When the Jews asked the apostles a straight-forward question on the day of Pentecost, they received a straight-forward answer. A person must repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins to be saved (Acts 2:38).
Acts 2:38 is a part of the conclusion of the first gospel sermon preached by Peter after the resurrection and ascension of Christ. In the third chapter of Acts, we read Peter’s second sermon. Verse 19 says, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” His inspired instructions here are the same as Acts 2:38. While he did not specifically tell them to be baptized, it is involved in the turning back process. What he did specifically mention in both passages is repentance.
Baptism without repentance is a useless act in which one merely gets wet. It cannot wash away unrepented sin. There are times when a person wants to be baptized but does not want to change his or her life. They have been convinced, and rightfully so, that they have to be baptized; thus, they conclude that baptism will take care of everything all by itself. Once they have gone down into the water of baptism, they think they are good to go and can now get back to living the way they were previously. That may satisfy the conscience of a person not familiar with the Word of God, but what it will not do is blot out your sin.
To repent means to have a change of heart. If the repentance is true, it will always be followed by a change of life. The drunkard who repents will stop drinking. The thief who repents will stop stealing. The sexually immoral person who repents will stop engaging in sexual immorality. This does not mean that the person who is baptized will never sin again. Scripture tells us that if we say we have not sinned, we are not being truthful (1 John 1:8-10). What the person who repents and is baptized will do, however, is stop making a practice of sin.
One area where repentance is often ignored is in the realm of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. Jesus taught that marriage is for life, and that the only way a married person can get a divorce and remarry is if the divorce is for the cause of sexual immorality (Matthew 19:3-9). In any other case, remarriage results in an adulterous relationship. With this in view, it has been argued that a person who finds himself in an adulterous relationship before baptism, can stay in that relationship after baptism because his past sins are washed away. This is an incorrect conclusion, ignoring the fact that baptism will not wash away unrepented sin.
The person in an unscriptural marriage is no different than anyone else practicing some kind of sin—the sin must stop. For the one in an unscriptural marriage, the only way that can happen is to end the marriage. Some argue that in this case, one merely needs to repent of the acts of divorce and remarriage, but that ignores the nature of the new adulterous relationship. The one in an unscriptural marriage will be an adulterer or adulterous as long as they are in the marriage (Romans 7:1-3).
Whatever sin a person is practicing before baptism, must stop before a valid baptism can even take place. The order of God’s plan of salvation is important. Just like one must believe before being baptized (Mark 16:16), repentance must come first as well (Acts 2:38). If there is no repentance, the one being baptized comes out of the water a wet sinner instead of a new creation in Christ.
As you wind down for the night, think about these things.