Disciples were baptized by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Disciples were baptized by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce   

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precept &Gospel music

Scriptures reading Acts 2:1-13

1When the day of Pentecost came; they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.  7Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?  8Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

 

Verse 1 the day of Pentecost. The fourth of the annual feasts of the Jews (after Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First fruits), it came fifty days after First fruits (A type of the resurrection of Christ, (1 Cor.15:23). Pentecost was the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of weeks, so called because it fell seven (a week of) weeks after First fruits. It celebrated the wheat harvest (Ex.23: 16). This day of Pentecost in Acts 2 Marked the beginning of the church (Matt.16:18).

Fiftieth. it was the fiftieth day from the Lord’s resurrection, there being seven weeks in between, counting from the second day (the first day of the week—Luke 23:54—24:1) after the Passover on which the Lord was crucified (John19:14). It was the fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks (Deut.16:10), which was also called the Feast of Harvest (Exo.23:16), and was counted from the day of the offering of a sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest, to the day after the seventh Sabbath (Lev.23:10-11,15-16). The sheaf of the first fruits offered before God was a type of the resurrected Christ offered to God on the day of His resurrection (John20:17), which was the day after the Sabbath (John20:1). From that day to the day of Pentecost there were exactly fifty days. The Feast of Harvest typifies the enjoyment of the rich produce brought in by the resurrected Christ. This rich produce is the all-inclusive Spirit of the processed Triune God, given by Him to His chosen people as the blessing of the gospel (Gal.3:14) that they may enjoy the all-inclusive Christ (the very embodiment of the Triune God) as their good land. This signifies that the believers, by receiving the bountiful Spirit on the day of Pentecost, not only have entered into the good land but also have participated in the bountiful riches of the all-inclusive Christ (Eph.3:8) in His resurrection and ascension, as God’s full allotment in His New Testament economy.

Verse 2 in the Lord’s resurrection the Spirit of resurrection life is likened to breath; breathed into the disciples (John20:22) for their spiritual being and living essentially. In the Lord’s ascension the Spirit of ascension power, poured upon the disciples, is symbolized here by the wind and is for the disciples’ ministry and move economically. The essential Spirit of resurrection life is for the believers to live Christ; the economical Spirit of ascension power is for them to carry out His commission.

Verse 3 tongues– a symbol of speaking, symbolizing that God’s economical Spirit of power is mainly for speaking. He is the speaking, Spirit. – as of fire symbolizing burning power for purging and motivating in God’s economical move. Sat on each one of them -The verb is singular, indicating that one tongue sat on each of them.

Verse 4 All modifies only filled in the first clause, not began to speak in the second clause. It cannot be used as evidence that all the disciples who were filled with the Holy Spirit began to speak in tongues. Greek pletho (used also in 4:8,31;9:17;13:9; Luke `:15,41,67), to fill outwardly. According to its usage in this book, pleroo denotes the filling of a vessel within, as the wind filled the house inwardly in v.2 and pletho denotes the filling of persons outwardly, as the Spirit filled the disciples outwardly in this verse 4. The disciples were filled (pleroo)inwardly and essentially with the Spriit (13:52) for their Christian living and were filled (pletho)outwardly and economically with the Spirit for their Christian ministry. The inward filling Spirit, the essential Spirit, the economical Spirit, is upon them (1:8;2:17). Every believer in Christ should experience both aspects of the Holy Spirit. Even Christ as a man experienced the same thing: He was born of the Holy Spirit essentially (Luke1:35; Matt.1:18,20) for His being and living, and He was anointed with the Holy Spirit economically (Matt.3:16; Luke 4:18) for His ministry and move.  The essential Spirit was within Him and the economical Spirit was upon Him.

The outward filling of the poured-out Spirit was the ascended head’s baptizing of His Body into the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Jewish believers, the first part of His Body was baptized; the second part of His Body, in the house of Cornelius the Gentile believers, were baptized in the same way (10:44-47). By these two steps He baptized once for all His entire Body into the Spirit (1 Cor.12:13), who is the application and realization of Himself. His baptizing His Body into the Spirit was His baptizing it into Himself. This was the accomplishment of the baptism in the Holy Spirit promised in 1:5 by Christ, the Head of the Body.   

Dialects (vv.6.8) The disciples were Galileans (v.7), yet they spoke the different foreign dialects of the attendants who came from various parts of the world. This is strong proof that tongue-speaking must be an understandable language, not merely a voice or sound uttered by the tongue.  

Bibliography,

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.