Through the Bible -- Acts 2

Last week I shifted my weekly through the Bible to Acts. Here is Acts 1. Today is Pentecost Sunday, so we shift now to Acts 2.
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1. Acts 2 is the birth of the church. It is the birth of the church because it commences the age of the Spirit. Before Pentecost, the Spirit is promised. After Pentecost, the Spirit is in us, empowering us for mission and righteousness, binding us together, and mediating Jesus presence among us.

The Spirit of God is in the Old Testament, but he often is not fully understood nor is his presence in the lives of God's people considered typical. The Spirit comes on Samson for strength, but Samson is far from righteous (Judg. 14:19). The Spirit of God is everywhere present but he is treated as simply the presence of God in the world rather than as a distinct person (Ps. 139:7).

Now, the Spirit will be in every believer. In fact, the Spirit is the indicator that a person has joined the people of God. One can repent and not yet be in Christ. One can confess one's sins, believe, and confess faith and yet not be saved. You can be baptized, as the Samaritans are in Acts 8, but they were not yet "in." 

The Spirit is God's seal of ownership (2 Cor. 1:22). The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our coming inheritance and a foretaste of glory divine (2 Cor. 5:5; Eph. 1:14). If someone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to him (Rom. 8:9). You can receive the Spirit before baptism, and you are saved (Acts 10:44-48). You can be baptized but not be saved because you do not yet have the Spirit (Acts 8:14-16).

In Acts 2:28, Peter sums up the process of joining the community of faith. Repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgivness of sins, and receive the Holy Spirit. The crowds realize that they have crucified their Messiah, their anointed one, their king. They must repent. They need forgiveness for their sins.

In this regard, baptism symbolizes the washing away of their sins. God has offered the possibility of forgiveness on the basis of Jesus. Baptism into his name is an acknowledgement of him as king. Baptism in his name is to activate him as the authenticator and authority behind their reconciliation to God. Then they will receive the Holy Spirit and God will be in them, purifiying their hearts of sin (Acts 15:8-9), joining them together in unity, empowering them for witness.

2. What happened that day? They were no doubt praying, as we see at the end of Acts 1. The Day of Pentecost was the Jewish Feast of Weeks, fifty days after Passover. It was the day of the wheat harvest. And so the church will be born on a day of harvest, some 3000 souls will believe (2:41).

Pentecost had also come to be associated with the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. And so on this day God writes his law on the hearts of his people through the Holy Spirit (cf. Jer. 31:33).

Pentecost is also the reversal of Babel. At the tower of Babel, God scatters the nations by dividing them by language. They are no longer able to understand one another.

But on the Day of Pentecost, the Spirit empowers the apostles to speak in other languages. Those Jews who are in Jerusalem for the feast all hear the good news proclaimed in their own tongues. It is far too early in the day for the disciples to be drunk. Rather, they are filled with the Spirit. 

3. The Spirit is the great equalizer. There are differences between men and women's bodies. But the Spirit comes equally on both of them. Sons and daughters will both prophecy by the same Spirit (2:17). There is no difference in spiritual capacity between them. There never was. But now we should expect the Spirit to speak through women regularly. The curse has been undone, and the Spirit shows no partiality. In Christ there is no longer male and female. 

4. Peter delivers the first sermon of Acts on the Day of Pentecost. The people are perplexed at what is happening. So, Peter will give the model sermon of Acts, the essence of what is called the "kerygma," what is proclaimed.

He begins with the story of Israel. This event has not happened out of the blue. It is the culmination of history. Peter quotes Scripture. This is the fulfillment of Joel 2. It is the beginning of the new covenant. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved (Acts 2:21).

Jesus had come as a man. God had done mighty works through him. The people of Jerusalem had handed him over according to God's foreknowledge and plan (2:23). In their ignorance, the audience itself had participated.

Then we get to the key line in every sermon in Acts: "God raised him" (2:24). [1] The resurrection is the centerpiece of Luke's theology. It represents the vindication of Jesus and his authenticity as God's representative. This is exactly what prophets like David had forseen. Peter reads Psalm 16 spiritually to hear a foreshadowing of Jesus not remaining in death.

Jesus has now been exalted to God's right hand -- enthroned as Messiah and Lord. Acts 2:36 gives us the timing in Luke's theology. These are royal titles, and Jesus "is made" Lord and Christ when he sits down and is enthroned at God's right hand. He was heir apparent before this time, but now he is seated at the right hand of the God as king. 

5. Three thousand are added to the company of believers. They devote themselves to the apostle's teaching. They are in constant fellowship, eating daily with each other, praying together.

The picture we get at the end of Acts 2 is a paradigmatic one, an idyllic one. It is Luke's picture of the ideal church. They worship daily together in the temple. They eat and fellowship with each other. They pray together. They share their possessions in common. If one person has more and another person has a need, they share.

Signs and wonders are normal. After all, they have the Spirit within them. The things that Jesus did by the power of the Spirit, they will now do in the power of the Spirit. Fear came on those watching, and new believers were being added daily. They were "being saved," meaning that they were becoming part of those who would escape the coming judgment of God. 

[1] Except for Stephen's in Acts 7 -- he was stoned before he got to that part of the sermon.