Peter: Remission Through Believing
(Part 4 of 12)

Part 4 of 12 · Salvation in Jesus Christ: The New Testament Witness to Grace, Faith, and the Blood

Peter’s own preaching gives one of the plainest answers in the Bible about how a sinner is forgiven. Speaking to Cornelius and his household, he said:

“To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” (Acts 10:43, KJV)

Whosoever believeth shall receive remission. Those are Peter’s own words.

Now watch what happened next. “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word” (Acts 10:44). Only after that did Peter ask, “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” (Acts 10:47). Then he commanded them to be baptized (Acts 10:48).

Follow the order. In verse 43, remission comes through believing. In verse 44, the Holy Ghost falls on them. In verses 47 and 48, they are baptized in water.

Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before he ever stepped into the water. Baptism did not cause it.

Peter later told the same story to the church in Jerusalem. God gave the Gentiles the Holy Ghost, he said, “And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9). Peter never said their hearts were purified by water.

Peter’s letters say the same thing. We were redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). Jesus Christ “his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). And “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Peter’s witness holds together from Acts to his letters. The blood of Jesus Christ redeems us, and Jesus Christ bore our sins. Faith in Jesus Christ receives remission, and the Holy Ghost is given. Water baptism comes afterward.

Search these Scriptures for yourself: Acts 10:34–43; Acts 13:38–39; Acts 26:18; Acts 10:43–48; Ephesians 1:13–14; Romans 8:9; Acts 15:7–9; Galatians 3:2–5; Galatians 3:26; 1 Peter 1:18–19; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18.

Next in this series: Part 5, Paul: Justified by Faith, Justified by His Blood.

Go Deeper

• Forgiveness Is Proclaimed in Christ’s Name
• The Blood, Not the Water: Does Baptism Save?
• For the Remission of Sins: The Blood, Not the Water

Old Testament foundation: Where Water Baptism Belongs: Answering the Objections (Part 7 of 7)

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“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)