ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 2:38-43
In those days, Peter said to the people, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
The Orthodox view of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian and Orthodox is a particular view. I recently watched two different videos on the subject. The first video was a Q&A for Orthodox Inquirers.
From the transcript [edit a bit to clean it up].:
Timestamp 36:50
I know that it’s a scandalous thing to hear as you said that just he doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. But to back that and frame that up a little bit for those people that may have kind of like been jolted or taken aback by that – what we mean by that is not again that the Holy Spirit as I believe it was Father Andrew said uh doesn’t work outside of the Four Walls of the church. All of us at some point or another were drawn to Christ in varying states of total you know uh degeneracy or error or whatever.
[Question] But again historically when do we receive the Holy Spirit? The indwelling of the Holy Spirit?
[Answer] Baptism and Holy Chrismation. And if you saw one of our brothers was baptized today right before this event up in the church and after he was baptized, he received Holy Chrism. And as father’s anointing him he’s saying “the Seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” that’s what we receive in this holy mystery.
So this is actually a great opportunity to illustrate how deeply separated from the true Christian faith modern Christendom is by thinking that you can receive the Holy Spirit without Holy Chrism and this holy mystery.
[Answering the imaginary Calvinist objector who would say that “Regeneration precedes Faith even.” Right, or at least is when you first believe right so they will say “Well you receive the indwelling of the Spirit when you first have faith in Christ”. I believed that so I I know why that many people believe that. But if you can understand how deeply removed from the authentic faith that idea is that’s the real scandal, honestly.
It’s not what Father Daniel said the Scandal is believing something completely opposed to what the church taught for all of history on that. [Objector from the audience]: “And it’s just so hard to see like a like Pastor Pat at my church my wife’s Church actually like this old man he’s like 60 years old older than I he like 70 years old been following the Lord his whole life like to say that God doesn’t have the Holy Spirit it literally blows my mind.“
Saint Theophan said that “Well God loves all men”, right? “God loves all men”. So, imagine this – the Holy Spirit did not dwell in a single human until Pentecost. So as holy as Pastor Pat is you saying that he’s holier than Abraham? Holier than Noah? Holier than Isaac? Holier than Jacob who wrestled with God and wouldn’t let go and had his name changed to Israel and was the father of the chosen people”?
Humble ourselves. Humble our human affections because God has no respected persons, right? And Saint Theophan the Recluse teaches – and this is the teaching of the Orthodox Church – before holy illumination baptism and Chrismation the Holy Spirit works from outside the heart. Constantly! The mere fact that we’re alive was by the action and Grace of the Holy Spirit. The Same Spirit that hovered over the void and the waters at creation.
But that same creative spirit that was bringing creation forth is always and every day willing to bring forth a new creation in the waters of baptism. And each of us, calling us home to the holy Orthodox church. But after baptism so Saint the Theophan the Recluse says before baptism the Holy Spirit works from without outside the heart and after baptism the Holy Spirit works from within the heart.
So one of your things here was people that love the Lord. Absolutely! In the Old and in the New Testament there’s many times where Gentiles are brought to our Lord. And there’s Jews that are that person that Gentile’s friend and they say “he loves the Lord”, “he sponsors the synagogue”. He wasn’t a Jew, right? But he did good deeds, and those good deeds won the Lord’s favor. But it didn’t make him a Jew. There was a way for a gentile to become [a] Jew [ed: circumcision], that’s but just because they loved it, and they loved the love the Lord, they love the Torah, they did good works, that didn’t make them a Jew, right?
Timestamp 41:32 – [On having teachers outside the church.]
There’s differences there. The Lord heard their prayers. He did things for them, right? So it is today the Lord loves all people. [Objector] “And like I’m not arguing – deep down I been watching a ton of Jay Dyer and stuff it’s like that’s a [unintelligible] and this guy…” St Paul says though you have many teachers in Christ, you have not many fathers. The Orthodox Church isn’t going to give, I mean there are plenty of Scholars in the Orthodox Church. That’s not our aim, because we recognize that the Christian life is about relationship and there’s a relationship between the father and the Son. And through the Son we become Sons so our relationship with Saints, our relationship with priests, our relationship even with brothers and mentors, is one that exists within that filial love.So teachers only have a right to exist within that if they are within the line of that filial love which is in grounded in truth – the truth of holy Orthodoxy. So, if you can be a teacher over here there’s people who are Scholars of Orthodoxy that aren’t even Christian. That you know you know so they can quote fathers, they can translate fathers, they can write huge tomes on Orthodox theology. But there’s a difference of knowing about God and knowing God.
I’m married to my wife she only has one husband, okay? She has plenty of co-workers she spends 40 hours a week with her with them in the waking hours. She spends more of her waking life with her co-workers than with me. But I know her better than any of them do.
[Question] “Father you would you like to take this? What is one of what is one bit of advice you’d offer to those seeking?” [Answer] Well just be like a child you know come with an openness. You know I guess all I could do in this case is witness my understanding. I was talking to somebody earlier is I basically in a sense a heathen. I had scripture. You know I read scripture. I knew I loved Christ. You know on that sense at the the end of the day my mom’s side of thae family which is from here were disenfranchised Roman Catholics but I knew about it had a little exposure to it my dad’s side is from uh Kentucky and they were Southern Baptists almost had a very puritanical look at things. At the end of the day and um and I knew so everything though I guess to come back a little bit is I knew everything in my life where I am now led me to this moment to this point.
There’s a much more direct second video:
Today’s Passage
The first verse for today has three elements in it – “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
- Repent
- Be baptized
- Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
Are both repentance and baptism necessary? It would seem to be the case from this passage.
For adults, this certainly makes sense. It is part of why Anabaptists forbid baptizing children and their modern counterparts, the Evangelicals.
It’s been the tradition of the historical churches to baptize children. The early Church Fathers supported infant baptism:
- Irenaeus (c. 130-202 AD) implied it by discussing salvation through infancy.
- Hippolytus (c. 170-235 AD) included instructions for infant baptism in his liturgical writings.
- Origen (c. 185-254 AD) explicitly supported it, citing apostolic tradition.
- Cyprian (c. 200-258 AD) defended it, emphasizing the grace for infants.
- Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329-390 AD) advocated for early baptism of children.
- John Chrysostom (c. 347-407 AD) supported it for the purification from the inherited guilt of Adam.
But, for children how does this make sense since the child can’t repent? The answer seems straightforward. An infant has not committed any sins yet so repentance is not a pre-requisite like it would necessarily be for an adult. And the child’s sponsor stands in for the child.
There’s nothing in this passage which would directly indicate that they had hands laid on them or were anointed with oil. But it is very clear that they were all baptized and that would have certainly included the laying on of hands in the very act of baptism. And the use of oil is witnessed in many places in the Bible.
The element of repentance and baptism can clearly be seen in the call of Saint Paul.
Acts 9:7-8 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
Here’s a passage about some Samaritans who had been baptized in the name of Jesus but had not yet received the Holy Spirit. They had hands laid on them to receive the Holy Spirit. It’s reasonable to conclude this is part of the normal process. for receiving the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:14-17 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
This pattern is common. Here are some who were just baptized with John’s baptism:
Acts 9:5-6 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
And the very start of the message was to repent and be baptized. It was part of the preaching of the Gospel. The idea that someone could be saved outside of baptism is foreign to this passage. There’s no praying of a sinner’s prayer. No coming forward for an altar call. There’s just repenting and being baptized.
Practical Questions
For myself, there’s an open question. I have been baptized twice. One as an infant by sprinkling. Another time as an adult in the ocean by immersion. The Church needs to evaluate these records to see if they “count” or not. If neither counts, I will be baptized by triple immersion in the tank at the parish. If they do count, I will be received via Chrismation alone.
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