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Acts 2:39
“For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Experiencing conviction of sin, the Jews present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost asked Peter what they should do when they heard the gospel (Acts 2:37). Peter answered that they had to trust in Jesus, repenting of their sin and being baptized for the forgiveness of their sins (v. 38). Under the new covenant, faith in His promises that bears fruit in obedience is required to receive blessing. This is the case for all of God’s covenants with His people.
In particular, the covenant with Abraham shows us that faith and obedience are needed for experiencing the full riches of the covenant. We see that Abraham was justified by faith in God’s promise alone (Gen. 15:6). Yet this faith was not to remain alone; it was to be demonstrated outwardly in obedience to God’s command that His covenant people be circumcised, that they receive the sign of initiation into the old covenant church (ch. 17).
The covenant with Abraham provides vital context for today’s passage. Peter told the Jews at Pentecost that they would be saved by repenting and trusting in Jesus (Acts 2:38), but then he extended the promise of salvation to the children of the Jews there present and beyond (v. 39). We hear echoes of God’s covenant with Abraham, for in that covenant, our Creator extended His promises to Abraham’s offspring. He pledged to be God not only to Abraham but also to his sons and daughters (Gen. 17:7). Knowing the story of Abraham, the Jews to whom Peter preached would have heard echoes of the promise to Abraham also.
In other words, God deals covenantally with families, not merely with individuals. We are saved only by trusting in Jesus ourselves; the faith of our parents will not save us. Yet the Lord shows special favor to the children of believers, as He did to the children of Abraham. This means that the new covenant sign of initiation—baptism—should be given to professing believers as well as their children. God commanded Abraham to circumcise his children because He was covenanting with Abraham’s entire family. Christian believers are children of Abraham (see Gal. 3:29), so the new covenant, wherein the Lord extends His promises to the children of believers (Acts 2:39), renews and confirms the Abrahamic covenant. While the sign of initiation has changed from circumcision to baptism (Col. 2:11–12), the practice of giving it to the children of believers has not because the new covenant continues the covenant with Abraham.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
John Calvin comments, “Even as God made his covenant with Isaac, being as yet unborn, because he was the seed of Abraham, so Peter teacheth, that all the children of the Jews are contained in the same covenant, because this promise is always in force, I will be the God of your seed.” The practice of infant baptism recognizes this reality, and those who have been baptized receive the fullness of salvation only by trusting in Christ.
For further study
- Genesis 26:1–5
- Luke 18:15–17
The bible in a year
- Genesis 44–45
- Matthew 15:1–20
- Genesis 46–Exodus 1
- Matthew 15:21–16:4