Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival held on the Sunday fifty days after Passover, when Israelites presented the first portion of their harvest to God (Lev 23:15-21). It was therefore a fitting day to mark the birth of the Christian church. Christ, the true Passover had been sacrificed (1Co 5:7), and now fifty days later God poured out his Spirit on that small group of disciples who were to become the first members of the church of Jesus Christ.
In Old Testament times a person who received a special gift of God’s Spirit may have announced a message from God as evidence of the Spirit’s presence (e.g. Num 11:26). So also on the Day of Pentecost, when the followers of Jesus received the promised gift of his Spirit, they spoke words from God, and they did so in ‘other tongues’. This means that their speech was in words that did not belong to their own language and that they did not understand, unless someone interpreted them (2:1-4; cf. 1Co 14:13-19).
When the disciples moved from the house into the street outside (possibly on the way to the temple), people were attracted by the noisy activity. Some Jews of the Dispersion who were in Jerusalem for the festival recognized their local languages in the speech of the disciples and praised God. Others recognized no languages at all and accused the disciples of being drunk (5-13).
Peter’s preaching (2:14-42)
Seeing the people’s interest, Peter addressed them, this time speaking in his normal language. His address shows some features of the early apostolic preaching. First he quoted from the Old Testament, to show that the Pentecost events fulfilled what the prophets foretold. To Peter the important point of the prophecy was that God poured out his Spirit on everyone - not everyone whether believers or not, but everyone within the community of God’s people, whether male or female, young or old, slave or free (14-21; see v. 39).
Peter followed this with a short summary of Jesus’ work, death and resurrection, showing that in spite of human injustice, God was working out his purposes (22-24). Next he quoted Old Testament Scriptures that Jews in general believed referred to the Messiah. Although David was the author of the passages quoted, the words could not refer to him, as he was dead, whereas the person referred to here was alive. This person, though not David, was a descendant of David; in fact, the Messiah. And this Messiah was Jesus, who had risen from the dead, returned to his Father in heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit upon his disciples (25-36). (‘Messiah’ was a Hebrew word meaning ‘the anointed one’. It was used to refer to the descendant of David who would be God’s chosen king and saviour, not just for Israel, but for the world. The Greek equivalent of ‘Messiah’ was ‘Christ’.)
Finally, Peter called on the people to turn from their sins and believe in Jesus Christ. Because these people were part of the ‘wicked generation’ of Jews who killed the Messiah Jesus (cf. v. 23,40), they were to show their change of heart by being baptized in the name of the Messiah Jesus. They had to show publicly that they believed Jesus to be the Christ, the one whose divine authority was shown by the mighty works that God did through him (cf. v. 22). In this way they, and in fact people of any generation, would receive the same gift of the Holy Spirit as the apostles and others had just received (37-40).
With the addition of three thousand people, the church now consisted largely of new believers, but these believers soon grew into a strong body. They were built up through learning the teachings of Jesus passed on to them by the apostles, and through joining in fellowship where they worshipped and shared in the Lord’s Supper (41-42).
Baptism with the Spirit
Both John the Baptist and Jesus had foretold the outpouring of the Holy Spirit described by Luke, referring to it as a baptism (Mat 3:11; Act 1:4-5). The baptism with the Holy Spirit may be defined as that event on the Day of Pentecost by which the risen Christ gave the Holy Spirit to his disciples as he had promised and, in so doing, united them into one body, the church (Act 2:33; Act 11:15-16; 1Co 12:13).
On the Day of Pentecost two separate groups received the baptism, or gift, of the Spirit. The first was the group of apostles and others mentioned in Act 1:15; Act 2:1-4, the second the group of three thousand mentioned in Act 2:37-42. But there were several important differences between the two groups.
The first group consisted of people who were already believers and who had to wait till after Jesus’ ascension to receive the Spirit. The second group consisted of people who became believers only after hearing Peter preach on the Day of Pentecost and who received the Holy Spirit immediately. The experience of those of the first group (i.e. their speaking in tongues) should not be considered the normal experience of the Christian, because of the special circumstances in their case. They had lived with Jesus and could receive the Holy Spirit only after Jesus had completed his work and returned to the Father (Joh 7:39; Joh 16:7). The experience of those of the second group, who received the Holy Spirit when they believed, without any unusual happenings, was the normal experience of Christians, then as well as now.
Of all the people in the New Testament who received the Holy Spirit (meaning, in other words, all Christians; see Rom 8:9-11), in only two other places, both special cases, does it state that the people spoke in tongues (see notes on Act 10:44-48; Act 19:1-6).
Christians of all eras have a part in what occurred on the Day of Pentecost. Through that baptism of the Spirit they are, the moment they believe, made part of Christ’s body, the church, and made sharers in his Spirit (1Co 12:13). Jesus’ promised gift of the Holy Spirit, given initially at Pentecost, extends through the ages to all who repent and believe the gospel (Act 2:38-39).
Life in the new community (2:43-47)
The early Christians had such a strong sense of unity that they brought their money and possessions together to form a central pool, from which all could receive help as they had need (43-45). Perhaps they were too hasty in sharing out their collective wealth, because soon none was left. As a result other churches (who did not copy the idea of a central pool) had to send money to help them through their difficulties (cf. Rom 15:26; Gal 2:10).
In addition to having fellowship in each others homes, the Christians went to the temple for public prayer and witness day by day. Their numbers increased continually, as others who were attracted by this new life of joy and love joined them. They enjoyed the goodwill of the citizens of Jerusalem in general (46-47).
The Day of Pentecost alludes to the Levitical feast, with which we became acquainted in the Old Testament. The word is Greek, meaning fifty, the feast occurring fifty days after the offering of the barley sheaf in the Passover feast. It commemorated the wheat harvest and was sometimes called “the Feast of harvest” (Exo 33:16), or “the Feast of Weeks,” (Exo 34:22), or the “Day of the First Fruits” (Num 28:26). After the Babylonian captivity it came to commemorate the giving of the law on Matthew Sinai. There is reason to believe that on this occasion it occurred on the Lord’s Day, which explains the declaration in verse one. The “wind,” the “tongues” and the “fire” were not the Holy Spirit but the signs of His advent. Their being “filled with the Holy Ghost” was the fulfillment of Mat 3:2; Luk 11:13; Joh 1:33; Joh 7:37-39; Joh 14:16-17; Act 1:5; etc. This was the gift of the Spirit, the promised Comforter, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He came to dwell in the believers individually, and yet that individual indwelling by the Spirit, naturally resulted in a corporate work, uniting them all in one body which is the church of Christ (1Co 12:13). Since that day, whenever a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he shares in that baptism and becomes a member of that one body, of which Christ is the head (1Co 6:19; Eph 1:23; Eph 4:3-6). From a scriptural point of view, it is therefore improper for a believer to pray for the gift of the Spirit, or for a greater baptism of the Spirit, because these blessings are already his; but it is different with reference to being filled with the Spirit, if one may judge by Act 4:8; Act 4:31; Act 6:5; Act 7:55; Eph 5:18.
IMMEDIATE EFFECTS (Act 2:5-13)
The first of these was given in verse four, the speaking “with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance”; the second was the coming together of the multitude in consequence of this, and the third, the conclusion the latter reached. As to the first, the thought is that the disciples not of their own volition, but as instruments of the Holy Spirit, proclaimed not the gospel as such, but the praises of God in various languages theretofore unknown to them. Their act had been symbolized in the cloven tongue of fire that had sat upon each, and it prophesied that the Holy Spirit had come to make
known through them the Gospel to all nations under heaven. It is not likely that they continued thus to speak in different tongues. In Act 10:46 it is referred to again as an evidence that the Gentiles had received the gift of the Holy Ghost the same as the Jews had on the Day of Pentecost, and in Act 19:6 it shows that the Jewish disciples of John had received it, but beyond this it is not named further and these were all special and initial cases. The passage in 1 Corinthians 14 will be considered when it is reached. In the meantime a caution is necessary because phenomena of this character can so easily be counterfeited by evil spirits.
PETER’S DISCOURSE (Act 2:14-36)
This may be divided at each of the verses where he directly addresses his hearers: “Ye men of Judea” (Act 2:14); “Ye men of Israel” (Act 2:22); “Men and Brethren,” or simply “Brethren” (Act 2:29 RV). In the first division he disposes of the charge of drunkenness, and shows the relation of that which had occurred to the prophecy of Joe 2:28-29. He does not say that Pentecost completely fulfilled that prophecy, which will not finish until the end of the age, but it was a foretaste. In the second division, he describes the death of Christ and charges that sin upon them; and in the third, he affirms His resurrection as proven by the scriptures, by the testimony of the disciples who were its eyewitnesses (Psalms 16), and by the event that was just transpiring.
The First Converts (Act 2:37-47) Peter exhorted the people to repent of their sins (which included crucifying Jesus Christ) and be baptized. Three thousand people responded to his preaching and became Christians that day; thus the Christian church began.
QUESTIONS
1. What does Pentecost mean and to what does the feast allude?
2. Have you re-examined the New Testament scriptures which predicted this event?
3. How does 1Co 12:13 explain this event?
4. What is the thought of verse four?
5. Of what was their act at once a symbol and a prophecy?
6. Why is a caution necessary about speaking with tongues?
