Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. (Acts 2:41)
The response was obviously huge, for “about 3,000” believed what he said. We don’t know the total size of the crowd, but that’s a big number of decision makers! Especially for an impromptu gathering, apparently out in the open without an organized program or sound system. Or without even a trained and sermon-prepared preacher!
Two next steps took place among the new believers. First, they were baptized. They were publicly initiated into the fellowship of the believers and identified as Jesus-followers. We don’t have the details on where and when this happened (they probably didn’t exit stage left and line up next to the church baptistery!). Did they march down to the Jordan River (that’s a long way!)? And nothing is said about sprinkling, pouring or immersion. By whatever means and wherever this happened, they were baptized. Three thousand baptisms must have been quite a scene, and an amazing holy moment. I imagine it took a while! I wonder if there was a holy hush over the crowd, or was it met by great cheering, rejoicing and applause? With back slaps, hugs, and conversations like, “I heard about this Jesus but didn’t know all of that! Isn’t it wonderful!?”
And by the way, did Peter perform the baptisms himself, or was it shared among the apostles? The text simply uses what is called the passive voice, that the people “were baptized”, and doesn’t identify who did the baptizing, so we don’t know who was in charge. Maybe the 120 who had been gathered in the prayer room which got violently interrupted by wind, fire, and unknown languages, all of those each baptized many people! Who knows?
The second point made in the text is that these baptized-message-responders were “added to the church.” They were now officially part of the fellowship and identified with the group of Jesus followers. Responsibilities that go with that decision will soon be made clear.
What a glorious day! God used an untrained preacher with an unprepared sermon to pierce the hearts of unsuspecting listeners to make an unplanned response. Praise Him! We have now hit the high point of Pentecost.
“Father, thank you for the crowd that believed on that day; as we consider this action, may it be duplicated around the world!”
Freddy Boswell 