Acts 2:41

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

From Background Notes [BN] for February 25^th/26^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Three main verbs anchor Luke's summary statement in 2:41, telling the outcome which followed Peter's sermon...

1. "Accepted."  Peter offered to them a "gift," namely, forgiveness and the Holy Spirit: promises from God for the "house of Israel" and made possible by the ascended Jesus of Nazareth who was both Lord and Messiah. Though Israel had "rejected Messiah" by being complicit in his crucifixion and death, nonetheless, God now offers forgiveness of such sins on the basis of his death and resurrection. We are reminded of John's Gospel and his opening prologue where Jesus "came to his own, but his own did notreceive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the authority to become children of God…"(1:11-12). Luke is telling us some did receive him. The Greek word for "accept" is apodechomai and includes the idea of "accepting or receiving what is offered from without." It may also have the nuance, "to receive gladly." Once co-dependents with those who put Jesus to death, these fellow-Jews eagerly accept the message Peter preached. To what can we attribute this radical about-face? The overwhelming subject of this sermon has been an explanation of Jesus and the Spirit, and to Jesus and the Spirit we attribute the power required to both transform a fickle apostle into a rock (Peter) and a traitorous audience into persons responsive to the message he preached.

 2. "Baptized."  We have seen a great deal of baptizō throughout our recent studies. More recently we traced the importance of John the Baptizer's immersion of Israel in the Jordan River in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. What had once been primarily a ritual to prepare Gentiles to become Jews (proselyte baptism) is now transformed into a sacred act, animated by faith, whereby Israel renews its covenant with Yahweh by public identification with Jesus, their newfound Lord and Messiah. Baptism was (and is) the outward sign of an inward reality. Of itself, it saves no one, being merely a water ritual. But combined with genuine faith and attaching itself to the dying, rising Jesus, baptism becomes a powerful symbol of what has actually taken place in the lives of God's restored people. "Buried with him by baptism into death," Paul writes, "Raised in newness of life" (see Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). Paul would make an even more ancient connection between baptism and the shared experience of Israel passing through the Red Sea. From1 Corinthians 10:2 we learn of ancient Israel: "all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea."Notice the twin images involving water. The "cloud" referred to the pillar of cloud which symbolized God's living presence as He led, protected and provided for His people Israel while they lived in the wilderness. It was, so to speak, the divine provision corresponding to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The "sea" is the direct referent to the water of baptism. Having received the "word," Peter's audience simultaneously "received the Spirit"; having already "received the Spirit," they bear witness to this fact by "being baptized "with water.

 3. "Added."  The Greek word Luke chooses is prosetethiēsan from the root, prostithēmi, meaning "to add something to an existing quantity." Used of persons, it normally implies "added with consent, permission "and, in fact, can mean "to give assent to something." From this meaning also arises the concept of "association" or "to associate oneself with." The verb form is aorist passive, suggesting that the "adding" is the work of another, though with the person's consent. Once we gather these meanings together, we have the picture of persons, freely receiving Peter's message, the Gospel, and with it, forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  [BN, 13]

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