Acts 2:38 (ASV)

Passage

And Peter [said] unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Nearby Context

Acts 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard [this,] they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?

Acts 2:38 And Peter [said] unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:39 For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him.

Acts 2:40 And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "Spirit", "peter", "said", "repent", "baptized", "name", "jesus", and "christ". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "Spirit" and "peter", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 37's "Now when they heard this they were..." into verse 39's "For to you is the promise and...", so "Spirit" and "peter" belong inside that flow. In Acts context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "Spirit" and "peter" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.