ACTS 2

Verse 1 The Day of Pentacost was also called the Feast of Weeks and it occurred on the fiftieth day after Passover. It celebrated several different events:

It was associated with the universal covenant with Noah, which applied to all mankind. In that respect, it is significant that the audience consisted of people from many nations.

It was also called the Festival of First-fruits where the first-fruit of the wheat harvest was presented to God. The Dictionary of NT Background (p. 377) relates this theme to the giving of the Holy Spirit and to Jesus' resurrection. I think it more likely that the symbolism is that this day marked the first-fruits of the preached Gospel (see James 1:18).

Verse 2 The Dictionary of NT Theology (III, 707) points out that “wind” in both Genesis 1:2 and I Kings 19:11 “precedes the utterance of the Word of God.” In the OT, the Hebrew word for wind can also mean spirit.

Verse  A comparison with Acts 1:5,8 indicates that “baptism with the Holy Spirit” and being “filled with the Holy Spirit” are the same thing. (Dictionary of the Later NT and Its Developments, p. 494).

Verse 5 The word “devout” referred only to Jesus in NT times.

Verse 11 Most commentators point out that this represents a reversal of the curse at Babel so that at last there is the possibility of all peoples being united.

Verse 13 This verse, coupled with v. 26 (“thy holy servant”) and v. 33 (“has been exalted”), points back to the Suffering Servant Song – Isaiah 52:13-53:3. (Oswalt, Isaiah 40-66)

Verses 14-36 Osborne (The Hermeneutical Spiral, p. 337) notes the repetition of key words in Peter's speech: pour out (17, 33), Lord (21, 36), Hades (27, 31), seated on a throne (30, 34), and at the right hand (33, 34).

The standard pattern of early preaching consisted of the following subjects: a narrative of Jesus' life and death, his messiahship attested by the resurrection, OT testimonies, and a call to repentance and faith.

As OT proofs, Psalm 16:10 and 110:34-35 are utilized to point out that David himself neither escaped death and corruption nor sits at God's right hand. Therefore these verses must apply to the divine Son of David, Jesus Christ. (New Bible Commentary)

Verses 19-20 Darkness did not literally occur at the Day of Pentacost, but in the last-days context of Joel's prophecy, it looked forward to the culmination of final events set in motion by Jesus coming. Alternatively, it may be an oblique reference to the darkness that occurred during Jesus' crucifixion (DNNT, III, 732).

Verse 38 There has been an on-going controversy regarding the exact meaning of the Greek word translated “for.” Does it mean baptism because your sins are forgiven or baptism so that your sins will be forgiven? Recent scholars tend toward the latter understanding. (DNNT II, 380; III, 1208)

Some of the difficulty can be resolved by keeping in mind that the consistent NT pattern was for water baptism to follow immediately after a profession of faith and rependance. As Beasley-Murray concludes in his exhaustive treatment of the subject, there is really no guidance in the NT as to what baptism accomplishes when it occurs quite a bit before or after the point of faith. (Baptism in the New Testament)

Verses 40-41 “...the very purpose of his [Jesus'] self-giving on the cross was not just to save isolated individuals, and so perpetuate their loneliness, but to create a new community whose members would belong to him, love one another and eagerly serve the world. (Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 255)

Verses 43-47 Similarly, Allen and Borrer (Worship, p. 58) note that in these verses there is a three-fold commitment to ministry including worship (43), sense of community (46) and sense of outreach (47).

Verse 47 “...those who were being saved does not indicate a long process of salvation for each individual, but the continuous stream of people coming to belief that day.” (New Bible Commentary)

One major problem regarding this chapter is how to reconcile the events with the earlier giving of the Spirit on Easter (John 20:22). Raymond Brown (John 13-21, pp.1038-1039) enumerates various proposed approaches to distinguishing between the two events:

John                                                       Acts

forgiveness of sins                               power to work miracles

concerned with the individual             missionary and community emphasis

ability to confess the risen Lord          wider function

transitional                                          definitive

figurative                                             literal

anticipatory                                         fulfillment

Any of the above approaches is probably preferable to Brown's suggestion that either John's dating was strictly artificial or that Luke's chronology was based solely on the symbolism of Pentacost.