What Must I Do?
Jack Critchfield

What must I do to he saved?  How can I receive forgiveness?  What does God demand of me?  This question has been asked over and over, in one form or another, since God put mankind on this earth.  This is the very same question that many Jews on the day of Pentecost wanted answered.  These are the very same people who, some forty days earlier had cried out for the torturous death of Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter spoke the words needed to pierce their hearts (Acts 2:22-36).

Instead of reacting to this accusation with anger, as some do today,  they reacted with godly sorrow: "Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). They asked the question of universal interest to all.  What shall we do? How do we gain atonement for our sins'? What can he done to remove the stain of blood from our hands'?

What shall we do?  Do; was it possible that there was anything that they (or we) could do? People for ages have insisted quite strenuously that there is nothing we can do in order to have our sins forgiven.  Their rationalization is, “If we must do something, salvation is not of grace - it is not the free gift of God."

Is it possible that salvation can be of grace and that we still must do something to obtain it? An illustration used to make the point go something like this:  Two men were sitting at the table talking. when one noticed the other had a very nice pen.  Upon the man commenting about the nice pen, the owner of the pen held it out and said, "Here. you can have it.”  Here is a gift, here is an act of grace.  The man did not pay for the pen. the other simply gave it to him.

Now, if this man took the modern notion of grace he would have simply sat there and stared at the pen.  Why?   If the gift is of grace there is nothing for him to do to obtain the gift.  If he so much as reached out his hand to take the pen he has "worked" for it and the gift is not of grace.  If he, however, were not burdened by this false notion of grace, he would take the pen and thank the owner for his gracious offer.  He did something.

And indeed on the day of Pentecost there was something the crowd had to do.  Actually, there were several things.  First they had to recognize (believe) that Jesus was indeed the Christ.  That was something they had to do.  They demonstrated this by their reaction to Peter's sermon.  Having believed, they felt they must do more.  Peter, guided by the Holy Spirit, agreed.  His directions were simple: "Repent. and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38).  They were commanded to repent; change their heart and ways.  Also, they were commanded to be baptized.  The result?  The remission (blotting out) of their sins.  As straight forward as this seems. many who would call themselves Christians claim forgiveness of sins is not contingent upon baptism.   Their reasoning goes; baptism is a "work" and if remission requires you to do anything, it cannot be of grace.

If we say baptism paid the price for sin, the argument would have some merit.  But the fact is, I know of no one who teaches that baptism earns forgiveness of sins.  Simply being obedient to God earns us nothing.  We are His and this is our duty (Luke 17:10).  Even one I am aquatinted with (regardless of religious affiliation) teaches that belief and repentance are necessary for forgiveness.  But these are things one must do.  So, also, must one be baptized.

One objection that is continually raised by some is,  Acts 2:38 should have been translated "because of the remission of sins . . ." instead of "for the remission of sins ....”  A person. they say. is baptized because he is saved not in order to be saved.  The logic for this is circular:  They were saved when they believed (and repented), otherwise salvation would be of worlds, not faith.  Despite this claim, not one single respectable translation of the Bible contains this reading!  If you are inclined; refer to the KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB, MV, NCV, RSV, NRSV and any other acronyms that you can think of.  In fact, Peter's words properly translated into English remain: "Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," (Acts 2:38).  Three thousand people understood that day and were baptized (Acts 2:41).  If you want remission of your sins, you will believe, repent, and be baptized.