The Gospel of Christ

The apostle Peter announced to Gentiles the word (logos) sent from heaven concerning the living Word, Jesus Christ. This he explained (rhema) to these aliens to the common wealth of Israel and strangers to covenants of promise that Jesus came preaching the gospel of peace—the restoring of alienated mankind to a right relationship with the Creator.

Jesus came to earth, worked miracles to authenticate His person, but was rejected and nailed to a tree in order to become a substitute for the sins of His people. God raised Him from the dead, a fact witnessed by a number of people chosen by God for this purpose. These witnesses were commanded to preach and testify that all who trust in Jesus receive the forgiveness of their sins.

Peter does not finish his message, but is interrupted by the Holy Spirit falling on his audience just as He did on the Jewish disciples in the upper room at Pentecost. The astonished Jews could not but conclude that these Gentile believers were accepted of God on the same basis as the Jewish believers. Could anyone withhold baptism?