One Greek Word Changes Acts 2:38—Does “Eis” Really Mean “Because Of”?

The Disputed Word

A great deal of theology has been placed on one small Greek preposition.

Acts 2:38 records Peter telling convicted hearers to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

The manuscript focuses on the Greek word eis because some interpreters have argued that it can mean baptism occurs because forgiveness has already taken place.

Don challenges that reading and asks readers to let the actual wording govern the doctrine instead of using an established doctrinal system to redefine the wording.

Peter’s Answer

The grammar appears inside a real conversion scene.

The people listening to Peter have just heard the proclamation of the crucified and risen Christ. They are cut to the heart and ask what they should do.

Peter’s reply contains repentance and baptism in one direct answer. The manuscript argues that nothing in the immediate context suggests Peter is describing an outward ceremony performed after forgiveness has already occurred.

The Matthew 26:28 Test

Use the same construction in another verse and see what happens.

The book’s most important grammatical comparison is Matthew 26:28. Jesus says His blood is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

The manuscript argues that no one naturally reads Jesus as saying His blood was shed because sins had already been forgiven.

If that construction points toward forgiveness in Matthew, Don argues that the burden of proof falls on anyone who wants the corresponding language in Acts 2:38 to point backward instead.

Not an Isolated Expression

Similar baptism-and-forgiveness language appears elsewhere.

The manuscript also places Acts 2:38 beside passages such as Mark 1:4 and Luke 3:3, where baptism is described in connection with repentance and forgiveness.

Don’s larger point is cumulative. He does not want the entire baptism question decided by a single lexical argument when the surrounding New Testament pattern points in the same direction.

Saul’s Conversion

Acts 22:16 makes the same issue difficult to avoid.

When Ananias speaks to Saul, he tells him to get up, be baptized, and wash away his sins while calling on the Lord’s name.

The manuscript treats that language as consistent with Acts 2 rather than as a later symbolic ceremony disconnected from forgiveness.

The Larger Question

The debate over eis is really a debate over what the gospel response includes.

Who Changed the Church? argues that changing the meaning of the preposition often serves a larger theological goal: preserving a version of faith alone that removes baptism from conversion.

Don’s method is the reverse. Establish what Peter said first, compare it with the rest of the apostolic record, and only then construct the theology.

The manuscript’s challenge is simple: do not make the text protect the slogan; make the slogan answer to the text.