Scenes from Acts by Western Painters #3 (Acts 2:41)

The baptism of the neophytes

Mar 03, 2026

I typically describe the event and painting, give a new translation of the text (set among its nearest group of verses), and write a short reflection.

Event and Painting

The previous painting depicts Peter preaching repentance at the feast of Pentecost to those who observed some effects of the manifestation of the Spirit. There, when asked what they should do, Peter replied “Repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus, for the forgiveness of your sins and that you might receive the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are far off, whomever the Lord our God calls.” His call was for them to “be saved from this crooked generation.”

Now comes the turning and the baptism.

This painting and the previous painting are perhaps the result of a collaborative effort by both Masolino da Panicale and Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone (known as Masaccio). The painting below, “Baptism of the Neophytes,” was painted in 1426-27, and is also located in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence, Italy.

Baptism of the Neophytes; Masaccio and Masolino; Florence, Italy, 1426-27; wikimedia.

Translation and Commentary (Acts 2.41-47)

So then those who received his word were baptized and they were added in that day, about 3,000 persons. And they were devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. Fear came upon every person, both many signs and wonders came through the apostles. All those who believed were together in fellowship, and they held everything common . And they were selling their possessions and properties and distributing them to all, insofar as anyone had a need. And every day they assembled together in the temple, breaking bread together by household, sharing food in gladness and generosity of heart, praising God and holding favour with all the people, and the Lord added daily to those were being saved together in fellowship

The “household” is the lesser counterpart of the temple in the earliest days for the believers, and when the latter shut its doors the former flourished as a place for gathering. An antique house still stands in Dura-Europos, adapted for Christian worship. It was renovated for the purpose and able to hold about sixty in its main room, with a baptistery fashioned out of a smaller room. The walls of the baptistery were adorned with Christian art (being, of course, depictions of Gospel scenes), and in it was a basin where those who turned to the Lord would be immersed in water, as was the universal practice where possible. In the earlier days of our text above there were pools aplenty for the effort in and around the temple, even for thousands, who could similarly descend into the water. Yet the emergence of them all was as from a higher baptism, one “by the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16). The sign and the seal.

Idyllic days are born from this, and this alone. Will we know them again?