Acts 2:40-41 40And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” 41So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Verse 40 indicates that Luke was only giving a summary of Peter’s sermon, what we might consider as the essentials. The word translated bore witness (diemartyrato) shows an intensified testimony that is given with all seriousness and is extraordinarily important. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, but also put his full effort into the moment. He gave it his all because he felt so strongly about what he was saying. He was a much different man than he was fifty days before. Prayer and the Holy Spirit changed his impulsiveness to great courage and conviction. The verb continued to exhort (parekalei) is an imperfect tense, showing that Peter kept on for some time. We only get the high points of a sermon that lasted longer.
The message he pleaded with the people about is summarized in the last phrase of verse 40: “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” Crooked (skolias) refers to something that is bent, and thus, perverse or corrupted. The people continued in the path of their ancestors who walked away from God and followed their own thinking (Psalm 78:8). The people of Jerusalem had heard Jesus preach, had watched his miracles, yet they (represented by their leaders) called out, “Crucify him!” The answer was to experience God’s offer of salvation, expressed as an imperative of invitation (sōthēte). God was offering salvation, but they needed to accept it by repenting and being baptized.
The people responded positively to Peter’s invitation. They were convicted and did not harden their hearts like so many of their leaders had done. The phrase received his word refers to welcoming and accepting what Peter said. The assumption is that they believed him. Their faith was evident by their desire to be baptized. How three thousand were baptized in the middle of Jerusalem is not explained, but it was a great day. There are many ways to be baptized besides dipping in a river, since there was none nearby. They could have experienced a ritualistic dipping, pouring, or sprinkling. Or, they could have gone to some place like the Pool of Bethesda. The number is amazing. Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful (Matthew 9:37), and the evidence is in the large group who believed.
We might look at this story as amazing and impossible in our day, but God can work significantly through a small group of people. These early followers were filled with the Holy Spirit and had been seeking God in prayer for many days. The crowd was curious and experienced conviction. Peter was courageous and filled with Scripture and insight into the ways of God. This mix produced a great harvest of souls.
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