Texts in Conversation
Acts 11 describes salvation for an entire household using language that resembles the earlier Psalms of Solomon where cleansing and atonement extends to both a devout person and their home.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalms of Solomon 3:8
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
6 The firm resolve of the righteous is from God their deliverer; Sin does not pile up in the righteous person’s house. 7 The righteous person continually searches his house, to remove completely (all) wrongdoing (done) by him unintentionally. 8 He makes atonement for (sins of) ignorance by fasting and humbling himself, and the Lord counts every faithful man and his household as free from guilt. 9 The sinner stumbles and curses his life, the day he was born, and his mother's labor pains. 10 He adds sin to sin while he lives (?); He falls, his fall is truly terrible, and he never rises again.
Date: 65–30 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Acts 11:14
New Testament
12 The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, 14 who will speak a message to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ 15 Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, as he used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... 'Washing' constituted one of several images for conversion in early Christianity (see 1 Corinthians 6:11, using the same term; Titus 3:5; compare with Ephesians 5:26; 2 Peter 2:22). This image probably either reflected the experience of baptism or a common earlier biblical foundation that affected both. Various earlier biblical texts refer to washing away sins; ritual texts include literal washings (Leviticus 14:19, 31; 16:30; Numbers 8:21), but other texts probably apply the image figuratively (Joshua 22:17; Psalms 19:12 [18:13–14 in the Septuagint]; 51:2 [50:4, 9 in the Septuagint]; Proverbs 20:9; Jeremiah 2:22; 33:8 [40:8 in the Septuagint]; Ezekiel 36:33; 37:23; 43:22) ... compare also Sirach 23:10; 34:4; 38:19; perhaps Psalms of Solomon 3:8; 9:6 ..."
Craig S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, Volume 3 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014), 1342.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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