[daniel1212]

"But Peter said to them: Do penance, and be baptized EVERY ONE OF YOU in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. [39] For the promise is to you, and to your CHILDREN, and to all that are far off, whomsoever the Lord our God shall call." As the official RC Bible (for America) says, Peter [said] to them, “Repent and be baptized,* every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit." You are deriving more from Acts 2:38,39 than it supplies, for besides there being no command to do acts of penance in addition to baptism in order to receive the promise (and which was received by believers before baptism in Acts 10), what it refers to is the promise of the Holy Spirit, which in context here is received through repentance and faith as expressed in baptism. In no place is a promise given of the Holy Spirit apart from repentant faith, while acts which correspond to repentance are what results from repentance, as metanoeō refers first to a change of heart/mind, resulting in a change in action. Thus, while faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin, and while souls do obey some light they have received prior to conversion, yet in preaching the gospel to souls convicted of sin, righteousness and judgment (Jn. 16:9), as in Acts 2, the call was not to do a series of works in order to receive the Holy Spirit, but to believe with a faith that is expressed. Thus Paul preached, "But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judæa, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. " (Acts 26:20) As for Jn. 3:5, see my comments on Acts 10 as relates to that. If Jn. 3:5 refers to baptism, then it cannot be an absolute literal imperative necessity in order to be born again.

[stpio]

My Bible is the Douay-Rheims, not a modern translation. The Douay-Rheims is a word for word translation of the original, the Latin Vulgate. Doing penance is a part of repentance. Peter was talking to adults, who had not yet been baptized, who were hearing about the faith for the first time.

I have to account to God for everything I do so “doing penance” is a part of of reparation for the serious and lessor sins I commit in my life. Repentance, Confession and reparation. We do it here by our crosses and sufferings, our loving acts and prayers. If not completed here during your life, you do it over the veil in Purgatory. God is perfectly just.

Peter DIDN’T say do penance to be baptized.

The “do” is a problem for non-Catholics since they believe the heresy of ‘faith alone.’ Sola Fide contributes to so many of the objections about the faith.

The disagreement in the discussion is over infant baptism and I commented about another, the meaning of Jesus’ term “born again.” There is no “water” in the Protestants new definition of “born again.” Acts 2:38-39 shows everyone is to be baptized, that includes children (infants too). You can know the practice of the Church, it’s been passed down, it’s so important Baptism, you can’t enter Heaven otherwise!

To reject what the first Christians believed, well, you can’t say you didn’t know. Here’s a quote:

In A.D. 151, Justin Martyr wrote,

“As many as are persuaded and believe that what we [Christians] teach and say is true . . . are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God the Father . . . and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit [Matt. 28:19], they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, ‘Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:3]” (First Apology 61).

God bless you,

Acts 2:38
But Peter said to them: Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.