as it found place in the Divine Master Himself. We silently vote them infallible on every topic, because the Spirits presence was abundantly vouchsafed. The inspiration they enjoyed guided their language, and led them to use words which, while expressing their own sentiments, admitted a deeper meaning and embraced a wider scope than the speaker intended. It was just the same with the Apostles words as with their conduct in other respects. The presence and inspiration of the Spirit did not make them sinless, did not destroy human infirmities. It did not destroy St. Peters moral cowardice, or St. Pauls hot temper, or St. Barnabas family partiality and nepotism; and neither did that presence illumine at once St. Peters natural prejudices and intellectual backwardness, which led him long to restrain the mercies and lovingkindness of the Lord to His ancient people, though here on the day of Pentecost we find him using language which plainly included the Gentiles as well as the Jews within the covenant of grace. A farther question concerning the language of St. Peter here arises. Do not his words indicate that children were fit subjects for baptism? Do they not justify the practice of infant baptism? I honestly confess that, apart from the known practice of the Jews, St. Peters language would not necessarily mean so much. But then when we take the known practice of the Jews into consideration; when we remember that St. Peter was speaking to a congregation composed of Jews of the dispersion, accustomed, in their own missionary work among the heathen, to baptise children as well as adults, we must admit that, in the absence of any prohibition to the contrary, the effect of the words of St. Peter upon his hearers must have been this; they would have acted when Christians as they had already done as Jews, and baptised proselytes of every age and condition on their admission to the Christian fold. (See Lightfoot, "Hor. Heb.," St. Matthew.) {Mat_3:6}

V. Such was St. Peters sermon on the day of Pentecost. The results of it in the unity of doctrine and discipline and the community of goods will come before us in subsequent chapters. One thought stands out prominent as we survey this second chapter. Here in very deed we find an ample fulfilment of our Lords promise to St. Peter which has been so completely misused and misunderstood, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven"; a passage which has been made one of the scriptural foundations of the monstrous claims of the See of Rome to an absolute supremacy alike over the Christian Church and over the individual conscience. In this respect, however, Scripture is its own best interpreter. Just reflect how it is in this matter. Christ first of all defines, in the celebrated series of parables related in the thirteenth of St. Matthew, what the kingdom of heaven is. It is the kingdom He had come to reveal, the society He was establishing, the Church and dispensation of which He is the Head and Chief. To St. Peter He gave the keys, or power of opening the doors, of this kingdom; and this office St. Peter duly executed. He opened the door of the kingdom of heaven to the Jews on the day of Pentecost, and to the Gentiles by the conversion and baptism of Cornelius. St. Peter himself recognised on one occasion the special Providence which watched over him in this matter. He points out, in his speech to the brethren gathered at the first council held at Jerusalem, that "a good while ago God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel"; a passage which seems a reminiscence of the earlier promise of Christ, which Peter must have so. well remembered, and a humble recognition of the glorious fulfilment which that promise had received at the Divine hand. The promise was a purely personal one peculiar to St. Peter, as purely personal as the revelation made to him on the housetop at Joppa, and as such received a complete fulfilment in the Churchs infant days. But Romes vaulting ambition would not be content with the fulfilment which satisfied St. Peter himself, and on this text has been built up a series of claims which, culminating in the celebrated traffic in indulgences, precipitated the great revolution involved in the German Reformation.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

2:37-38 Brothers, what should we do? Peter answered by strongly exhorting his listeners to repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized. See “Baptism” Theme Note.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 2:37. Κατενύγησαν, they were stung with compunction) So the LXX. render ויתעצבו κατενύγησαν, the men were stung with grief.—εἶπον, they said) The apostles used not to make an end of speaking before that their hearers had shown how they were affected. If the hearers in our day were to signify on the spot what were their feelings at heart, the edification of all would be much more sure and abundant.—τοὺς λοιποὺς, the rest) They perceived that the cause of the apostles was one joint and common cause.—[τί ποιήσωμεν; what shall we do?) The beginning of true conversion is made, when men have come to this question.—V. g.]—ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ, men brethren) They had not so spoken before.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_2:37. But after they heard it (what was said by Peter) they were pierced in the heart.

κατανύσσειν, in the figurative sense of painful emotion, which penetrates the heart as if stinging, is not found in Greek writers (who, however, use νύσσειν in a similar sense); but see LXX. Ps. 108:16: κατανενυγμένον τῇ καρδίᾳ, Gen_34:7, where κατενύγησαν is illustrated by the epexegesis: καὶ λυπηρὸν ἦν αὐτοῖς σφόδρα. Sir_14:1; Sir_12:12; Sir_20:21; Sir_47:21; Susann. 11 (of the pain of love). Compare also Luk_2:35. The hearers were seized with deep pain in their conscience on the speech of Peter, partly for the general reason that He whom they now recognised as the Messiah was murdered by the nation, partly for the more special reason that they themselves had not as yet acknowledged Him, or had been even among His adversaries, and consequently had not recognised and entered upon the only way of salvation pointed out by Peter.

On the figure of stinging, comp. Cic. de orat. iii. 34 (of Pericles): ut in eorum mentibus, qui audissent, quasi aculeos quosdam relinqueret.

τί ποιήσομεν] what shall we do? (Winer, p. 262 [E. T. 348].) The inquiry of a need of salvation surrendering itself to guidance. An opposite impression to that made by the discourse of Jesus in Nazareth, Luk_4:28.

ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί] an affectionate and respectful address from broken hearts already gained. Comp. on Act_1:16. Non ita dixerunt prius, Bengel.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 2:37 . κατενύγησαν τὴν καρδίαν : no word could better make known that the sting of the last word had begun to work (see Theophylact, in loco ) = compungo , so in Vulg. The word is not used in classical Greek in the same sense as here, but the simple verb νύσσειν is so used. In LXX the best parallels are Gen 34:7 , Ps. 108:16 (Psa 109:16 ): cf. Cicero, De Orat. , iii., 34. “Hoc pœenitentiæ initium est, hic ad pietatem ingressus, tristitiam ex peccatis nostris concipere ac malorum nostrorum sensu vulnerari … sed compunctioni accedere debet promptitudo ad parendum,” Calvin, in loco . τί ποιήσωμεν ; conj., delib., cf. Luk 3:10 ; Luk 3:12 ; Luk 3:14 , Mar 12:14 ; Mar 14:12 , Joh 12:27 , Mat 26:54 , Burton, Moods and Tenses of N. T. Greek , pp. 76, 126, and Viteau, Le Grec du N. T. , p. 28 ff. (1893). ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί : indicating respect and regard St. Peter’s address had not been in vain “ non ita dixerant prius ” Bengel; but now the words come as a response to St. Peter’s own appeal, Act 5:29 , cf. also Oecumenius, (so too Theophylact), καὶ οἰκειωτικῶς αὐτοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καλοῦσιν , οὒς πρώην ἐχλεύαζον . μετανοήσατε , Luk 24:47 . The Apostles began, as the Baptist began, Mat 3:2 , as the Christ Himself began, Mat 4:17 , Mar 1:15 , with the exhortation to repentance, to a change of heart and life, not to mere regret for the past. On the distinction between μετανοεῖν and μεταμέλομαι , see Trench, N. T. Synonyms , i., 208. Dr. Thayer remarks that the distinction drawn by Trench is hardly sustained by usage, but at the same time he allows that μετανοεῖν is undoubtedly the fuller and nobler term, expressive of moral action and issues, as is indicated by the fact that it is often employed in the imperative ( μεταμέλομαι never), and by its construction with ἀπό , ἐκ cf. also Act 20:31 , ἡ εἰς θεὸν μετάνοια (Synonyms in Grimm-Thayer, sub μεταμέλομαι ) Christian Baptism was not admission to some new club or society of virtue, it was not primarily a token of mutual love and brotherhood, although it purified and strengthened both, cf. Act 2:44 ff.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

pricked in their hearts--the begun fulfilment of Zac 12:10, whose full accomplishment is reserved for the day when "all Israel shall be saved" (see on Rom 11:26).

what shall we do?--This is that beautiful spirit of genuine compunction and childlike docility, which, discovering its whole past career to have been one frightful mistake, seeks only to be set right for the future, be the change involved and the sacrifices required what they may. So Saul of Tarsus (Act 9:6).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 37. When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart] This powerful, intelligent, consecutive, and interesting discourse, supported every where by prophecies and corresponding facts, left them without reply and without excuse; and they plainly saw there was no hope for them, but in the mercy of him whom they had rejected and crucified.

What shall we do?] How shall we escape those judgments which we now see hanging over our heads?

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

37. They were pricked in heart. Luke doth now declare the fruit of the sermon, to the end we may know that the power of the Holy Ghost was not only showed forth in the diversity of tongues, but also in their hearts which heard. And he noteth a double fruit; first, that they were touched with the feeling of sorrow; and, secondly, that they were obedient to Peter’s counsel. This is the beginning of repentance, this is the entrance unto godliness, to be sorry for our sins, and to be wounded with the feeling of our miseries. For so long as men are careless, they cannot take such heed unto doctrine as they ought. And for this cause the word of God is compared to a sword, (Hebrews 4:12,) because it doth mortify our flesh, that we may be offered to God for a sacrifice. But there must be added unto this pricking in heart readiness to obey. Cain and Judas were pricked in heart, but despair did keep them back from submitting themselves unto God, (Genesis 4:13; Matthew 27:3.) For the mind being oppressed with horror, can do nothing else but flee from God. And surely when David affirmeth that a contrite spirit and an humble heart is a sacrifice acceptable to God, he speaketh of voluntary pricking; forasmuch as there is fretting and fuming mixed with the prickings of the wicked. Therefore, we must take a good heart to us, and lift up our mind with this hope of salvation, that we may be ready to addict and give over ourselves unto God, and to follow whatsoever he shall command. We see many oftentimes pricked, who, notwithstanding, do fret and murmur, or else forwardly strive and struggle, and so, consequently, go furiously mad. Yea, this is the cause why they go mad, because they feel such prickings against their will. Those men, therefore, are profitably pricked alone who are willingly sorrowful, and do also seek some remedy at God’s hands.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(37) They were pricked in their heart.—The verb occurs here only in the New Testament, and expresses the sharp, painful emotion which is indicated in “compunction,” a word of kindred meaning. A noun derived from it, or possibly from another root, is used in Rom_11:8 in the sense of “slumber,” apparently as indicating either the unconsciousness that follows upon extreme pain, or simple drowsiness. In “attrition” and “contrition” we have analogous instances of words primarily physical used for spiritual emotions.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37–40. Effect of St Peter’s Sermon

37. pricked in their heart] stung with remorse at the enormity of the wickedness which had been committed in the Crucifixion, and at the blindness with which the whole nation had closed their eyes to the teaching of the prophecies which had spoken of the Messiah.

unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles] As specially the witnesses of the Resurrection and Ascension, and being the recognized heads of the new society.

Men and brethren] See Act_1:16, note.

what shall we do?] To escape the penalties which must fall on the nation that has so sinned against light and knowledge; who have had the true Light in their midst, but have comprehended it not, and have crucified the Lord of glory.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then Peter said unto them,.... Being the mouth of the apostles, and being ready to give advice, and speak a word of comfort to their distressed minds:

repent: change your minds, entertain other thoughts, and a different opinion of Jesus of Nazareth, than you have done; consider him, and believe in him, as the true Messiah and Saviour of the world; look upon him, not any more as an impostor, and a blasphemer, but as sent of God, and the only Redeemer of Israel; change your voice and way of speaking of him, and your conduct towards his disciples and followers; a change of mind will produce a change of actions in life and conversation: bring forth fruits meet for repentance; and make an open and hearty profession of repentance for this your sin. And this the apostle said, to distinguish between a legal and an evangelical repentance; the former is expressed in their being pricked to the heart, on which they were not to depend; the latter he was desirous they might have, and show forth; which springs from the love of God, is attended with views, or at least hopes of pardoning grace and mercy, and with faith in Christ Jesus: it lies in a true sight and sense of sin, under the illuminations and convictions of the Spirit of God; in a sorrow for it, after a godly sort, and because it is committed against a God of love, grace, and mercy, and it shows itself in loathing sin, and in shame for it, in an ingenuous acknowledgement of it, and in forsaking it: and this is moreover urged, to show the necessity of it, as to salvation, for such that God would not have perish, he will have come to repentance; so to their admission to the ordinance of baptism, to which repentance is a pre-requisite; and to which the apostle next advises:

and be baptized everyone of you; that repents and believes; that is, in water, in which John administered the ordinance of baptism; in which Christ himself was baptized, and in which the apostles of Christ administered it; in this Philip baptized the eunuch; and in this were the persons baptized that were converted in Cornelius's house; and it is distinguished from the baptism of the Spirit, or with fire, the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the last clause of this verse; and which ordinance of water baptism was administered by immersion, as the places, Jordan and Aenon, where John performed it, and the instances of it particularly in Christ, and in the eunuch, and the end of it, which is to represent the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, as well as the primary signification of the word, show. And this is to be done,

in the name of Jesus Christ; not to the exclusion of the Father, and of the Spirit, in whose name also this ordinance is to be administered, Mat 28:19 but the name of Jesus Christ is particularly mentioned, because of these Jews, who had before rejected and denied him as the Messiah; but now, upon their repentance and faith, they are to be baptized in his name, by his authority, according to his command; professing their faith in him, devoting themselves to him, and calling on his name. The end for which this was to be submitted to, is,

for the remission of sins; not that forgiveness of sin could be procured either by repentance, or by baptism; for this is only obtained by the blood of Christ; but the apostle advises these awakened, sensible, repenting, and believing souls, to submit to baptism, that by it their faith might be led to Christ, who suffered and died for their sins, who left them buried in his grave, and who rose again for their justification from them; all which is, in a most lively manner, represented in the ordinance of baptism by immersion: the encouragement to it follows,

and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: not the grace of the Spirit, as a regenerator and sanctifier; for that they had already; and is necessary, as previous to baptism; unless it should mean confirmation of that grace, and stability in it, as it appears from Act 2:42 they afterwards had; but rather the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, particularly the gift of speaking with tongues, which Christ had received from the Father, and had now shed on his apostles; see Act 19:5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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?

Ver. 37. They were pricked] Punctually pricked and pierced (κατενυγησαν). They felt the nails wherewith they had crucified Christ sticking fast in their own hearts, as so many sharp daggers or stings of scorpions, 2Co 12:7. Sin is set forth by a word that signifieth the head of a bearded arrow sticking in the flesh (σκολοψ). After Socrates was put to death at Athens, Aristophanes rehearsed a tragedy of his concerning Palamedes, who had been executed by the Grecians long before, at the siege of Troy. In this tragedy were these verses, {a}

"Ye have slain, ye have slain of Greeks the very best,

(All me) that never any did infest."

The people at the hearing of these lines were so moved that they presently fell upon the authors of Socrates’ death, and drew them forth to punishment. Oh, that we could be as nimble to apprehend and be avenged upon our sins, the cause of Christ’s death.

{a} Εκτανετε, εκτανετε αριστον των ‘Ελληνων, τον ανδιαν μηδενα βλαψαντα

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now when they heard this - When they heard this declaration of Peter, and this proof that Jesus was the Messiah. There was no fanaticism in his discourse; it was cool, close, pungent reasoning. He proved to them the truth of what he was saying, and thus prepared the way for this effect.

They were pricked in their heart - The word translated were “pricked,” κατενύγησαν katenugēsan, is not used elsewhere in the New Testament. It properly denotes “to pierce or penetrate with a needle, lancet, or sharp instrument”; and then “to pierce with grief, or acute pain of any kind.” It corresponds precisely to our word “compunction.” It implies also the idea of sudden as well as acute grief. In this case it means that they were suddenly and deeply affected with anguish and alarm at what Peter had said. The causes of their grief may have been these:

Their sorrow that the Messiah had been put to death by his own countrymen.

(2)Their deep sense of guilt in having done this. There would be mingled here a remembrance of ingratitude, and a consciousness that they had been guilty of murder of the most aggravated and horrid kind, that of having killed their own Messiah.

(3)The fear of his wrath. He was still alive; exalted to be theft Lord; and entrusted with all power. They were afraid of his vengeance; they were conscious that they deserved it; and they supposed that they were exposed to it.

(4)What they had done could not be undone. The guilt remained; they could not wash it out. They had imbrued theft hands in the blood of innocence, and the guilt of that oppressed their souls. This expresses the usual feelings which sinners have when they are convicted of sin.

Men and brethren - This was an expression denoting affectionate earnestness. Just before this they mocked the disciples, and charged them with being filled with new wine, Act 2:13. They now treated them with respect and confidence. The views which sinners have of Christians and Christian ministers are greatly changed when they are under conviction for sin. Before that they may deride and oppose them; then, they are glad to be taught by the obscurest Christian, and even cling to a minister of the gospel as if he could save them by his own power.

What shall we do? - What shall we do to avoid the wrath of this crucified and exalted Messiah? They were apprehensive of his vengeance, and they wished to know how to avoid it. Never was a more important question asked than this. It is the question which all convicted sinners ask. It implies an apprehension of danger, a sense of guilt, and a readiness to “yield the will” to the claims of God. This was the same question asked by Paul Act 9:6, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” and by the jailor Act 16:30 “He ...came, trembling, ...and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The state of mind in this case - the case of a convicted sinner - consists in:

A deep sense of the evil of the past life; remembrance of a thousand crimes perhaps before forgotten; a pervading and deepening conviction that the heart, and conversation, and life have been evil, and deserve condemnation. Apprehension about the justice of God; alarm when the mind looks upward to him, or onward to the day of death and judgment.

(3)An earnest wish, amounting sometimes to agony, to be delivered from this sense of condemnation and this apprehension of the future.

(4)A readiness to sacrifice all to the will of God; to surrender the governing purpose of the mind, and to do what he requires. In this state the soul is prepared to receive the offers of eternal life; and when the sinner comes to this, the offers of mercy meet his case, and he yields himself to the Lord Jesus, and finds peace.

In regard to this discourse of Peter, and this remarkable result, we may observe:

(1) That this is the first discourse which was preached after the ascension of Christ, and is a model which the ministers of religion should imitate.

(2) It is a clear and close argument. There is no ranting, no declamation, nothing but truth presented in a clear and striking manner. It abounds with proof of his main point, and supposes that his hearers were rational beings, and capable of being influenced by truth. Ministers have no right to address people as incapable of reason and thought, nor to imagine, because they are speaking on religious subjects, that therefore they are at liberty to speak nonsense.

(3) Though these were eminent sinners, and had added to the crime of murdering the Messiah that of deriding the Holy Spirit and the ministers of the gospel, yet Peter reasoned with them coolly, and endeavored to convince them of their guilt. People should be treated as endowed with reason, and as capable of seeing the force and beauty of the great truths of religion.

(4) The arguments of Peter were adapted to produce this effect on their minds, and to impress them deeply with the sense of their guilt. He proved to them that they had been guilty of putting the Messiah to death; that God had raised him up, and that they were now in the midst of the scenes which established one strong proof of the truth of what he was saying. No class of truths could have been so well adapted to make an impression of their guilt as these.

(5) Conviction for sin is a rational process on a sinner’s mind. It is the proper state produced by a view of past sins. It is suffering truth to make an appropriate impression; suffering the mind to feel as it ought to feel. The man who is guilty ought to be willing to see and confess it. It is no disgrace to confess an error, or to feel deeply when we know we are guilty. Disgrace consists in a hypocritical desire to conceal crime; in the pride that is unwilling to avow it; in the falsehood which denies it. To feel it and to acknowledge it is the mark of an open and ingenuous mind.

(6) These same truths are adapted still to produce conviction for sin. The sinner’s treatment of the Messiah should produce grief and alarm. He did not murder him, but he has rejected him; he did not crown him with thorns, but he has despised him; he did not insult him when hanging on the cross, but he has a thousand times insulted him since; he did not pierce his side with the spear, but he has pierced his heart by rejecting him and contemning his mercy. “For these things he should weep.” In the Saviour’s resurrection he has also a deep interest. He rose as the pledge that we may rise; and when the sinner looks forward, he should remember that he must meet the ascended Son of God. The Saviour reigns; he lives, Lord of all. The sinner’s deeds now are aimed at his throne, and his heart, and his crown. All his crimes are seen by his sovereign, and it is not safe to mock the Son of God on his throne, or to despise him who will soon come to judgment. When the sinner feels these truths he should tremble and cry out, What shall I do?

(7) We see here how the Spirit operates in producing conviction of sin. It is not in an arbitrary manner; it is in accordance with truth, and by the truth. Nor have we a right to expect that he will convict and convert people except as the truth is presented to their minds. They who desire success in the gospel should present clear, striking, and impressive truth, for such only God is accustomed to bless.

(8) We have in the conduct of Peter and the other apostles a striking instance of the power of the gospel. Just before, Peter, trembling and afraid, had denied his Master with an oath; now, in the presence of the murderers of the Son of God, he boldly charged them with their crime, and dared their fury. Just before, all the disciples forsook the Lord Jesus and fled; now, in the presence of his murderers, they lifted their voice and proclaimed their guilt and danger, even in the city where he had been just arraigned and put to death. What could have produced this change but the power of God? And is there not proof here that a religion which produces such changes came from heaven?

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They had compunction in their heart, with sorrow for their sins, especially against their Messias. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They were pricked in their heart; so great and true their grief, they were concerned as if they had been run through: (the pains the mind suffer are most acute): this was foretold, Zec 12:10.

Men and brethren; an ordinary compellation which the apostle had given them, Act 2:29.

What shall we do? not, What shall we say, or believe? Conversion, if real, goes further than profession, and is in heart and deed, not in speech and word only: they desire to know if there be any hope, that such sinners as they might obtain forgiveness of their sins.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

37. Pricked—Pierced to the heart. Remorse for their sin, and terror at its consequences from the triumphant Christ on high, are their struggling emotions. Even these devout Jews (Act_2:5) discover that the prophecies of the Testament, and all the forces of the old dispensation, are against them; that the great Messiah has truly come, but that, instead of being his friends, they are the foes beneath his feet.

What shall we do?—We, crucifiers of the Jesus who is now the glorified Lord and Christ.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The rest for to the rest, A.V.; brethren for men and brethren, A.V. Pricked in their heart (katenughsan). The LXX rendering of Psa_109:16 (15, Prayer-book), "broken," or "vexed at the heart." Gen_34:7 it is rendered "grieved." Unto Peter and the rest of the apostles. It is important to note from the beginning the relative position of Peter and the other apostles; a certain primacy and precedence, both in place and in action, he has undoubtedly. He is always named first, and he acts first, in preaching both to Jews and Gentiles. The keys are in his hands, and the door is first opened as he turns the lock. But it is equally clear that he is but one of the apostles; he is not set over them, but acts with them; he is not their superior, but their fellow; they are not eclipsed by his presence, but only animated by his example; inquirers after salvation do not ask at his mouth only, but of the whole college of the apostles. Brethren (see ver. 29). The Jews and Israelites now hold out the right hand of brotherhood to those whom before they reviled (ver. 13). What shall we do? It is a sign of the working of God"s Spirit in the heart, renewing it to repentance, when men feel the need of changing their old course of thought and action, and inquire anxiously what they must do to inherit eternal life. (comp. Mar_10:17; Act_9:6 Act_16:30)

Vers. 37-47. Holy baptism.

As the sermon preached by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost was the first sermon preached in the Church of God, so the baptism of which we have here an account was the first ministration of that sacrament. Our Lord"s last command to his apostles was, "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Mat_28:19; Mar_16:16; Act_1:5) and now for the first time that command was carried out. A few points of special interest and importance are brought out in the narrative of this first Christian baptism.

I ITS CLOSE CONNECTION WITH PREACHING. Here St. Peter preaches the Word with power, the hearers are pricked in their heart, and by his direction they are baptized, and so put in possession of the promised salvation. In like manner, in Mar_16:16, faith comes by hearing the gospel preached, and baptism is the complement of faith. The first baptism of Gentile believers that recorded in Act_10:48 was the fruit of St. Peter"s sermon to the house of Cornelius.

II ITS DISTINCTIVE FEATURE as the "one baptism for the remission of sins." So Ananias said to Saul, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins". (Act_22:16) And St. Paul teaches that we are baptized into the death of Christ, and so are freed from sin. And so in the Baptismal Service we pray that the water may be sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin, and that those who come to it may receive remission of their sins; and St. Peter speaks of those who turn away from the holy commandment delivered unto them as having forgotten that they were "purged from their old sins". (2Pe_1:9) The clement of water points distinctly to this characteristic feature of the sacrament of baptism, as appears in the prophecy of Ezekiel, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you". (Eze_36:25)

III THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH ON THE PART OF THE BAPTIZED, as it is written, "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ," where repentance is expressly named, and faith is necessarily implied in the phrase, being baptized "in the Name of Jesus Christ." And this is exactly the teaching of the Church in the Catechism, where the answer to the question, "What is required of persons to be baptized?" is, "Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and faith, whereby they steadfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that sacrament.

IV THE GREAT GIFT PROMISED TO THOSE WHO, HAVING TRULY REPENTED AND BELIEVED THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM, have been baptized into Christ, viz. the gift of the Holy Ghost. "Repent, and be baptized and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 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." Upon this promise we shall all do well to fix our thoughts, and to put in our own individual claim to its fulfillment. To have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us is our birthright, as we are Christ"s. Our common likeness to Christ as the Head of the Christian family depends upon our possession of the portion of the one Spirit which is given to all that are Christ"s. He is the Fountain of all true wisdom, holiness, and love in man; and the great Christian rite of baptism is manifestly incomplete unless we actually possess the great gift which is promised to us in that sacrament. We shall have read in vain the inspired history of the first Christian baptism on the day of Pentecost, when the gift of the Holy Ghost to the newly baptized was surrounded with such striking incidents, and its connection with holy baptism was made so visible and apparent, if we disconnect in our own thoughts the grace of baptism with such an actual indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as shall make us holy in thought, word, and deed. Rather this striking and, one may say, awful narrative should fall upon the ear of the whole Church as a message to urge us who are "afar off" to be at one with those who were "near," in surrendering ourselves to the Holy Ghost to dwell among us and in us as in the holy temple of God.

Vers. 37-40. The gospel according to Peter.

That which followed immediately on the preaching of Peter"s sermon brought out the truths of the gospel quite as fully and forcibly as the discourse itself. We learn from these verses

I THE RANGE OF DIVINE LOVE. (Ver. 39.) Peter declared, at this the outset of the new dispensation, that the range of God"s redeeming love would be "exceeding broad.

1. It was to go from generation to generation: "to you and to your children.

2. It was to extend to remotest regions: "to all that are afar off.

3. It was to embrace every one whom the summons of the inviting Lord should reach: "as many as the Lord our God shall call." Thus, at the beginning, the apostles gave a true idea of the fullness of that "kingdom of God" of which their Master had spoken so much, and which he lived and died to establish.

II THE FIRST RESULT OF DIVINE TRUTH (Ver. 37.) This was (and is):

1. Spiritual agitation.

2. Earnest inquiry.

they heard this, they were pricked in their heart;" they said, "What shall we do?" This is the simple, natural, constant course of things divine in the heart of man. When the truth of God is faithfully preached, and when the seed falls on good soil, there is spiritual agitation; the soul is smitten, the heart pierced; there are "great searchings of heart;" the old apathy, self-sufficiency, equanimity, is disturbed and broken up, and the spirit is troubled with a deep disquietude. It discovers that everything is wrong: the past is guilty, the present utterly unsatisfactory, the future clouded. Then comes earnest inquiry: Men and brethren, what shall we do?" "Wherewithal shall we come before the Lord?" How shall we be forgiven, justified, accepted? What is the path of reconciliation and peace? Through what spiritual experiences must we pass? What is the way into the kingdom of God? The soul, thus in earnest, turns to the sacred Scriptures or addresses those who speak in the name of Christ.

III THE CHRISTIAN MINISTER"S COUNSEL TO THE INQUIRING. (Vers. 38, 40.)

1. Repent; i.e. turn from sin and selfishness to righteousness and holy service; abandon the old and evil life of folly, thoughtlessness, worldliness, wrong-doing; put that away with shame and sorrow, and enter the opposite path turn Godwards, truthwards, heavenwards.

2. Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Teacher, Lord, Savior; be baptized into him. Heartily accept him, and honestly avow him, as your Divine Redeemer.

3. Separate yourself from the sin which surrounds you; "save yourselves," etc. (ver. 40); have no participation in guilt, and have no sympathy or fellowship with sinners, as such.

IV THE PROMISE OF DIVINE MERCY AND INDWELLING POWER. These conditions fulfilled, there will be:

1. Remission of sins (ver. 38).

2. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost (ver. 38). Christ, our almighty Savior, our Divine Friend, being with us, we shall have above us a reconciled heavenly Father to whom we can look up with rejoicing, childlike trust and love; and we shall have within us a Holy Spirit, cleansing the thoughts of our heart by his inspiration; sanctifying our nature; empowering us for the burden, the witness, and the battle of life; preparing us for the companionships and engagements of immortality. C.

Vers. 37-47. Effects of the Divine power upon the heart.

I COMPUNCTION. Fear is awakened by every drawing near of God to man. And with fear is closely connected the sense of sin. Stated from the other side, the truth is: behind the power of God lies his holiness, which is as a consuming fire. The deepest seat of fear is not in our physical but in our moral instincts. Thus the fear awakened by the revelation of the All-holy is itself a witness to the fact that conscience is the central unity of our being. Our very self seems threatened when confronted with a Being who judges evil, and is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.

II INSTINCTIVE DESIRE FOR ACTION. "What shall we do?" Let us not take the words in the grossest sense of personal fear, and mere desire to escape from some imminent outward danger. Why should we? Brave as lions in the ordinary sense, there are men who cannot endure the face of their God. The Object before which all must quail is the Spirit revealed in the inmost moral convictions. All religion is a striving after inner unity, reconciliation between self and God. And the will is deeply concerned in this. It is a good sign when men ask, amidst the pains of a wounded conscience What must I do? It implies the feeling of freedom; the fact that they have power and will left.

III THE WAY OF SALVATION. AS indicated in the words of Peter.

1. A change of mind. Repentance. To see its full meaning we should look to the Greek. It is metanoia: it is a change of thought from the bad to good, the erroneous to the true, or the less true to the more true. Repentance is not mere feeling; it has not the uncertainty of moods and sentiments. It is not a simple change in the weather of the soul. It is a distinct alteration of the focus of the intelligence; it carries with it a movement of the will; in short, it is a revolution in the very ground of the man"s being.

1. The expression of the change of mind. By baptism a pure and simple rite, significant to every eye and imagination of washing, of cleansing, of recovered purity, for intelligence, feeling, and conduct. The acts of the spirit are not complete until they have been clothed in outward form. We hardly know ourselves to be changed, and certainly others cannot know that we are changed, without the language of the act. Sacraments are thus needed both for the believer himself and for the society; they have a subjective and an objective value.

2. The promises of the new life. The man who conics out of paganism or ritualism is baptized into Christ, i.e. into a spiritual religion which offers promises as well as enjoins duties.

(1) Remission of sins. Deliverance in its highest and most absolute form. The deliverance which was Israel"s age-long dream passes out of its lower, sensuous, typical form of national freedom and independence into the spiritual form of personal freedom and independence of the (lark necessity, the fate or bondage of sin. It is the discovery that freedom is in this deepest sense a reality which makes Christ"s doctrine a great moving force in the world. Men grasp at the shadows of freedom, or the mere skirts of freedom, until this its true shape is revealed.

(2) The gift of the Holy Ghost. Closely connected with the foregoing; for moral power goes hand in hand with moral freedom. Only in freedom from the oppression of sin can the soul become the organ of the Holy Spirit. The wide extent of this promise. To the chosen people to their posterity, and to an undefined multitude of the heathen whom God shall call unto him. The universality of the gospel blessings here appears in germ, although from the lips of one who afterwards sided with the Judaizers. The progress of Christianity has been marked by the growing appreciation of the part and place of the nations in the kingdom of God.

3. Exhortation. "Be saved from the generation of this crookedness," says the apostle, using an idiom of his native Hebrew. Salvation is ever from a present evil, affecting not only the individual but the society. It is the tyranny of custom which weighs upon all. And all that is said in the New Testament about this "present evil world," and the "course" of this world, refers to some such predominance of immoral habits in the general life of society. As evil, Proteus-like, changes its forms from age to age, so is the hope and message of salvation eternally fresh and new. J.

Vers. 37-42. The day of spiritual wonders.

I WROUGHT IN THE HEART. Repentance. Anxious inquiry. Submission to Divine teaching. Separation from the old life. Depth of the work revealed in progressive steadfastness.

II The fruit of HUMAN AGENCY accompanied by Divine power. Preaching, the testimony of believers, the sight of wonders, the open gate of the Church.

III SEALED with the appointed sign of the Spirit. Baptism, both selective and consecrative in meaning. It was to separate and to unite. Save yourselves from this generation. God calls you unto him.

IV Given in GREAT ABUNDANCE. "Three thousand souls;" as encouragement to the Church; as a sign of promise and invitation to the world; as a confirmation of the gospel; as a preparation for immediate assault upon the mass of unbelief. For though God can work with small and insignificant instrumentality, he summons his people to make great efforts.

V The PLEDGE, PROMISE, AND PROPHECY of the world"s ingathering. Nations shall be born in a day. The wonders of Pentecost may and shall be repeated, though we should not look for the repetition of the exact mode and form.

VI The wonderful is a preparation in the spiritual world for the ORDERLY AND REGULAR. (Ver. 42.) As soon as possible the fruits of great revivals and religious excitements should be built up into the steadfast system and abiding fellowship. In the Church God works, as in the natural world. The new and extraordinary is brought at once into relation to the continuous line of progressive life.

VII THE ORDINANCES OF THE CHURCH stand immediately connected with its most vital point. When the spiritual life was freshest and least formalized, baptism and the Lord"s Supper were observed. The antidote to sacramentarianism is not disparagement of that which the Lord himself appointed, but the closer identification of the rite with the spiritual grace which gives it reality. The true presence and operation of the Spirit is the remedy for all the evils of the professing Church; making work, prayer, teaching, fellowship, the regular and the extraordinary, all alike pure and true and heavenly. R.

The soul"s questions answered.

"Now when they heard this," etc.

I THE TRUE RELIGIOUS AWAKENING.

1. Distinguished from mere excitement; from educational and conventional preparation for public acknowledgment of Christianity; from an attitude produced by personal influences or circumstances, as a child pressed to call itself a Christian by parental affection, or a member of a congregation almost unconsciously carried forward to a position which has no true and deep feeling to support it.

2. The fruit of preaching, or other setting forth of the facts of the gospel in relation to the individual. The hearers were pricked to the heart, because they felt the application to themselves of the apostle"s appeal. He did not employ any irregular or even sensational methods; he proclaimed the facts. He said, You are verily guilty; the promise is made unto you." Directness of appeal cannot fail of its effects.

3. The work of a special bestowal of the Spirit. It was intelligent, conscientious, heartfelt, outspoken. There is no intimation of any abnormal manifestations, but simply the calm, earnest question of personal anxiety: "What shall we do?" Spiritual life begins in different ways, but it will always be marked by conviction of sin and acceptance of offered grace. Heart, conscience, life, all changed.

II THE TRUE BEGINNING OF RELIGIOUS LIFE.

1. It is towards God. The inner man recognizing the facts, responding to the appeal, turning the heart from its perversity and selfishness, feeling and acknowledging the greatness of the sin and the danger of condemnation. The tendency to multitudinism is one of the most injurious in modern life. The gathering of masses, not really changed towards God, into the associations of the Church, and so into a state of calm security as to their religious prospects, is a barrier to a vital, spiritual advancement. Better the Church should not be increased with its thousands, than that they should be mere nominal Christians.

2. It is towards man. They addressed themselves to Peter and the rest of the apostles. Religious life is not a solitary thing, not a mere matter between the soul and God; but between the man and his fellow-man between the individual believer and the Church of Christ. The questions of the anxious and seeking souls should be drawn out by the Church. The Church should present itself to the world in such a way that the questions should be both humbly and affectionately asked. There is an authority of superior knowledge and experience and tried character which should be able to make itself felt. Yet men should see that we are their brethren, and that love to their souls is our ruling motive. "What shall we do?" Though we often teach men their moral helplessness and nothingness that Christ has done all still all true religious life means action; life must reveal energy, express itself in conscious, steadfast effort. The apostle immediately directed the awakened people to do something for themselves. "Be baptized;" "Come out and be separate." While it is possible to press an immature religious life to too early an acknowledgment, it is well to follow the apostolic precedents, and seal impression and resolve, with decided action and public testimony. We must cast ourselves on God. We are safer in the Church than in the world. Everywhere there is temptation, but the pledged Christian will have help in his holy vows. R.

The gospel demands from men.

The moral influence exerted by St. Peter"s speech, in the power of the present Spirit, should be noticed. Many of his audience were "pricked in their heart;" that is, were "stung with remorse at the enormity of the wickedness which had been committed in the crucifixion of Messiah, and at the blindness with which the whole nation had closed their eyes to the teaching of the prophecies which had spoken of the Messiah." They asked, "What shall we do? to escape the penalties which must fall on the nation that has so sinned against light and knowledge; who have had the true Light in their midst, but have comprehended it not, and have crucified the Lord of glory." By unfolding and illustrating the intense feelings with which the Jews anticipated the coming of their Messiah, we may set forth the terrible revulsion of feeling, and the overwhelming shame that smote them, when they were convinced that they had actually crucified their Messiah, offering him thus the greatest insult, and rendering themselves guilty of the gravest crime. St. Peter demands three things repentance, faith, and confession. The first and last of these are distinctly stated, the second is implied.

I THE GOSPEL DEMANDS REPENTANCE. This was the requirement of John the Baptist, and of our Lord when he sent forth his apostles on their trial mission. It is the proper and necessary preparation for forgiveness; it is the state of mind and feeling to which alone forgiveness can come, and by which alone it can be appreciated, Here the conviction of the one particular sin of crucifying Messiah becomes a revelation of general sinfulness; and so definite repentance is attended with a humiliation and humility which can be a basis of faith, an openness to receive further truth, and a condition fitted for a gracious forgiveness. Repentance is still the first gospel demand. Possibly modern preaching greatly fails because adequate prominence is not given to it.

II THE GOSPEL DEMANDS FAITH. Here the special object of the faith should be dwelt on. The repentance of these Jews involved their believing that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed their Messiah. But this was not saving faith. It only crushed and humbled. The faith required is personal trust in the living, exalted Lord Jesus Christ, the present Savior, and actual surrender of heart and life to him. It is belief in his Name as Savior. This distinction should be fully unfolded and illustrated, with earnest pleadings for that faith, or personal trust, which actually links us to the living Savior.

III THE GOSPEL DEMANDS CONFESSION. This is the real point and meaning of the rite of baptism, which is the public act in which our faith in Christ is declared. If we are sincere in our faith we shall be willing to make it known. If we are earnest in our faith we shall want to make it known. And Christ"s kingdom is to be spread by just this confession and acknowledgment of him. Therefore the demand is, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Show that this duty of "public confession" is sadly neglected in our day, and there is consequently a perilous vagueness, indefiniteness, and indistinctness characteristic of religious life. Press the importance of this duty, in relation both to personal soul-culture and to the duty of witnessing for the Christ in whom we hope.

Conclude by showing that the gospel response to those who meet its demands is forgiveness, involving acceptance with God and the privileges of restored sonship; and that this is scaled to us by the gift of the Holy Ghost. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They said to the apostles, Brethren - They did not style them so before.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The immediate effect of the sermon:

v. 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?

v. 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.

v. 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.

v. 40. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Peter had closed his sermon with the words: Both Lord and Christ has God made this Jesus whom you crucified. These concluding words, coming after his powerful presentation of truth, could not fail to have their effect. They penetrated to the heart of the hearers, they pierced the heart. The men were moved most deeply, they were filled with compunction and remorse. They felt, with the keen misery of an evil conscience, that they were murderers in the sight of God. That is the beginning of repentance: a keen realization of sin and a deep sorrow over the offense thus offered to God. This is brought out by the eager, uneasy question of the hearers: What shall we do, men and brethren? They do not despair on account of the greatness of their sin, but turn to Peter for help in their great trouble. It was a momentous question, and it received a clear answer. The first thing Peter urges them to do is to repent truly and sincerely, to admit all guilt before the face of God without reserve and equivocation, Pro 28:13. And the second step is that every one of those whose heart was thus filled with sorrow and remorse should be baptized on or in the name of Jesus Christ. Christian Baptism is made in the name of Jesus, because the work of Jesus made the gift of Baptism possible, since it is made unto remission of sins. Forgiveness of sins, full pardon, is given to the poor sinner through the washing of regeneration, Tit 3:5. Baptism is not a mere symbol or form of initiation into the brotherhood of believers, nor is it a work by which remission of sins is earned. The water of Baptism, through the power of the Word which is in and with the water, transmits and gives the remission of sins as earned by Jesus Christ. Note: Peter uses both the Law and the Gospel, the former to work a full and proper realization of sinfulness, the latter to open the floodgates of God’s mercy to the poor sinners. And there is still a third point which Peter brings out. Where repentance and faith are found in the heart, there the gift of the Holy Ghost is assured, there God freely, out of pure mercy, sheds forth the Holy Ghost. The Spirit lives in the hearts of those that are baptized and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His constant work is to sanctify the believers. Through the indwelling of the Spirit we are enabled to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. This application Peter makes very emphatic, declaring that the promise of God unto salvation is unto them, has reference to them and to their children, is earnestly intended for them. Note that the Gospel promise of God, also In regard to the remission of sins as transmitted through Baptism, is not only to the adults, but also to the children; the children are very decidedly included in the command to baptize. And the promise of the Gospel was not confined to the Jews and their nation, but was intended also for all those at a distance, as many as God would call to receive the benefits and blessings of His mercy. It is the gracious work of God, to exhibit the power of His mercy also among the Gentiles, to have His Word accepted among them to their salvation, to call them unto Himself, as His own children. There is no limit to the universality of this promise nor to the beauty of its import. Here Luke closes the verbal account of Peter’s discourse, merely adding that he, and undoubtedly the other apostles as well, very earnestly testified, with many additional arguments. And to his testimony he added exhortation, in order to confirm and strengthen the newborn faith of their hearts, urging them to be or become saved, to save their souls by separating themselves from the perverse, godless generation of this world. The power to do so came to them by faith, the strength of God being present in them, and they must exercise this power at once, Php 2:12. It is necessary, that Christians at all times make use of the power of God in them which they have received by faith.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Here the success of St. Peter’s sermon is recorded; The auditors were not only affected, but their hearts were touched with a kindly remorse; they mourn for sin and inquire what they should do to be saved; Some in our days would have been offended at such an inquiry, and told them, it was not doing, but believing only, that God expected; that Christ had done all for them, and that they had nothing to do, but to believe strongly that all was done to their hands; but St. Peter reproves them not for their iniquity, but puts them upon doing; namely, the exercise and practice of repentance, in the next verse.

Hence note, 1. That conversion, where it is in truth, begets and occasions a very great and sensible change.

2. That the preaching of the word is the instrumental means for the effecting and accomplishing of this charge.

3. That the best preaching is that which pricks men’s hearts, wounds and convinces their consciences, and makes them thoroughly sensible both of their sin and danger, and of the great necessity of a change.

4. That when men are once convinced of their bad state, and dangerous condition, their first inquiry will be, yea should, and ought to be, What they should do to be saved? They said, Men and brethren, what shall we do? The apostle liked that inquiry very well; and answers it in the next verse.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37. Peter is shouted down by a swelling tide of mournful wails: “What must we do?”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37. It has already been observed, that up to the moment in which Peter arose to address the audience, although the immersion in the Holy Spirit had occurred, and its effects had been fully witnessed by the people, no change had taken place in their minds in reference to Jesus Christ, neither did they experience any emotion, except confusion and amazement at a phenomenon which they could not comprehend. This fact proves, conclusively, that there was no power in the miraculous manifestation of the Spirit, which they witnesses, in itself alone, to produce in them the desired change. All the power which belonged to this event must have come short of the desired effect, but for a medium distinct from itself, through which it reached the minds and hearts of the people. The medium was the words of Peter. He spoke; and when he had announced the conclusion of his argument, Luke says: (37) " Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the other apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? " In this exclamation there is a manifest confession that they believe what Peter has preached to them; and Luke's declaration that they were pierced to the heart shows that they felt intensely the power of the facts which they now believed. Since Peter began to speak, therefore, a change has taken place both in their convictions and their feelings. They are convinced that Jesus is the Christ, and they are pierced to the heart with anguish at the thought of having murdered him. In the mean time, not a word is said of any influence at work upon them, except that of the words spoken by Peter; hence we conclude that the change in their minds and hearts has been effected through those words. This conclusion was also drawn by Luke himself; for in saying, "when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and cried out," he evidently attributes their emotion and their outcry to what they heard, as the cause of both.

If Luke had regarded the change effected as one which could be produced only by the direct agency of the Holy Spirit, he could not have expressed himself in these words, for his language not only entirely ignores such an influence, but attributes the effect to a different instrumentality. We understand him, therefore, to teach that the whole change thus far effected in these men was produced through the word of truth which they heard from Peter.

Let it be observed, however, that what they had heard concerning Christ, they had heard not as the words of the mere man Peter; for, previous to introducing the name of Jesus, he had clearly demonstrated the inspiration of himself and the other apostles. This being established beyond the possibility of rational doubt, from the moment that he began to speak of Jesus they were listening to him as an inspired man. But the Jews had long since learned to ascribe to the words of inspired men all the authority of the Spirit who spoke through them; hence this audience realized that all the power to convince and to move, that the authority of God himself could impart to words, belonged to the words of Peter. If they could believe God, they must believe the oracles of God which find utterance through Peter's lips. They do believe, and they believe because the words they hear are recognized as the words of God. Faith, then, comes by hearing the word of God; and he who hears the admitted word of God, must believe, or deny that God speaks the truth. This is true, whether the word is heard from the lips of the inspired men who originally gave it utterance, or is received through other authentic channels. The power by which the word of God produces faith is all derived from the fact that it is the word of God.

No words, whether of men or of God, can effect moral changes in the feelings of the hearer, unless they are believed; nor can they when believed, unless they announce truths or facts calculated to produce such change. In the present instance, the facts announced placed the hearers in the awful attitude of the murderers of the Son of God, who was now not only alive again, but seated on the throne of God, with all power in his hands, both on earth and in heaven. The belief of these facts necessarily filled them with the most intense realization of guilt, and the most fearful anticipation of punishment. The former of these emotions is expressed by the words of Luke, "They were pierced to the heart ;" the latter, in their own words, "Brethren, what shall we do? " They had just heard Peter, in the language of Joel, speak of a possible salvation; and the question, What shall we do? unquestionably means, What shall we do to be saved?

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

37. When they heard this. The conclusion, supported by such convincing demonstration. Before Peter began to speak they did not understand the signs; but now it was clear to them that they had rejected and crucified the Lord. Pricked in their heart. Convicted of their sins, and pierced with sorrow. They believed Peter's affirmation; their faith revealed their sin in rejecting Christ. Overwhelmed with sorrow, they ask, What shall we do? Is there any way that such sinners can be pardoned?

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

The Jews respond to Peter's speech and Peter answers them.

General Information:

Here the word "they" refers to the people in the crowd to whom Peter spoke.

when they heard this

"when the people heard what Peter had said"

they were pierced in their hearts

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Peter's words pierced their hearts" (See: Active or Passive)

pierced in their hearts

This means that the people felt guilty and became very sad. AT: "deeply troubled" (See: Idiom)

be baptized

This can be stated in active form. AT: "allow us to baptize you" (See: Active or Passive)

in the name of Jesus Christ

"In the name of" here is a metonym for "by the authority of" AT: "by the authority of Jesus Christ" (See: Metonymy)

all that are far off

This means either 1) "all people who live far away" or 2) "all people who are far from God."

translationWords

pierce

heart

Peter

apostle

brother

repent

baptize

forgive

sin

gift

Holy Spirit

promise

God

call

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

37–40. EFFECT OF ST PETER’S SERMON

37. κατενύγησαν τὴν καρδίαν. The verb, without the following noun, is found LXX. Gen 34:7 (were grieved A.V.) and κατανενυγμένον τῇ καρδίᾳ, Ps. 108:16 of one ‘broken in heart.’ The sense here is, they were stung with remorse at the enormity of the wickedness which had been committed in the crucifixion, and at the blindness with which the whole nation had closed their eyes to the teaching of the prophecies which had spoken of the Messiah.

πρὸς τὸν Πέτρον κ.τ.λ. For these men, who had so clearly set before them the error of the whole people, were the most likely to know what could be done to atone for it.

ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί. See Act 1:16 note.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

37-41.] Effect of the discourse.

37. κατενύγ.] κατανύσσω is exactly ‘compungo.’ The compunction arose from the thought that they had rejected and crucified Him who was now so powerful, and under whose feet they, as enemies, would be crushed.

‘Concionis fructum Lucas refert, ut sciamus non modo in linguarum varietate exsertam fuisse Spiritus Sancti virtutem, sed in eorum etiam cordibus qui audiebant.’ Calvin.

ποιήσωμεν, the deliberative subjunctive,—cf. Winer, edn. 6, § 41, a. 4, b.—What most we do?

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They were pricked [κατενυγησαν] . Only here in New Testament. The word does not occur in profane Greek. It is found in the Septuagint, as Gen 34:7, of the grief of the sons of Jacob at the dishonor of Dinah. See, also, Psalms 109. (LXX 108) Psa 109:16 "broken in heart." The kindred noun katanuxiv occurs Rom 11:8, in the sense of slumber (Rev., stupor). Compare Isa 29:10. See, also, Psalms 60 (LXX 59) Psa60 3 oinon katanuxewv, the wine of astonishment (Rev., wine of staggering). The radical idea of the word is given in the simple verb nussw, to prick with a sharp point. So Homer, of the puncture of a spear; of horses dinting the earth with their hoofs, etc. Here, therefore, of the sharp, painful emotion, the sting produced by Peter's words. Cicero, speaking of the oratory of Pericles, says that his speech left stings in the minds of his hearers (" De Oratore, " 3, 34.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.