Some more thoughts on Acts chapter 2

 

     Narrative patterns.  In Acts chapters 2—7, there is a repetitive “cycle” that plays out four times.  Each instance of this four-fold cycle consists of three elements – a miraculous event, a sermon and the “fallout” of the event-interpreted-by-the-sermon.  The first of the 4 cycles occurs in Acts chapter 2.  The first of the 3 typical elements (the miraculous event), consists of the disciples speaking in the various languages of the diaspora Jews that have gathered in Jerusalem (Ac. 2.1-13).

     Miraculous event (speaking in tongues).  The Feast of “Pentecost” was an annual festival in Judaism commemorating the giving of the Law to Moses (celebrated on the “50th Day” after Passover).  This time, as Luke points out, Pentecost has a prophetic dimension.  At Mt. Sinai, Moses had said: “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11.29).  This time, the prophetic Spirit enables the disciples to offer “testimony” of the resurrection of Jesus, of which they are “witnesses” (Ac. 1.8, 22; 2.32; 3.15; 5.32).  This time, Pentecost is also the inversion of the linguistic dynamic from the story of the Tower of Babel (cf. Gn. 11.1-9).  Ac. 2.6 = the opposite of Babel; the pilgrims from all over the diaspora are confused because they understand what the disciples are saying (as opposed to Babel, where the builders of the tower were confused once they could no longer understand each other)!

     Sermon (Peter’s Pentecost sermon): 2.14-40.  The second element of the “cycle” is Peter’s address to a crowd of diaspora Jews on pilgrimage in Jerusalem for the Feast.  This “sermon” is delivered, in all probability, in the Temple courts.  As he addresses the crowd, Peter continues what the Risen Jesus had begun – he “opens the Scriptures” to show how they point to the death and resurrection of Jesus (cf. Lk. 24.25-27, 32, 44-47).

     Ac. 2.16-21: Peter begins by interpreting the startling event of Spirit-enabled-multilingualism by quoting Joel 2.28-32, which had foretold the outpouring of the Spirit as “a sign” that would precede the “Day of the Lord” (Ac. 2.20); cf. Jesus’ prophecy against Jerusalem in Lk. 21.25-28.  The Day of the Lord was understood by the ancient prophets to be the moment when Yahweh would act decisively to both save his people and judge the nations (who had been persecuting his people).  However, some prophets had warned that Israel herself would not escape judgment on that Day (cf. Amos 5.18).

     Ac. 2.22-23: here we see both the unfathomable mystery of God’s sovereignty AND man’s free will; Jesus was “delivered up by the determined counsel…of God” AND “you killed” him, Peter tells the crowd (cf. Ac. 2.36; 3.15; 4.10; 5.30).  Where these the same people who had clamored for Jesus’ death when he was on trial before Pilate (cf. Lk. 23.18-23)?

     Ac. 2.25-28 = here, Psalm 16.8-11 is interpreted by Peter as a “prophecy” of Jesus’ resurrection; originally, Ps. 16 is about God’s protection from death.

     Ac. 2.32-33 = Peter identifies the risen and exalted Jesus as the One who had poured out the Spirit onto the disciples.  The gift of the Holy Spirit is proof of the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus to the “right hand of God” (just like Daniel’s Son of Man: Dn. 7.13-14).

     Ac. 2.34-35 = Ps. 110.1 (quoted by Jesus in Lk. 20.42-43).  Peter interprets this verse as a “prophecy” of the ascension of Jesus.  Originally, Ps. 110 refers to God’s promise to grant victory to the king of Israel (= the “Messiah”).

     Ac. 2.37-40 = Peter’s response to the crowd’s question “What must we do?”  Peter invites them to join the renewed Israel (of which the 12 apostles are the core, the “new patriarchs”), by being baptized “in the name of Jesus the Messiah” and promises them a share in the Holy Spirit, which the exalted Jesus is now pouring out on his people (2.37-39).  Peter exhorts them to be saved from “this perverse generation” (2.40).  Jesus had often referred to his generation as “faithless, perverse, evil” (cf. Lk. 9.41; 11.29-32, 50-51; 17.25).  The generation of Jesus and the apostles is ripe for judgment.  As it always happens in the Bible, salvation/judgment are two sides of the same coin, and always occur simultaneously.  God acts, and people are either saved or judged based on their response to God’s action/revelation/word. The prophet Jeremiah had also referred to his generation in these terms, the generation that had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem/the Temple by the Babylonians (587 B.C.).  Like Jeremiah, Jesus had predicted the fall of Jerusalem to her enemies, “within one generation” (cf. Lk. 19.41-44; 21.29-33).

     “Aftermath” (the communal life of the Jerusalem church): 2.41-47.

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