Acts 2:41

2:37-41 From the first delivery of that Divine message, it appeared that there was Divine power going with it; and thousands were brought to the obedience of faith. But neither Peter's words, nor the miracle they witnessed, could have produced such effects, had not the Holy Spirit been given. Sinners, when their eyes are opened, cannot but be pricked to the heart for sin, cannot but feel an inward uneasiness. The apostle exhorted them to repent of their sins, and openly to avow their belief in Jesus as the Messiah, by being baptized in his name. Thus professing their faith in Him, they would receive remission of their sins, and partake of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. To separate from wicked people, is the only way to save ourselves from them. Those who repent of their sins, and give up themselves to Jesus Christ, must prove their sincerity by breaking off from the wicked. We must save ourselves from them; which denotes avoiding them with dread and holy fear. By God's grace three thousand persons accepted the gospel invitation. There can be no doubt that the gift of the Holy Ghost, which they all received, and from which no true believer has ever been shut out, was that Spirit of adoption, that converting, guiding, sanctifying grace, which is bestowed upon all the members of the family of our heavenly Father.

Acts 2:41 . Then they that gladly received his word, &c. — The apostle’s exhortation was not given in vain; many were awakened and savingly brought to God by it; for the influence of the Holy Spirit accompanied it, and wrought wonders thereby. Many of the same persons that had been eye-witnesses of the death of Christ, and of the prodigies that had attended it, and were not at all influenced by them, were now effectually wrought upon by the preaching of the word, and found it the power of God to their salvation. Such were baptized — Gladly receiving the word, 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. Hereby there were added to the hundred and twenty disciples of Christ about three thousand souls that same day; the conversion of whom, by the word now spoken, was a greater work than the feeding of four or five thousand with a few loaves and fishes. Let it be observed here, they who are joined to Christ, ought to join themselves to the disciples of Christ, and be united with them: when we take God for our God, we must take his people for our people.

It is commonly said, that all these were converted by one sermon, but, as has been intimated on Acts 2:14 , it is probable, that while Peter was preaching in the Chaldaio-Syriac language, the other apostles were preaching at some small distance, much to the same purpose, in other languages; and it is not surely to be imagined, that none of them but Peter should be blessed as the means of converting any souls; not to insist upon it that he himself might deliver several discourses that day (and it was τη ημερα εκεινη , in that day, that the number here spoken of was added) to different auditories, when the concourse of people was so great, and their languages so various.

They that gladly received his word; some still remained in their unbelief and hardness of heart; though never men spake as the apostles now spake, with divers tongues, &c. Unto them; to the church, or the hundred and twenty formerly mentioned, Acts 1:15 . This was the effect of Christ’s prayer for his persecutors, Luke 23:34 ; and of the promise of the Spirit now fulfilled, whereby in the day of his power they were made willing.

Acts 2:41 . Οἱ ) That is, they who did not stop short with mere compunction, but willingly ( gladly ), and in very deed, were obedient to the exhortation. This was the characteristic feature of the New Testament Pentecost.— ἀποδεξάμενοι ) The subject, not a part of the predicate. They receiving the ‘saying,’ or word, “worthy of all acceptation:” 1 Timothy 1:15 .— ἐβαπτίσθησαν , were baptized ) Understand, and received the gift of the Holy Spirit , Acts 2:38 .— καὶ , and ) And so.— προσετέθησαν , there were added ) Previously there had been only one hundred and twenty names: and yd the souls about three thousand are said to have been added [to the 120, though so much smaller a number], because the former (the 120), few as they were, nevertheless constituted the original head and body of believers. So in Acts 2:47 , “The Lord added to the Church.”— ὡσεὶ τρισχίλιαι , about three thousand ) How marvellous was the efficacy of the Gospel!

Ac 2:41-47. Beautiful Beginnings of the Christian Church. 41-47. they that gladly received his word were baptized—"It is difficult to say how three thousand could be baptized in one day, according to the old practice of a complete submersion; and the more as in Jerusalem there was no water at hand except Kidron and a few pools. The difficulty can only be removed by supposing that they already employed sprinkling, or baptized in houses in large vessels. Formal submersion in rivers, or larger quantities of water, probably took place only where the locality conveniently allowed it" [Olshausen]. the same day there were added to them about three thousand souls—fitting inauguration of the new kingdom, as an economy of the Spirit!

Verse 41. - They then for then they , A.V.; received for gladly received , A.V. and T.R.; there were added unto them in that day for the same day there were added unto them , A.V. Gladly received . The best manuscripts omit ἀσμενως , which, indeed, is superfluous, as the word ἀποδέχομαι contains in itself the idea of a kind reception - a welcome ( Luke 8:40 ; Acts 15:4 ; Acts 24:3 ). Acts 2:41

41–47 . The first Converts and their behaviour 41 . Then they that gladly received his word ] The oldest MSS. Omit gladly . The latter clause of the verse is more literally, And there were added on that day about three thousand souls , i.e. to the one hundred and twenty of whom the Church consisted when the day began.

Acts 2:41 . Μὲν οὖν ] namely, in consequence of these representations of the apostle. We may translate either: they then who received his word (namely, σώθητε κ . τ . λ .), comp. Acts 8:4 (so Vulgate, Luther, Beza, Bengel, Kuinoel, and others); or, they then (those indicated in Acts 2:37 ), after they received his word, etc. , comp. Acts 1:6 , Acts 8:25 , Acts 15:3 (so Castalio, de Wette). The latter is correct, because, according to the former view of the meaning, there must have been mention previously of a reception of the word, to which reference would here be made. As this is not the case, those present in general are meant, as in Acts 2:37 , and ἀποδεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ ( Acts 2:40 ) stands in a climactic relation to κατενύγησαν ( Acts 2:37 ). προσετέθησαν ] were added ( Acts 2:47 ; Acts 5:14 ; Acts 11:24 ), namely, to the fellowship of the already existing followers of Jesus , as is self-evident from the context. ψυχαί ] persons , according to the Hebrew נֶפֶשּׁ , Exodus 1:5 ; Acts 7:14 ; 1 Peter 3:20 ; this use is not classical, since, in the passages apparently proving it (Eur. Androm. 612, Med. 247, al.; see Kypke, II. p. 19), ψυχή means, in the strict sense, soul (life). The text does not affirm that the baptism of the three thousand occurred on the spot and simultaneously, but only that it took place during the course of that day ( τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ).

(41) They that gladly received his word were baptized. —This was, we must remember, no new emotion. Not four years had passed since there had been a like eagerness to rush to the baptism of John. (See Notes on Matthew 3:5 ; Matthew 11:12 .) Three thousand souls.—The largeness of the number has been urged as rendering it probable that the baptism was by affusion, not immersion. On the other hand, (1) immersion had clearly been practised by John, and was involved in the original meaning of the word, and it is not likely that the rite should have been curtailed of its full proportions at the very outset. (2) The symbolic meaning of the act required immersion in order that it might be clearly manifested, and Romans 6:4, and 1Peter 3:21, seem almost of necessity to imply the more complete mode. The swimming-baths of Bethesda and Siloam (see Notes on John 5:7; John 9:7), or the so-called Fountain of the Virgin, near the Temple enclosure, or the bathing-places within the Tower of Antony (Jos. Wars, v. 5, § 8), may well have helped to make the process easy. The sequel shows (1) that many converts were made from the Hellenistic Jews who were present at the Feast (Acts 6:1); and (2) that few, if any, of the converts were of the ruling class (Acts 4:1). It is obvious that some of these converts may have gone back to the cities whence they came, and may have been the unknown founders of the Church at Damascus, or Alexandria, or Rome itself.