Question: Dear sir, Please explain Acts 2:38 where Peter says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” My preacher says that it means “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ because your sins have been forgiven.”

Answer: Please consider that the command to repent and the command to be baptized are both “for the forgiveness of sins.”  Surely one does not need to repent of sins already forgiven.  Furthermore, the exact same Greek phrase translated “for the forgiveness of sins” in Acts 2:38 appears in Matthew 26:28.  There it is said that Jesus’ blood is “shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  Jesus’ blood is certainly not shed because sins are already forgiven.  In Luke 24:47, Jesus said that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in his name beginning at Jerusalem.  When Peter preached the first gospel sermon, he preached repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. It is in baptism that God forgives the sins of the penitent believer in Christ.