Acts 2:38

Plain English Version

Peter told them, “You have to turn around and follow Jesus. Then let us baptise you, to show that you turned away from the wrong things you are doing, and now you follow Jesus Christ. Then God will not do payback to you for those bad things. And he will give you the Holy Spirit to live in you, just like he promised. You see, God promised to give the Holy Spirit to everyone that he picks to be his own people. That promise is for you, and for your kids, and even for people in other countries a long way away.”

Cross References

Matthew 28:19

So go out to all the people in the world, and tell them about me. Teach those people to follow my way, and baptise them with water to show that they belong to the father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3:2

He said, “Listen. God is going to show everyone how they can be in his family. So you have to stop doing bad things. You have to turn around and live God’s way.”

Matthew 3:6

And, after those people said they were sorry for the bad things they did, John took them through a special washing ceremony, that is, he baptised them in the Jordan River.

Matthew 4:17

Then Jesus started to tell everybody, “Listen. God is going to show everyone how they can be in his family. So you have to stop doing bad things. You have to turn around and live God’s way.”

Mark 1:15

He said, “Now is the right time for God to take people into his family. You mob have to take notice and turn right around and live God’s way. You have to believe this good news.”

Mark 16:16

Some people will believe that message, and then you have to take them through that special washing ceremony, called baptism. God will save those people. But God will not save people that don’t believe that message. He will blame them and say they are guilty.

Luke 24:47

And God says you have to tell everyone about me. Tell them that they have to turn away from the bad things they do and turn to God, so that he will say they are not guilty of the bad things they did. You have to start telling people that message here in Jerusalem, and then go on to other countries, until you tell it to the people in every country.

Acts 10:43

But listen, a long time ago, God sent his men to tell people his messages, and they all talked about Jesus. They said that if anyone believes in him, God will say that they are not guilty of the bad things they did.”

Acts 10:48

So he told the other Christians to baptise them, to show that those Roman people follow Jesus, the man that God sent to save people. Then those Roman people asked Peter to stay with them for a few more days.

Acts 13:38

You see, my friends, I’m telling you this message. Jesus died for us, so if we believe in him, God will say we are not guilty of the bad things we did. Jesus will make us right and good. The law that Moses gave us can’t do that, it can’t make us right and good.

Acts 16:15

Then we baptised Lydia and her family. After that, Lydia asked us to come and stay at her house. She said, “You mob know that I really believe in our leader Jesus now, so please come and stay at my house.” She kept on asking us until we agreed, so we stayed at her house.

Acts 17:30

You see, at first people didn’t know about God, but at that time he didn’t worry about it. Now it is different. Now he says to all of us, that we have to turn around and stop doing bad things.

Acts 20:21

I talked to everyone. I talked to Jewish people and to people that are not Jews. I told all of them, ‘You have to turn to God and stop doing bad things, and believe in our leader Jesus.’ ”

Acts 22:16

So now, don’t wait. Stand up, and I will baptise you. Pray to our leader, Jesus, and ask him to wash you properly inside, so God will not punish you for all the bad things you did.’ That’s what Ananias said to me.”

Acts 26:18

and you will tell them the true message about me. It will be like you will open their eyes so that they can see things properly. They will come to God. Then Satan, the boss over the bad spirits, he will not control them with his power any more. It is like they are always in the dark now, but they will come into the light. They will believe in me, and they will stop believing lies. And then God will say they are not guilty of the bad things they did, and they will be God’s people.’ Jesus said that to me.”

Acts 26:20

I told a lot of people to stop doing bad things and turn to God, and to start doing good things to show that they are following God now. At first I told that message to the Jews in Damascus, then I told it to the Jews in Jerusalem, and I told it to the Jews in Judea country. After that, I told it to people that are not Jews.”

Acts 3:19

So listen. You mob have to change the way you live, and you have to turn back to God, so that he will not blame you or do payback to you for the bad things you did.

Acts 5:31

And he gave Jesus the best place in heaven, right next to God himself, on his right-hand side, the place where the most important person sits. And God made Jesus our leader, the one that can save us. God did that so that all the Israel people can turn back to him, and they can stop doing bad things, and then he will not punish them.

Acts 8:12

But then Philip went to that town and told the people the good news about Jesus, and about God’s family, and he told them that God sent Jesus Christ to save people. A lot of men and women listened to Philip and believed in Jesus, and then Philip baptised them.

Acts 8:20

But Peter said to him, “You think you can buy God’s power with money, but you are wrong. No way. Only God can give people that power. And God can see that you are not thinking the right way, so he will not give you that power, and he will not let you work with us. Look out. God can finish you up, and finish up your money too.

Ephesians 1:7

You know, we were prisoners of the devil, the boss over the bad spirits. But Jesus died for us, and his blood came out for us. Jesus paid for us with his own blood, and he set us free from the devil. So now God will not punish us for all the bad things we did. Yes, God is very good to us.

Titus 3:5

God saved us, but he didn’t save us because we did good things. No. He saved us because he felt really sorry for us. Then his Holy Spirit washed us so that we are really clean inside, and he made us like we got born again as new people.

1 Peter 3:21

That water is a picture of the baptism ceremony. Like the time our Christian leaders put us under the water to baptise us. They didn’t do that to wash the dirt off the outside of us. No. It’s like that water washed the shame from inside us. When we asked those leaders to baptise us, we asked God to make us clean on the inside, so that we will not feel shame any more. So God saves us and gives us new life. Yes, we can have new life because, after Jesus died, he came back to life again.