---
title: Acts 2:38
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/acts-2-38/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/acts-2-38.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Acts 2:38
testament: NT
section: Acts
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Acts 2:38

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (1984 edition): "be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit"
- NWT (2013 revision): "be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit"

## JW Usage

JWs cite Peter's Pentecost call to "repent and be baptised" as the apostolic pattern for entry into the Christian congregation. Baptism in JW practice is into the organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses — into the body of dedicated publishers — not in any Trinitarian formula. The verse is read as continuous with the Acts pattern of baptism "in the name of Jesus Christ."

## Protestant Usage

Peter's call is the apostolic answer to "what must we do?" — repent, be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The name on which the apostles told converts to call, into which they were baptised, and through which they received forgiveness was Jesus' name. There is no NT command anywhere for believers to use the form "Jehovah" as a salvation requirement; every apostolic command about a saving name points to Jesus (Acts 4:12, 1 Cor 1:2, Rom 10:9, Phil 2:10-11). The verse is part of the Acts pattern that quietly dismantles the Watchtower's case that "Jehovah" must be in the NT for true worship.

## NWT Issue

The NWT keeps "Jesus Christ" here without inserting "Jehovah" — exactly as the Greek demands. What is striking is that the NWT inserts "Jehovah" 237 times elsewhere in the NT, often where the Greek manuscripts uniformly read kyrios (Lord), but declines to do so in passages like this one where the natural reading is christological. The verse also illustrates two smaller NWT patterns: lowercase "holy spirit" (depersonalising the Spirit) and "free gift" (an expansion of the simple Greek noun dōrean). Neither is doctrinally decisive on its own; both fit the wider NWT pattern of subtly downgrading both Christ and the Spirit.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Christ Is Already Reigning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christ-reigning-now.md) — Acts 2:30-36 / Ephesians 1:20-22 / 1 Corinthians 15:25 [Eschatology]
- [No New Testament Command to Use 'Jehovah'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jehovah-name-no-NT-mandate.md) — The NT's only command about the saving name redirects it to Jesus [Deity of Christ]
- [Baptism Vow to the Organisation — The 1985 Question Change](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/baptism-vow-to-organisation.md) — Watchtower 1985 June 1 vs Acts 8:36-38 [Authority]
- [Baptised Into An Organisation, Not Into The Triune Name](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/baptism-into-organisation.md) — Matthew 28:19 / Acts 2:38 [Practice]
- [The Salvation-Name Dilemma](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/salvation-name-dilemma.md) — Old Testament — only Jehovah's name saves. New Testament — only Jesus' name saves. [Deity of Christ]