Wednesday Word of the Week

eis (ACE, or possibly ICE) (prep.) -- For, toward, moving in the direction of.

Key verse: Acts 2:38 "Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.""

Thoughts on eis: I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how big a fan I am of Isaac Newton. This week's word is a bit controversial, in that there are occasions in the New Testament when the order of the words in the sentence place the effect before the cause. In Matthew 12 and Luke 11, for instance, Jesus says that Nineveh repented "eis" the preaching of Jonah. Then, in Acts 2:38, baptism is "eis" the forgiveness of sins.

So which is it? Does forgiveness come before baptism, or does baptism come first?

The truth is you can't really tell from eis. There is no automatic, universal implication of time moving in a particular direction across the preposition.

What eis does is demonstrate a Newtonian causal link. It explains one state in terms of the other. And there is clearly a causal link between baptism and forgiveness of sins.

Now, which one causes which? Does the forgiveness of sins result in a person being baptized, or does baptism result in forgiveness? Eis doesn't know. Eis doesn't even really care much. The answer to that question has to be found elsewhere (I'd start with Romans 6 and Galatians 3, but that's just me).

But there can be no denying that the causal link exists. Eis says so.