Acts 2:40
And with very many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying: Save yourselves from this perverse generation.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Aliis etiam verbis plurimis testificatus est, et exhortabatur eos, dicens : Salvamini a generatione ista prava.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- ἑτέροις τε λόγοις πλείοσιν διεμαρτύρατο, καὶ παρεκάλει αὐτοὺς λέγων· Σώθητε ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς τῆς σκολιᾶς ταύτης.
Haydock's commentary
And with a great many other words did he testify and exhort them. St. Luke only gives an abridgment of those exhortations, which St. Peter, and the apostles frequently gave to all the people. St. Peter, as St. Chrysostom observes, and as we see in these Acts, was the mouth of all the rest. And on this first day of Pentecost, about three thousand were converted. (Witham)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily VII on Acts ii. 37
Do you see what a great thing gentleness is? More than any vehemence, it pricks our hearts, inflicts a keener wound. For as in the case of bodies which have become callous, the man that strikes upon them does not affect the sense so powerfully, but if he first mollify them and make them tender, then he pierces them effectually; so in this instance also, it is necessary first to mollify. But that which softens, is not wrath, not vehement accusation, not personal abuse; it is gentleness. The former indeed rather aggravate the callousness, this last alone removes it. If then you are desirous to reprove any delinquent, approach him with all possible mildness. …
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily VII on Acts ii. 37
[“Now when they heard this,” etc. “Then Peter said unto them,” etc.] (Recapitulation, v. 37 .) What had been said was not enough. For those sayings indeed were sufficient to bring them to faith; but these are to show what things the believer behooves to do. And he said not, In the Cross, but, “In the name of Jesus Christ let every one of you be baptized.” ( v. 38 .) And he does not put them continually in mind of the Cross, that he may not seem to reproach them, but he says simply, “Repent:” and why? That we may be punished? No: “And let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.” And yet quite other is the law; of this world’s tribunals: but in the case of the Gospel proclamation ( κηρύγματος ); when the delinquent has confessed, then is he saved! Observe how Peter does not instantly hurry over this, but he specifies also the conditions, and adds, “Y …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, From Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, in Cyprus, to John, Bishop of Jerusalem
3. This also I have been surprised to hear, that certain persons who are in the habit of carrying tales backwards and forwards, and of always adding something fresh to what they have heard, to stir up grievances and disputes between brothers, have succeeded in disquieting you by saying that, when I offer sacrifices to God, I am wont to say this prayer on your behalf: “Grant, O Lord, to John grace to believe aright.” Do not suppose me so untutored as to be capable of saying this so openly. To tell you the simple truth, my dearest brother, although I continually use this prayer mentally, I have never confided it to the ears of others, lest I should seem to dishonor you. …
St Jerome To Pammachius against John of Jerusalem
8. These are the arrows with which you are pierced; these the weapons with which throughout the whole letter you are wounded; or I should rather say Epiphanius throws himself as a suppliant at your knees, and casts his hoary locks beneath your feet, and, for a time laying aside his episcopal dignity, prays for your salvation in words such as these: “Grant to me and to yourself the favour of your salvation; save yourself, as it is written, from this crooked generation, and forsake the heresy of Origen, and all heresies, dearly beloved.” And lower down, “In the defence of heresy you kindle hatred against me, and destroy that love which I had towards you; insomuch that you would make us even repent of holding communion with you who so resolutely defend the errors and doctrines of Origen.” Tell me, prince of arguers, to which, out of the eight sections, you have replied. …
St Leo the Great Letters, To the Bishops of Sicily
And that we do not contend for this on our own conviction but retain it on Apostolic authority, we prove by a sufficiently apt example, following the blessed Apostle Peter, who, on the very day on which the promised coming of the Holy Ghost filled up the number of those that believed, dedicated to God in the baptismal font three thousand of the people who had been converted by his preaching. The Holy Scripture, which contains the Acts of Apostles, teaches this in its faithful narrative, saying, “Now when they heard this they were pricked in the heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, what shall we do, brethren? But Peter said unto them, Repent ye and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. …
St Leo the Great Sermons, On the Passion, XVI.: delivered on the Sunday
In fact, the case of the Crucified is so different from that of His crucifiers that what Christ undertook could not be reversed, while what they did could be wiped out. For He Who came to save sinners did not refuse mercy even to His murderers, but changed the evil of the wicked into the goodness of the believing, that God’s grace might be the more wonderful, being mercifully put in force, not according to men’s merits, but according to the multitude of the riches of God’s wisdom and knowledge, seeing that they also who had shed the Saviour’s blood were received into the baptismal flood. …