The Holy Spirit's descent on the day of Pentecost inaugurated a new dispensation in God's administration of the human race.78Luke featured the record of the events of this day to explain the changes in God's dealings with humankind that followed in the early church and to the present day. This was the birthday of the church.79
"The plot of a work can often be illuminated by considering the major conflict or conflicts within it. Although Jesus' witnesses face other conflicts, the central conflict of the plot, repeatedly emphasized and still present in the last major scene of Acts, is a conflict within Judaism provoked by Jewish Christian preachers (including Paul). Acts 2:1-8:3 traces the development of this conflict in Jerusalem."80
Luke introduced the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry with His baptism with the Spirit (Luke 3:21-22). He paralleled this with the beginning of Jesus' heavenly ministry with the Spirit baptism of His disciples (Acts 2:1-4). The same Spirit who indwelt and empowered Jesus during His earthly ministry would now indwell and empower His believing disciples. John the Baptist had predicted this Pentecost baptism with the Spirit (Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16) as had Jesus (Acts 1:8). Jesus did the baptizing, and the Spirit came upon the disciples.
2:1 The day of Pentecost was an annual spring feast at which the Jews presented the first-fruits of their wheat harvest to God (Exod. 34:22a). The Jews also called Pentecost the Feast of Harvest and the Feast of Weeks. They celebrated it at the end of seven weeks (i.e., a week of weeks) following the Feast of Passover. God received a new crop of believers, Christians, on this particular day of Pentecost. The Jews also celebrated Pentecost as the anniversary of the giving of the Mosaic Law (cf. Exod. 19:1). Paul regarded the Spirit's indwelling presence as God's replacement for the external guidance that the Mosaic Law had provided believers under that old covenant (Gal. 3:3, 23-29).
"Pentecost"is a Greek word, transliterated into English, that means fiftieth. This feast fell on the fiftieth day after Passover. It was one of the feasts at which all the male Jews had to be present at the central sanctuary (Exod. 34:22-23). Jews who lived up to 20 miles from Jerusalem were expected to travel to Jerusalem to attend these feasts. Pentecost usually fell in late May or early June. Travelling conditions then made it possible for Jews who lived farther away to visit Jerusalem too. These factors account for the large number of Jews present in Jerusalem on this particular day.
". . . by paralleling Jesus' baptism with the experience of Jesus' early followers at Pentecost, Luke is showing that the mission of the Christian church, as was the ministry of Jesus, is dependent upon the coming of the Holy Spirit. And by his stress on Pentecost as the day when the miracle took place, he is also suggesting (1) that the Spirit's coming is in continuity with God's purposes in giving the law and yet (2) that the Spirit's coming signals the essential difference between the Jewish faith and commitment to Jesus, for whereas the former is Torah centered and Torah directed, the latter is Christ centered and Spirit directed--all of which sounds very much like Paul."81
The antecedent of "they"is apparently the believers Luke mentioned in 1:15. It is not possible to identify the place (lit. the house, Gr. ton oikon) where they assembled certainly. Perhaps it was the upper room already mentioned (1:13) or another house. Clearly the disciples were indoors (v. 2).
2:2 The sound like wind came from heaven, the place where Jesus had gone (1:10-11). This noise symbolized the coming of the Holy Spirit in power. The same Greek word (pneuma) means either "wind"or "spirit."Ezekiel and Jesus had previously used the wind as an illustration of God's Spirit (Ezek. 37:9-14; John 3:8).
"Luke particularly stresses the importance of the Spirit in the life of the church [in Acts]."82
"A friend of my daughter lives in Kansas and went through the experience of a tornado. It did not destroy their home but came within two blocks of it. When she wrote about it to my daughter, she said, The first thing we noticed was a sound like a thousand freight trains coming into town.' Friend, that was a rushing, mighty wind, and that was the sound. It was that kind of sound that they heard on the Day of Pentecost."83
2:3 Fire, as well as wind, symbolized the presence of God (cf. Gen. 15:17; Exod. 3:2-6; 13:21-22; 19:18; 24:17; 40:38; Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16). The believers received a visual as well as an audible indication that the promised Holy Spirit of God had come. Evidently the fire came at first in one piece and then separated into individual flames, which always resemble tongues of fire.84One of these flames abode on each believer present. God could hardly have visualized the distribution of His Spirit to every individual believer more clearly. The Spirit had in the past abode on the whole nation of Israel corporately symbolized by the pillar of fire. Now He abode on each believer, as He had on Jesus. This fire was obviously not normal fire because it did not consume what it touched (cf. Exod. 3:2-6).
Probably the Jews present connected the tongues with which the believers spoke miraculously with the tongues of fire. They probably attributed the miracle of speaking in tongues to the God whose presence they had identified with fire in their history and who was now present.
Was this the fulfillment of John the Baptist's statement that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11; Luke 3:16)? Probably it was.85What we have in this verse is a gracious baptizing that involved the Holy Spirit and the presence and power of God symbolized by fire. Another more complicated view is that John was referring to Old Testament passages that predicted that Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-29) and fire (Mal. 3:2-5). The Malachi prophecy speaks of fire as a refining or purifying agent. Both prophecies involve the nation of Israel as a whole primarily. According to this second view John referred to a judgment involving Israel that will happen when Jesus Christ returns to the earth to reign.
2:4 Spirit filling and Spirit baptism are two distinct ministries of the Holy Spirit. Both occurred on this occasion, though Luke only mentioned filling specifically. We know that Spirit baptism also took place because Jesus predicted it would take place "not many days from now"before His ascension (1:5). Moreover, Peter spoke of it as having taken place on Pentecost a short time later (11:15-16).86
Filling with the Spirit was a phenomenon believers experienced at various times in the Old Testament economy (Exod. 35:30-34; Num. 11:26-29; 1 Sam. 10:6, 10) as well as in the New. An individual Christian can now experience it many times. God can fill a person with His Spirit on numerous separate occasions (cf. Acts 4:8, 31; 6:3, 5; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9, 52). Furthermore God has commanded all believers to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Luke used "filling"to express the Holy Spirit's presence and enablement.87Filling by the Spirit results in the Spirit's control of the believer (Eph. 5:18). The Spirit controls a believer to the degree that He fills the believer and vice versa. Believers experience Spirit control to the extent that we yield to His direction. On the day of Pentecost the believers assembled were under the Spirit's control because they were in a proper personal relationship of submission to Him (cf. 1:14). In the Book of Acts whenever Luke said the disciples were Spirit-filled, their filling always had some connection with their gospel proclamation or some specific service related to outreach (2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9).88
". . . Luke alwaysconnects the filling of the Holy Spirit' with the proclamation of the gospel in Acts (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9). Those who are full of the Holy Spirit' are alwaysthose who are faithfully fulfilling their anointed task as proclaimers (Acts 6:3, 5; 7:55; 11:24; 13:52)."89
"No great decision was ever taken, no important step was ever embarked upon, by the early Church without the guidance of the Spirit. The early Church was a Spirit-guided community.
"In the first thirteen chapters of Acts there are more than forty references to the Holy Spirit. The early Church was a Spirit-filled Church and precisely therein lay its power."90
The Christian never repeats Spirit baptism in contrast to filling, God never commanded Spirit baptism, and it does not occur in degrees. Spirit baptism normally takes place when a person becomes a Christian (Rom. 8:9). However when it took place on the day of Pentecost the people baptized were already believers. This was also true on three later occasions (8:17; 10:45; 19:6). These were unusual situations, however, and not typical of Spirit baptism.91Spirit baptism always unites a believer to the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). The "body of Christ"is a figure that the New Testament writers used exclusively of the church, never of Israel or any other group of believers. Therefore this first occurrence of the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit marks the beginning of the church, the body of Christ (cf. Matt. 16:18).
Speaking with other tongues was the outward evidence that God had done something to these believers inwardly (i.e., controlled them and baptized them into the body). The same sign identified the same thing on the other initial instances of Spirit baptism (10:46; 19:6). In each case it was primarily for the benefit of Jews present, who as a people sought a sign from God to mark His activity, that God gave this sign (Luke 11:16; John 4:48; 1 Cor. 1:22).92
One of the fundamental differences between charismatic and non-charismatic Christians is the issue of the purpose of the sign gifts (speaking in tongues, healings on demand, spectacular miracles, etc.). Charismatic theologians have urged that the purpose of all the gifts is primarily edification (cf. 1 Cor. 12:7).93
They "always seem to be spoken of as a normal function of the Christian life . . . [in which the Spirit] makes them willing and able to undertake various works for the renewal and upbuilding of the Church."94
Many non-charismatics believe that the purpose of the sign gifts was not primarily edification but the authentication of new revelation.
There is an ". . . inseparable connection of miracles with revelation, as its mark and credential; or, more narrowly, of the summing up of all revelation, finally, in Jesus Christ. Miracles do not appear on the page of Scripture vagrantly, here, there, and elsewhere indifferently, without assignable reason. They belong to revelation periods, and appear only when God is speaking to His people through accredited messengers, declaring His gracious purposes. Their abundant display in the Apostolic Church is the mark of the richness of the Apostolic Age in revelation; and when this revelation period closed, the period of miracle-working had passed by also, as a mere matter of course."95
"Thus, glossolalia [speaking in tongues] was a gift given by God, not primarily as a special language for worship; not primarily to facilitate the spread of the gospel; and certainly not as a sign that a believer has experienced a second baptism in the Holy Spirit.' It was given primarily for an evidential purpose to authenticate and substantiate some facet of God's truth. This purpose is always distorted by those who shift the emphasis from objective sign to subjective experience."96
Other non-charismatics believe that the specific purpose of the sign gifts was to identify Jesus Christ as God's Son and to authenticate the gospel message that the apostles preached.
Most non-charismatics grant that the sign gifts were edifying in their result, but say their purposewas to authenticate new revelation to the Jews (Acts 2:22; Mark 16:20; Acts 7:36-39, 51; Heb. 2:2-4; 1 Cor. 14:20-22).97Jews were always present when tongues took place in Acts (chs. 2, 10, and 19). It is understandable why God-fearing Jews, whom the apostles asked to accept new truth in addition to their already authenticated Old Testament, would have required a sign. They would have wanted strong proof that God was now giving new revelation that seemed on the surface to contradict their Scriptures.
God had told the Jews centuries earlier that He would speak to them in a foreign language because they refused to pay attention to Isaiah's words to them in their own language (Isa. 28:11; cf. 1 Cor 14:21). Jews who knew this prophecy and were listening to Peter should have recognized that what was happening was evidence that it was God who was speaking to them.
"Barclay and others have puzzled over the necessity for using various dialects when it would have been more expedient to simply use either Greek or Aramaic--languages known to speaker and hearer alike.98However to suggest this is to miss the point of the record. The Spirit desired to arrest the attention of the crowd. What better means could He adopt than to have men who quite evidently did not speak the dialects in question suddenly be endowed with the ability to speak these languages and declare the wonders of God' before the astonished assembly? The effect would be a multiple one. Attention would be gained, the evidence of divine intervention would be perceived, the astonished crowd would be prepared to listen with interest to the sermon of Peter, and thus the Spirit's purpose in granting the gift would be realized."99
". . . the startling effect of the phenomenon on those who in difficult circumstances desperately wished otherwise (as in Acts 4:13-16; 10:28-29; 11:1-3, 15-18; and 15:1-12) supports the purpose of authentication (and not edification) for the sign gifts."100
God gave the gift of tongues also to rouse the nation of Israel to repentance (1 Cor. 14:22-25).101
It is clear from the context of Acts 2:4 that this sign involved the ability to speak in another language that the speaker had not previously known (vv. 6, 8). However the ability to speak in tongues does not in itself demonstrate the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Satan can give the supernatural ability to speak in other languages, as the blasphemous utterances of some tongues speakers have shown. Sometimes an interpreter was necessary (cf. 1 Cor. 14), but at other times, as at Pentecost, one was not.
". . . glossolalia, or speaking with tongues', was a regular phenomenon in the life of the early Church and has never been altogether absent in its subsequent history. Although it is the result of genuine religious experience, it can get out of hand, as Paul found at Corinth. People in the grip of such spiritual ecstasy are known to utter foreign words normally unknown to them, mingled with other unintelligible noises."102
Were the tongues here the same as in Corinth (1 Cor. 12; 14)? If so, was ecstatic speech present on both occasions, and or were foreign languages present on both occasions? Or were the tongues here foreign languages and the tongues in Corinth ecstatic speech?103
"It is well known that the terminology of Luke in Acts and of Paul in 1 Corinthians is the same. In spite of this some have contended for a difference between the gift as it occurred in Acts and as it occurred in Corinth. This is manifestly impossible from the standpoint of the terminology. This conclusion is strengthened when we remember that Luke and Paul were constant companions and would have, no doubt, used the same terminology in the same sense. . . . In other words, it is most likely that the early believers used a fixed terminology in describing this gift, a terminology understood by them all. If this be so, then the full description of the gift on Pentecost must be allowed to explain the more limited descriptions that occur elsewhere."104
Probably, then, the gift of tongues was a term that covered both speaking in a language or languages that the speaker had never studied and uttering ecstatic speech that needed translation. This gift was very helpful as the believers began to carry out the Great Commission, especially in their evangelization of Jews. Acts documents and emphasizes the Lord's work in executing that mission.
Evidently most if not all the believers present spoke in tongues (vv. 3, 7-11).105
God gave three signs of the Spirit's coming to the Jews who were celebrating the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem: wind, fire, and inspired speech. Each of these signified God's presence in Jewish history.
"At least three distinct things were accomplished on the Day of Pentecost concerning the relationship of the Spirit with men:
(1) The Spirit made His advent into the world here to abide throughout this dispensation. . . . [i.e., permanent indwelling]
(2) Again, Pentecost marked the beginning of the formation of a new body, or organism which, in its relation to Christ, is called the church which is his body.' . . . [i.e., Spirit baptism]
(3) So, also, at Pentecost the lives that were prepared were filled with the Spirit, or the Spirit came upon them for power as promised."[i.e., Spirit filling]106
2:5-6 The Jews living in Jerusalem were probably people from the Diaspora (dispersion, residing outside the land of Palestine) who had returned to settle down in the Jewish homeland.107
"It was . . . customary for many pious Jews who had spent their lives abroad to return to end their days as close to the Temple as possible."108
A list of nations from which they had come follows in verses 9 and 10. The sound that attracted attention may have been the wind (v. 2) or the sound of the tongues speakers (v. 4).109The context seems to favor the sound of the tongues speakers.110The text does not clearly identify when what was happening in the upper room became public knowledge or when the disciples moved out of the upper room to a larger venue. Evidently upon hearing the sound these residents of Jerusalem assembled to investigate what was happening. When they found the source of the sound, they were amazed to discover Galileans speaking in the native languages of the remote regions from which these Diaspora Jews had come. The Jews in Jerusalem who could not speak Aramaic would have known Greek, so there was no need for other languages. Yet what they heard were the languages that were common in the remote places in which they had lived. Perhaps the sound came from the upper room initially, and then when the disciples moved out into the streets the people followed them into the Temple area. Since about 3,000 people became Christians this day (v. 41) the multitude (v. 6) must have numbered many thousands. About 200,000 people could assemble in the temple area. This fact has led some interpreters to assume that that may have been where this multitude congregated.
2:7-11 The majority of the disciples was Galileans at this time. They were identifiable by their rural appearance and their accent (cf. Matt. 26:73).
"Galileans had difficulty pronouncing gutturals and had the habit of swallowing syllables when speaking; so they were looked down upon by the people of Jerusalem as being provincial (cf. Mark 14:70). Therefore, since the disciples who were speaking were Galileans, it bewildered those who heard because the disciples could not by themselves have learned so many different languages."111
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and Mesopotamians lived to the east and north of Palestine. Some of them were probably descendants of the Jews who did not return from the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Many texts do not include "Judea,"but if authentic it probably refers to the Roman province of Judea that included Syria. Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia were all provinces in Asia Minor to the northwest. Egypt, Libya, and Cyrene lay to the south and west.112Rome, of course, lay farther northwest in Europe. Luke had a special interest in the gospel reaching Rome, so that may be the reason he singled it out for special mention here. It may be that some of these Roman expatriates returned to Rome and planted the church there.113A proselyte was a Gentile who had adopted Judaism and had become a part of the nation of Israel by submitting to three rites.114These rites were circumcision (if a male), self-baptism before witnesses, and ideally the offering of a sacrifice.115Cretans lived on the island of Crete, and "Arabs"refers to the Arabians who lived east of Palestine between the Red Sea and the Euphrates River. All these heard the mighty deeds of God (i.e., the gospel) in their own languages. This was a reversal of what took place at Babel (Gen. 11) and illustrated the human unity that God's unhindered working produces.
"Although every Jew could not be present for Peter's speech, the narrator does not hesitate to depict representatives of the Jews of every land as Peter's listeners. This feature shows a concern not just with Gentiles but with a gospel for all Jews, which can bring the restoration of Israel as a united people under its Messiah."116
2:12-13 Unable or unwilling to accept the miraculous working of God in their midst some observers charged that the believers were under the control of wine rather than the Holy Spirit (cf. Eph. 5:18; 1 Cor. 14:23). The Greek word for wine here (gleukous) means sweet wine, which had a higher alcoholic content than regular wine.117
"The miraculous is not self-authenticating, nor does it inevitably and uniformly convince. There must also be the preparation of the heart and the proclamation of the message if miracles are to accomplish their full purpose. This was true even for the miracle of the Spirit's coming at Pentecost. . . . All this prepares the reader for Peter's sermon, which is the initial proclamation of the gospel message to a prepared people."118
Barclay pointed out four different kinds of preaching that the early Christians practiced,119and I would add two more. The first is kerugma, which means proclamation of the clear facts of the Christian message. The second is didacheor teaching. This was explanation and interpretation of the facts--the "so what?"Third, there was paraklesis, exhortation to apply the message. Fourth, there was homilia, the treatment of a subject or area of life in view of the Christian message. Fifth, there was prophesia, the sharing of a word from God be it new revelation or old. Sixth, there was apologia, a defense of the Christian message in the face of hostile adversaries. Often the speaker combined two or more of these kinds of address into one message as Peter did in the sermon that follows. Here we find defense (vv. 14-21), proclamation (vv. 22-36), and exhortation (vv. 37-41).
