Acts 2:38, Repent and be Baptized for the Remission of Sins

In another post (here), I mentioned that I did not believe baptism is necessary for salvation. One text people often cite as support for the idea of “baptismal regeneration” is Acts 2:38:

Πέτρος δὲ πρὸς αὐτούς· μετανοήσατε [φησίν] καὶ βαπτισθήτω ἕκαστος ὑμῶν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ὑμῶν καὶ λήμψεσθε τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος.

Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [NASB]

The understanding of this passage hinges on the word “for.” When Peter says “Be baptized FOR the forgiveness of your sins,” does that mean “be baptized in order to obtain forgiveness of your sins”? Some people think so.

The word “for” in English can have different meanings. It can mean “in order to obtain” as in, “He went to the store for milk.” It can also mean “because of” as in, “He was punished for his sins.” The Greek word translated “for” here is the word, εἰς. And like “for” in English, εἰς can have different meanings. The most ordinary meaning of the word is as a preposition meaning “into” but like “for” it can also mean “in order to obtain” and “because of.”

Let’s look at the very easily understood passage of Matthew 12:41

ἄνδρες Νινευῖται ἀναστήσονται ἐν τῇ κρίσει μετὰ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης καὶ κατακρινοῦσιν αὐτήν, ὅτι μετενόησαν εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα Ἰωνᾶ, καὶ ἰδοὺ πλεῖον Ἰωνᾶ ὧδε.

"The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at (εἰς) the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here." (ASV)

The word εἰς here is translated “at.” In this passage, the very clear meaning of the word is “because of.” Obviously the men of Nineveh did not repent in order to obtain the preaching of Jonah; They repented because of the preaching of Jonah.

So Acts 2:38 can easily be understood to mean, “Repent! and be baptized because of the remission of sins.”

As an aside, I've already mentioned the word εἰς is more commonly understood to mean “into.” The word βαπτίζω (βαπτισθήτω) is an untranslated word meaning, “immerse” (Strong’s word # 907). So, another possible interpretation of the verse is “Repent and be immersed into the forgiveness of sins.” In this light, ceremonial water baptism is not implied at all. Of course, I only offer this as food for thought; we know the converted at Pentecost were baptized in water. This is sort of a “what if” thought.

In conclusion let me just say that we need not endure repeated demands that Acts 2:38 can ONLY be understood to mean we must be baptized in order to be saved. We can see that there are other reasonable interpretations of the passage. Indeed, I believe the “because of” understanding is the correct one.

Further reading: John 3:5 - "What does it Mean to be "Born of Water"?