Atos 2:40

The Greek word translated "generation" (genea) sometimes has a wider scope than simply all the people living within the same generational period. It has a metaphorical meaning here as elsewhere (e.g., Matthew 17:17; Mark 9:19; Mark 13:30; Luke 9:41; Luke 16:8). It means "a race of men very like each other in endowments, pursuits, character; and especially in a bad sense a perverse race." [Note: A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. "genea," p. 112.] Here the reference seems to be to unbelieving Jews of all time but particularly those living during Peter’s lifetime. "Generation" in this larger sense is virtually the same as "race."

Jesus had announced that the actual generation of Jews who had rejected Him would experience God’s judgment on themselves and their nation (Matthew 21:41-44; Matthew 22:7; Matthew 23:34 to Matthew 24:2). In view of that prediction it seems that Peter may have had that impending judgment in mind when he issued this call to his hearers. Jesus’ promised judgment fell in A.D. 70 when Titus invaded Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and scattered the Jews.

"This exhortation shows that Peter viewed that generation under the physical, temporal judgment about which Christ had spoken so forcefully and clearly. What Jesus had warned them about earlier (Matthew 12:31-32) had come on them and was inescapable. . . .

"While judgment on the nation was inescapable, individuals could be delivered from it. Peter’s answer was, ’Be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven,’ that is, they were no longer to participate in the repeated sin of the nation in rejecting Christ. The confession of their faith in Christ and of their identification with him by baptism would demonstrate their separation from the nation. They would be put out of the synagogue and lose all identity in the nation. Thus, by this separation they would individually not undergo the judgment on that generation since they ceased to be a part of it. Baptism did not save them. Only their faith in the One in whose name they were being baptized could do that. But baptism did terminate their identity with the nation so that they could escape its judgment." [Note: J. Dwight Pentecost, "The Apostles’ Use of Jesus’ Predictions of Judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70," in Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands, pp. 139-40.]