Acts 2
Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
The Pentecost answer
Baptized into Christ.
When the hearers at Pentecost realized what had been done to Jesus Christ, they were pricked in their heart. Peter gave them a direct call: repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, receive remission of sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:37-38
Pricked in their heart.
“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, 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.”
Acts 2:37-38 (KJV)The Son of God had been rejected, crucified, raised, and exalted. The right answer was not to explain away the Son. The right answer was to repent, confess Him, and be buried with Him.
Buried with Christ.
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death.”
Romans 6:4 (KJV)Baptism is not a splash of religious custom. It is burial. The old man goes down. The believer rises to walk in newness of life.
In the name of Jesus Christ.
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Acts 2:38 (KJV)The name is not decoration. It is confession, allegiance, and entrance into the fellowship of the Father through His Son.
Apostolic pattern1 2 3
The book of Acts keeps naming Jesus.
Acts 8
They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 19
They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.”
1 Corinthians 12:13 (KJV)Ellen White — Vision of August 24, 1850
Baptized as a door into the faith.
Baptism is entrance into a faith, not merely water placed upon a body. Ellen White saw that those baptized as a door into the professed churches would need to come out of that door and into the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
“I saw those who have been baptized as a door into the churches, would have to be baptized again as a door into the faith. Those who have not been baptized since 1844 will have to be before Jesus comes. And some I saw would not make progress till the duty was performed.”
Ellen G. White, Spalding and Magan Collection, p. 3.8Manuscript 16, 1850
Out of that door again.
“Those who have been baptized as a door into the professed churches will have to be baptized out of that door again, and into the faith mentioned above... Some will not gain progress now until that duty is done and then they must live anew unto God and serve Him faithfully.”
Ellen G. White, Ms. 16, 1850, p. 2“There are many who will need rebaptizing, but let them never go down into the water until they are dead to sin, cured of selfishness and self-exaltation; until they can come up out of the water to live a new life unto God.”
Ellen G. White, Letter 60, 1906, par. 18Baptized into Christ
The apostles and pioneers point to a living union with Jesus Christ. Read their testimony in their own words, with the original sources close at hand.
Our life grows up into Christ.
“All are now being tested and proved. We have been baptized into Christ, and if we will act our part by separating from everything that would drag us down and make us what we ought not to be, there will be given us strength to grow up into Christ, who is our living head, and we shall see the salvation of God.”
Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 160.1 (1909). Read the published passage.
Manuscript 37, 1909, was dated May 30 and read to General Conference delegates May 31; it appeared in the General Conference Bulletin, June 2, 1909, p. 269. Read the manuscript.
Why repeat the pioneers’ words? Read Ellen White’s instruction.Baptism begins the new life.
Why repeat the pioneers’ words? Read Ellen White’s instruction.“Here, then, at baptism, commences the new life.”
James White, Baptism, Death and Burial, scanned p. 4. Open the source page.
Burial follows death to sin.
Why repeat the pioneers’ words? Read Ellen White’s instruction.“The proper time for burial in baptism is when we die to sin—to the transgression of the law; for ‘sin is the transgression of the law.’ But they who still live in violation of the law could not have been buried in this order. They were buried alive; ‘the body of sin’ was not destroyed; the ‘old man’ in them still lives.”
J. H. Waggoner, Thoughts on Baptism, p. 102.2 (1878). Read the original text.
Taking refuge in Christ.
Why repeat the pioneers’ words? Read Ellen White’s instruction.“Baptism is the sign of taking refuge in Christ; for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Galatians 3:27. Those who have put on Christ in baptism, have taken refuge in God. Baptism therefore is a reality, and not a mere form, only when the soul consciously takes refuge from sin in the mighty name of God.”
E. J. Waggoner, “His Name,” The Present Truth 10, no. 30, July 26, 1894, p. 466.10. Read the original text.
Into Christ and His life.
Why repeat the pioneers’ words? Read Ellen White’s instruction.“From the prison house of sin, he is exalted to the dwelling-place of God. This, of course, presupposes that baptism is with him a reality, not a mere outward form. It is not simply into the visible water that he is baptized, but ‘into Christ,’ into His life.”
E. J. Waggoner, “Studies in Galatians. From Prison to a Palace,” The Signs of the Times 25, no. 9, March 1, 1899. Read the original issue.
The heart united with Christ.
Why repeat the pioneers’ words? Read Ellen White’s instruction.“Baptism may be repeated over and over again, but of itself it has no power to change the human heart. The heart must be united with Christ’s heart, the will must be submerged in his will, the mind must become one with his mind, the thoughts must be brought into captivity to him. A man may be baptized, and his name be placed on the church roll, and yet his heart be unchanged.”
Ellen G. White, “Abide in Me,” Review and Herald, September 18, 1900, par. 4. Read the original article.
Planted in the likeness of His death.
Why repeat the pioneers’ words? Read Ellen White’s instruction.“Here we might mention the Trinity, which does away the personality of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, and of sprinkling or pouring instead of being ‘buried with Christ in baptism,’ ‘planted in the likeness of his death.’”
James White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 11, 1855.
Character is formed in the daily choices.
Ellen White connected the habits of appetite with the moral and spiritual work of forming a Christlike character. Read the counsel in its original volume and explore a practical, source-cited health-reform book.
Appetite and the trials of the church.
“The abuses of the stomach by the gratification of appetite, are the fruitful source of most church trials. Those who eat and work intemperately and irrationally, talk and act irrationally. An intemperate man cannot be a patient man. It is not necessary to drink alcoholic liquors in order to be intemperate. The sin of intemperate eating, eating too frequently, too much, and of rich, unwholesome food, destroys the healthy action of the digestive organs, affects the brain, and perverts the judgment, preventing rational, calm, healthy thinking and acting. And this is a fruitful source of church trials. Therefore, in order for the people of God to be in an acceptable state with Him, where they can glorify Him in their bodies and spirits, which are His, they must with interest and zeal deny the gratification of their appetites, and exercise temperance in all things. Then may they comprehend the truth in its beauty and clearness, and carry it out in their lives, and by a judicious, wise, straightforward course, give the enemies of our faith no occasion to reproach the cause of truth.”
Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, pp. 618–619 (1867). Read the passage in the collected volume.
This counsel first appeared in Testimony for the Church No. 13 (Battle Creek, Michigan, 1867), p. 66. The original pamphlet uses slightly different wording from the later collected volume; compare the scan with the cited pages.
Open original Testimony for the Church No. 13 to the passage Continue the health-reform study in The Garden TableBring the study to the table.
The Garden Table is an online, source-cited book from HealthReformProgram.com, organized into 25 topical chapters and two appendices. Continue from the principles of appetite and character to practical study of food, health, and daily life.
Read The Garden Table at HealthReformProgram.comThis resource is published by HealthReformProgram.com and links to its cited source material.
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Baptism: Death and Burial
Read the pioneer witness in full. James White brings baptism back to the Bible picture of death, burial, and resurrection with Christ.
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Read Modern Moses beside the baptism call.
Continue through James White’s record of carrying present truth in print and calling souls to follow the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
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Receive the Son
Repent. Be baptized. Receive the gift.
The Father gave His Son. The Son died and rose again. The answer of a pricked heart is surrender, confession, and baptism into Jesus Christ.