Acts 2 and Regeneration...

[Arial]

No.

They could all be listed within the category of change that occurs in the process of salvation, but each is different. Salvation, simplistically defined, is simply change. God changes the sinfully dead and enslaved sinner. The sinner does not change himself and God is not dependent in any way when He changes the dead and brings him forth from death to life.

And, as in my case, and I am not alone in that, it was not believing any specific Christology, as that was something I had yet to learn. It was the simple pre-advent, death, resurrection and ascension that regenerated Abraham. I believed God---not just in God. The regenerated Jews at Pentecost did believe specifically in the risen Christ as the promised Messiah. The Scripture (OT) was something they had been schooled in from birth.

I was led by God along the path that I should go and for his purpose and so is everyone who is regenerated. It always comes to the same place of trusting in Christ alone for salvation, but it is not a box.

Were there more than three thousand there or is the passage saying everyone there was cut to the heart and received the word? I don't know. But there is a qualifier of those who believed in that passage. 39. "For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

 

[Bruiser]

And, as in my case, and I am not alone in that, it was not believing any specific Christology, as that was something I had yet to learn. It was the simple pre-advent, death, resurrection and ascension that regenerated Abraham. I believed God---not just in God. The regenerated Jews at Pentecost did believe specifically in the risen Christ as the promised Messiah. The Scripture (OT) was something they had been schooled in from birth.

I was led by God along the path that I should go and for his purpose and so is everyone who is regenerated. It always comes to the same place of trusting in Christ alone for salvation, but it is not a box.

Were there more than three thousand there or is the passage saying everyone there was cut to the heart and received the word? I don't know. But there is a qualifier of those who believed in that passage. 39. "For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

Ananias and Saphira were there...

 

[Arial]

Ananias and Saphira were there...

Your point? Seriously, it escapes my mind to put it together. I need a boost.

 

[Bruiser]

Your point? Seriously, it escapes my mind to put it together. I need a boost.

Perhaps they weren't part of the 3,000; because they lied to the Holy Spirit? But if they were part of the 3,000, they were Eternally Secure...

 

[Josheb]

And, as in my case, and I am not alone in that, it was not believing any specific Christology...

It's only my opinion, but I do not believe any convert has a wholly correct understanding of the gospel or Jesus in the beginning. It's why so many go awry and/or astray. Consider how often I ask, "Is Jesus God?" and then attempt to reason from that axiom to what must necessarily be as a consequence of that fact. Trips up a lot of folks even though that is never the intent of the inquiry. I did not understand the significance of the Trinity doctrine when God first dragged me to His resurrected Son. I haven't always held to it with surety but, once realized, its truth, its magnitude proves daunting and humbling. God is love and that love is manifested in Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Although he existed in the form of God,
[he] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a bondservant.​

What? (synapses fry) You're kidding, right? Why would anyone exiting in the form of God do that? Man, why does scripture have to say that sort of stuff? Can't I just believe Jesus saves and relax?

Jesus the Nazarene,
a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs
which God performed through him in your midst,
this Man,
delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God,
you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men
and
put Him to death.​

Yikes! How did they not all grind their teeth to nubs and haul Peter out to be beaten, castrated, flayed, keel-hauled, hung, stabbed, stoned, covered in pitch and lit on fire?

He is the image of the invisible God,
by him all things were created,
both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities
all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.​

Josh's head explodes My brain hurts .


What I did know is I was changed.

 

[Bruiser]

It's only my opinion, but I do not believe any convert has a wholly correct understanding of the gospel or Jesus in the beginning. It's why so many go awry and/or astray. Consider how often I ask, "Is Jesus God?" and then attempt to reason from that axiom to what must necessarily be as a consequence of that fact. Trips up a lot of folks even though that is never the intent of the inquiry. I did not understand the significance of the Trinity doctrine when God first dragged me to His resurrected Son. I haven't always held to it with surety but, once realized, its truth, its magnitude proves daunting and humbling. God is love and that love is manifested in Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

Although he existed in the form of God,
[he] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a bondservant.​

What? (synapses fry) You're kidding, right? Why would anyone exiting in the form of God do that? Man, why does scripture have to say that sort of stuff? Can't I just believe Jesus saves and relax?

Jesus the Nazarene,
a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs
which God performed through him in your midst,
this Man,
delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God,
you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men
and
put Him to death.​

Yikes! How did they not all grind their teeth to nubs and haul Peter out to be beaten, castrated, flayed, keel-hauled, hung, stabbed, stoned, covered in pitch and lit on fire?

He is the image of the invisible God,
by him all things were created,
both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities
all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.​

Josh's head explodes My brain hurts .


What I did know is I was changed.

Sola Scrptura...

 

[Arial]

Perhaps they weren't part of the 3,000; because they lied to the Holy Spirit? But if they were part of the 3,000, they were Eternally Secure...

I agree with the second statement, and I don't know if they were part of the three thousand. However, people falling down dead for lying to the Holy Spirit is not the norm. It was serving a purpose even if they truly were saved and it did not need to be repeated. Even then, those not sincere were afraid to just join up. The message was "This is not a game it is your life. Don't treat the one who applied Christ's work to you with contempt. In other words, don't treat God or his grace with contempt and as though he cannot know your thoughts. It was the beginning of the church and that had to be made clear at the outset.

And I imagine everyone who has read that account in our canon and is a believer, gets the message.