When any statement is a direct reply to a question, it may be necessary in the receptor language to specify this fact, for example, “Peter replied to them.”

Though in the Greek there is a formal difference of subject for the verbs “repent” (“turn away from your sins”) and “be baptized,” there is no semantic difference.

Turn away from your sins is “repent” in most translations; however, “repent” is not used with the same meaning in contemporary English that the Greek word had in its distinctive biblical setting. The literal meaning of the Greek word itself is “to change one’s mind,” but even this is not adequate for the meaning of the word. The meaning of this term must be sought in its Jewish, rather than in its Greek, background. Although the word is Greek, the meaning behind it came from the Old Testament context and signified either “to turn from one’s sins” or “to turn to God,” which from the biblical standpoint are essentially the same.

The context at this point indicates that the focus is upon the sin of the people in rejecting Jesus as Lord. Therefore, turn away from your sins is appropriate.

Insofar as possible it is important to avoid introducing the agent with be baptized, but if the receptor language in question has no passive construction nor any substitute passive, for example, “receive baptism,” one can introduce “we” (exclusive) as the subject, such as “we will baptize you.”

In the name of Jesus is literally in Greek “on the name of Jesus.” This is the only place in the New Testament where this particular expression occurs with the word “baptize” (though it does occur with speak in 4.17 and 5.40, and with teach in 4.18 and 5.28). The phrase more commonly used with baptism is literally “into the name.” Most English translations simply employ “in the name of,” and it is not likely that one can justify any meaningful distinction between these New Testament expressions.

The expression in the name of Jesus Christ is extremely difficult to translate meaningfully. It is more or less a formula which people accept but which they normally do not understand. In languages in which one cannot use “name” in any sense as a functional symbol for the personality, translators have used “be baptized as a believer in Jesus Christ” or “be baptized as a follower of Jesus Christ.”

So that your sins will be forgiven (literally “into a forgiveness of your sins”) in the Greek may express either purpose or result; but the large majority of translators understand it as indicating purpose. The phrase modifies both main verbs: turn away from your sins and be baptized.

The clause your sins will be forgiven may be restructured in an active form as “God will forgive your sins.”

The Greek phrase “the gift of the Holy Spirit” is translated in the Good News Translation by God’s gift, the Holy Spirit in order to make the meaning explicit.

Though the expression you will receive God’s gift seems formally quite simple, it is semantically very complex. The pronoun you, though it is in the subject position, is actually the goal of the activity suggested by receive. Receive is only a substitute for a formal passive. Therefore, in many languages this clause must be semantically restructured as “and God will give you the Holy Spirit.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .