Repent, Be Baptized, and Receive the Holy Spirit
The apostles did not separate faith in the crucified and risen Jesus from the response He commanded. Those who received the gospel repented, were baptized into Jesus Christ, and received the Holy Spirit. This obedience does not purchase salvation; it is the God-given response of faith to salvation offered by grace.
THE SHORT
AFFIRMATION.
We believe the new-birth response given in Acts 2:38 requires genuine repentance and faith, water baptism by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The new birth begins with the gospel of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose bodily from the dead. No baptismal act, religious work, or human merit can replace His blood or earn forgiveness. The gospel calls sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, turn from sin, confess Him as Lord, and trust the saving work God accomplished through Him.
Biblical faith is not a bare acknowledgment that facts about Jesus are true. When Peter preached Christ crucified and risen, the hearers were pricked in their heart and asked what they must do. His answer—repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost—gives the apostolic new-birth response.
Repent and believe the gospel
Repentance is a Spirit-enabled turning of the heart from sin and self-rule to God. It includes sorrow that produces change, confession of sin, and a real surrender to Jesus Christ. Faith receives God’s mercy and rests in Christ rather than in personal righteousness.
Repentance does not mean that a person has already achieved sinless perfection. It means that the sinner no longer defends rebellion as lord and instead turns to the Lord Jesus to be forgiven, cleansed, and taught to obey all that He commanded.
Be baptized by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ
Water baptism is the commanded response of a repentant believer. In Acts, people who received the word were baptized, Samaritans were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, Cornelius’s household was commanded to be baptized after receiving the Holy Ghost, and the Ephesian disciples were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Baptism joins the believer publicly and covenantally to Jesus Christ. Paul describes believers as baptized into Christ, buried with Him through baptism into death, and raised to walk in newness of life. Immersion fittingly enacts that burial and rising. Calling upon the name of the Lord identifies the believer with the only saving name given among men.
Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
Jesus taught that a person must be born of water and of the Spirit. He promised living water and the coming Comforter, and after His resurrection He commanded the disciples to wait for power from on high. At Pentecost the Spirit was poured out, fulfilling the promise God had spoken through the prophets.
Acts shows the Holy Spirit given in more than one immediate sequence: at Pentecost after repentance and baptism were commanded; in Samaria through the laying on of the apostles’ hands after water baptism; in Cornelius’s house before water baptism; and at Ephesus after Jesus-name baptism and the laying on of hands. The order in an individual account does not make any part unnecessary. The full apostolic witness calls believers to repentance and faith, Jesus-name water baptism, and the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit.
Grace produces the obedience of faith
Water does not purchase the blood of Christ, and no human work places God in a sinner’s debt. Salvation is by grace through faith. Yet grace does not authorize us to remove the response that Jesus and His apostles commanded. The person who trusts Christ receives His word and follows Him into the new life He gives.
The new birth is therefore neither empty ritual nor self-salvation. It is God cleansing, forgiving, regenerating, and indwelling a repentant believer who calls upon Jesus Christ. The church must preach the whole response without substituting a one-time declaration, an infant rite without personal faith, or an experience detached from repentance and obedience.
THE SCRIPTURAL
FOUNDATION.
Use each reference to preview the KJV text, then open the chapter to read the passage in its full setting.
The Acts 2:38 pattern
Peter answers convicted hearers with the apostolic response: repentance, baptism in Jesus Christ’s name, and the promised gift of the Holy Ghost.
People baptized in or into Jesus Christ
These passages record apostolic practice or explain baptism as identification with Jesus Christ, His death, and His resurrection.
Believer baptism by immersion
The biblical pattern is personal reception of the gospel followed by baptism; going down into and coming up from the water portrays burial and resurrection with Christ.
Born of and receiving the Holy Spirit
God promised to cleanse His people and put His Spirit within them; Jesus and Acts present the Spirit as essential to the new life and power God gives.
IMPORTANT
DISTINCTIONS.
These notes clarify what the affirmation means, what it does not claim, and where terminology can hide a material difference.
Baptism is not earned merit
The blood, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the saving ground. Baptism is the commanded response of faith, not a price paid to make God owe salvation.
Personal repentance precedes believer baptism
The Acts pattern addresses hearers who receive the Word and respond personally. It is distinct from teaching that an infant is regenerated by a rite without personal repentance and faith.
The name of Jesus is not a magical phrase
Jesus-name baptism confesses and identifies the believer with the crucified and risen Lord. Merely pronouncing words over an unrepentant person does not produce the new birth.
Acts records more than one immediate sequence
The Spirit was received before water baptism in Acts 10 and after baptism in Acts 8 and 19. Those differences do not cancel any element of the full apostolic response.
Tongues can be a sign of the Holy Spirit
Acts records speaking in tongues when the Holy Spirit was poured out or received. Tongues can be a genuine sign of the Spirit’s work, but Scripture does not present the same outward manifestation in every account or assign every believer the same gift.
FOLLOW THE
CONNECTED MATERIAL.
These Watchman 33 resources develop the subject further. The foundational affirmation above remains the canonical summary.
Listen and study further
Born Again
In “Born Again,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about faith, salvation, the authority of Scripture. Drawing especially from John 3, Galatians 1, John 3:16, 1 Peter 1, the teaching emphasizes that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that salvation is presented as God’s work in Christ that produces a changed life and continuing faith.
Born Again and Ready
In “Born Again and Ready,” Pastor Dean Odle argues that conversion is the beginning of the Christian race, not permission to return to habitual sin. Beginning with Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in John 3, he presents the new birth as a real work of the Holy Spirit received through heartfelt faith, repentance, and confession of Christ. He then contrasts a merely verbal profession with obedient faith, drawing on James 2:17 and Titus 1:16.
Knowing the Holy Spirit
Dean Odle teaches that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a distinct work following conversion and that the New Testament gifts remain for the church. He identifies the Spirit as the Spirit of truth and grace, surveys Acts and 1 Corinthians, and argues that tongues, prophecy, healing, and other manifestations should be welcomed and tested rather than quenched.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
In “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about holiness, gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Drawing especially from Acts 23, Matthew 16, Matthew 16, Isaiah 28, the teaching emphasizes that God calls believers to reject compromise and pursue practical holiness. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit to build up the church and serve God’s purposes.