After Peter healed the lame man and had the opportunity to teach the crowd that had gathered, he told them, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19, NKJV).
Most of the denominational world believes that conversion is necessary for salvation. Peter plainly affirmed this as he told the people here that the blotting out of their sins was dependent upon them being converted. But what conversion was Peter talking about here? This is where you will begin to get some disagreement. Is one converted when he prays a “sinner’s prayer” and invites Jesus into his heart? Is he converted when he makes a verbal confession that he believes that Jesus is Lord? Or is there something else that Peter has in mind?
We do know that repentance is involved in the conversion process as Peter connected repenting and being converted. Other passages also indicate that repentance is necessary for salvation (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 17:30). Furthermore, we can show from the Scriptures that a belief in Christ and a verbal confession of that belief are necessary steps in one’s conversion (Romans 10:9-10). Many are content to stop here, believing that these parts make up the whole of the conversion process. But is that what the New Testament teaches?
When trying to interpret a verse, it is best to allow the Bible to be its own commentary. If we compare this verse with one from Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, we get a clearer picture of the Bible’s definition.
Just one chapter earlier, Peter told the people, “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” (Acts 2:38). Compare that with the verse we noticed at the beginning. Both mention the need for repentance. Both indicate that the result of our action is forgiveness and the blotting out of our sins. Yet Acts 2:38 says we must repent and be baptized, while Acts 3:19 says we must repent and be converted.
When Peter told the people, “Repent…and be converted,” did he forget that he told the crowd on Pentecost to be baptized? Or did he change his message between these two chapters? No. Rather, the Holy Spirit is showing us that conversion necessarily involves baptism.
Other passages teach this as well. Notice what Paul told the Romans:
“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:3-6).
I believe nearly all would agree that conversion involves the setting aside of the old man and putting on the new man. Paul clearly said that this happens when we are “baptized into Christ.” As I pointed out in a previous article, Water Separates, baptism marks a clear distinction between two groups.
- Baptism separates those who are saved from those who are lost (1 Peter 3:20-21).
- Baptism separates those who have been forgiven of their sins from those who are yet in their sin (Acts 22:16).
- Baptism separates the slaves of righteousness from the slaves of sin (Romans 6:16-18, 3-4).
- Baptism separates those who are in the Lord’s church from those who are outside of the church (Acts 2:41, 47).
- Baptism separates those who are in Christ from those who are outside of Christ (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27).
One cannot be converted without submitting to the Scriptural requirement of baptism. Rather than accept the definitions that the world offers for Peter’s words, let us accept the apostle’s inspired definition. One is converted when he meets God’s requirements for salvation and entrance into the body of Christ. Peter affirmed that this happens at the point of baptism. This is why he was able to write later, “Baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21).
