What shall we do? - Part Two

What shall we do? Part Two

By: Martin Connolly | Date: 2025-09-01

What is salvation?

            In its root Scriptural word, the term means ‘delivered to safety’:

Luke 1:77  “..to give knowledge of being delivered to safety, to his people in the release from the bondage of their sins..” (Direct translation)

 This is the fullness of the Isaiah prophecy quoted in part one. Now we need to know the ‘knowledge’ of how we are delivered. Firstly, there is only one name that can deliver – Jesus (Acts 4:12). This was the question asked off Peter: “what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

 What is the path to Salvation?

            There are four steps: Believe, repent, be baptise and receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38 & 41).

+     Believe – “Those who believed what Peter said were baptised and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all “ (Acts 2:41 NLT). The term used (translated ‘believed “here) refers to the fact that the listener heard the Gospel from Peter and received it (Faith comes by hearing… (Romans 10:17).” That was the first step.

      Repent – “Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities (Acts 3:26). To repent in its full meaning is to ‘change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins’. Then we are forgiven.

Be Baptised – “.. be immersed in water, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the release from your sins..” (Direct translation). It is to note, that this is not a sprinkling on the forehead – it is a complete immersion beneath water. The reason for this is the clear understanding of death to self and the rising to new life in the Christ, Jesus. The going under water is going into ‘the grave’. The rising from the water is the rising into new life in the Christ.

Receive the Holy Spirit – Again clarity is needed. Nowhere in Scripture is anyone ‘baptised’ in the Holy Spirit. Receiving the Spirit is the basis of our assurance of salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14). A clear study on the matter will show, He always is ‘received’ by those who have believed, repented and been baptised. Here is an important point – there are times in the Scriptures that use ‘holy Spirit’ and ‘the Holy Spirit’. Notice the difference. It is not the place to explore this further but let us look at one that relates here - Luke 3:16:

 “….he will immerse you in [spirit holy] and in fire;.”

You will see this shows the underlying Greek. There is no ‘the’. We cannot be immersed in the Holy Spirit (A revelation of the Triune God), However, we can be immersed in His Spirit’s power. This is the Spirit that empowers the believer and purifies them through His holy  fire. This was what happened to the disciples before Pentecost:

 John_20:22 “And this having said, he breathed onto, and says to them, receive [spirit holy]”.

 Then we turn to the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

Again we see the Greek: Acts_2:38

“And Peter said to them, Repent, and immersed each of you in the name of Jesus the Messiah for a release of sins! and you shall receive the gift of the holy spirit.”

This is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer. 

1 Corinthians 3:16 “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?” (ESV).

 Finally, we see the fulfilment of  Luke 3:16 in the baptism of the Church:

Acts 2:3-4 “And appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and it sat upon one each of them. And they were filled all together Spirit of holy, and they began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave to them to be declared.”

Here the Church was empowered by the power of the Holy Spirit to declare the Gospel. 

There is one ‘mystery’ that Scripture does not answer: When were the discipled baptised into the Christ by full immersion and received the indwelling Holy Spirit individually? That one I leave to God as I cannot answer without any definite Scripture! We do know Paul was baptised (Acts 9:18). No doubt the others would have gone through baptism (immersion) as well. They would not have preached it and not acted on it.