Question:
In your response concerning foods clean and unclean you make the statement that “Baptism was a definite command to some, but not to others.” How do you get past the words of Acts 2:38-39, “Be baptized everyone of you”? Verse 39 goes on to include as many as are called by the Lord.
Answer:
“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”—Acts 2:38-39
This passage records an instance where the rite of baptism accompanied the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Verse 39 is a singular prophecy. Could Peter not have been looking beyond the literal rite and the immediate blessings of the Holy Spirit to the great promise of life eternal (1 John 2:23) which shall be the inheritance of all who serve God whole-heartedly in every age and nation? For Peter did not say that all who receive the “promise” would have to be literally baptized any more than they should have to have experienced the gift of the Holy Spirit under the arrangement by which it was being dispensed at that time.
In Acts 10:34-35 Peter clearly states that “in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” There is no mention of baptism being required in all ages or in all nations.