Acts 2:37-41 New Living Translation
37 Peter's words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" 38 Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles — all who have been called by the Lord our God." 40 Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation!" 41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.Conviction of sin is an essential aspect of the process of salvation. Jesus becomes a Saviour for those who know that they are sinners. Since it is a very important feature of true spiritual experience, we surely must desire to understand its nature. So here are some details of this occurrence.
First of all, this passage shows that conviction of sin can be very short. There is no evidence that these individuals, prior to this day, had any concern about their involvement in the death of Jesus. It had not crossed their minds that they had been guilty of this awful sin. Yet the period between their conviction of sin and conversion from sin was not a long time, perhaps even of a few minutes.
One reason for the brevity of their experience can be traced to it being a consequence of the preaching about Christ rather than preaching only about the law. Often it is suggested that the law must break the hard heart of a sinner before he will listen to the invitation of the gospel. No doubt, many a converted person has had such an experience. Yet it is obvious that the divinely-given law by itself does not give any hope to a sinner. If a preacher only mentions the law, he may have to wait a while, wait until he also preaches the gospel, before he has converts because there are no guidelines for finding Christ in the law.
Second, conviction of sin can be very sore. Peter’s sermon is interrupted by his listeners because they have been deeply affected by what they had heard. The phrase ‘cut to the heart’ is a very graphic word picture of the effects of the gospel by the hand of the Spirit in the hearts of sinners. The gospel is the knife that the Spirit uses to wound the inner life of sinners. What ideas are conveyed by this imagery?
First, there is heartfelt distress. Their response is not merely a recognition that they have done wrong; in addition there is a strong sense of the heinousness of their sins. Peter did not merely address their consciences; he also spoke to their affections. They feel the awfulness of what they have done. They have been guilty of rebellion against God, the one who is the Creator, Provider, and Sovereign, the One who sent his Son to be the Saviour of sinners. They have been guilty of rejecting the Saviour – he came to his own and his own received him not.
Second, there is longing for deliverance. These individuals realise that they are in great danger. It is not conviction when a person can deduce that a certain action is wrong but not be afraid of the judgement of God on such actions. Conviction by the Spirit also writes on the person’s heart the reality of divine judgement. He is afraid, and he will desire deliverance from the wrath of God intensely.
Third, there is a changed attitude towards the people of God. Previously, the crowd had reacted to the events of Pentecost, of which the disciples were the visible centre, with either curiosity or mockery. Now that they were under conviction of sin, they speak differently – they address the disciples with endearing words, recognising that these followers of Jesus will have some way of helping them.Read more...
