Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? (38) Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (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. (40) And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Behold the wonderful grace of God, as here manifested! How sudden, how powerful, how gracious! Surely, the Lord the Spirit here wrought by his Almighty sovereignty, on the hearts of those Jerusalem sinners. And, was not this in proof of what Jesus had said and promised? John 14:12; John 14:12. But, let not the Reader forget, that the same Lord still carrieth on the same works of grace, and is as much the Almighty Lord in his Church, as ever!
And I pray the Reader to remark with me, the characters of those, to whom such grace was shewn. No doubt from what Peter said, (verse 23; Acts 2:23) that many of those who were now pricked in their heart, were among those who joined the rabble, to crucify the Lord of life and glory. Oh! who that knew these wonderful events, but must have exclaimed, what hath God wrought! The Reader will probably recollect, upon this occasion, some of these scriptures, Hosea 6:5; Hebrews 4:12; Jeremiah 23:29
It is well worthy observation, how very natural it is with sinners of all descriptions and characters, under the first alarms of sin, to cry out, what must I do to be saved! Every carnal mind is for doing, although all his life past he hath done nothing but sin. But, such is the pride of human nature in an unhumbled, unregenerate state, John 6:28; Acts 16:30; Acts 16:30
The Apostle's answer to their anxious question, deserves to be well attended to, when saying to them, repent and be baptized. Did Peter mean to say, that repentance was in every man's power to perform? Surely the Apostle could not, for in a subsequent discourse before the Jewish council, he expressly ascribes the work to Christ. Him, (saith Peter), hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins, Acts 5:30-31. What, therefore, is Christ's gift, cannot be man's work. And, moreover, Peter commanded them to repent, and then to be baptized, that they might receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost. So that the repentance Peter enjoined, was to go before the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and not to follow, And so the Prophet in the Lord's name promised, in the latter day dispensation, to pour out a spirit of grace, and of supplication; and then godly mourning and true sorrow should follow, in prompting them to look to Him whom they had pierced, Zechariah 12:10. Hence it should seem, that the repentance Peter called upon them to perform, differed from that which is the gift of God.
And it is worthy remark, that Christ, and his harbinger, John the Baptist, preached the same, Matthew 3:1 and Matthew 4:17. And no doubt there is a repentance, which is simply the sorrow of nature, arising from natural causes, and produced by natural means; and which differs as widely from the spiritual sorrow of the heart, inwrought by the Holy Ghost, by reason of sin; as the rain of pools which dry up for want of supply, from the water of the fountain, which forms a living spring in the heart, springing up to everlasting life. Every carnal mind upon earth, more or less, knows this repentance; for when sin brings sickness, and sickness threatens death, the sinner will naturally repent his folly. Peter calls upon those Jerusalem sinners, to repent of their wickedness, in their false views of Christ and his Messiahship; and in testimony of that sorrow, to be baptized in his name for the remission of sins, and to receive gifts of the Holy Ghost.
I beg to observe on the form of baptism enjoined by Peter, that it differed from what the Lord Jesus himself appointed, when giving his final commission to the Apostles. This of Peter was to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. That of Christ himself was in the joint name of the whole three Persons of the Godhead, Matthew 28:19. But here lay the difference. The Jews to whom Peter addressed himself, had hitherto denied the Person and Godhead of Christ as the Messiah. They acknowledged God the Father; and believed in the Spirit, as speaking in, and by the Prophets. So that by following what Peter commanded of being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, implied also the whole Persons of the Godhead as included. But Christ's commission to his Apostles, had respect to the Gentiles, who were alike ignorant of all the Persons of the Godhead: and therefore the Lord mentioned all.
One observation more I beg to offer on this most precious sermon of the Apostles, namely, the sure consequences Peter promised, in the gifts of the Holy Ghost; that is, I apprehend, all the saving gifts of the Spirit necessary to salvation. Not the more special operations of the Holy Ghost needful to the Apostolic office, but only such, as suited their own personal sanctification. For had all these, received miraculous qualifications for the ministry the Apostles needed not, as they soon afterwards did, to recommend the Church to look out seven men of honest report, to exercise the office of deacons, Acts 6:3. And in relation to the promise of the Holy Ghost, how sweetly the Apostle finished the subject, in shewing the extensiveness of it, while bounded by the Lord's call. So ran the charter of grace, in the original Covenant with Abraham, Genesis 17:7. So the Lord confirmed it in the days of the Prophets: Isaiah 44:3 and Isaiah 49:21. And so all the after ages of the Church found it, both Jew and Gentile, subject to the divine call, Psalms 103:3. Oh! the preciousness of a Covenant, ordered in all things and sure, 2 Samuel 23:5; Galatians 3:28.