Acts 2:38: Peter’s answer to the question “what shall we do?”
38Yet truly, Peter said to them: “Do penance; and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter’s answer to a question shouted by a shaken crowd. It has three linked elements — a turning, baptism, and the gift of the Spirit — and it is short enough to deliver in a public square.
Short answer
In Acts 2:38 Peter answers a crowd asking what to do: they are to turn from what they have done, and each of them is to be baptised, calling on the name of Jesus Christ, so that their sins are remitted; the Holy Spirit will then be given to them. It is the first public instruction given after the Pentecost sermon.
- Written by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 2 min read
Few verses have been argued over as much among Christians, and the argument usually turns on how the three elements of the sentence relate. Before getting there, it is worth noticing who is asking, and why — because the answer is cut to fit that question.
Where this verse appears
It is the day of Pentecost, in Jerusalem. Peter has just preached to a crowd and closed by saying that God made Lord and Christ the same Jesus they crucified. The previous verse records the effect: the hearers are pierced to the heart and ask what they should do. Verse 38 is the answer, and by the end of the chapter about three thousand have joined them.
What it says
The question Peter answers is practical, not theoretical. Nobody there asked for an explanation; they asked for instructions. So the answer arrives as verbs rather than concepts, with a promise attached.
The first verb is where editions differ most, and it is useful to know that when comparing Bibles. The edition used here follows the Latin tradition and reads do penance; many other English versions read repent. Both renderings describe a real turn of life rather than a passing regret, and this site does not arbitrate which wording is the better one.
How baptism and the remission of sins relate is the point at which Catholic and Protestant readers place different emphases, and the difference is old and serious. What the text says without controversy is the shape of the answer: the question is met with something to be done, and the Spirit is described as a gift, not as a wage.
What to do with it today
If you arrived here asking what to do about something you have noticed in yourself, this verse is the model of an answer: a concrete step, not a feeling. That was precisely the crowd’s question, and nobody was sent home to reflect further.
And if you were baptised long ago, the useful part today is the first one. Turning around is not a single dated event. It is the verb the Christian life starts with and, according to the rest of the New Testament, the verb it keeps going with.
A prayer to carry with you
Lord, I have already seen what needs to change in me, and I keep putting off the first step. Give me courage to take one concrete step today, and not only to feel sorry. Receive me as you received the crowd that asked what to do. Amen.