The Diagramming of Acts 2:38

Question:

I need a sentence diagram of Acts 2:38 in KJV for a debate with group of Baptists, know where I can find one?

After some initial follow-up:

They [Baptists - bjt] think there is a big difference between, "Repent and be baptized" and "Repent, and be baptized". The difference, according to them, is separation from the conjunction "and" [with a comma - bjt]. This passage, they say, does not state which action (repentance or baptism) is for remission of sin.

Submitted by LD on April 16, 1999.

Answer:  (Answered by Bro. Brian Tipton)

"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 2:38

Introduction

When discussing salvation, it is inevitable that baptism will come up.  The above verse clearly says "Repent, and be baptized ... for the remission of sins."  With the meaning clearly indicating that baptism is for the remission of our sins.  However, this goes against the man made doctrines of salvation by "Faith Only".  It should be noted that the only time the phrase faith only occurs in the New Testament is in James 2:24 "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."  This doctrine of faith only is never, and has never been, taught in the Bible.

When attempting to defend this doctrine, denominations will often resort to picking apart the grammatical structure of the verse, attempting to show through intellectually stimulating arguments that what God's word plainly says, is not what God's word plainly says.  This is such an example.

Breaking Down Acts 2:38

The reader should note that the emphasis has been placed by the Baptist's on the comma located after the word Repent in Acts 2:38.  It should be noted to every reader everywhere that there is no punctuation (commas, periods, etc.) in the original Koine Greek.  The punctuation marks are added by the translators and are necessary to make the English version of the New Testament readable and understandable.  As we will see, the comma is very important, but not for the reason our Baptist friends have mentioned above.

Acts 2:38 is a compound sentence and is classified by Warriner’s English Grammar text as a complex compound sentence. It consists of 3 sentences

Sentence 1: "Repent,"
Conjunction: and 
Sentence 2: "...and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…"
Conjunction: and
Sentence 3: "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Most people believe that the verse in question is made up of only two sentences with a compound verb in the first sentence of "Repent and Be baptized..."  It is in fact a compound sentence made of three separate ideas forming one beautiful Holy Spirit inspired thought regarding our salvation.  The NIV in fact incorrectly translates the verse as a two-sentence compound sentence, while most of the other versions do not make this mistake.    Although readily apparent in the English, the idea that Acts 2:38 is a three-sentence compound sentence is made even plainer in the Greek.  Therefore, we will consult the Greek as an unbiased arbitrator in this matter.

The Greek text contains the reason for the inclusion of a comma in the KJV translation.  The comma separates the compound sentence structure making it easier to understand.  Let's look at the verb tense and number (plural or singular) of the verbs (words that show action like run, walk, etc.) in the sentence.  Table 1 below contains the verb in Greek, the verb in English, the number (plural or singular) nature of the verb, and the mood of the verb.

We are fortunate in this situation that the Greek mood, imperative, has a direct counterpart in the English language.   Often times Greek verbs do not have direct counterparts for the tenses and the meaning can be difficult (although not impossible) to express in English.  Such is not the case in this verse.

The imperative mood, for those who may have forgotten their high-school English, is the mood of commandment.  For example, if I were to say to a child, "Clean your room", I would be issuing a command for the child to clean his or her room.  Notice that it is not necessary to explicitly define the subject in an imperative mood (command) sentence.  The subject is implied.  In this case, knowing that the command was directed to a child, we know that the subject is implied to be the child.  You can just picture a parent looking down at their son or daughter and telling them, "Clean your room."  Perhaps a look of disgust would follow from the child; perhaps not.

If we did not know that a sentence was directed at a particular person or group of people, then we have to use a place-holder subject in our diagram.  That is, we use the subject implied by the sentence.   For example,

"Go to the grocery store and get a box of cereal." 

Their is no subject explicitly defined in this example.  So what could the subject be?  Well, we know from basic high-school English that "Go" is a singular verb, therefore, the subject must be singular.  We cannot ever mix singular and plural verbs and subjects in the same complete sentence.  In this instance we can only supply the subject "You" to the sentence.  Thus, we could rewrite the sentence,

"[You] Go to the grocery store and get a box of cereal."

We place our implied subject, "You", in square brackets to indicate its implied nature.  This scheme will be employed in Figure 1, which contains the actual sentence diagram.

Remembering that a subject cannot be singular and plural at the same time in English or in Greek, we realize that ‘Repent’ must have a plural subject and ‘be baptized’ must have a separate singular subject.   Repent is plural. ‘Be Baptized’ is singular.  Any other reading of this is grammatically incorrect.  God does not make grammatical errors.    It is obvious from reading the Greek or the English translations that the verb receive forms part of a third sentence in the three-sentence compound.  This point has never been in dispute.

To show the absurdity of translating Acts 2:38 as a two-sentence compound sentence (as the NIV does to its own embarrassment), let's look at an example that might be found in a first-grade primer or reader.

For example:

Jane runs and walk.
(runs - singular     walk - plural)      This is incorrect.

Jane runs and walks.
(runs - singular     walks - singular)   This is correct.

The KJV correctly makes the distinction between the singular and plural nature of the verbs and, thus, the presence of three distinct sentences through the employment of the English comma.  Thus, the correct translation is [repeated here for continuity],

"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 2:38

And the associated sentence structure is,

Sentence 1: "Repent,"
Conjunction: and 
Sentence 2: "...be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…"
Conjunction: and
Sentence 3: "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

The remaining words in the sentence comprise contractions, prepositions, adjectives, direct objects, etc., none of which will be identified or discussed here since they are obtained easily.  If you have any questions regarding the identification of these words, feel free to contact me.

The Actual Sentence Diagram

Sentence diagrams provide a graphical picture of the exact grammatical structure of a given sentence.  It leaves no room to question which phrases or words go with which verbs and subjects.  The actual mechanics of sentence diagramming are taught in high-school English and are beyond the scope of the present discussion.  It will be sufficient for everyone to understand Figure 1 by saying that the basic sentence is located at the top of each of the three sentence diagrams that comprise the total compound sentence diagram.  The words below each of the main words are words that add description to the subject, the action supplied by the verb, or to a direct object.  The location of the modifying words shows the true nature of what words they modify.  Suffice it to say that Figure 1 represents an accurate, pictorial view of Acts 2:38.  

Figure 1 - English Sentence Diagram of Acts 2:38

The word "and" is oriented vertically to show that it is being used as a conjunction.  The three separate graphical representations are the three separate sentences found in Acts 2:38.

What Peter Said on Pentecost

It is obvious to the reader that Peter has told the people gathered around him that day on Pentecost, almost 2,000 years ago, three things.   They are:

1. [You] Repent.
2. Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
3. Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is also obvious that Baptism is absolutely necessary for the remission of sins.  This is not to say that Baptism alone produces salvation.  That would be neglecting the first part of the verse, as well as, neglecting other passages in the bible and other examples of conversion found in the book of Acts.  Peter told the crowd around to Repent and he told the crowd around him to "be baptized ... for the remission of sins."  so that they would "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  The biblical idea of the importance of water baptism is also born out by Peter in I Peter 3:21 and by the Apostle Paul in the following references:  Acts 22:16, Romans 6:3-6, and Galatians 3:26-27.

Conclusion 

So, what does the comma mean?  Simple.   It is a separation accurately supplied by translators of the KJV to show the distinction of three separate sentences.  It shows the distinction of three separate imperative commands issued by Peter in the first Gospel sermon.  It also, contrary to the Baptist teaching, makes it very clear to the unbiased reader exactly which action produces the remission of sins.  It is only after baptism that our sins can be forgiven.  In order to be saved a person must:

1. Hear the Gospel.  (Romans 10:17, Romans 1:16)
2. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God. (John 3:16, Acts 8:37, Romans 10:9)
3. Repent and leave your life of Sin. (Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38)
4. Confess, publicly before witnesses that Jesus is the Son of God. (Romans 10:10, Matthew 10:32, Luke 12:8).
5. Be Immersed in Water for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, Acts 22:16, Romans 6:3-4, Galatians 3:26-27, I Peter 3:21).

God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34)   and does not require any more or any less of us than he required of those gathered on the day of Pentecost.  He required the same of Paul, of the Galatian Christians, and God requires all those who would be called his children to obey him and submit to His same will today.

If you are not a Christian, and you are not a Christian if you have not obeyed (with proper understanding) the five items listed above.  It does not matter what you have been taught by other people.  It only matters what the Bible says about your relationship with God.  The Bible says that this is the only way to keep from being numbered among the lost.

The Church of Christ earnestly desires to do those things commanded in God's word, the way He commanded them.  We are not a denomination, but where a biblical name (Romans 16:16) to identify ourselves with the church established by Christ on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.   That is all.  No more, no less.  We simply and faithfully follow the bible.  If you want to be numbered among the believers on judgement day, contact your local congregation of the church of Christ for a friendly helper to aid you in your search for salvation.

Note from the Author

I hope that this page is useful to all who find it.   Feel free to make copies of and share with the friends that you study with.   My only desire is that everyone will come to know the Truth of God's word and will one day put aside all of the man made philosophies.

Bibliography and References

1. Arndt, William F. and Gingrich, F. Wilbur. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christians Literature.  (University of Chicago Press: Chicago).  1979.
   
2. Han, Nathan E.  A Parsing Guide to the Greek New Testament. (Herald Press:  Scottsdale, Pennsylvania).  1971.
   
3. Holy Bible:  King James Version.  (Thomas Nelson Inc: Camden, New Jersey). 1972.
   
4. The NIV Study Bible. (Zondervan Bible Publishers:   Grand Rapids, Michigan).  1985.
   
5. Nestle-Aland.  Novum Testamentum Graece.   27th Ed.  (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft:  Germany).  1993.
   
6. Warriner, John E. and Griffith, Francis.  English Grammar and Composition. (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich:  New York).  1977.

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