圣经问答
Why did three thousand repent and be baptized on Pentecost?
The Spirit-filled disciples proclaimed the gospel, Peter explained the crucified-and-raised Jesus from Scripture, and the Spirit-cut hearers repented, were baptized, and were added to the apostles' community — the church was born.
回答
The crowd responded because Peter told them what God had done in their midst: Jesus of Nazareth was approved by miracles, handed over by God's foreknowledge, crucified by them, and raised because death could not hold him. Peter then concluded, "Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified." The same Messiah they had rejected was now declared the reigning Lord, and the hearers were personally implicated in his death — that is what cut them to the heart, as Acts 2:37 records: "they were pricked in their heart."
Peter's answer was concrete and threefold: repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise was not only for them but for their children and for "all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him." Those who received this word were baptized, and about three thousand souls were added that day, forming the first body of believers described in the verses that follow — devoted to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers.
背景
Acts 2:37-41 is the turning point of the chapter: the Spirit has just been poured out (vv. 1-4), multilingual Galileans have astonished a diaspora crowd gathered for the feast (vv. 5-13), and Peter has preached a Christ-centered sermon anchored in Joel and Psalm 16 (vv. 14-36). The question these verses answer is the crowd's own — "Brethren, what shall we do?" — and the rest of the chapter (vv. 42-47) describes the community that immediately took shape around that answer.
The text does not explain why the number was specifically three thousand; it simply reports the result of mass response to the preached word. What it does explain is the cause: a Spirit-prompted sermon confronting the listeners with the risen Christ, followed by an explicit call to repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit, with the promise extending to distant future believers.
相关经文
- Acts 2:37 The single supplied cross-reference, Acts 2:37, is itself the hinge of the passage: it is the crowd's pierced-heart response that prompts Peter's threefold answer and the three thousand baptisms that follow.
常见问题
Why did the crowd respond so quickly and in such numbers?
Because Peter's sermon confronted them personally: the crucified Jesus they had rejected was declared the risen Lord and Christ, and they were "pricked in their heart" — the Spirit-driven conviction turned a curious audience into repentant hearers ready to be baptized.
What exactly did Peter command them to do?
Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit — a promise for them, their children, and all whom the Lord would call.
Does this passage explain why the number was three thousand?
No. Acts 2:41 simply reports that about three thousand were added that day. The passage explains the cause of the response — Spirit-prompted preaching and an explicit call to repent and be baptized — but not the specific size of the crowd that responded.