Acts 2:1-21

2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, 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, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs-in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams.

18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

and they shall prophesy.

19 And I will show portents in the heaven above

and signs on the earth below,

blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

20 The sun shall be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood,

before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.

21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ (Acts 2:1-21, NRSV)

The Word of the Lord! Thanks be to God!

The Giving of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-21)

The Book of Acts opens with the Jesus’ ascension to heaven, which many Christians celebrate on Thursday of the Sixth Week of the Easter season (May 13, ten days ago). “After his suffering”–that is, his crucifixion–says Luke, “he [i.e., Jesus] presented himself alive to them [i.e., ‘the apostles whom he had chosen,’ v. 2] by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Luke reports the ascension of Jesus to heaven at the end of his Gospel (Lk. 24:50-51), and repeats it at the beginning of Acts (Acts 1:6-11). These reports provide a connection between Luke’s volume I (the Gospel) and his volume II (Acts), a connection that we might easily overlook, accustomed as we are to having John’s Gospel separate Luke’s two volumes.

Also important in linking the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles is the repeated promise of sending the Holy Spirit. “You are witnesses of these things,” says Jesus to the disciples gathered in Jerusalem. “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised”–that is, the Holy Spirit–“so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Lk. 24:48-49). In Acts, prior to his ascension, he gives these apostles a command and a promise. “While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the father. ‘This,’ he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now’ ” (Acts 1:4-5). When they ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He declines a specific answer, but repeats the promise of the Holy Spirit, together with a brief outline of their mission. “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority,” he tells them. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8).

So, after Jesus’ ascension (Acts 1:9-11), the disciples, 120 of them, including “certain women,” spent time in prayer in an upstairs room in Jerusalem. During this time, Peter takes the lead in a process to replace Judas with Matthias, who was “added to the eleven apostles ( Acts 1:15-26).

This brings us to the Day of Pentecost itself, the feast that we celebrate today. The story of the first Christian Pentecost is told in the Book of Acts, chapter 2. On that day, as Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit was sent to the 120 Christian believers that were gathered in the upstairs room in Jerusalem (cf. Acts 1:13, 15). The Feast of Pentecost was a Jewish celebration, known in Old Testament times as the Festival of Weeks (Shavuos). Within a list of festivals which the LORD required of the Hebrew people and the instructions that he gave them through Moses, the festival is described in Leviticus, chapter 23:

15 And from the day after the Sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the elevation offering [that would be for the Offering of the First Fruits, in conjunction with the Passover , The Festival of Unleavened Bread, and the Offering of the First Fruits], you shall count off seven weeks; they shall be complete. 16 You shall count until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty (ch ^amishshîm, LXX pentēkonta) days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the LORD. [The offerings are specified, vv. 17-19] 20. The priest shall raise them with the bread of the first fruits as an elevation offering before the LORD, together with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.21 On that same day you shall make proclamation; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a statute forever in all your settlements throughout your generations. (Lev. 23:15-21)

If you “count off seven weeks” and “continue after the seventh Sabbath”—that is, the day after the seventh day of the seventh week—you get fifty days. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament used later by Jews, the numeral “fifty” (pentēkonta) is used in the counting here. But the word “fiftieth,” pentēcostos, or Pentecost, is not used of this festival until the time of post-biblical Judaism before and during New Testament times. As I mentioned earlier, ten days ago Christians celebrated the Ascension of Jesus forty days after Easter. Ten days plus forty is fifty days, the pentēcostos day.

The Festival of Weeks (Exod. 34:22; Lev. 23:15-16; Num. 28:26; Deut. 16:9-12) was, says Bernard M. Levinson, “originally, as the earliest name signifies, the ‘Festival of Harvest’ (Exod. 23:16), celebrated in May-June. In postbiblical Judaism,” he adds, “the festival came to be associated with the revelation at Mount Sinai (Exod. chs. 19-20)” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Deut. 16:9-12). Coming fifty days after Passover, the time period is about right for the Hebrews’ arrival at Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law. As is clear from the account in Acts, there were Jewish peoples gathered in Jerusalem for the Festival of Weeks (Passover) from all over the known world.

“In the Liturgy,” says Rabbi J. H. Hertz, “it [i.e., the Feast of Weeks] is described as vntrvt Ntm Nmz ‘the Season of the Giving of our Torah’, viz. the Revelation at Sinai. It is thus both a nature and a historical festival” (op. cit., p. 816, on Deut. 16:10). “Unlike Passover and Tabernacles,” he adds,

the Feast of Weeks has no distinctive ceremony. In many rites, the Book of Ruth, presenting a charming picture of agricultural life in ancient Palestine, is read. In many congregations it is also customary to spend the first night of Shavuos in reading selections from the Torah and the Prophets, as well as from Rabbinic literature. . . . A more universal custom is to decorate the synagogues with flowers and plants on this Festival . . . On Shavuos, the Jewish child was first initiated into the study of the Jewish religion and the Hebrew language. (Pentateuch & Haftorahs, 2^nd ed., 24^th printing, 1981, on Deut. 16:12).

On the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1) the instruction and promise of Jesus were fulfilled–the initial instruction, of course, for the Book of Acts is a continued narrative in which the apostles continuing to fulfill Jesus’ commission. “When the day of Pentecost (th;n hJmevran th:V penthkosth:V, tēn hēmeran tēs pentēkostēs) had come,” says Luke, “they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1). “And suddenly,” we are told of events that would transform the Jewish holiday into what, for Christians, would count as the beginning of the Christian church. “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Acts. 2:2). Levinson acknowledges the Christian understanding. “The idea [i.e., of representation in this festival of God’s revelation at Mount Sinai] underlies the New Testament narrative of the Holy Spirit’s activity at ‘Pentecost’ (Acts 2:1; cf. 20:16; 1 Corinthians 16:8)” (ibid.). The “rush of a violent wind,” says Christopher R. Matthews, is “perhaps an allusion to Gen. 1:2 (‘while a mighty wind swept over the face of the waters’ [alternate version]), though this and other features here are typical of theophanies–manifestations of God (Ex. 19:16-19; 1 Kings 19:11; Isa. 66:15)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Acts 2:2).

In addition to this sound of violent wind, we are told, “divided tongues as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them” (Acts 2:3). “John the Baptist,” says Matthews, “had predicted a baptism ‘with the Holy Spirit and fire’ (Lk. 3:16; Mt. 3:11; cf. Mk. 1:8; Jn. 1:33)” (ibid., on v. 3). “All of them”–120 (1:15)–“were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages (glw:ssai, glōssai),” says Luke, “as the Spirit gave them ability (ajpofqevggesqai, apophthengesthai, infinitive, literally ‘to speak out’). The infinitive here means “to express oneself orally, with focus on sound rather than content, speak out, declare boldly or loudly (of the speech of a wise man Diog. L. 1, 63; 73; 79 but also of an oracle-giver, diviner, prophet, exorcist, and other inspired persons Diod. S. 16, 27, 1 [and other refs.]” (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd ed., 2000, s.v. ajpofqevggomai, apophthengomai). We note that what was spoken thus was clearly understood (Acts 2:8, 11). The verb ajpofqevggomai (apophthengomai) occurs three times in the New Testament. Later in the present context, “Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed (ajpefqevgxato, apephthenxato) them” (v. 14). Later, in his defense before Governor Festus and King Agrippa, when Festus exclaims, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!” (Acts. 26:24), Paul responds, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth (ajlla; ajlhqeivaV kai; swfrosuvnhV rJhmata ajpofqevggomai, alla alētheias kai sōphrosynēs hrēmata apophthengomai, literally ‘I am speaking words of truth and mental soundness’)” (v. 25). In each instance the verb clearly refers to understandable spoken words. There is no reference to the need for an interpreter (as in 1 Cor. 14:5). According to Sherman E. Johnson and Bruce M. Metzger, “The other languages in the Corinthian church were an incoherent form of speech (1 Cor. 14:1-33); here Luke thinks of a gift of foreign languages, as though the story of the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) had been reversed” (NOAB, 2^nd ed.1994, on Acts 2:4-11).

According to Matthews, “This baptism (1-5) or filling with the Spirit is clearly foundational for Acts but is not referred to elsewhere in the New Testament”(op. cit., on v. 4). However, we should take note of John’s report that, after the resurrection, Jesus says to the disciples, “”Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn. 20:22b, 23). And we should note that Peter, speaking at the Jerusalem Council, defines the experience of the believers at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:44-48) as the same as the experience on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). “My brothers,” says Peter,

you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us.” (Acts 15:7b-9, my emphasis with bold font)

Although the word “baptism” is not used in this context, what has been called “spiritual baptism” is described as “giving them the Holy Spirit . . . and . . . cleansing their hearts by faith.” As the Holy Spirit was crucial for Jesus’ ministry (cf. the emphasis on the Spirit in Jesus’ Nazareth sermon, Lk. 4:16-30, and throughout Luke’s Gospel), so he will be for the ministry of the Apostles in Acts.

Luke tells us that on the day of Pentecost, “there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem” (Acts 2:5). Beverly Roberts Gaventa points out that “devout Jews from every nation” means

Jews from the Diaspora who either have come for Passover or have long-term business that keeps them in Jerusalem. “Since the inclusion of Gentiles within the church comes only with the conversion of Cornelius in 10:1-11:18, those present at Pentecost are carefully identified as Jewish. Nevertheless, every nation hints at the larger reach of the gospel that is on the horizon. (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Acts 2:5)

This group is amazed by what they hear and see, for “at this sound,” that is, of the violent wind (v. 1) and the disciples’ speaking (v. 4), “the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each” (v. 6). We are reminded that the dispersed Jewish population was scattered throughout the Roman empire and, apparently, throughout the world as known then. Very likely a diverse, but cosmopolitan group, they note that most of the apostles are Galilean. “Amazed and astonished, they [i.e., the crowd] asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?’ ” (vv. 7, 8a). A long list of countries follows, countries where the Jews lived who were in Jerusalem at the time. “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs” (vv. 9-11a). According to Matthews, “The list of countries and races, generally moving from east to west, suggests universal participation in the Pentecost event” (op. cit., on vv. 9-11). He adds that “proselytes” are “full converts to Judaism” (ibid., on v. 10). Gaventa compares the “list of countries represented” to “similar lists found in ancient histories and geographies (e.g., Gen. 10:2-31; Sibylline Oracles 3.156-95; 205-9; Philo, Embassy 281-83; Flaccus 45-46); it omits some locales that figure prominently in Acts, such as Macedonia and Achaia” (op. cit., on vv. 9-11).

This diverse crowd expresses its amazement: “in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power” (v. 11). “All were amazed and perplexed,” says Luke, “saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine’ ” (vv. 12-13). “As in the Gospels,” says Gaventa, “miraculous events prompt amazement and questioning; see, e.g., Lk. 4:36-37; 5:17-26.” And she adds, “Wine was sometimes viewed as an enhancement to prophetic speech; see Plutarch, Oracles at Delphi 406b; Obsolescence of Oracles 437d-e” (ibid., on vv. 12-23).

Peter, who probably knew little about the Oracle at Delphi–though Luke himself would have known–takes the lead in response here as before with the 120 in the upper room. He calls for attention. “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say” (v. 14b). He denies that the apostles are in a state of mere drunkenness. “Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning” (v. 15). The apostles’ speaking which is understood in various languages is, rather, a form of prophecy. “No, this,” says Peter, “is what was spoken through the prophet Joel” (v. 16), and he quotes at length from Joel.

So, Peter’s Pentecost sermon takes its text from Joel (Joel 2:28-32 [3:1-5 in Hebrew and the Greek LXX], cited in Acts 2:17-21), which anticipates the pouring out of God’s spirit “upon all flesh.” The text emphasizes the prophesying of “your sons and your daughters” (Acts 2:17) and even the slaves “both men and women” (v. 18). The quotation puts the visions of the young men before the dreams of the old men, reversing the Old Testament order (Acts 2:17; cf. Joel 2:28 English, 3:1 Heb. & LXX). The signs in heaven and on earth (vv. 19) relate to the eschatological awareness of the early church. Gaventa describes the quotation as “A quotation from the Septuagint of Joel 2:28-32, with small but significant alterations. Most important is the change from ‘afterward’ (Joel 2:28) to in the last days (v. 17), emphasizing the eschatological context of the church. In v. 18, Luke adds the phrase and they shall prophesy, making explicit what the text of Joel implies” (op. cit., on Acts 2:17-21).

The text concludes with the promise, “And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 3:5 LXX = 2:32 English). (The difference between “everyone who calls” and “whosoever shall call” in the above table is due to difference between Bratcher’s translation of the Septuagint “in the language and style of the ERV” and the “language and style,” so to speak, of the NRSV. Bratcher follows the ERV in printing the text of Acts as well: “And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” [Acts2:21 ERV, as cited by Bratcher, p. 26].)

What, we may ask, does the coming of the Holy Spirit mean for us, for you and me, today? For one thing, all believing Christians have the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul says,

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spoirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Rom. 8:9-11)

Many in the Methodist tradition have spoken of two works of grace, when a Christian is first “saved” and then “sanctified.” They often the second work of grace as being “baptized with the Holy Spirit,” or being “filled with the Holy Spirit.” In the First Epistle of John, he deals with two potential objections to his call for repentance (confession) and fellowship. The first refers, as noted above, to “sin” (singular). “If we say ( eja;n ei[pwmen, ean eipōmen, with aorist tense subjunctive mood verb, denoting a hypothetical possibility–3rd class condition) that we have no sin (aJmartivan oujk e[comen, hamartian ouk echomen), we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (v. 8, cf. v. 10). The response to this objection refers to “sins” (plural). “If we confess our sins (ta;V aJmartivaV hJmw:n, tas hamartias hēmōn), he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins (ta;V aJmartivaV, tas hamartias) and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (v. 9). The next potential objection clearly refers to acts of sin. “If we say ( eja;n ei[pwmen, ean eipōmen, as above) that we have not sinned ( o{ti oujc hJmarthvkamen, hoti ouch hēmartēkamen, perfect tense), we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (v. 10). Note the sequence here, being cleansed from “all/every sin” (v. 7, singular, likely comprehensive), saying “we have no sin” (v. 8, singular, still comprehensive), confessing “our sins,” and having them forgiven (v. 9, plural, instances/acts of sin), and denial of having sinned (v. 10, instances/acts of sin).

John Wesley refers to “sins” as “actual sins” and to “sin” as “original sin”:

But if we walk in the light - In all holiness. As God is (a deeper word than walk, and more worthy of God) in the light, then we may truly say, we have fellowship one with another - We who have seen, and you who have not seen, do alike enjoy that fellowship with God. The imitation of God being the only sure proof of our having fellowship with him. And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son - With the grace purchased thereby. Cleanseth us from all sin - Both original and actual, taking away all the guilt and all the power. (John Wesley, Explanatory note on 1 John 1:7, on the Wesley Center Online, Wesley Center for Applied Theology, maintained by Northwest Nazarene University, at http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/notes/1John.htm, accessed again April 10, 2010).

Wesley adds the following on verse nine:

But if with a penitent and believing heart, we confess our sins, he is faithful - Because he had promised this blessing, by the unanimous voice of all his prophets. Just - Surely then he will punish: no; for this very reason he will pardon. This may seem strange; but upon the evangelical principle of atonement and redemption, it is undoubtedly true; because, when the debt is paid, or the purchase made, it is the part of equity to cancel the bond, and consign over the purchased possession. Both to forgive us our sins - To take away all the guilt of them. And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness - To purify our souls from every kind and every degree of it. (ibid.)

In his sermon on “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” Wesley says the following:

Exactly agreeable to this are his words in the first chapter: `God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.’ And again: `If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ Now, it is evident, the Apostle here speaks of a deliverance wrought in this world: For he saith not, The blood of Christ will cleanse, (at the hour of death, or in the day of judgment,) but it `cleanseth,’ at the time present, us living Christians `from all sin.’ And it is equally evident, that if any sin remain, we are not cleansed from `all’ sin. If any unrighteousness remain in the soul, it is not cleansed from `all, unrighteousness. Neither let any say that this relates to justification only, or the cleansing us from the guilt of sin: First, because this is confounding together what the Apostle clearly distinguishes, who mentions, first, `to forgive us our sins, and then `to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ Secondly, because this is asserting justification by works, in the strongest sense possible; it is making all inward, as well as all outward, holiness, necessarily previous to justification. For if the cleansing here spoken of is no other than the cleansing us from the guilt of sin, then we are not cleansed from guilt, that is, not justified, unless on condition of walking `in the light, as he is in the light.’ It remains, then, that Christians are saved in this world from all sin, from all unrighteousness; that they are now in such a sense perfect, as not to commit sin, and to be freed from evil thoughts and evil tempers. (From The Works of John Wesley, 1872 ed. by Thomas Jackson, vol. 11, # 29, pp. 366-446, on the Internet at the Wesley Center for Applied Theology mentioned above, at http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/plain_account/index.htm, accessed again April 10, 2010).

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