What If? Influence Factor: The Book of Acts What If We Had ...ribrown.com/resources/2009-0418-Acts-WhatIf-Power.pdf · 1 M. Eugene Boring, Fred B. Craddock , The People's New Testament

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What If? Influence Factor: The Book of Acts

What If We Had That Power? April 18/19, 2009

Digging Deeper (Questions are on the last page)

What If? Influence Factor: The Book of Acts ― What If We Had That Power? Written by: Robert Ismon Brown ([email protected])

Background Notes Key Scripture Texts: Acts 1:1-11; Acts 2:1-41; John 16:12-13

General Introduction to the What If? Series

Wrapped inside the little word "if" is a useful acrostic: Influence Factor. Grammatically, "if" is a conjunction

which proposes a condition. The Gospel of Jesus throws down such a condition to his followers, even as Jesus

himself did when he spoke the words, "If anyone would come after me, he must…" (Luke 9:23). The

proposition posed by "if" becomes a challenge to the those who claim to follow Jesus. Anyone who bears the

sacred name "Christian" also carries a sacred responsibility in the world ― this world. The point of "being a

Christian" is not, contrary to popular opinion, simply to go to heaven when you die. If that were the point, God

would likely take every Christian to heaven the moment they received Jesus into their lives! But it is clearly not

the point. That is why this matter of influence shines forth so clearly in both the Gospels and the writings

which follow them in the New Testament.

Perhaps no one understood that better, among the Gospel writers, than Luke. His writings make up two distinct

"books" in the New Testament collection, and, based on the simple counting of Greek words, those two books

constitute 27.5% of the New Testament ― more than any other single writer, including Paul!1 Those books are,

of course, the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. They represent volumes one and two of his

collection and are sometimes referred to simply as Luke-Acts. A serious purpose drove Luke in his work which,

by the assessment of a growing consensus in New Testament scholarship, included careful historical work. The

sort of history Luke wrote paid close attention not only to what happened, but what influence those events had

on the lives of its key characters and on the world around them.2 Luke-Acts is more than biography, and it is

certainly not just theology, although it has elements of both. Luke was convinced that the works and words of

Jesus of Nazareth, performed between 27 and 30 C.E. had a wide-ranging impact on the whole Roman world

during the next nearly thirty years. Or, as Michael Green titled one of his own books, Thirty Years That

Changed the World: The Book of Acts for Today.3

Influence. We all exert it for good or for ill. In the case of Jesus, he came into the world to transform it,

restoring it to God's original, holy purposes. That is the pre-eminent message of Easter which we have just

celebrated. If the Jesus who died has risen from the dead, then a whole range of new possibilities have been

opened up for the human race. If the unthinkable can happen ― if dead men rise ― then the whole created

world can watch with baited breath expecting God's next great act of new creation (see Romans 8:18-23). But

God chose to use human instruments to wield His influence, and has done so right from the beginning of human

history. Noah. Abraham. Joseph. Moses. The faith hall of fame (see Hebrews 11) fills the pages of the Bible:

persons of influence who brought the holy character of God to bear on the fallen condition of this world.

1 M. Eugene Boring, Fred B. Craddock , The People's New Testament Commentary, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 174.

2 Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998, pp. 1-39.

Witherington offers a helpful overview of the connection between Luke's work and the different kinds of "histories" known to the

Graeco-Roman and Jewish worlds of his day. Also, A.W. Mosley, "Historical Reporting in the Ancient World, " New Testament

Studies 12 (1965-66): 8-25 3 Michael Green, Eerdmans Publising, 1993, rev. 2002.

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Any casual reader of Luke's two books will notice how intentional the writer pursued his task. Following the

practices of Greek historians like Polybius and Ephorus,4 Luke researched his subject matter with great care,

arranged it according to a plan, and then presented it for interested audiences to hear. He wrote not merely to

inform but also to influence those who heard his story. To better appreciate his approach, consider these two

introductions which serve as exordia5 to Luke and Acts respectively:

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught (Luke 1:1-4). 1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:1-5).

A few observations follow:

1. The writer acknowledges the existence of other written compilations relative to Jesus, and attests that they

were based on eyewitness accounts and on the actual involvement of their compilers also as "ministers of

the word."

2. When Luke says "the things that have been accomplished among us," he is using the sort of language found

in use by ancient historians when describing "events which have taken place." The Greek term used here is

pragamata: that which has been done. More than this, however, he uses words which imply "fulfillment"

and not just "happening." That is, God had promised these events in the past and they have come to

completion ("been accomplished", plērophoreō, perfect participle) more recently through the life of Jesus.

Historians distinguish between what happened and what was going on. Luke was interested in both.

3. Words like "closely" and "orderly" suggest the care with which Luke carried out his writing task. Like

ancient historians, he knew that history influences what people do in the present and is not merely a record

of what happened in the past. If that is true, then only accurate historical information should comprise the

work that Luke was compiling.

4. Luke writes for a very personal audience, and he obviously knows this person he calls "Theophilus," though

we know nothing more about him for certain. Scholars believe, based on the way Luke addresses

Theophilus, that he had some social standing in his own community. Moreover, based on what we know of

other ancient writers, a man like Theophilus may have been Luke's patron during the course of his

composition of Luke-Acts. That is, Theophilus paid for Luke's travel and other expenses incurred in the

research and development of his works. By underwriting the work, this patron was also making a huge

contribution to the rest of the Christian community and the world, including ourselves who read it some

2000 years later. By a simple act of financial stewardship, Theophilus wielded his own influence through

Luke and to the world.

5. Nor was Theophilus a mere spectator, curiously seeking information on the "Christians." Luke uses a Greek

word which is the basis for our English term "catechism" to describe how Theophilus has been "taught"

(katēcheō, in the aorist passive form). The manner in which Luke influences his patron is grounded in the

actual, historical events which took place and not on hearsay or rumor (see also 2 Peter 1:16 for the firm

commitment to accuracy and eyewitness testimony). What Theophilus comes to believe about Jesus is

based on a firm foundation. Thanks to Luke, his faith is a grounded faith, a reasoned faith, as ours should

be.

4 C. W. Fornara. The Nature of History in Ancient Greece and Rome, University of California Press, 1983.

5 This term refers to the opening section of a speech as followed by ancient rhetorical practice.

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When Luke writes volume two, called the Acts6, he draws the connecting lines back to his Gospel, calling it

"my former book" (Greek: prōton logon, "first word") which chronicled what Jesus began to do and teach.

Such language is open-ended and allows for something to happen yet in the future, something continuing.

1. The book of Acts carries forward the story of Jesus which began in the Gospel of Luke. The writer dates the

end of his Gospel with the ascension of Jesus ("taken up to heaven") ― the biblical way of saying that Jesus

had taken his place once more with his Father, reigning as King at His right hand.

2. During the period from his resurrection until this ascension, some forty days by Luke's reckoning, Jesus

gave instructions to "the apostles he had chosen." This implies that they had more work to do, and that his

imminent departure would launch them on a fresh mission. The Greek word for "instructions" is entellomai

which means "command, order, give orders." Coupled with the word "apostles" ("ones sent"), 1:2 sounds

like a military or royal commissioning ― one which has a close parallel in Matthew 28:19-20, the so-called

"Great Commission."

3. Such a royal commission is issued in through the influence of the "Holy Spirit," Luke tells his audience.

Since this is a transitional period for the apostles (Jesus is leaving and the Holy Spirit will be coming), it

only stands to reason that Jesus would invite the presence and power of the Spirit to share in these closing

briefings of his followers before he returned to his kingly place at the Father's side. While the Spirit had not

yet come on the apostles in his fullness, the Spirit already filled the life of Jesus and was, therefore, present

during the time Jesus gave new orders to his followers. Or, as Jesus once described the Holy Spirit: "for he

dwells with you and shall be in you" (John 14:17, emphasis mine).

4. Among the purposes of the "forty days" was to give proof that Jesus was alive, having faced death on the

cross and conquered it through his resurrection. Luke uses strong language when he writes about

"convincing proofs" (Greek: tekmērion). The resurrection of Jesus belongs to the realm of history, not myth

or memory. Through it, God vindicated His Son as Savior and Lord of the world.

5. Luke's history is also a royal history for it pertains to "the kingdom of God." This phrase, common to the

four Gospels, refers to God's righteous reign (or rule), and corresponds to the Old Testament promise that

God has once more become king, having returned to Zion. Jesus will share God's throne when he ascends to

God in resurrection glory. This is reminiscent of the Our Father in which Jesus instructs his followers to

pray, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." When Jesus ascends to sit at God's right hand, God's

will was being fully done in heaven, but that leaves the followers of Jesus the royal task of fulfilling God's

will on earth, becoming holy influences for the kingdom of God.

6. Central to their new work, as kingdom influences, is the empowerment of the apostles. On their own, they

cannot effect God's holy will on earth. Their cowardice and unbelief during the trial and death of Jesus had

proven that they have feet of clay apart from God's help. Jesus tells them that the Father promises that He

will send "the Holy Spirit" baptism, submerging and surrounding them with His presence and His power.

7. What Jesus tells his followers, as reported by Luke in Acts 1:4-5, dovetails nicely with the closing words of

Luke's Gospel: 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:44-49)

6 The Greek word behind the book's title is praxis used in its plural form, praxeis, and refers to the "deeds" or "achievements" of

persons. The title was not part of the work originally, but by 150 C.E. starts to appear in lists of New Testament books, such as the

Muratorian Canon (line 34), and the writings of church fathers, like Irenaeus (Against Heresies, 3.12.11; 3:13.3) and Tertullian. The

Greek historian Polybius applied the term praxeis to history books. Even the emperor Augustus wrote about his own

accomplishments using the Latin equivalent of this term (res gestae). For a further discussion, see David E. Aune, The New

Testament in its Literary Environment, James Clarke & Co., 1988, chapter 3. For our part, we tend to see the book as the "Acts of

Jesus and the Spirit," as expressed through the lives of people like Peter, Stephen, James, Paul, Philip, and Barnabas. Another way of

saying this might be, "What influence did the risen and ascended Jesus have on the world when he sent the Holy Spirit to influence the

lives of his followers?"

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8. "Beginning from Jerusalem" in Luke 24:47 and "stay in the city" (24:48) correspond to "Do not leave

Jerusalem" in Acts 1:4 and "in Jerusalem" in Acts 1:8. Since God has returned to Zion in the person of His

Son, it is fitting that all instructions be given relative to Jerusalem, the city of God, the geographic and

theological center of the mission. However, as the word "beginning" implies, the work of the apostles will

not end with Jerusalem but instead will radiate outward to "all nations" (Luke 24:47) and to "the ends of the

earth" (Acts 1:8).

9. What sort of "holy influence" will the apostles exert on their world? Put simply, they will proclaim to the

world that Jesus is the fulfillment of the ancient Scriptures (Luke 24:44), and that proclamation will include

the ideas of "repentance" and "forgiveness of sins." In the word "repentance" (Greek: metanoia) we hear the

notion of change: setting aside personal agendas and taking up the agenda of God. In the word "forgiveness

of sins" we hear what God must do: He will turn away His wrath from His creation and, because of the

sacrifice of His Son on the cross, He will, instead, put the world to rights and begin afresh His work of new

creation. This proclamation is the Good News, the Gospel, which the apostles are commissioned to bring to

the whole world. When the message is heard, lived, modeled and received, lives are changed and God's will

is "done on earth as it is in heaven."

As we read through Luke's second volume, we discover how that proclamation reached to the "ends of the

earth" ― at least as it was known in his time: it reached the Roman Empire. In thirty brief years, the influence

of the Gospel could be felt even in Rome itself where Luke's story comes to an end. Tradition claims that the

Gospel, through the ministry of Paul, extended its influence as far west as Spain, the literal "end of the earth"

according to ancient geography. And, to the east, we have indications that Thomas brought the Gospel to India.

However, the promise of Jesus did not end in Spain or India. The world was, as it turned out, a far bigger place

than even the apostles imagined. And that world is now our world and in the place left by the apostles stands

the whole people of God, the church catholic ― that is "universal."

In broad strokes we might say this:

• Jesus became for Israel what Israel failed to be.

• Jesus through, a renewed Israel (the 12 apostles and their communities), became for the world what

Jesus became for Israel.

But now,

• We, the people of God in our time, empowered by the Holy Spirit are called upon once more to

become the instruments of God to influence our world and bring it under the holy rule of God's

heavenly kingdom.

As we study the book of Acts, through this new fourteen week series, What If, we will discover the power, the

people, the process and the places where this influence literally saturated the world of the first century. Like

vectors reaching outward from Jerusalem, the Christian messengers kindled spiritual fires in places like

Samaria, Antioch, Corinth, Athens and Rome. People like Peter, Stephen, Philip, Paul, Barnabas and Silas

joined forces in an enormous missionary effort which "turned the world upside down." What these Christ

followers left in their wake was not just a collection of "souls bound for glory," but whole communities,

alternate societies, homes for the homeless, and rescue missions for the desperate down-and-outs.

The vision these empowered lives cast for us was of a world tangibly impacted by the Gospel. Luke did not

intend to hold up the early Christian community as a perfect society to simply be imitated by every generation

since his time. As we shall discover, these Christ followers fought and struggled to become the holy people of

God, and did so amid persecution, heresy, fraud, and jealousy. Far from perfect, they were a people in process,

working out the meaning of the word "Christian" in the midst of a world where human power and social status

meant more to the ruling elite than did the virtues of mercy, humility, forgiveness and love. They faced the

challenges of racism (Jew vs. Gentile), economics (rich vs. poor), and political oppression (Caesar vs. Christ).

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None of that came easily. It all came with a price at a time when to be a witness meant becoming a martyr

(Note: the Greek word for "witness" is martus).

Introduction

Our emphasis this week, in the first study of Acts, comes in the form of a question: "What IF we had that

Power?" Since we are considering the idea of "influence" in this series, "power" is an especially suitable place

to begin. The word "influence" is based on the Latin (influō) "to flow into, to pour into" as water flowing into

the sea, contributing to its replenishment. In Luke 24:49, as we noted above, Jesus promised that if his

followers waited in Jerusalem they would be "clothed with power from on high": endusesthe ex hupsous

dunamin. The verb enduō means "clothe, dress," and refers to a new garment, symbolizing a new person. Used

in conjunction with "the kingdom of God" in Acts 1:3, this clothing has a royal connotation: Jesus the king is

investing his followers with his royal power and authority to perform his continuing work in the world. The

Holy Spirit will be that power, personalized and living in their lives. A certain majesty and glory will shine

from them because the Holy Spirit will come to live in them. They will become uniquely the image-bearers of

God's new creation, showing the world through their deeds and words what it means to be the children of God.

They will become not merely the advertisements for the kingdom of God, rather they will be the living,

breathing evidences that the kingdom of God has already arrived.

But, as we begin to examine more closely what that power-in-action will look like in the apostles' lives, the first

thing we discover is that even they, prior to receiving the Holy Spirit, had a distorted view of what was going to

happen next. To that study we turn.

You Will Receive Power (Acts 1:6-14) 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." 12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers (Acts 1:6-14).

Kingdom Questions (1:6-7) Jesus had, in his previous conversations with the apostles over the course of forty days, spoken "about the

kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3). Oddly, though perhaps not surprisingly, the apostles were stuck in their own

understanding of a very narrow and nationalistic kingdom. They wanted to know when would Israel get to rule

the world ― even if it meant only rule their little piece of that world (1:6). After all, for the moment, Rome

ruled the world; Caesar was in charge of everything from Spain to the West, the Indus to the East, Britannia to

the North and North Africa to the South. The whole Mediterranean Sea basin was under its authority. As the

Revelation put it, "The beast comes up out of the Sea" (Revelation 13). For the moment, the apostles were

thinking about their immediate horizons: the little piece of real estate along the eastern coast of the

Mediterranean, divided into smaller Roman provinces: Galilee, Judea, Peraea and Samaria. There was no godly

king ruling any Israelite territory, but only puppet tetrarchs like Herod Antipas in Galilee and procurators like

Pilate in Judea.

If Jesus had risen from the dead (and he had), surely this signaled the beginning of "the revolution" in which

Israel would occupy her rightful place at the center of the world, at the heart of the nations, perhaps, even as a

dagger in the heart of Caesar's Empire. The time had come, they no doubt reasoned, to strike a blow for Judean

freedom like the Maccabees under Judas, Simon, Jonathan and their courageous father Matathias, some two

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centuries before! After all, had not James and John petitioned Jesus for a place on Jesus' right and left once the

kingdom had arrived (see Mark 10:37)? The disciples were asking a question about "authority," but Jesus had

already told them in Mark 10:40 that such authority rested with God alone.

It's interesting that the apostles used the word "restore" in this context. From the Greek, apokathistēmi, the

word has a range of meanings: "reestablish, restore, cure, make well, send, bring back." Additionally, they

imagined that the kingdom would be restored "to" Israel (using the dative case in Greek). Ironically, Jesus

seeks, not the restoration of the kingdom "to" Israel, but instead he wants the restoration of Israel itself! In fact,

the apostles are the nucleus of that restored Israel, gathered around the resurrected Jesus! By choosing "twelve"

apostles, Jesus was symbolically announcing the restoration of Israel as a new creation, corresponding to the

original twelve tribes. Of course, because the betrayer, Judas, took his own life, that number stands, for the

moment, at eleven, something the apostles will address shortly in anticipation of the Spirit's arrival.

The response of Jesus to the disciple's inquiry is direct. Using the language of prophetic "times and seasons"

(Greek: chronoi and kairoi), Jesus declares that all such "date setting" is off-limits to his followers, reminding

them that such matters belong to the Father's "authority" (Greek: exousia). The question of national Israel's

place among the nations, as a matter of prophetic fulfillment, is hidden in the deeper purposes of God, Jesus

instructs them. Unfortunately, the followers of Jesus, long after he spoke those words, have yielded more than

once to the temptation to probe that mystery in direct contradiction to his instructions. There's hardly been a

"generation" when a flurry of prophetic speculation has not arisen, especially during times of distress. Even the

appearance of the State of Israel, in 1948, triggered claims that within a generation of that event, the kingdom of

God would reach its completion. Of course, as in other generations, those predictions proved false, largely

because those who studied Scriptures chose to view prophecy as a crystal ball gazer might, rather than as the

living word of God directed at each new generation of God's people ― for their correction and growth. Jesus'

words to his followers in Acts 1:7 agrees with his warnings given before his crucifixion: "No one knows the day

or the hour…" (Matthew 24:36, 50; 25:13; Mark 13:32; Luke 12:46).

Sadly, those who become preoccupied with so-called "end time events" siphon off significant energy from the

important task of influencing the world, as Jesus commanded. Those who treat prophecy only in predictive

terms, tend to view events as inscribed in stone and see the world's future as scripted in advance so that no one

can do anything about what happens. Those who cling to a "rapture" theology, supposing that they will be

plucked from this world before the final curtain falls, might be tempted not to get involved with God's ongoing

kingdom program. In this understanding of the future, since the whole world is going to end up in the dustbin

or the incinerator of history, they might possibly ask, "What's the point? Why bother? Just save souls and wait

for heaven." Nothing could be further from the mind of Jesus as he sets forth his kingdom program.

Persons, Power, Process, Places (1:8)

1. Central to the book of Acts is 1:8. What Jesus promises his followers is power for divine influence, and that

power is not the sort prized by Caesar in Rome or vested in the Jerusalem leadership. The Greek word is

dunamis and it points to that which makes something happen, that which enables it to take place. Our

English words "dynamo" and "dynamite" derive from this Greek root. The former produces something,

while the latter deconstructs something. Of course, the apostles knew nothing about either dynamos or

dynamite, but they would soon know about the Holy Spirit!

2. Of importance in this passage is the role of the Holy Spirit as the source of power for Christian witness. The

disciples are told not to rely on out-dated ways of thinking about the kingdom of God, as if it were a

question of "restoring power" in a political sense to national Israel. That's what the disciples still imagined,

but Jesus disallows this eventuality for them, reserving such matters for the hidden purposes of God. The

witness of Christ's followers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ would not be empowered by a secular kingdom,

equipped with armies and weapons, but by the Holy Spirit, the Father's promise, and their clothing with

power "from on high." The followers of Jesus are instructed to "wait" in Jerusalem "for further

empowering"!

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3. The two words, exousia and dunamis appear in this passage. The first has to do with the authorization to

act, whereas the second pertains to the ability and energy to act. God ("the Name", hashem) holds all

authority "in heaven and on earth" as Matthew's version of the Commission explained. However, by His

choice, He promises power, dunamis, to His followers. He reserves the authority, but He authorizes the

power. The last command of Jesus is to "wait" for the arrival of the Holy Spirit--and power for witness.

4. Ironically, the disciples would no longer "see Jesus," the one to whom they are suppose to bear witness.

The fundamental purpose of the "forty days" included their "seeing Jesus" who "showed himself alive" by

infallible proofs. These are primarily proofs of "sight." Once Jesus vanishes from "sight", the Holy Spirit

will become, as part of his empowering work, the one who will grant spiritual sight as the disciples bear

witness to the words and deeds of Jesus, especially to the fact of his resurrection. The Spirit will provide

"evidences" to the audiences where the disciples proclaim the Gospel. In the very next chapter, we hear

Peter, now filled with the Spirit, telling his audience, "[Jesus] Being therefore exalted at the right hand of

God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you

yourselves are seeing and hearing" (Acts 2:33). The "witness of the Spirit" gives proof or evidence as the

Christian bears witness to the Gospel.

The power which Jesus promises is something "received" when the Holy Spirit "comes on" the apostles. Just as

they receive Jesus, so also they receive the Holy Spirit. According to John 20:20-21, Jesus told them "As the

Father has sent me, so I send you." Following this, he "breathed on them" and said, "receive the Holy Spirit."

If the Holy Spirit is something received then obviously the power Jesus promises cannot be self-bestowed. By

their sheer effort or force, the disciples cannot bring about the kingdom of God on earth. This was the fatal flaw

of the liberal "Social Gospel" which promised a gradual improvement of the world through the efforts of the

church, imagining that such an outcome was inevitable through the progress of human history ("the myth of

progress"). Two world wars undermined that theory, as theologians like Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr

pointed out at the time. Human nature is fallen and requires restoration. For that reason, God sends the Holy

Spirit on His people to empower them with the Gospel remedy.

Consider an analogy. The physical sciences distinguish between forces centripetal and centrifugal. Both words

contain the prefix meaning "center." In the case of a spinning axis, the center is the axis itself. The centripetal

force is directed inward, toward the center of a curved path around the axis. For example, if a satellite assumes

an orbit around the earth, then the gravitational attraction of between earth and satellite supplies the centripetal

force, acting toward the center of mass in both objects. On the other hand, any object traveling in a circle acts

as if it is experiencing an outward force. This force is not real, but it feels that way to, let's say, a person riding

a merry-go-round, holding on for dear life, lest they fly off! To apply this rough analogy to the first century

Christ followers, we can see that the Holy Spirit supplies the inward motion which causes the believer to hold

firmly to the center, Jesus Christ, and to derive life from him, even as the Spirit supplies dunamis for the

outward motion into the world as witnesses. The witness to the world must be derived from our close

connection to Christ and the Spirit.

What does this centrifugal ("outward") "force" look like in relationship to the early apostles? Jesus tells them

that in Jerusalem (the geographical center) they will receive the Father's promise of the Holy Spirit (as we have

seen above). In fact, he tells them that they must not leave Jerusalem until they have been endued with "power

from on high" (Luke 24:49). There can be no centrifugal movement without a previous centripetal endowment

by the Holy Spirit. All such outward efforts into the world would be entirely fictitious without the Holy Spirit

operating toward the center. Given that enablement, the apostles will embark on an ever-increasing movement

outward, described in 1:8 as:

• Jerusalem

• Judea

• Samaria

• Ends of the Earth

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Each geographic place represents, symbolically, a fresh spiritual epicenter. Were we to outline the book of Acts

in terms of these movements, we would have:

1. Jerusalem (Acts 1:1-8:4)

2. Judea and Samaria (8:5-12:25)

3. Ends of the Earth (13:1-28:31)

What this outline does not seem take into consideration is that during the course of the Judea and Samaria

outward mission, the Christ followers also went to Syria where Antioch was located and from which the first

missionaries were sent "to the ends of the earth." It appears that Luke, like other ancient writers, regarded Syria

as "A Greater Judea," a position argued brilliantly by Martin Hengel.7 Were we to enrich this simple

geographical outline, we would point out the connections to North Africa through the efforts of Philip in the

Judean wilderness south where he met the Ethiopian eunuch; and his mission to Samaria. Or the encounters of

Peter with the house of Cornelius in Caesarea, the seat of the Roman procurators for Judea.

A reading of Acts 1:1-12:25 uncovers an intense and dense mission by the early apostles and their co-workers

which saturated the regions around Jerusalem. Across a wide range of people groups, they sowed the seeds of

the Gospel, establishing Christ communities, speaking in synagogues (where they were permitted), and

stretching the cross-cultural boundaries even before embarking into the regions of Asia and Europe to the west.

This was the commission Jesus gave the apostles, and through the Holy Spirit he empowered them to fulfill it.

Ascension Drama (1:9-11)

Luke abruptly and dramatically closes the curtain on Jesus' earthly ministry at this juncture in his narrative. The

Jesus of history, crucified and risen, vanishes at some definite point after the forty days have ended. Just as

surely as they had seen, touched and heard the resurrected Jesus after his crucifixion, so now they cease to

"know him" in the same way again (compare Paul's similar view in 2 Corinthians 5:16). The words of Jesus to

Mary Magdalene in the garden are apropos: "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'" (John 20:17).

This "holding" onto Jesus finds parallel in Acts 1:10 where the apostles are "looking intently up into the sky,"

and must be counseled by the angels who ask, "Why do you stand here looking into the sky?" Humanly

speaking, the apostles wanted to "keep Jesus" as he had been ― with them in bodily form, visible and

accessible. They had not yet experienced the arrival of the Holy Spirit who would make the presence of Jesus

even more real to them, not through his tangible qualities, but through his mission through them that they would

now undertake.

What does the ascension of Jesus mean? Recall the Apostles' Creed: "I believe … he ascended into heaven and

is seated on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he shall come to judge the living and the

dead…" To hear Luke describe the event: "He was taken up before their every eyes, and a cloud hid him from

their sight" (Acts 1:9). Thank God for clouds! There was no need for the apostles to be concerned about the

mechanics of the ascension of Jesus. In sacred literature, clouds often symbolized the thin veil which separated

the invisible realm of God and the visible world which human beings inhabit. Heaven, rightly understood, is

not a place light years distant from earth, "in a galaxy far, far away." Jesus did not need to travel like a

spaceman beyond some incredible spatial divide to reach the right hand

of God. "God is not far from everyone of us," Paul would one day tell his pagan audience in Athens (Acts

17:27-28). Heaven is the realm of God and one day it will include earth (see Revelation 21) within its domain,

once God's will is done here as it is there. It was no more challenging for Jesus to ascend to God than to rise

from the dead. In his resurrection he had already been taken up into the life of God Himself, wearing a

deathless, but real body, energized by God's Spirit.

7 Martin Hengel, "Joudaia in the Geographical List of Acts 2:9-11 and Syria as 'Greater Judea'," Bulletin for Biblical Research 10.2

(2000) 161-180.

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For Jesus to ascend meant he took his place "at God's right hand," a majestic place and a royal place (see Luke

22:69 where Jesus predicted his future ascension; also, see Luke's additional testimonies about Jesus in this new

exalted role: Acts 2:33; 5:31; 7:55-56 ― Stephen actually sees Jesus "standing at God's right hand" ready to

receive him!). Paul speaks about Jesus as "interceding for us" (Romans 8:34), seated at God's right hand

(Colossians 3:1; Ephesians 1:20). The writer to the Hebrews notes Jesus' exalted role after his death and

resurrection (Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2). Peter tells us that all authority is subject to Jesus "at the right hand

of God" (1 Peter 3:22). The Psalmist, in 48:10, tells us "Your right hand is filled with righteousness," implying

that the right hand of God symbolizes his righteous rule over the world. In one of the grand "enthronement

psalms" which celebrated the annual renewal of the kings' rule in ancient Israel, we read how Yahweh speaks to

"my Lord" and invites him to sit "at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet…"

(Psalm 110:1). This psalm is quoted by Peter in his sermon (Acts 2:35) in a passage we will soon examine.

Paul picks up this "under your feet" language in 1 Corinthians 15:25-27 when he writes about Jesus' present

role: "He must rule until he puts all his enemies under his feet…the last enemy is death…" The writer to the

Hebrews uses similar descriptions of Jesus' present role (1:13). In the Revelation, Jesus, pictured as the Lion-

Lamb, takes the title deed of planet earth from the "right hand" of God (5: 7). Theologians refer to Jesus'

ascended state as his "present session" ― his status at God's right hand before he comes "to judge the living and

the dead."

It will take a few days before the apostles grasp any of this; it will take the insight provided by the Holy Spirit

to understand what being "at God's right hand" means for Jesus ― and for them. In the meantime, they stand

transfixed, "looking intently up into heaven." Luke uses the Greek word atenizō which suggests a "fixed stare,

looking straight at," and he places it in the present active form as a participle, pointing to the uninterrupted

nature of the "stare." If eyes could "stretch", remaining taut and unbending, then this word would capture that

picture (Note: the root teinō means "to stretch" and gets intensified by the addition of the alpha prefix). What

were the apostles thinking? Were they experiencing feelings of abandonment and extreme loss? Were they in

shock? One thing is certain, the departure of Jesus had such a profound effect on the apostles, that Luke needs

to use a graphic word to describe how they looked into heaven. Had the appearances of Jesus been mere

apparitions or had they been group hallucinations or even moments of "fond memories," the description Luke

uses to depict their reaction would make no sense at all. Jesus left them with as much definiteness as he had

called them to follow him or died on the cross or rose from the dead.

The departure of Jesus must not detain the apostles. And so "two men in white," no doubt angels like those who

stood by the tomb when the women came to it, appear "suddenly" to startle them from their trance-like state.

Whereas Luke says the apostles had been "staring intently into heaven," the angels want to know why they are

"looking" into heaven, using the Greek word blepō, the normal word for "looking." As if the apostles had

suddenly become fixated on "heaven," the angels want to quickly break that fixation, lest the mission to the

world gets sidetracked in the process. That is the risk, of course, that we become "so heavenly minded that we

are of no earthly good" (Oliver Wendell Holmes). Or, recalling the fascination of the apostles with the

question, when God would "restore the kingdom to Israel," we likewise become obsessed with the future and

how everything is going to turn out and the order in which the events will take place. Still, we might become,

like the apostles, addicted to the earthly Jesus ― the one who had become so familiar to them in his human

form. Perhaps the apostles were simply stunned that he was gone ― as if they had lost him, not once, but

twice: first on the cross; and then in his departure to heaven.

To this painful loss, the angels offer a truth-filled remedy: "He's coming back" (1:11) And so says the creed,

"To judge the living and the dead," a fancy way of saying that he will one day return to "put the world to rights"

with loving justice and just loving. If that is true, then the apostles can get on with the work for which Jesus

commissioned them. If that is true, we too can get on with the work, applying the holy influence of the Gospel

to a world in need, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and leaving the Second Coming to Jesus!

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Back to Jerusalem and Leaving Olivet Behind (1:12-14)

Once (in my "former life"), in a sermon I delivered on this text, I told the congregation that after Jesus went

back to heaven, the apostles left Olivet behind and returned to Jerusalem. After the service, a quick-witted

parishioner said to me, "Preacher, did I hear you right? Did the disciples leave 'all of it behind'?" Of course, he

knew full well what I said, but the possibly mistaken verbiage got me to thinking. In some real and definite

sense, the apostles did "leave all of it behind" that day: All of their false hopes about political revolution or

revolt against Rome; all of their pretensions about sitting on Jesus' right and left hand; all of their fears about

Jesus going to the cross, now that he was alive; and, in this case, all of their panic that he was gone forever. But

what if that hadn't? What if they had failed to remain in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit? What if they had

foolishly plunged forward on their own, attempting to restore the kingdom to Israel without the power of the

Holy Spirit?

Those are dangerous what if's to be sure, and they bear no resemblance to the theme of our series. No, the

apostles obeyed the commands of Jesus and returned to Jerusalem "from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a

Sabbath day's walk from the city" (1:12). Luke is telling us by this metaphor that it was not a long walk at all:

you couldn't walk far on the Sabbath day, according to halakhah law. Not far. We are never far from the

coming of Jesus, though two millennia separate us from that defining moment when Jesus "vanished from their

sight." Not far. He promised he would return and that should be enough. So let's not make it farther than it is

from Olivet to Jerusalem. After all, "he is not far from everyone of us," as we noted above. Not far through his

Spirit and not far in his coming again.

Having set aside the pesky distraction of losing their best friend to heaven (how big a loss can that be, after

all?!), the disciples arrive in Jerusalem and immediately go "upstairs to the room where they were staying," a

room no doubt where they had spent some of those forty days with Jesus, hearing him interpreted the Hebrew

Bible, showing them in it "the things concerning himself." The book of Acts places special meaning on the idea

of "The Upper Room," and this has not been lost on contemporary Christ followers who commonly speak about

their devotional time with Scripture and prayer by using that phrase. A devotional series bears that title. We

even have an ABF group at First Nazarene which uses this name!

Luke uses this section of his second volume to provide four pieces of information.

1. He gives a complete list of the apostles who were "present and accounted for" in this upstairs room. Similar

list appears in Luke's Gospel (6:14-16) and in Matthew (10:2-4) and Mark (3:16-19), though with some

variations. The difference between the earlier lists and this one, of course, is the absence of Judas Iscariot,

the one who betrayed Jesus. If Jesus intended to restored Israel by constituting a new group of "12" around

himself, the list in Acts 1:13 reminds Luke's audience that we are "down one." Briefly, he leaves this deficit

to brew in the minds of his listeners, but will return to it shortly.

2. He tells us about the spiritual and social condition of those who gathered in the upstairs room. Using

expressions like "joined together (Greek: homothumadon)" and "constantly in prayer," Luke sets the stage

for what he will tell us in chapter 2. Prayerfully united, the apostles are doing what Jesus told them to do:

"wait until your are clothed with power…" The concept of "waiting on God" is familiar to readers of the

Old Testament, and ordinarily means "to pray." "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,"

Isaiah tells us in 40:31 as part a prophecy which looked forward to God's restoration of His people, their

return from exile and His return to Zion.

3. Then Luke mentions that this was not a "men-only" gathering, nor did the apostles see themselves as the

exclusive owners of the promise Jesus made to them. Beautifully, this gathering welcomed "the women"

who had followed Jesus, no doubt including in its number Mary, Martha, Mary Magdalene, and some of

their kinsfolk who appeared from time to time in the Gospels. But Mary, the mother of Jesus was also

present, she who had been entrusted to the care of "the beloved disciple" according to John's Gospel (19:26).

Her presence reveals that at this early stage of the newly formed community of Christ followers, Mary

shared along with the others without additional distinction, but certainly with respectful veneration. Lastly

― and this is especially revealing ― they were "with his brothers." The tradition preserved in John's

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Gospel (see 7:5) is that "not even his brothers believed in him." What a remarkable turnabout, attributable

no doubt to the resurrection appearances of Jesus!

4. Altogether, Luke tells us, 120 persons comprised the remnant of Israel who gathered around the risen Jesus

and became the nucleus for the Christ community, poised to bring the Gospel to the world (1:15). Once

again, we notice the intentional factor of "12", the symbol for Israel, newly restored; the true Israel returned

from exile, having passed from "death to life" and living in light of the resurrection.

And Then There Were 12

A transitional passage in 1:16-26 explains with some detail how the Eleven apostles were made whole again.

Although Judas betrayed Jesus and then took his own life, he still was among the Twelve chosen by Jesus.

"Have I not chosen you the Twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" are the words of Jesus in John 6:70.

Moreover, the future of a restored Israel in a new world depended on this "Twelve," as this passage indicates: Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28; also, Luke 22:30).

Peter knew his Hebrew Bible and cited several texts (Psalm 69:25; 109:9-15; Zechariah 5:3-4) which supported

a group decision to chose a replacement for Judas so that the whole number of the Twelve might be restored.

The choice required a person who had witnessed everything from the baptism of John through the resurrection,

largely because the definition of an original apostle included those same conditions, but also imitated the

example of Jesus himself when he chose the original Twelve (1:21-22). Prayerfully, they placed two qualifying

candidates before the Lord in prayer, seeking his will and using the accepted Jewish method for placing the

decision in God's hands ― the casting of lots.8

Once the "lot fell on Matthias," Luke tells us "he was numbered with the eleven apostles," implying that the

goal of Twelve had again been reached. Later, in Acts 6:2 the entire apostolate is called "the Twelve." Nowhere

does the New Testament call into question that decision or that process. Those gathered were guided by

Scripture, prayerful in spirit, and fully aware that they needed to become, once more, the renewed Israel of God.

It is true, as some have pointed out, that Paul was called to be an apostle, but he never claims to be the 12th

apostle nor does his standing with the Jerusalem community particular concern him (see Galatians 1-2). Others

accepted the role as "those sent" (apostoloi) but fully accepted the role of the original eyewitnesses as unique.

That being said, the newly restored Twelve still needed the power of God's Holy Spirit. There is, in this case,

no power in numbers (any number ― including "12"). Matthias would, like the rest, require the power of the

Holy Spirit ― something the casting of lots could not bestow on him.

When the Fire Fell: Pentecost and the Coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13)

1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians- we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine" (Acts 2:1-13).

8 While it may appear that the “casting of lots” (Greek: edōkan klērous autois, plainly based on a Hebrew idiom: “to give a lot”) has a

decidedly pagan implication, the Old Testament offers ample evidence for its legitimate use in Israel. The idea behind the lot was to

“give up the choice” to God, allowing Him to direct the falling of the “decision stones” and not prejudice the process by human

intervention. The High Priest’s breastplate contained a “pocket” with two stones, Urîm and Thumîm, which function as “Yes” and

“No” tokens. Faced with an irremediable question or decision, the stones would be cast and the outcome judged as from Yahweh. See

Proverbs 16:33 and 1 Samuel 14:41 as evidence. F.F. Bruce reminds us that after Pentecost there is no record of the disciples

resorting to this procedure (The Acts of the Apostles, Eerdmans, 1951, p. 80). Once the Holy Spirit filled their lives, he would

subsequently “guide them into all truth,” and the use of “divining stones” would become unnecessary.

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Fifty days after Passover, the Jewish people celebrated a festival known as Shavuōt or "Weeks" (Exodus 34:22;

Deuteronomy 16:10). It is also known as "Reaping" (Exodus 23:16) and "Firstfruits" (Numbers 28:26). On the Jewish

calendar it fell on the sixth day of the month Sivan. This is one of the "Big Three" pilgrim festivals which brought

people together in Jerusalem for a celebration. God's people were instructed to "count" the days (known as "Counting

the Omer") in anticipation. The feast acquired additional significance as the celebration for the giving of Torah on

Mount Sinai in the days of Moses. The Greek New Testament gives it the name "Pentecost" which means "fiftieth"

(pentēkostēs).

Shavuōt belonged to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. The grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a

season of gladness (Jeremiah 5:24; Deuteronomy 16:9-11; Isaiah 9:2). The harvesting of the barley began

during Passover and the harvesting of the wheat ended with Shavuōt. Shavuōt was the final festival of the grain

harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkōt (Tabernacles) was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. During

the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, an offering of two loaves of bread from the wheat harvest was made

on Shavuōt (Lev. 23:15-21).

For the disciples of Jesus (120 in all, see Acts 1:13-14) the days leading up to Pentecost, after his ascension, were times

of prayer and preparation as commanded by Jesus. They were to "wait" for the Holy Spirit to be given. Like their

contemporaries, they no doubt "counted the Omer" during this time, but not in anticipation of Torah, but of the Holy

Spirit instead. In a real sense, the giving of the Holy Spirit was the new giving of Torah, the fresh outpouring of God's

Word, presence and power. Gathered "in one accord and one place," somewhere in the precincts of the Temple (it had

many rooms), they welcomed the arrival of the "Feast of Weeks," Pentecost. What happened that day was evidence

that God had indeed visited His people once again. Familiar symbols of fire and wind appear as signs that God's Spirit

had been given to the renewed people of God, the New Israel. Had they recalled the events on Mount Sinai when

Moses went up to receive the Torah, they might have seen the connections with what was happening here, complete

with the audio-visual components! The Old Testament descriptions are vivid and powerful, depicting God's appearance

on Sinai in fire, smoke and cloud (Exodus 19:18; 22:6; 24:17, and elsewhere). Similarly, the disciples witness the wind

and the divided "tongues of fire" which, like the pillar of fire for ancient Israel, signaled the living presence of Yahweh,

only this time separating into individual flames, resting on each disciple.

The vocabulary of Pentecost, as narrated in Acts 2, consists of both Creation and Torah images, communicating the

work of the new creation and the fresh gift of God's word. Coupled with the symbols is the unique sign of

"languages" which allowed Jewish people, residents from throughout the Roman Empire, to hear in their own dialect

"the wonderful works of God." We observe in Acts 2 a remarkable cross-cultural event in which the scattered people

of God come together, united by a powerful re-enactment of the Festival of Weeks with a very different twist in the

tale. Here is a marvelous undoing of what happened at the Tower of Babel where God "confused the languages" so that

workman on the tower were unable to understand each other (see Genesis 11). Not so at Pentecost where the opposite

was the case.

The symbol of wind is particularly significant since, in both Hebrew and Greek, the words for "wind" (ruah � and

pneuma) can also be translated as "Spirit." Wind is a powerful natural force, but it is represents the blowing air which

fills the lungs and allows for both life and speech to take place. That is likely why the term "filled" is used to

characterize the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the disciples. The Greek word eplēthēsan derives from the

root pimplēmi which means either "fill" or "fulfill." The tense is aorist and the voice passive, suggesting completed

action achieved by an agent in the past. Something definite and decisive happened to the disciples that day which

resulted in an abiding and continuing relationship with the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus predicted, God's promise was

fulfilled in the lives of the early Christ-followers by the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is what Spirit-baptism meant

as taught by Jesus. As on Mount Sinai, God stepped into human history offering His people a wonderful gift,

accompanied by signs which bore witness to its reality and to what it meant.

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Theologians debate the shades of meaning between words like "fill", "baptize", and the like. What we discover in Acts

2 is an inaugural event, one which marked the beginning of a new age for the people of God. With the resurrection of

Jesus, the age to come had dawned for him. With the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the age to come had dawned for the

restored people of God, the followers of Jesus. Minimally, that's the sense of "baptism with the Holy Spirit" as used by

Jesus. Later on, the idea of "baptism" with water and "baptism" with the Spirit would coincide as two side of the same

coin (as we noted above in our discussion of Matthew 28). One way of thinking about our relationship with the Holy

Spirit is to say there is one baptism but many fillings. In the case of the Pentecost disciples, the baptism was

immediately followed filling. Both terms reflect “water language” consistent with the symbolic witness of water

baptism.

With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the body of Christ was born, and the people of God were renewed.

Just as Israel in the days of Moses stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and witnessed the giving of Torah and were thereby

transformed into a "nation," so also, at this new Pentecost they were transformed into the New People of God by the

Holy Spirit. As we noted above, early Christian thinkers like Paul came to see the baptism of the Holy Spirit as God's

way of placing persons into Christ and thus into his body. Accompanying this act of initiation is also an investment

with power, dunamis: the divinely given ability to do the work of God and to live the Christian life. Both aspects are

present in this key text from Paul's letters: 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).

We were not only "placed into" the body, we "drink" from one Spirit. Two aspects of the baptismal image appear:

inclusion and refreshment. Water is both a medium and also a means. The Spirit is the medium and also the means.

He forms the community where Christ is present; he fills the community where Christ is powerful.

The bystanders who witnessed this new Pentecost are dumbfounded by what they see and hear. Peter's commentary

which follows this passage makes this clear: 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing (Acts 2:32-33).

Wind and fire, accompanied by the speech-event leave them without a natural explanation. This is, after all, not a

natural event, but shares in the deeper and richer power of God unleashed by the Holy Spirit into human lives,

transforming their words so that those who hear experience their message as "the mighty works of God" (Greek: ta

megalaia tou theou) (2:11). This is power unleashed in a speech event so bold and unexpected that the onlookers can

scarcely believe what they are hearing. But, then, is not this what Jesus promised?

Pentecost was a microcosm of the Jewish community throughout the Roman Empire. As Luke's account tells us,

Jewish pilgrims representing numerous regions outside Israel were present to witness the giving of the Holy Spirit.

Smith and Williams explain:

Lists of nations like the one given here [2:8-11] were often found in writings of historians and geographers of

the time. Such lists are intended to represent the entire world by listing its major races or kingdoms. Luke's list

here bears similarity to lists of astrologers, who condensed to twelve--the same number as in the zodiac--the

basic kingdoms of the world. This list includes legendary kingdoms from the past (Parthians and Medes) as

well as national identities current in Luke's day. A similar list, intending to represent in a comprehensive way

the kingdoms of the world conquered by the Romans, appears in Curtius Rufus 6.3.3 (mid first-century C.E.):

"We have made ourselves masters of Caria, Lydia, Cappadocia, Phrygia, Paphlogonia, Pamphylia, the Pisidians,

Cilicia, Syria, Phoenicia, Armenia, Persia, the Medes, and Parthiene." (Haenchen, 14-15).9

The wonder of Pentecost was a missionary sign which pointed to the future work of the disciples throughout the world.

When every one heard in their own manner of speech (“dialect”) (Greek: tē idia dialektō) the Gospel message, it was

9 Ennis E. Smith and Michael E. Williams, editors. The Storyteller's Companion to the Bible. The Acts of the Apostles. Volume

Twelve. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999, p.35.

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God's way to tell the disciples of Jesus that their mission was to these disparate peoples in the lands where they lived.

Granted, the visitors were Jewish, but their cities were Gentile, in Gentile regions outside of Israel. Their presence in

the Roman Empire was due to a scattering, the so-called Diaspora, like seeds planted in the pagan world where they

had the potential to become lights to the Gentiles. Those who would receive the message presented during the

Pentecostal miracle became the advance guard back in their own synagogues, bringing with them the Good News about

Jesus, crucified and risen. The Holy Spirit orchestrated the events through the speech miracle, the "speaking with other

languages." He would orchestrate more such events, as recorded later in the book of Acts (see Acts 10:46; 19:6).

The Greek expression heterais glōssais, "other languages" (2:4), corresponds to the parallel phrase tē idia dialektō, "in

own dialect" (2:6). As Witherington points out, there is, for Luke, virtually no difference between these two

expressions.10

It is reasonable to ask, however, when referring to "other languages," other than what? As we shall

explain below, the language the disciples used was other than the expected language of worship, namely, Hebrew. The

message proclaimed by the disciples of Jesus on Pentecost was for the whole world and to be heard and understand in

ordinary dialects, not restricted to a special religious "holy language."

The disciples were Galileans who had a unique speech dialect. Neubauer notes: The Galilean dialect is specially mentioned as having an indistinct pronunciation of the gutturals (which was, and still is,

characteristic of the Samaritans), and also a dialect in which syllables were often swallowed in such a way that the

meaning of words and phrases often became doubtful to a southern Jew. The Talmud has many amusing anecdotes about

the dialect.11

When the witnesses of the speech event describe it, they indicate hearing not the Galilean dialect, but their own instead.

The number of unique languages represented at the Pentecost gathering was limited to Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.

Combining these with the dialect variations, such as the Galilean variety, and the diversity of speech styles could have

been significant. What startled the crowd was hearing "sacred truths" proclaimed during a holy festival where

ordinarily Hebrew was the standard language. Announcing the Good News about Jesus, in what was the equivalent of

"the vernacular" for those present, broke all the rules for language protocol. That is why those who heard the dialects

thought the disciples were drunk, and acting in socially inappropriate ways. In a fascinating study, published in 1995,

Robert Zerhusen argued persuasively that the speech event of Acts 2 was not a speech miracle or a case of ecstatic

utterance but instead the bold and courageous empowering of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Good News using

ordinary languages in a context where the "sacred language," Hebrew, was prescribed.12

God was making His word accessible through the language of ordinary discourse, not restricted to what the Jewish

people would have considered the leshon ha-kodesh, "holy language." As Zerhusen explains: The crowd (the holy people of God/"devout men" v 5) had gathered in Palestine (the holy land) in Jerusalem (the holy

city), at the Temple (the holiest place on earth), expecting trained priests (the holy men) to be conducting the liturgy in

Hebrew (leshon ha-kodesh) on a holy day. Instead, the disciples of Jesus began to prophesy in "other tongues" with a

boldness and authority given by the Holy Spirit. Other than what tongue? In this thoroughly Judean context, the place

where a Judean diglossia would most likely exist, a reasonable conclusion is "other than Hebrew" (the "Holy Tongue").

Such boldness would be required throughout Christian history as future generations of Christ followers would blaze

new trails into new lands, communicating the Gospel in languages they would need to learn, and in some case, would

need to reduce to writing. Crossing the borders of culture and social practice, God's people continue to speak "in other

languages" the "mighty works of God," empowered by the Holy Spirit. Every major move of God's Spirit into new

territory has been accompanied by speech events. Perhaps the most notable is the translation of God's Word into a

multitude of languages. According to the United Bible Societies (as of March 2002), Scripture (in part or the whole)

has been translated into some 2,287 languages.13

10

Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998, p.135, note 20. 11

"The Dialects of Palestine in the Time of Christ," Studia Biblica, 1885, p.51. 12

Robert Zerhusen, "An Overlooked Judean Diglossia in Acts 2?," Biblical Theology Bulletin, Fall, 1995 (25:3), pp.118-130; see also

his "The Problem of Tongues in 1 Corinthians 14: A Reexamination," Winter, 1997 (27:4), pp.139–52. 13

See http://www.ibsstl.org/bibles/about/19.php.

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The last book of the Bible would celebrate as an accomplished fact the salvation of persons all across the social-

language spectrum: And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9).

Pentecost, as a Jewish festival, celebrated the "firstfruits" of harvest. Passages such as Romans 8:23 make the

connection between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the firstfruits of the Gospel. For those present at Pentecost in Acts 2

who both proclaimed and received the Good News, this was a special firstfruits experience: God was putting in the

scythe and harvesting the firstfruits of human lives, in full anticipation that there was a greater harvest yet to come. At

first, Jewish people throughout the Roman world responded (3000 of them), but soon the harvest would extend to

Gentiles as well. The promise of the harvest grows by the power of God at work in His kingdom. We may "plant and

water," Paul reminds us, "but God gives the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6-8). The harvest belongs to God, even as the

joy of the firstfruits flows from His Spirit.

This gift of the Holy Spirit is, then, the promise of God's presence in the lives of His people. The coming of the Spirit

in Acts 2 parallels the words of Jesus, "I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20). Within the being of God, this

wonderful mystery resides, such that "The Lord [Jesus] is the Spirit," as Paul beautifully explains: 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

That is, not only the presence of God, but the transforming presence. In giving the Spirit God the Father gives us Jesus

as well.

The prophet Zechariah once wrote: "'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says Yahweh of host" (4:6).

The witness of God's people to the whole world would require that kind of power. What else can explain the

transformation of human lives when they receive the word of the Gospel? As Peter reminds us: 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Nor should we forget what the writer of the Hebrews teaches us about the Word of God which we proclaim: For the word of God is living and active [powerful, energēs], sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Confronted by adversaries and a resistant culture, we stand in need of Paul's counsel to Timothy: "…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control" (2 Timothy 1:7)

The effectiveness of our witness to others must rest not on our human ability or skill, but, in the words of Paul

to one of his congregations: 3 … I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:3-5). For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God (2 Corinthians 13:4).

Those who receive the Gospel confess: For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Peter’s Sermon and Its Effect (2:14-41) (14) But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. (15) For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. (16) But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: (17) "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

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and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; (18) even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. (19) And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; (20) the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. (21) And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' (22) "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know-- (23) this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (24) God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (25) For David says concerning him, "'I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; (26) therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. (27) For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. (28) You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.' (29) "Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. (30) Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, (31) he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. (32) This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. (33) Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. (34) For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, (35) until I make your enemies your footstool.' (36) Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." (37) Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" (38) And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (39) For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." (40) And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." (41) So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Speeches were familiar media in the ancient world, and the proper training in giving good speeches occupied

books written by people like Quintilian. People lived in a largely "oral world" and relied on public speech-

making for information, debate and discourse. Greek historians relied on speeches to give an authentic texture

to their writing, but were often faced with the temptation to “dress up” the speeches they included in their

histories. Thucydides is a good example of such an historian (see Thuc. i.22). Reading Acts, we are impressed

with the high quality of Luke's Greek when he narrates, but when we come to speeches, there is a decidedly

different polish which suggests that he relied on sources, transcribing from Aramaic into Greek.14

At the

beginning of Acts, the speeches proclaim the Gospel to Jewish listeners, and the speaker is usually Peter. In

them, he addresses himself (as in Acts 2:36) to “all the house of Israel,” and used language appropriate to that

task. Later, in cases where Paul is speaking to a more Greek-cultured audience, as in Acts 17 at Athens, the

style changes, as we would expect.

The fine art of speech-making was known as rhetoric and it had its rules. In some of our previous studies of

Paul’s letters (Galatians, Philippians, Ephesians, for example), we noted how Paul adapted various rhetorical

forms to suit his purpose in writing to Asian or European audiences. Terms like exordium (introduction),

narratio (“what happened”) and propositio (summary) often provided the outline for a speech. Not all speeches

had the same purpose. Some sought to persuade, others to defend, still others to praise or inform. When the

circumstances demanded it, a combination of purposes might appear in the same speech. Common occasions

for speeches included legal proceedings, funerals, and political events.

The New Testament writers, like Luke, no doubt paid close attention to these common rhetorical forms, making

certain that the correct ones were used for a certain audience.15

It’s important to keep in mind that during the

14

Bruce, p.18. 15

The recent literature on Greek rhetoric as used in the New Testament, and specifically in Acts, is extensive. Some helpful pieces

include the following. R. Dean Anderson, Glossary of Greek Rhetorical Terms, Peeters Publishers, 2000; R.F. Zehnle, Peter's

Pentecost Discourse, Abingdon, 1971; L.T. Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, Glazier, 1992; C.C. Black, II, "The Rhetorical Form of

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days of Luke, people listened to written works more than they actually read them, and writers kept that fact in

mind when they composed their speeches. Speeches were audio events not scribal ones. How would the speech

“play” for the audience and could it easily be understood? Would it have the desired effect in changing the

audience’s mind or how the audience felt about the subject matter? Would it inspire new behavior?

What we have in Acts 2:14-41 is just such a speech, along with Luke’s observations about how well it “went

over.” Ironically, Peter was not a Hellenized Greek with a classical education. He was a plain fisherman who,

nonetheless, “had a big mouth,” as the Gospel narratives reveal. One of the marvels emphasized in Acts 2 was

that such “ignorant and unlearned men” could speak with such versatility. While we often stress the dialect in

which the Pentecost apostles spoke, we might also be tempted to marvel at the rhetorical skill which the Holy

Spirit gave to Peter for delivering his Pentecost oration to Israel. Might it be that this too belonged to the “other

languages” recognized by his audience? Might rhetoric itself been part of their unusual dialect?

Answering a Charge and Reciting a Scripture (2:14-21)

The audience, in 2:13, has alleged that the disciples were drunk on new wine, and that was why their social

behavior was so aberrant. Such a “charge” cannot go unanswered, and so Peter’s first speech task is to make a

defense which will disprove the claim. He does so by appealing to the dignity of his audience and to the time of

day. By addressing them as “Men of Judea,” Peter accords a certain respect to the pride of their nationality,

and, at the same time, associates himself with them. The word “Judea” has little to do with the geographical

region of that name, points instead to Jewish ethnicity: “fellow-Jews” works very nicely here as a translation.

Peter also gives a kindly nod to the residents of Jerusalem, the official capital of Israel. Good rhetoric starts by

building rapport with the listeners, and Peter seeks to do this graciously in his exordium (introduction). He then

seems to rely on a tinge of humor by appealing to the “time of day,” namely, “the third hour,” reckoned from

six in the morning. We might paraphrase Peter: “Come on, guys. It’s nine in the morning! Nobody gets drunk

at this hour!” He might have even elicited a chuckle from the crowd.

Humor and good will only get a speaker so far, and Peter proceeds to get serious about his subject matter.

Showing that he is not only sober but also of sound mind, he continues setting aside the charge of drunkenness

by offering a careful recitation of some sacred texts from the Hebrew prophets, all spoken from memory. As he

introduces this text (one of several he will use throughout his speech), Peter reminds his listeners that the words

he recites were “spoken through the prophet Joel,” implying that Joel was the mouthpiece for God, the Holy

Spirit being the true source of his words. He introduces all of this with “this is that…”, making a firm

connection between what the crowd was witnessing in the speech-event and what Joel’s prophecy said would

one day happen. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Scripture was being fulfilled that day and Peter was God’s

agent for showing how this was the case.

Why the selection of this particular Joel text? Read in its wider context, Joel 2:28-32 belongs to the themes of

repentance, forgiveness, the Day of Yahweh and the coming of Messiah. The various phenomena listed by Joel

(blood, fire, smoke) are topically connected to fire and wind appearing at Pentecost, though not literally so.

Peter may also have in mind the unusual darkening of the sun at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, accompanied by

an earthquake—signs which caused great consternation in those who saw them (see Mark 15:33; Matthew

27:45, 51, 54; Luke 23:44; ). All such language is considered “apocalyptic,” a special literary form which

included highly exaggerated images, lively mindscapes, and what looked like “end of the world” cosmic

occurrences. To the ancients, all of this was completely understandable as metaphor and hyperbole, signaling a

momentous event, usually from the gods. Nobody thought the world was coming to an end in a literal or

the Hellenistic Jewish and Early Christian Sermon: A Response to Lawrence Wills," Harvard Theological Review 81 (1988): 1-18;

H.F. North, "Rhetoric and Historiography," Quarterly Journal of Speech 42 (1956): 234-242; C.H. Gempf, "Public Speaking and

Published Accounts," in Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, 1:259-303; M.L. Soards, "The Speeches in Acts in

Relation to Other Pertinent Ancient Literature," Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, 65-90; Ian Worthington, A Companion to

Greek Rhetoric, Wiley-Blackwell, 2006.

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physical sense: the sun remained in the sky, as did the moon and stars. Peter’s audience would have thought no

differently.

Of even greater importance than the powerful displays of natural phenomena ― in hyperbolic scale—was the

effect on people. Various categories of human beings are affected across a grand spectrum: young, old, sons,

daughters, men and women. What they share in common, remarkably, is that the Spirit is “poured out” on

them. “Not wine,” Peter tells them, “but Spirit is being poured out.” This is what Joel expected would happen

at some time in the future. God’s Spirit would be poured out “on all flesh,” with special emphasis on “all kinds

of people” included in the event. The characteristic use of “all” in this setting is not comprehensive but

representative ("all kinds of people"). What seemed to the crowd as an oddity—that lower class Jews should be

speaking what they were speaking and in the way they were speaking it—was, in fact, a fulfillment of Joel’s

prophecy. “This is that,” Peter proclaims, and proceeds to make the connections clear.

Peter's reference to “the last days” makes him sound like some modern day prophet of doom. However, the

phrase, en tais eschatais hēmerais, was pretty standard fare for saying that a period of time was coming to an

end and a new age was dawning. Understood in this way, “last days” could happen more than once! For Peter,

the coming of Jesus marked the end of one epoch of Israel’s history and the beginning of a new one. The

arrival of the Holy Spirit signaled that fresh occurrence, much as the giving of Torah on Sinai signaled Israel’s

formation as a nation. The idea of prophetic time in Judaism boiled down to two ages: the present and the

coming, expressed by the Hebrew phrases, olam hazeh and olam haba’. In popular belief, when Messiah

arrived, the present age would be replaced by the coming one. The transitional period was sometimes called the

“Messianic Woes,” suggesting a time of suffering and tribulation before the Day of Yahweh finally arrived.

This seems to be Joel’s perspective.

But Joel also supplied Peter with an urgency: the need “to call on the name of the Lord.” This expression “call

on the name…” appears throughout the Old Testament as a form of prayer, but also more formally as a

covenant oath taken by someone who was committing himself to Yahweh. The Hebrew language literally says

“to take the name of Yahweh on one’s breath.” Since the old age is passing and the new one is arriving, Israel

must do something: they must renew the covenant. The patriarchs, like Abraham and Isaac would build altars

to Yahweh and then “call on the name of the Lord” (see Genesis 12:8; 13:4; 16:13; 21:33; 26:25). Even before

Peter issues his own invitation, the call of Joel rings in the ears of his audience.

Preaching the Gospel (Acts 2:22-36)

Peter shifts the tone of his address to the audience using the words “Men of Israel” in place of his earlier “Men

of Judea.” The difference is the emphasis on the covenant name of God’s people (“Israel”), the name Yahweh

gave to Jacob once he had wrestled with the angel “and prevailed” (see Genesis 32:24-28). In effect Peter

addresses his listeners as the covenant people of God—those who must once more wrestle with God and

become a new people much as Jacob became a new man. The covenant identity of God’s people bridges the

divides created by geography and social situation. Israel is God’s people whether they are at home in Judea or

out in the Diaspora. But as such they have new responsibilities to shoulder and the hard truth to face, as Peter

continues his sermon.

In 2:22-24, Peter sets forth the straight facts, the narratio of his speech in fine rhetorical form. “Here’s what

happened,” he tells the audience, “and here’s the part you had to play in making it happen. It’s time to own up,

Jacob, and become Israel once more.” He begins with a discussion of Jesus, making several key points about

him:

1. He calls him “Jesus of Nazareth.” The word “Nazareth” refers to the town where Jesus grew up and with

which he was consistently associated. In some minds, this fact alone disqualified him from being the

Messiah because it made him a Galilean and not a Judean (see also Nathaniel's cynicism in John 1:46). The

same term appears as “Nazarene” when applied to Jesus directly as in Matthew 2:23, and became a

nickname for Jesus at the time of his trial: “You also were with the Nazarene” (Mark 14:67), sarcastically

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directed at Peter. Demons referred to him in this fashion (Mark 1:24) as did the crowds who followed him

(Matthew 21:11). The angels at the tomb announce his resurrection, referring to him with the same phrase

(Mark 16:6). Followers of Jesus were called, among other monikers, “Nazarenes” (see Acts 24:5) and

classified as a “sect” who had a “ringleader.” Scholars believe that the significance of this designation

grows from Old Testament prophecies which predicted the coming of Messiah as “the Branch,” based on

the Hebrew word nazer which is at the root of "Nazareth" (see Isaiah 11:1 for the Messianic connection).

2. He was accredited by God in various ways which the audience had already witnessed. Peter is specific

about the means of accreditation, using words like dunamis, teras and sēmeion. You will recognize the first

of these words because it is the usual word for "power" (dynamo, dynamite). The second provokes

"wonder" (compare our "terror") and the third points to something significant (like our "semantics"). God

performs this triage of mighty deeds through Jesus and, Peter reminds them, his audience had, in fact,

witnessed them. From a rhetorical perspective, Peter is reaching for common ground with this declaration

― a set of facts which both he and they had knowledge of. Appealing to the familiar strengthens the

persuasive power of a speech. Peter need not waste time explaining what Jesus did since everybody knew

it.

3. He was killed by crucifixion, but this was no historical accident: God wanted this to happen, even though

“lawless” men carried it with your approval. This is the toughest part of the speech to deliver because it

lays blame on those who are standing before him. At this juncture Peter looks more like a prosecutor

making a case, than a preacher delivering a sermon. But rhetoricians might well switch roles in the same

speech, if nothing else, to keep their listeners attentive and on their toes. Put bluntly, the audience was

complicit in the execution of Jesus even though the hands which drove the nails were "lawless" (Greek:

anomoi). This reference might be to the Roman soldiers or to the Jewish leadership.

4. God raised up Jesus, releasing him from the bonds of death which could not hold him. The hero status of

Jesus now emerges as Peter depicts him as more powerful than death itself. The power which animates

Peter's sermon is the power which overcame death in the resurrection of Jesus. The crucifixion of Jesus

would have been a source of shame to the Jewish crowds who heard Peter's sermon. Crucified Messiahs

are, after all, failed Messiahs, and Israel had, over the course of its recent history, had plenty of those.

Jesus, it appeared, was just one more. For God to raise up Jesus was an act of public vindication ― the

declaration that Jesus was true in what he claimed, in spite of his crucifixion. Through the resurrection, God

was saying "Yes" in the face of the executioner's "No."

5. In a nutshell, this is the Jesus' story: the proclamation that Jesus of Nazareth, mighty in word and deed as

confirmed by eyewitnesses, was handed over for crucifixion by complicity of the multitudes and executed

by wicked persons and then rose from the dead, vindicated by God.

But Peter needed a solid text to make his case to this very Jewish audience who are gathered for the celebration

of harvest and the giving of Torah. Reading 2:25-35, we see Peter produce that Scripture from Psalm 16:8-11.

In the psalm, Peter affirms, David is speaking about Jesus and not about himself. Everybody knew where

David's tomb was. Though it had been desecrated during the previous two centuries, a marble stone marked its

location for all to see.16

Since the psalm claims that God will not abandon his holy one in Sheol, the place of

death, nor allow him to "see corruption," the obvious reference cannot be to David who had been dead for 1,000

years. If this particular text had mystified the rabbis, it pointed to a fulfillment in Jesus for Peter and the

disciples. The focus is not on the soul resting in hope but the flesh instead. What the Christ followers claimed

was that Jesus rose bodily from the tomb. According to Jewish belief the soul did not leave the body for three

full days, and Jesus had not been dead that long, rising on the third day, not after three days.

16

According to the Bible, David was buried in the "City of David" presumably in the southeast of the present Siloam area (I Kings

2:10). Traditionally the later kings of the Davidic dynasty were also buried there and the Bible refers to the "sepulchers of the sons of

David" (II Chron. 32:33), whose site was still known in the time of Nehemiah (Neh. 3:16). The tombs were in Jerusalem, but were

never touched (Tos. B. B. 1:11). According to Josephus, Herod broke into David's tomb to rob it, but when he tried to go into the inner

chamber tongues of fire shot out (Jos., Ant., 16:7:1).

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Pressing the argument further, Peter notes that David "was a prophet" who foresaw that one of his descendents

would occupy his throne and sees that the raising up of Jesus was God's way of saying "This is the one I

promised you, David, and that with my oath." This is an important additional claim Peter makes about the

resurrection of Jesus: that God's vindication of Jesus through it also meant that God was enthroning Jesus as

king. To "raise up" and to "place on the throne" refer to the same idea in Jewish thought. In this case, it means

to raise up in place of David as David's "greater son" (see 1 Chronicles 22:10; Jeremiah 33:19-22; for the role of

David as prophet who speaks God's word by His Spirit, 2 Samuel 23:2). The challenge of kings was not only to

sit on the throne but to "establish" one's throne in perpetuity. Death required constant plans for royal succession

and were regularly built into covenant documents in the ancient world. According to Peter, David foresaw a

future descendent who would conquer death and render needless any further succession arrangements. That day

has arrived, Peter proclaims and God has installed his risen king!

The immediate proof of this was the ascension of Jesus (2:33) and the subsequent "pouring out" of the Holy

Spirit in a public way. Peter tells the crowd, these things "you are seeing and hearing," using present tenses of

the Greek verbs: blepete kai akouete. The psalm may have been written 1,000 years before Peter's time, but its

fulfillment has now become a matter for immediate contemporary witness. David's throne, Peter continues,

remained on earth and never rose to God's right hand (2:34). Not so with Jesus who has been "exalted at the

right hand of God" (2:33).

To further strengthen his case, Peter draws out one more Old Testament text from Psalm 110:1 which belongs

to the enthronement traditions of Israel's ancient kings. A curious play on the word "Lord" is found in that

passage. One Lord speaks to another Lord inviting him to sit at his right hand. The Septuagint (Greek version

of the Hebrew Bible) uses the word kurios and Luke's rendition of Peter's sermon preserves that. However, the

underlying Hebrew words are different: Yahweh says to my Adonai is the way the text reads in the Hebrew

Bible. Yahweh is, of course, the covenant name for Israel's God. Adonai, before the exile, was a word which

meant "Lord, master." Subsequently, Judaism, fearing it might blaspheme the sacred name, Yahweh, no longer

uttered the word but used Adonai as a proxy for it. Jewish prayer books preserve this distinction by using the

typography "G-d" in English renderings or simply the word "Lord, Adonai", but not Yahweh. Peter points out

that God addresses Jesus as Lord and invites him to share the divine throne. Did the similar words of Jesus in

Matthew 22:41-46, spoken in Peter's hearing not long before, acquire fresh significance as he delivered his

sermon?

With this commentary on Psalm 110 Peter reaches the propositio in this sermon, and he states it concisely: Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain

that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus

whom you crucified (2:36).

If sermons can have punch lines, reverently speaking, this would be Peter's. A number of key ideas flow from

this succinct statement.

1. Peter addresses his audience with the phrase "the house of Israel." This translates the Hebrew Beit Israel.

We find this expression throughout the Old Testament where it is used dozens of times. "House" suggests

the notion of "family" as well as indicating a unit of social economy, as in "household." It may also be a

simple stand-in for the idea of "all." Israel is the People of God and that means they belong to Him, are His

treasured possession and object of His care. Covenant binds together the People of God together into a

community, into a family. Over this "house of God", Yahweh places his leaders, like Moses, to manage and

to guide it. Faithfulness and stewardship are the primary virtues sought in those who would "keep" God's

house. When Jesus sent his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to Israel, he did so with the words, "Go… to

the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 10:6; 15:24). This commission was intended to bring home

those who had wandered away and make the "house of Israel" complete again. The Old Testament prophet

Jeremiah predicted a time when God would make "a new covenant with the house of Israel" (Jeremiah

31:31-34; also, Hebrews 8:8-10). That covenant would give Israel a new heart and write Yahweh's laws on

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Israel's heart. Used in this context, Peter's address of "the house of Israel" suggests that the renewal of the

covenant, begun by Jesus and predicted by Jeremiah, was, in fact, taking place.

2. In support of this covenant renewal, God has "made Jesus both Lord and Christ." The terms Kurios and

Christos span a range of meaning in Luke's time. To the contemporaries of Peter, Caesar laid claim to the

royal title "Lord," while the word "Christ=Messiah" referred to the coming one who would restore Israel to

their rightful place in God's kingdom. Obviously, texts like Psalm 110:1, thoroughly Jewish in meaning,

used "Lord" to refer to Yahweh's king. What Peter wants to say is that Jesus is both Lord and Messiah, the

one to whom the "house of Israel" must pledge new allegiance and devoted service.

3. "Whom you crucified" no doubt stung painfully as Peter delivered this main statement to Israel. What had

gone wrong in the history of Israel that would cause it to execute its "Lord and Messiah"? And would this

ultimate insult to the honor of God result in His final rejection of Israel? This question put Israel in the

balance, and Peter's rhetorical strategy presses forward for a crucial decision.

Giving the Invitation (Acts 2:37-40)

Peter doesn't even reach the point of decision before his audience reacts with, "Brothers, what shall we do"

(2:37)? Sometimes in ancient Greek rhetoric, the speaker would pose such a question to provoke a response

from his audience, a technique known as aporia. In this case, it's the audience that puts the question to Peter,

with the implied follow-up, "This is serious. We've got to do something!" Luke characterizes their demeanor

with the words, "they were cut to the heart" (Greek: katenugēsan tēn kardian). The word for "cut" actually

means "to stab" showing how powerfully Peter's message impacted them (see Hebrews 4:12). This verb form

only appears here in the New Testament, and it evokes a sense of deep pathos or feeling. The Greek version of

the Hebrew Bible (LXX) uses the word to express remorse (Genesis 27:38), anger (Genesis 34:7), humility

(Psalm 109:16), and simple silence (Leviticus 10:3). It stands in marked contrast to dieprionto ("angry,

furious") used in 5:33 and 7:54 where the audience, cut to the heart, wanted to kill the speaker! F.F. Bruce

remarks, "The phrase is used here of that conviction of guilt which leads to repentance."17

The role of the Holy Spirit in all of this is evident, particularly in convicting sinful hearts and calling them to

salvation and change. Like a sword, the words from the Holy Spirit pierce the stony hearts of "the house of

Israel," summoning them to renew the covenant with Jesus, their newly risen Lord and Messiah. When the

audience addresses Peter and the apostles as "Brothers," they are reciprocating Peter's words in 2:29, "Brothers,

I may say to you with confidence…"

One fundamental component of ancient speeches was often the giving of instructions near the end. Peter does

that in the remaining verses of this week's reading. We will briefly analyze the main elements.

1. "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ." Change of mind and heart,

followed by a public profession of faith are the critical steps on the way back from Israel's long exile. Peter

urges that "every one" participate in this covenant renewal process. Remember, he addresses "the house of

Israel" as a whole and not isolated individuals within it. These were momentous days, the "last days," as

Joel described them; last days before the first days which were already unfolding before them. Repentance

(metanoia) entails a fundamental "change of agenda," setting aside the popular aspirations of zealot and

quietist alike, and taking up the fresh agenda of Jesus, Lord and Messiah. All of these things take place "in

the name of Jesus Christ," the One with whom Israel must now identify. Regime change. Agenda change.

Power change.

2. "For the forgiveness of your sins." (Greek: eis aphesin tōn hamartiōn humin) We are tempted to view

this as only a matter of individual confession and forgiveness. It certainly includes these, but much more is

intended. Remember, Peter is speaking to the whole "house of Israel" who has felt the bitter effects of the

exile long after they returned to the land. Why? That question dominated the thoughts of serious-minded

Jews for more than a generation, and groups like the Pharisees had already launched agendas intended to

bring the exile to an end. Sin was a national problem for Israel. Among the closing words of the Old

17

Bruce, Acts, p.97.

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Testament Scriptures were those spoken by the prophet Malachi, "The whole nation is under a curse…"

(3:9). Yet, in hopeful expectation, Zechariah foresaw a day when "a fountain will be opened to the house of

David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity…" (13:1) and "I will remove

the iniquity of this land in a single day" (3:9). The last recorded prayer of Daniel (Daniel 9) was a prayer of

confession seeking forgiveness (9:9, 19) from God. Such forgiveness themes echo throughout the pages of

the Hebrew Bible (see also Jeremiah 31:34; 33:8; 36:3; Isaiah 33:24). Peter, in his sermon, announces that

God offers forgiveness to national Israel if they will renew the sacred covenant with Him and become part

of the newly constituted people of God with Jesus as its Lord and Messiah. "To forgive" is to "release"

from the guilt and penalty of sin (Greek: aphesis, "to pardon, cancel, remove guilt, set free from"), and it

was for these very reasons that Jesus went to the cross and rose again. Forgiveness is the first great benefit

from responding to the Gospel.

3. "And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Greek: lēmpsesthe tēn dōrean tou hagiou pneumatos).

Since Pentecost (Shavuōt), in the Jewish tradition, included the celebration of God's giving Torah to Israel,

Peter seizes the opportunity to proclaim the arrival of the New Torah gift: the Holy Spirit. Through Torah

Yahweh instructed and guided Israel. Through the Holy Spirit He will do the same. From John's Gospel we

draw this additional text for this week's study: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come (John 16:12-13). The notion that the Holy Spirit is a "gift" is repeated in Acts 10:45 where the recipients are Gentiles. The

book of Hebrews associates the "heavenly gift" with "sharing in the Holy Spirit" (6:4). Ezekiel 11 foresaw

that Yahweh would one day "give" Israel "one heart" in conjunction with "a new spirit," having removed the

"heart of stone" and given them a "heart of flesh" (11:19; also, 36:26). Earlier, in Luke's Gospel, we hear

Jesus telling his audience: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13).

The giving of the Spirit depended on the resurrection and ascension of Jesus (John 7:39). To receive the

Spirit as a gift, Paul informs young Timothy, is to have "power, love and self-control." Because the Spirit is

a "gift," persons must receive him by faith and cannot extort him from God by works (Galatians 3:2, 14).

Receiving the Spirit means we are considered to be God's children (Romans 8:15).

4. "For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the

Lord our God calls to himself." The Greek word for "promise" is epaggelia, and also carries the idea of

"consent, decision." Long before the coming of Jesus, God decided to bless the world through Abraham and

one of his offspring. That decision was His "promise" which took the form of the covenant (berîth)

established by His oath (shāba‘). Often the notion of "promise" in the Old Testament was simply Yahweh's

"word" (dābār). Peter tells his listeners that God was even now fulfilling His promise by forgiving Israel's

sins and giving them the Holy Spirit. At last, God's means for blessing the nations through Abraham has

arrived. Jesus of Nazareth, crucified and risen, is that fulfillment. Scholars debate the intention of "for all

who are far off." In what sense are they "far off" (Greek: eis makran). Generally, the Greek word means a

position at a relatively great distance from another position - "far, at a distance, some distance away, far

away" (Louw-Nida Lexicon, 83,30). This could mean distance geographically and, in that case, would refer

to Jewish people in the Diaspora, scattered throughout the Roman Empire. It could also mean distance in

time, since Peter refers to "your children", one generation distant, makran suggesting future generations.

The focus of Acts 2 is on the salvation of Israel and its renewal as the New People of God, gathered around

the Twelve. However, it's hard not to see a prophetic vector here which refers to ethnic distance, that is, the

Gentiles who will one day receive this same message and this same Spirit (see Acts 10). In our case, we are

those who are "far off," being largely Gentile and removed from Peter's day by many generations.

The idea that "God calls" (from the Greek prokaleomai) points to His "calling out a people for His name"

(Acts 15:14). The English word "church" commonly translates the Greek word ekklēsia, meaning "called

out ones." Peter tells his audience that God has begun a fresh process of "calling out" a people from

national Israel, forming them into the renewed people of God. Understood in this way, it is correct to speak

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about the birth of the Church at Pentecost. Jesus did not come to start a new religion but to restore the

people of God, starting with Israel His ancient people. As Jesus told his disciples, "Go to the lost sheep of

the house of Israel", calling them back to the fold (see also John 10; also the parable of the Lost Sheep,

Matthew 18 and Luke 15). Once Jesus, through the Spirit, had reconstituted Israel around Himself ―

symbolized by the Twelve apostles ― he would begin the serious work of "calling" the Gentiles to become

part of this restored community, the Christ community, the Church.

5. "And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them." Two ideas organize

Peter's sermon thus far, and Luke tells us that he continued to follow these lineaments in his closing words.

First, we have his "witness," that is, Peter's testimony of what has happened through Jesus of Nazareth and

in the giving of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word used here is diamarturomai, "to declare solemnly and

emphatically; to charge under solemn oath." Here is a heavy-duty word for a serious claim to facts

(compare 2 Peter 1:16 for a later affidavit of Peter). He grounds his sermon in the witness of history and in

his own eyewitness account of what took place, corroborated by his fellow apostles who saw the same

things. Recall the rationale for picking a replacement for Judas: he needed to be someone who witnessed

everything from the time of John's baptism up to that moment. However, Peter is not just giving a history

lesson. Because these things have happened, this is what Israel must do in response. He communicates that

idea through the use of the word "exhort" (Greek: parakaleō, "to beg, urge; encourage, speak words of

encouragement; request, ask, appeal to; console, comfort, cheer up; invite, summon"). Jesus called the Holy

Spirit the paraklētos, "the one called alongside" (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7: variously translated as

"Comforter, Counselor, Help or simply transliterated as "Paraclete"). Peter, empowered by the Holy Spirit,

engages in the Holy Spirit work of encouraging and summoning the New Israel to their God-assigned

responsibilities. God called them as a new people for a definite moral and social task in this world.

6. "Saying, 'Save yourselves from this crooked generation'." To what does the word "generation" refer?

We have some clues from the ministry of Jesus as narrated in Luke's Gospel. Consider these texts: To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, " We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep" (Luke 7:31-32). Luke 11:29-32 29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,' 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation (Luke 11:49-51). But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation (Luke 17:25). Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place (Luke 21:32).

Peter would have known this teaching of Jesus, as the Holy Spirit brought those words back to his mind. By

calling "this generation" "crooked," Peter was merely echoing the sentiments already expressed by Jesus in

pronouncing "judgment" on "this generation." The word "crooked" is from the Greek word skolios a term

often contrasted with "straight" (orthos) and commonly applied to roads. This reminds us of John the

Baptizer's preaching, as he quoted from Isaiah, and called Israel to make "straight" paths for the return of

Yahweh to Zion. Paul used skolios in Philippians 2:15 to describe the pagan world where Christ followers

need to shine as "lights," living blameless and pure lives as God's children. Peter's words are a prophet's

reproof directed at Israel's present generation. The New People of God must become a holy alternative to

the crookedness found all around them. The ruling elite of Second Temple Judaism are the leaders of the

"crooked generation," and Peter calls on a repentant and forgiven Israel to "save themselves" from this

ungodly influence. From the Greek word sōzō, "save" is in the aorist imperative form of the verb,

suggesting a decisive break. Its range of meanings include "to save, rescue, deliver; keep safe, preserve;

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cure, make well." Here is a defining call for social and cultural transformation, requiring nothing less than

the power of the Holy Spirit to effect. Israel must become, in this world, a wholly different kind of

people than their contemporaries in Judaism. The gift of the Holy Spirit will be the enabling power for

this transformation to take place.

What Peter did in these closing verses of Acts 2 (38-40) was a common speech-making practice, usually falling

under the rubric of the peroratio, that rhetorical element in which the speaker gives his final exhortation to the

audience, calling them to action.

Narrating the Powerful Result (Acts 2:41)

Three main verbs anchor Luke's summary statement in 2:41, telling the outcome which followed Peter's sermon.

1. "Accepted." Peter offered to them a "gift," namely, forgiveness and the Holy Spirit: promises from God

for the "house of Israel" and made possible by the ascended Jesus of Nazareth who was both Lord and

Messiah. Though Israel had "rejected Messiah" by being complicit in his crucifixion and death,

nonetheless, God now offers forgiveness of such sins on the basis of his death and resurrection. We are

reminded of John's Gospel and his opening prologue where Jesus "came to his own, but his own did not

receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the authority to become children of God…"

(1:11-12). Luke is telling us some did receive him. The Greek word for "accept" is apodechomai and

includes the idea of "accepting or receiving what is offered from without." It may also have the nuance, "to

receive gladly." Once co-dependents with those who put Jesus to death, these fellow-Jews eagerly accept

the message Peter preached. To what can we attribute this radical about-face? The overwhelming subject

of this sermon has been an explanation of Jesus and the Spirit, and to Jesus and the Spirit we attribute the

power required to both transform a fickle apostle into a rock (Peter) and a traitorous audience into persons

responsive to the message he preached.

2. "Baptized." We have seen a great deal of baptizō throughout our recent studies. More recently we traced

the importance of John the Baptizer's immersion of Israel in the Jordan River in preparation for the coming

of the Messiah. What had once been primarily a ritual to prepare Gentiles to become Jews (proselyte

baptism) is now transformed into a sacred act, animated by faith, whereby Israel renews its covenant with

Yahweh by public identification with Jesus, their newfound Lord and Messiah. Baptism was (and is) the

outward sign of an inward reality. Of itself, it saves no one, being merely a water ritual. But combined with

genuine faith and attaching itself to the dying, rising Jesus, baptism becomes a powerful symbol of what has

actually taken place in the lives of God's restored people. "Buried with him by baptism into death," Paul

writes, "Raised in newness of life" (see Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12). Paul would make an even more

ancient connection between baptism and the shared experience of Israel passing through the Red Sea. From

1 Corinthians 10:2 we learn of ancient Israel: "all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea."

Notice the twin images involving water. The "cloud" referred to the pillar of cloud which symbolized God's

living presence as He led, protected and provided for His people Israel while they lived in the wilderness. It

was, so to speak, the divine provision corresponding to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The "sea" is

the direct referent to the water of baptism. Having received the "word," Peter's audience simultaneously

"received the Spirit"; having already "received the Spirit," they bear witness to this fact by "being baptized"

with water.

3. "Added." The Greek word Luke chooses is prosetethiēsan from the root, prostithēmi, meaning "to add

something to an existing quantity." Used of persons, it normally implies "added with consent, permission"

and, in fact, can mean "to give assent to something." From this meaning also arises the concept of

"association" or "to associate oneself with." The verb form is aorist passive, suggesting that the "adding" is

the work of another, though with the person's consent. Once we gather these meanings together, we have

the picture of persons, freely receiving Peter's message, the Gospel, and with it, forgiveness of sins and the

gift of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, they are placed, by God, into the newly forming people of God which

already has as its nucleus, the Twelve and the 120. Luke helps us with the math! The progression is: 12 →

120 → 3,000. Numbers and their significance can be tricky business in ancient historiography.

Witherington offers some useful observations:

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In the first place, the population of Jerusalem at feast time was quite large, perhaps even as high as 180,000 to 200,000, and

interestingly enough careful estimates have shown that the temple precincts could even accommodate such a huge crowd

[Polhill, Acts, p.118, note 135; Jeremias, Jerusalem, p.83]. In the second place if there was even close to such numbers in the

temple area, 3,000 would have been a distinct minority of the crowd. In the third place, there was ample water supply in

Jerusalem, especially at the pools (Bethesda, Siloam), for a large number of baptisms. It is wise not to dismiss such claims

when hard evidence to the contrary does not exist.18

Concerning this third verb "added," a few more comments are in order. The power which the Holy Spirit

brought to the early Christ community led to the remarkable growth of that community. The book of Acts

repeatedly bears witness to this fact by using several strategically placed section summaries found throughout

the book. Bible scholars Hertig and Gallagher offer the following helpful insight in this fact: Through six summary statements, Luke shows that the work of the Holy Spirit not only prevails but valiantly succeeds amid

trials and persecutions as the church extends its mission to the world:

1. "The word of God continued to spread; the number of disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the

priests became obedient to the faith" (6:7).

2. "Meanwhile, the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the

Lord and in the comfort o the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers" (9:31).

3. "But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents" (12:24).

4. "So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily" (16:5).

5. "So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed" (19:20).

6. "He lived there [the apostle Paul in Rome] two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him,

proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance"

(28:30-31).

If these statements on the growth of the church are studied carefully within their literary contexts, the reader discovers that

such growth was not a goal but a byproduct of the work of the church empowered by the Holy Spirit. These are summary

statements that serve to enhance the 1:8 thesis of worldwide mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. By beginning in

Jerusalem and ending in Rome, the story emphasizes the centrifugal movement of the gospel. Rome, often interpreted as

Luke's "ends of the earth," may not be the final intention of the narrative. The "ends of the earth" may be a symbolic

reference to a universal mission that includes Gentiles, that is, mission to the whole world…19

Closing Comments

When we read the stories which follow the Acts 2 narrative, we discover a continuing outpouring of power, as

the disciples of Jesus witness to the Good News: And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all (Acts 4:33). And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people (Acts 6:8).

The crowd gathered for Pentecost (in Acts 2) asked a simple question about what they initially witnessed:

"What does this mean?" R. Kent Hughes offers a helpful response: It means that the Holy Spirit brings new life to those who believe in Jesus Christ, and with that life comes a

continuing power to those who are continually filled. It means fire in our lives, individually burning away the

chaff and flaming out to those around us. It means the truth of God going forth from us in a way we would never

have dreamed of--the divine utterance of God through us. It means communication, joy, thankfulness,

submission.

What does this require of us? The same it required from the apostles and those 3,000 followers--emptiness, an

acknowledgement that we need Christ. God helps us have faith and respond to the gospel, and that is how we

become Christians and receive the saving baptism and fullness of the Holy Spirit. Then, once we are Christians,

God's persistent work in our lives liberates us from the idea that we can live the Christian life on our own. Each

time we acknowledge our inadequacy, he fill us with more of his Spirit so we can carry on his work. He will not

fill our sails with the wind of the Holy Spirit unless we admit that the sails are empty. This requires humility and

confession. The apostles were living in empty dependency until the filling came.

18

Witherington, Acts, p.156. Also, J.P. Polhill, The Acts of the Apostles, Broadman, 1992. 19

Paul Hertig and Robert L. Gallagher, "Introduction: Background to Acts," Mission in Acts: Ancient Narratives in Contemporary

Context, Robert L. Gallagher and Paul Heritg, eds., Orbis Books, 2007, pp. 9-10.

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The key to the Spirit-filled Christian life is found in a paradox: cultivating an attitude of perpetual emptiness

brings with it a perpetual fullness. Jesus said it like this: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness, for they will be filled."20

Glory to God! Amen.

20

R. Kent Hughes, Acts: The Church Afire. Preaching the Word. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1996, pp. 34-35.

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Digger Deeper: What If? Influence Factor: The Book of Acts ― What If We Had That Power?

(Bob Brown)

To gain a deeper understanding of What If? Influence Factor: The Book of Acts ― What If We Had That

Power?, carefully read the selected passages below. To aid you in your study, we invite you to visit the website

http://notes.chicagofirstnaz.org, or pick up a copy of the Background Notes at the Connect desk, or from your

ABF leader. Now consider the following questions, as you ask the Lord to teach you.

1. This week's readings are Acts 1:1-11 and 2:1-41. After reading them, suggest a title for each one.

2. As background to Acts 1, review the material in Luke 24:44-53. What significant promise does Jesus make

to his disciples before he leaves them? What role does this promise have in their future mission?

3. In what ways do the disciples misunderstand the kingdom of God? Refer to a specific passage from Acts 1

as you give your answer.

4. What mission strategy does Jesus give the apostles in 1:8, and what will they need to fulfill it? Define the

word "power" as it is used in this passage. Refer back to Luke 24:44-53 when considering your definition.

5. Acts 1 depicts the "ascension" of Jesus after he commissions the apostles. What does it mean for Jesus to

"go away into heaven"? How might this event be misunderstood? Relate the following passages to the

ascension of Jesus: Luke 22:69; Acts 2:33; 5:31; 7:55-56; Romans 8:34; Colossians 3:1; Ephesians 1:20;

Hebrews 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22. How important is Jesus role "in heaven" to our responsibilities

"on earth"?

6. Acts 2:1-41 tells us how the Holy Spirit came during an important Jewish festival. Which festival was it,

and why was this a significant time for God to send the Holy Spirit? (Refer to the Background Notes or a

Bible Dictionary for additional help).

7. What unusual phenomena accompanied the Spirit's arrival? Explain their symbolic value?

8. How was the unusual speech-event, described in Act 2, appropriate for the apostle's future mission? What

actually happened? Did it happen again (see Acts 10:46 and 19:6)? According to Revelation 5:9, how

extensive is God's purpose for saving the world, and how did the Pentecost speech event foreshadow this?

9. Why does Luke give us a list of people groups in 2:7-12?

10. Those celebrating the Pentecost festival misunderstand the importance of "other languages" spoken by the

apostles. Describe this confusion and explain how Peter corrected it at the beginning of his speech.

11. In Acts 2:14-40 Luke gives us the sermon delivered by Peter to his fellow Israelites after the Holy Spirit

arrived. Do you think Peter is a "changed man," based on your recollections of what he was like

previously? To what do you attribute his transformation?

12. What key truths of the Gospel does Peter incorporate into his sermon? Does he seem to be offer proof for

certain things? Does he want his audience to believe certain things? Does he want them to do certain

things? Explain with specifics in each case.

13. What role does Scripture play in Peter's sermon? Relate the following cited Old Testament texts to his

sermon: Joel 2:28-32; Psalm 16:8-11; Psalm 110:1. Why was it important for Peter to quote these passages?

14. How does Peter identify Jesus to his audience? What features of Jesus' ministry does he emphasize? Which

ones seem especially important?

15. According to 2:36, what confident truth does Peter deliver to Israel that day?

16. How do the people respond to Peter's sermon (see 2:37)? Contrast this to their response before he spoke to

them (2:12-13).

17. What specific instructions does Peter give to his willing audience in 2:38-40? Explain the key words Peter

uses in giving his "invitation."

18. Explain the instruction: "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation" (2:40).

19. What outcomes, in 2:41, reveal the powerful effect of the Pentecost phenomena and of Peter's sermon on

Israel that day?