Chapter 2
The day the Church began. Verses 1-4, the first
advent of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 1 – the day the Church began. Acts deals with
the pre-canon transitional period of the Church Age. One of the unusual
characteristics was the existence of temporary spiritual gifts. On the day of
Pentecost we have certain characteristics which were different from anything in
previous dispensations. First of all, positional truth/baptism of the Spirit
did not exist in the past. Furthermore, no believer on the Old Testament was
ever indwelt by Christ. Then there was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit did not exist in the Old Testament but
from the day of Pentecost every believers is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Also,
in the Church Age every believer is his own priest. We also have something they
didn’t have in the Old Testament: a completed canon of Scripture, so that God
reveals Himself to us by the Word only.
The timetable for the first advent of the Spirit is
give: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come.” Pentecost was God’s
schedule for starting the Church; “they” includes 120 believers—Acts 1:15;
“were all,” imperfect linear aktionsart, goes back to John 20:22 where they had
received the Holy Spirit; “with one accord.” The Church started that way, and
that was the end of it right there. The Church has two times when it will be
with one accord: the day it begins and the day it ends with the Rapture. “One
place” refers to Jerusalem and it indicates that when the Church Age began it
began in one spot only; it was localized.
Verse 2 – “And suddenly.” When things begin with God
they begin, often, suddenly. All of a sudden we have the Jewish Age and then in
the next second we have the Church Age. The Jewish Age is discontinued for a
time.
“there came a sound” – the Church begins with a
sound and the Church will end with a sound. The Church began with the noise of
the coming of the Spirit; the Church will end with a loud noise: the trumpet at
the Rapture. The Greek word here means
a roar, a reverberation; “as a rushing mighty wind” – like the rush of a
tornado. This is an analogy: “as” introduces an analogy. The word “it” is not
it, it is the second masculine singular pronoun and it should be translated,
“and he”—reference to the Holy Spirit; “filled the room” – the Holy Spirit has
arrived for the new dispensation. The Jewish dispensation began with Abraham;
the dispensation of the Church began with God. He filled the room, not it.
Verses 3-4, the principle of the Spirit’s advent.
“And there appeared unto them”—He appeared in a special way—“cloven tongues” –
the Greek means divided into parts or distributed. This is the gift of tongues
actually. It should be translated, “And it was distributed to them divided
tongues.” They were divided into languages. The Holy Spirit was dealing out the
languages. The word “tongues” is a reference to the gift of tongues, which is
declaring the gospel in a foreign language. The Holy Spirit is just dealing out
the gift of tongues to each one. That is what “cloven tongues” means. The Greek
word simply is the word to divide, a present passive participle, dramatic
present, passive voice: they received this distribution, they didn’t get to
pick, the Holy Spirit made the decision; “like as of fire” – “as” is an
analogy. Fire represents judgment. The gift of tongues was designed to announce
the fifth cycle of discipline, i.e. maximum judgment to the Jews. This is the
fulfillment of Isaiah 28:11,12. Cf. 1 Corinthians 14:21, 22. This announcement
of the gospel to the Jews is an announcement of judgment to the Jews, but it is
an announcement that includes grace. It says cursing can be turned to blessing
through faith in Christ. While they are being warned of coming judgment they
are also given the out: and literally, “and he [the Holy Spirit] sat upon each
of them.” This is not the gift of tongues at this point. The Holy Spirit
distributed the spiritual gifts but as soon as He sat upon each of them for the
first time God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. “And” is the
conjunction which separates. “Each of them” means every believer involved.
Verse 4 takes us to an experience. They were all
filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does five things for us at the
moment of salvation. We do not experience these things, these are things the
Spirit does for us—regenerating, indwelling, sealing, baptizing, giving of
gifts. We do not ask for any of these. This is an aorist tense and it indicates
that in a point of time when the Church began, they began with the filling of
the Spirit.
“and they began to speak” – the word “began” is a
chronological verb in the aorist tense, indicating that they immediately began
to speak with other languages; “as the Spirit gave them utterance” – it is the
Holy Spirit who gave them utterance. The word “gave” is imperfect linear
aktionsart, the Holy Spirit kept on giving them utterance. “Utterance” is an
infinitive: “gave them the ability to speak.”[1]
Isaiah 28:9-11. The word “stammering
lips” in verse 11 is a reference to Gentile languages. This is the sign which
would indicate the coming of the fifth cycle of discipline. The Jews were
responsible in the Old Testament for the dissemination of the gospel. They were
custodians of the Word of God and were responsible for getting the gospel out
to Gentile people. And the sign that the fifth cycle of discipline would come
for a prolonged period of time was to be the fact that the Gentile languages
would be used to evangelize them, the Jews. In other words, this is putting
missionary activity into reverse. Cf. 1 Corinthians 14:21-22, a quotation of
Isaiah 28:11, 12. Tongues have nothing to do with those who believe, but to
those who do not believe. The Jews were to go to the Gentiles, and the warning
to the Jews was that they personally were going to be evangelized in Gentiles.
But this is more than a warning, it is a sign with a purpose. When they go into
the fifth cycle of discipline in 70 AD they will be scattered, and they will
remain scattered until the Second Advent. During this particular period all
Jews are under the curse of the fifth cycle of discipline, and the only way to
remove the curse on any individual Jew is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and become a member of the Church, the body of Christ. Only when a Jew believes
in Christ during this age is cursing turned to blessing. There needs to be a
warning which fulfils the principle of a sign, and the warning is the fact that
the Jews, through a miracle, will be evangelized in Gentile languages—“tongues
are for a sign.”
The first fulfillment of this sign
is found in Acts 2, beginning at verse 5. “And there were dwelling in
Jerusalem.” Why the gift of tongues on this occasion? Because there were
dwelling in Jerusalem “Jews.” The word for “dwell” means to dwell temporarily, to
dwell according to a standard, and the Jews who were dwelling in Jerusalem were
there according to one standard: Judaism. That is why we have the word
“devout,” a word that is never used in Scripture for spirituality, it is used
for an unbeliever who is religious. In other words, the worst kind of an
unbeliever. These are religious Jews and they have come to Jerusalem for one
purpose: for the holy period which is being observed. It began with the
Passover which was followed by the feast of unleavened bread. In the midst of
the feast of unleavened bread there was the firstfruits, and the fourth feast
at the end is Pentecost. Pentecost is fifty days after the feast of the
firstfruits. The feast of firstfruits was always held on Sunday, and that
bothered the Jews because Sunday was the first day of the week. Pentecost was
always held on Sunday, and Pentecost simply means fifty days. Actually, these
feast were a part of God’s plan and they showed His schedule. The Passover
represents the cross; Christ died on the Passover—“Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us.” The firstfruits represents His resurrection. Unleavened
bread is fellowship with God in time—operation phase two. Pentecost is not only
the day the Church Age began but it is also the beginning of the warnings for
the Jews that they are going into the fifth cycle of discipline. All of these
things were involved in the phrase, “There were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews.”
These are religious Jews, they are not saved. They have come from all over the
world for one reason, they are pilgrims who at least one in their life time
tried to get into the holy city to observe the Passover during the Pentecost
period, a period of great religious activity. They are said to be “out of every
nation.” They are out of every nation based on several principles. When
Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem on his conquest of the world the Jews
came out to meet him. Under the leadership of the high priest they brought out
to him the Daniel manuscript and pointed the story of Alexander out from
chapter eight. Alexander was so impressed that he was found in Scripture that
he immediately took a liking to the Jews, and he became their benefactor. He
immediately discovered that they were excellent in administration and wherever
Alexander went during his twelve years of conquest he took Jews. In this way
the Jews had their first scattering, and they were scattered all over the
earth. Then, during the course of the Roman empire Jews had been discovered in
the field of administration to have great abilities and were also in
international business. Therefore Jews were scattered all over the Roman
empire. Many of the Jews had been living away from home for several hundred
years, and they had now gathered in Jerusalem during this particular holy
period.
Verse 6 – “Now when this was noised
abroad” is erroneous. In the Greek it says, “Now when they heard the sound.”
This was the sound of verse 2, apparently an explosion of some kind. When the
Holy Spirit came there was a tremendous explosive type noise which woke up
everyone in Jerusalem. This is how the crowd was gathered together on the day
of Pentecost: people came to investigate, “the multitude came together.” And it
says “they were confounded [startled], because that every man heard them speak
in his own language.” Here is the gift of tongues. The people hear the
disciples speak to every man in his own language. The language of Judea at this
time was Aramaic, but these men had been away from Judea a long time and they
spoke Gentile languages. “They heard” is in the imperfect tense, referring to
linear aktionsart: “they kept on hearing.” The word “speak” is in present
linear aktionsart. So there is an interesting contrast here, and this is an
idiom in the Greek, an imperfect tense followed by a present tense. The two are
always related and both of them in the field of linear aktionsart. The
imperfect tense means that once they heard their own language spoken, in many
cases over a thousand or two thousand miles from home, they gravitated to the speech
to see what was going on. The idiom used to declare this is the imperfect tense
plus the present tense. In other words, they kept on listening all the time the
speaking was going on. The disciples kept right on witnessing and the people
kept right on hearing. They kept listening for two reasons: because they were
astounded and because of the content.
Verse 7 – “And they were all
amazed.” The word “amazed” is e)cisthmi which means to stand out of
yourself, and to stand out of yourself or to jump out of your skin means to be
amazed. They were utterly startled. They were so astounded that all they could
do was concentrate on what they heard. This is what the verb implies.
“and marveled, [kept] saying one to
another, Behold are not these who speak Galilieans?” A Galilean is a unilingual
individial. Galilean is used for a person who has had no formal education.
Verse 8 – “And how hear we every man
in his own language, wherein we were born?”
In verses 9-11 we have the mechanics
of the gift of tongues. First of all there are languages—people from all over
the world. Parthians, who occupy the country which is north of Persia or Iran
and south east of the Caspian Sea. The Medes, along with the Persians, were
once part of a great empire. The Elamites were part Persian and part Semitic
who lived in wild, mountainous country east of Babylon. The “dwellers of
Mesopotamia” bring us into the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Judea refers to
southern Palestine. Cappadocia takes us to Armenia, its western side, famous for
being the Hittite empire. Pontus is an area of southern Russia, located on the
Black Sea. Asia refers to the Roman province of Asia. “Strangers of Rome” is
literally, “those dwelling among the Romans.” All these are representative of
the Roman empire, as represented by Jews. Jews lived throughout the entire
Roman empire. So we have people who came from all over the world: religious
Jews, motivated to come to Jerusalem for one reason: to observe the Passover
and to stay through Pentecost, to observe these religious
feasts. But even though they came out of religion, they stayed to be born
again. The thing that startled them of the day of Pentecost was that for the
first time the thing that Isaiah had predicted in 700 BC was finally fulfilled.
The people who respond will finally go back home with the gospel all over the
Roman empire to evangelize their areas.
“we do hear them speak in our
languages the wonderful works of God” – the wonderful works of God is the
content of the gift of tongues; it has to do with the gospel message.
Verse 12 – “And they were all
amazed, and were in doubt.” When it says they were all amazed, this means that
everyone was flabbergasted by the phenomenon. Again, the word is e)cisthmi
which means
to jump out of your skin. The word “and” separates. Not all were in doubt, but
some were in doubt. The reason we know that some, not all, were in doubt is
because we have a different Greek construction. This time we have the imperfect
tense, then a conjunction to separate, and then the imperfect tense again, an
idiom to indicate that some, not all, were in doubt.
Verse 13 – “Others mocking said,
These men are full of new wine.” Some of the people there didn’t
understand these languages. It was Peter who stood up and spoke in Aramaic so
that all the people in Jerusalem could understand what was going on.
Verse 14 — Peter stands up to refute
the drunkenness charge. When it says he “lifted up his voice” it means he
shouted. “Ye men of Judea” referred to the citizens of Jerusalem and of the area
round about — “and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem,” the verb means to dwell
temporarily in Jerusalem. These are the people who have come from all over the
world.
“Be this known unto you” is an idiom
which means. “Now get this straight.” “Hearken” means to stop talking about it
and listen to what I have to say about it because I have the explanation. In
other words, Peter demanded their attention. You might ask how a simple
Fisherman could ever gain the attention of a crowd like this, and how can he later
on demonstrate such characteristics of leadership and such confidence. The
answer is first of all the fact that he had the gift of apostleship. God the
Holy Spirit bestowed upon him the spiritual gift of apostleship which gave him
a gift of confidence, a gift of command, and a gift of rulership. In addition
to this, as Peter becomes older he is going to recall many of the things that
the Lord taught him, and later on he is going to learn from the epistles of
Paul some of the great doctrines of the Church Age.
Peter will now explain what is going
on with the apostles and these other 120 people who have been gathered in the
upper room for ten days. For the moment we will only study that part of his
message in which he explains this, for there is a very great difficulty in his
explanation which has to be ironed out. It is really very simple, and a great
deal has been made out of it by the so-called holiness crowd, the tongues
crowd, and other people who are contrary to the Word of God.
Verse
15 — “For these are not drunken.” “These” refers to the 120 who had been
gathered in the upper room; “as ye suppose.” The word to “suppose” means to
make snap judgment of assuming these people are drunk. Then he gives a very
common sense explanation, not that this is the only explanation, but he
actually gives two. His first is common sense and his second is Biblical.
Common sense and the Bible never conflict. In his Biblical explanation he will
quote from Joel chapter 2:28-32, but in one quick sentence he gives a common sense
explanation: it is “the third hour of the day,” nine o’clock in the morning.
What time the Holy Spirit came that morning we do not know: possibly about
eight o’clock. By nine o’clock the crowd has gathered, they have already heard
the Gospel in their own language. Obviously they would not be drunk at that
time of the morning.
Verse
16 — “But this is that.” The phrase is an idiom and it means “this is the same
kind of thing as that.” Then the quotation from Joel. It means that we have
parallel situation. The Joel passage is fulfilled in the Millennium: this is
the beginning of the Church Age, and in the Church Age we have a pouring out of
the Spirit and the first gift which is used is the gift of tongues, and this
which is occurring on the Day of Pentecost (the Church Age) illustrates that
(the Millennium). The Joel passage (2:28ff) is fulfilled in the Millennium: it
refers to spirituality in the Millennium, and “this parallels that” is perhaps
the best translation — “this (which is happening right now) parallels that
which was spoken by Joel.” He refers to the prophet Joel, and starting with
that he begins the quotation.
HOW this quotation IS used — a
quotation does not always interpret, a quotation sometimes illustrates.
1. Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32.
2. This is not the fulfilment of
Joel 2:28-32 but is an illustration to rebuke the accusation of drunkenness.
3. These believers are actually
using the gift of tongues under the power of the Spirit and can no more be
charged with drunkenness than the believers in the Joel passage.
4. The Joel chapter two passage by
interpretation is Millennial; this phenomenon which they observe is Church Age,
and only the first 38 years of the Church Age.
5. Peter does not say that the Joel
passage is fulfilled, he is merely establishing a parallel between the
phenomenon described in Joel 2 and what is occurring at that moment.
6. The Joel passage could not be
fulfilled at this point because of the doctrine of the mystery (declared in
Ephesians 3:1-6; Colossians 1:25.26; Romans 16:25.26). The doctrine of the
mystery or intercalation simply says that everything pertaining to the Church
Age. beginning with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and terminating with the
Rapture of the Church, none of these things were revealed in the Old Testament,
and Joel is in the Old Testament. So Joel is not talking about anything in
connection with the Church Age.
7. The Joel passage refers to
spirit-filled believers in the Millennium only. Therefore what is being said
here is that the Joel passage merely illustrates but does not fulfil. The
charge of drunkenness is going to be refuted by Peter because he is going to
say simply this: What you see before you is not unusual, it is not drunkenness,
it is a spiritual phenomena. These people are no more drunk than the Millennial
saints filled with the Spirit who are depicted for you and with which you are
very familiar in Joel 2:28-32.
Verse 17 this brings up the
principle that even time an Old Testament passage is quoted in the New
Testament, and this is done literally hundreds of times, it is not always an
interpretation, but it is often an illustration. It is an illustration in this
case of a parallel phenomenon.
In verse 17 we have Millennial
spirituality. The verse quotes Joel 2:28 — “And it shall come to pass,”
referring to the Millennium after Christ returns and establishes His kingdom on
earth; “in the last days", the Millennial reign of Christ, “saith God. I
will pour out my Spirit” — a reference to the second advent of the Holy Spirit
— “upon all flesh,” referring to the Millennial believers, and the word “all”
is simply used because of the baptism of fire. When Jesus Christ returns to the
earth at the second advent there is the baptism of fire at which baptism all
unbelievers are cast off the earth, so that when the Millennium begins there
are believers only. These believers only refers to the Millennial saints. “All
flesh” means that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all believers at that
time. This is a part of the second advent of the Holy Spirit.
There are three categories who are
going to receive the filling of the Spirit, and the three categories simply
demonstrate the fact that the filling of the Spirit is not given on the basis
of human merit but is a part of the grace package. There are three phrases used
to express this. The first is “sons and daughters.” In other words, this means
that sex is the category and it means that whether a person is male or female
that sex makes no difference, females receive the Holy Spirit, just as males.
The second category has to do with age, and we have the words “old” and
“young,” it doesn’t make any difference whether you are old or young, the Holy
Spirit is poured out upon you. The third category is given in verse 18:
“servants” and “handmaidens.” This is a social category. So the point is,
regardless of categories of distinction in the human race. in the Millennium at
the beginning there are only believers and all believers receive the Holy
Spirit.
Those
who receive the Holy Spirit are said to do three things in verse 17: prophecy,
see visions, dream dreams. The last two are ecstatics. “Prophecy” can be
preaching, but number two and number three categories, seeing visions and
dreaming dreams are both ecstatic experiences. The principle is that in the
Millennium there will be ecstatic experience connected with the filling of the
Spirit, but only in the Millennium. The filling of the Spirit never manifests
itself in our day by ecstatic experience. You may have emotions which accompany
the filling of the Spirit but this is strictly soulish. The only exception was
on the Day of Pentecost when the filling of the Spirit resulted in the use of
the spiritual gift which resulted in this dynamic approach to the Gospel for
those who gathered together.
1.
These two verbs refer to ecstatic experience.
2.
Spirituality in the Millennium will be characterised by ecstatics, but
spirituality in the Church Age is not ecstatics.
3.
During the Church Age Christ is absent from the earth, therefore ecstatics become
detrimental to the believer — 2 Corinthians 6:11-12. We are told in Romans
16:17.18 to avoid these people who get involved ecstatics. they are trouble
makers. 2 Cor. 6:12 — “You are not limited by us, but you are limited by your
own emotional pattern.” The word “straighten” in the KJV means to be limited,
the word “bowels” refers to the emotions. Emotions are very destructive in the
Church Age. Christ is absent and yet we have the mind of Christ present in
Bible doctrine. Everything is to be centred in Bible doctrine. If there is a
conflict between your emotions and what the Word says, the Word is right and
the emotions are wrong.
Romans
16:17.18 — “Now I beseech you. brethren, mark them which cause divisions and
offences contrary to the doctrine winch you have learned” — this refers to
several categories, anyone who is contrary to doctrine actually — “and avoid
them,” present linear aktionsart — keep on avoiding them. stay away from them —
“for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own emotional
pattern.” The word “belly” here refers to the emotions; “and by good words and
fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” The word “simple” refers to
the stupid, anyone who is ignorant of doctrine. This refers not only to the
tongues crowd but anyone who is ignorant of doctrine, and it refers to
believers.
4. While Christ is absent from the
earth the believer is His ambassador, and as His ambassador must produce the
very character of Christ. This is only possible through the filling of the
Spirit. The purpose of the filling of the Spirit is to produce the character of
Christ, it is not to produce ecstatics — Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23.
5. But the production of the
character of Christ is not necessary in the Millennium; Christ is present.
6. So the filling of the Spirit in
the Millennium is to appreciate Christ who is present. This is done by way of
ecstatics.
7. Ecstatics is the characteristic
of the filling of the Spirit in the Millennium, but in the Church Age the
filling of the Spirit is designed to produce the character of the absent
Christ.
8. Feeling is never the criterion
for either salvation or spirituality. It isn’t how you feel, it is what the
Word of God says.
Verse 18 is a quotation from Joel
2:29. “And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days
my Spirit, and they shall prophecy.” The pouring out of the Spirit is, again,
the second advent of the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit as we have it at the
beginning of the Millennium. “Those days” refers to the early days of the
Millennium; “they shall prophecy” is, again, indicating the dissemination of
spiritual phenomena.
Verse 19 pictures what happens
immediately before the second advent, and it quotes Joel 2:30, “I will show.”
Just before the second advent there is a warning, and the warning comes through
signs and wonders — “wonders in the heavens above, and signs in the earth
beneath: blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke.” “Wonders” is an omen of a
miraculous nature; miracles are indicated by the word ‘signs.” Miracles are
performed on the earth and unusual phenomena in the heavens above.
In verse 18 we have after the second
advent, the pouring out of the Spirit; verse 19, before the second advent;
verse 20, the day of the second advent.
Verse 20 — what happens on the day
of the second advent. How can you tell the day of the second advent and how
will it be characterised at that time? It will be a day of complete darkness.
Verse 20 quotes Joel 2:31.
The day of the second advent
1. Darkness is a reference to the
day of the second advent.
2. The day of the second advent is
characterised by supernatural darkness, so when Christ returns every eye shall
see Him, Revelation 1:7. Christ is the Light of the world, and it is fitting
that the Light of the world should return to a world completely shrouded in
darkness, and every eye shall see Him because the only light which will be
visible on that day will be the light of Jesus Christ Himself.
3. The darkness is similar to the
darkness of the day of our Lord’s crucifixion. The darkness which covered
Golgotha at the crucifixion completely hid Jesus Christ from human eyes while
He was bearing our sins. It is a supernatural darkness that is totally devoid
of light. No one saw Him except God the Father who poured out the sins of the
human race on Him, but everyone will see Jesus Christ when He comes back in His
glory.
4. The darkness of the day of the
second advent is designed to focus attention on Christ — Revelation 1:7.
5. In addition, the darkness of the
second advent protects the Jewish believers besieged in Jerusalem by the king
of the north — Daniel 11, the last the last two verses, and Zechariah 12:1-3;
14:1-4; and some implication of this in given in Isaiah 63:1-6. In these
passages the Jews are in danger of being annihilated; the Jews in Idumea by the
kings of the east; the Jews bottled up in Jerusalem by the king of the north.
But the darkness delivers them, it immobilises all the armies in Palestine. So
the second purpose of the darkness is to protect born again Jews from the
Satanic wrath in the day of the second advent.
6. Other passages indicating the day
of the second advent is a day of total darkness on the earth: Isaiah 13:9,10;
Ezekiel 32:7,8; Joel 2:10,11; 3:15; Amos 5:18; Zechariah 14:6; Matthew 24:29b;
Luke 21:25-27; Mark 13:24; Revelation 6:12.
“The day of the Lord” sometimes
refers to the Tribulation, second advent and Millennium, sometimes to the
second advent, sometimes to the Millennium, sometimes to the whole and
sometimes to a part of it; but the day of the Lord is a prophetic term which
refers to all of these. In this case it refers to a part of that. the second
advent.
Verse 21 — there will be
deliverance. By interpretation this is the deliverance of the Jews at the second
advent, the deliverance of anyone who believes in Christ during the second
advent: and by application it refers to the Gospel approach on the Day of
Pentecost. “And it shall come to pass” — he is now quoting Joel 2:32. The
future tense of “it shall come to pass” is a logical future, it is logical that
Christ wants to save the world — “whosoever” refers to the entire human race.
It means that when Christ died on the cross He made “whosoever” possible. This
is what we call the doctrine of unlimited atonement — 2 Corinthians 5:14,15.19:
I Timothy 2:6: 4:10; Titus 2:11; Hebrews 2:9; 2 Peter 2:1 (it says that Christ
died for those who denied Him); I John 2:2.
“shall call” is an aorist tense and it refers to the
point at which a person believes, the point
of
faith in Christ. “Calling” does nor depend on your ability, it depends on what
God has given you. The middle voice means that you are benefited by the action
of the verb. Anyone who believes in Christ and calls upon His name is benefited
by it. The benefit is eternal salvation. Then we have the subjunctive mood
which means that this is strictly potential, it depends upon your volition. And
it indicates the fact that while salvation is open to everyone it does not
follow that everyone is going to be saved. “Call” is a synonym for faith — “the
name of the Lord” is specifically Jesus Christ. “The Lord” is the Father: “the
name of the Lord” is Jesus Christ, the title for revealed God. Name is also
human; Lord is deity. This is a picture of the God-Man.
Verse 22 – Peter’s Pentecostal
sermon. “Ye men of Israel” – addressed to Jews, Jews who had come from all over
the world as we have previously seen; “hear these words” – in the ancient
world, when you want to make a speech the first thing you had to do was to get
the hearer’s attention. They need to start concentrating. “Jesus of Nazareth” –
the use of this title means that Peter is going to discuss the humanity of
Christ, the incarnation, and the reason for the first advent. Jesus Christ is
God, but He had to become true humanity; “ a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs.” The word “approved” is a)podeiknumi [a)po = ultimate source; deiknumi = to point out, to
demonstrate], to demonstrate from ultimate source is the way this word was
originally used, and it does not really mean to approve, it means to exhibit or
display from the ultimate source of God. It comes to mean God revealing
something very special to man. “Among you” is a reference to the first advent
of Christ. There are three manifestations of this incarnation: miracles,
wonders, and signs. Miracles points out the true character of Christ—He is the
God-Man; wonders emphasise His saviourhood; signs are a warning of the fifth
cycle of discipline. These things God did “by Him” – by Jesus Christ. The
perfect tense means they had known these things in the past in the study of the
Old testament Scriptures, and they have now seen these things fulfilled before
them—“as ye yourselves also know.”
Verse 23 – he now goes to the real
purpose for Jesus Christ coming into the world. “Him” – subject, Jesus
Christ—“Being delivered”—it is obvious that the religious Jews, and the Roman
empire represented by Pontius Pilate, have had something to do with the
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. But when it says “Him, being delivered,”
this is also the plan of God; and ultimately, the fact that Jesus Christ went
to the cross is the plan of God the Father. “Being delivered” is not a verb, it
is an adjective, and as an adjective it gives great emphasis on this particular
word. Jesus Christ was delivered by the plan of God to the cross. In other
words, all of the Roman empire, all of the power of the Jews, could not put
Christ on the cross; it is the plan of God the Father that put Him on the
cross. This plan was given in eternity past, long before man existed, and this
is indicated by the words “determinate counsel.” The word “determinate” is a
verb, a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense represents something that
happened in the past with results that go on forever. The word “determinate”
means to be appointed. This counsel was appointed in the past with the result
that it stands forever, and the appointment took place in eternity past. The
passive voice indicates that the plan was received by the second Person; He
acquiesced to it. The word “counsel” means decree, and this is a reference to
the eternal decrees which occurred in eternity past. This is aid to occur in
the “foreknowledge of God.”
The next phrase, “ye have taken,” is
not there in the original. It should read, “the foreknowledge of God, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Notice that the first half of the verse
deals with the sovereignty of God, and it was God’s will for Jesus Christ to go
to the cross. But in the mechanics of going to the cross it was the free will
or the volition of man which was involved. The active voice in the Greek
indicates human volition. Who knew the free will of man billions of years ago
in eternity past? God did! And He knew exactly how they would operate and
think, therefore, at the exact right time Jesus Christ was brought into the
world, and at the exact right time Jesus Christ was brought up for crucifixion.
This is all the plan of the Father, and the Father did His planning on the
basis of knowing what every person would think in the city of Jerusalem at the
time of the crucifixion. There is only one point at which the whole thing got
out of the hands of the human will of man, and that was the last three hours
when Christ bore our sins on the cross. That was strictly from God. God poured
out upon His Son our sins; man’s free will had nothing to do with it. But
bringing Christ to the cross was the operation of the free will of man, and
God’s plan was fulfilled. It was the sovereign decision of the Father to pour
out on Christ the sins of the world. Sovereignty planned the cross at the
perfect time when every type of volition was designed to get Jesus Christ to
the cross, but once they get Him to the cross, then at that point sovereignty
takes over and it is the sovereign decision of the Father to pour out on Christ
the sins of the world.
There is no problem at all regarding
the sovereignty of God and the free will of man provided you stick with the
Scripture. If you follow any system of theology you are going to get into
trouble because men who have developed systems of theology have been very
ignorant as to what ALL the Scripture says. For example, Calving was pretty
clear on the sovereignty of God and the free will of man but the followers of
John Calvin messed it up completely, and so we have a principle call
ultra-Calvinism and supra-lapsarianism, and so on, in which only the
sovereignty of God is recognized in Scripture and the claim that there is no
free will. Of course, this ignores every third class condition, every active
voice, many of the principles as well as the grammar of the original languages
of Scripture. At the same time there are systems of theology—Arminianism—in
which only the free will of man is recognized. Neither of the systems are
correct because they both have to ignore portions of Scripture. They just
simply grab portions of Scripture which fit into the system, and they beat the
drums for these portions and ignore the rest; a common problem in the
understanding of the Word of God. The Word of God teaches both the existence of
the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. But God has the jump on human
volition in that billions of years before the first man started thinking and
using his volition the Trinity knew exactly what man would think and what
decisions would come from his free will. The whole plan of history is based on
the fact that God knew just exactly how man’s volition would operate, and He
designed history accordingly. History, then, is designed to bring the plan of
God into the face of the free will of man and to actually give man a choice in
every generation between God’s plan and Satan’s plan. In this way the whole
problem of the angelic conflict was resolved.
So we have a very interesting verse.
The first half of the verse indicates the sovereignty of God; the second half
is the free will of man.
“Ye have taken, and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain” – “ye have crucified” is an aorist active participle.
The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb; “and
slain” – they put Christ on the cross and are responsible for His physical
death. But in between putting Him on the cross and the physical death we have
the spiritual death which was strictly the work of God in which the sins of the
world were poured out upon Christ and God the Father judged the sins of the
world at that point.
Verse 24 – the resurrection. “Whom
God [the Father and the Spirit] hath raised up.” This is an aorist tense,
referring to the point of resurrection; “having loosed the pains of death” –
the “birth pangs” of death is what is actually says, and this means that from
this point on salvation is an accomplished fact.
“because it was not possible that he
should be held of it” – in other words, death could not hold him; “of it” is
literally, “under the authority of.” or “by death.” Resurrection broke up the
authority of death over the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is over His humanity.
His deity cannot die, and did not die.
The resurrection was quite startling
to these Jews, so it requires some documentation. In verse 25-36 we have in
this passage again the quotation of Old testament Scriptures. Verses 25-28 is a
quotation from Psalm 16:8-11, and this is for interpretation. Verses 34 and 35
is a quotation from Psalm 110:1, and it is a confirmation.
Verse 25 – “For David speaketh
concerning him [Christ].” Now we have a quotation from Psalm 16. “I foresaw the
Lord always before my face.” The word “foresaw” is in the imperfect tense which
is linear aktionsart in past time. Obviously when David wrote the psalm he only
saw Jesus Christ for a moment, he didn’t spend the rest of his life seeing
Jesus Christ. But the imperfect tense is used to say that what David saw would
be a perfect record in the Word of God, and what David saw we will see. David
saw it; now we see it, because it is a part of the Word. “I kept on
foreseeing,” which indicates, not only do I see this but anyone who studies the
Scripture can see it also.
“for he is on my right hand, that I
should not be moved” – David is explaining the basis of his stability in life
because of what he saw concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. “I shall not be moved”
is not quite correct because it is an aorist passive, and the passive voice
indicates that the subject receives the action of a verb. In this case David
receives stability from seeing the Lord.
Verse 26 – “Therefore did my heart
rejoice.” Because of his stability he now has inner happiness. The heart is the
mentality of the soul, and rejoicing is not an overt activity but is an inner
mental happiness; “and my tongue was glad” – it loosened up his tongue and he
expressed his gladness; “moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope” – in other
words he recognizes that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and this means that
his flesh will have a resurrection body, and hope has to do with the eternal
future.
Verse 27 – “Because thou wilt not
leave my soul in hades [Heb. Sheol],” a reference to the entire underworld. In
this passage is referring to the section called Paradise. David is referring to
the fact that he will not stay in Paradise forever but that he will receive a
resurrection body. David is expressing the hope of the resurrection and it is
now being quoted by Peter. There is a twofold interpretation here. The soul
refers to David who is having the experience of seeing the resurrected Christ,
and therefore he knows that he will have a resurrection. The human soul of
Christ is also involved: Jesus went to Paradise. His body went into the grave;
His spirit went into the presence of the Father; but His soul went into
Paradise. His soul would not stay in Paradise of Hades but would be delivered
up by resurrection.
“neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy
One to see corruption” – not seeing corruption is being resurrected; victory
over it.
Verse 28 – “Thou hast made known to
me the ways of life.” He understands phase three; he now understands phase two.
He understands that God has a plan for his life; “thou shalt make me full of
joy with thy countenance” – he understands that he can have inner happiness and
peace throughout phase two, his life on earth.
Verse 29 – an explanation. “Men and
brethren, let me speak boldly to you of the patriarch David.” This is an idiom
which means, ‘Let me put it on the line toy you.’
“that he is both dead and buried,
and his sepulcher is with us unto this day” – i.e. in 30 AD.
Verse 30 – “Therefore being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne.” David is saying something here. He is a king but he is more than a
king, he is a prophet. When he wrote the 16th Psalm he was
prophesying the resurrection of Christ. Furthermore he knew that Christ would
be raised up because Christ is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. The
promise is 2 Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37. God promised David unconditionally
that he would have a son who would reign forever. Peter is now explaining this.
He says to them that God has sworn with an oath to him, David, that of the
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh—the humanity of Christ—he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne. David understood that his son would die,
and how can He die and still rule forever? So David understood that He would be
raised from the dead so that He could rule forever as the son of David. His
humanity would die; His humanity would be raised; His humanity would reign
forever. At the Second Advent and from then on Christ will reign as the son of
David, fulfilling the Davidic covenant.
Verse 31 – “He seeing this before.”
David understood it before, and “spake concerning the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul [of Jesus Christ] was not left in Hades [Paradise, or Abraham’s
bosom], neither his flesh did see corruption,” i.e. David’s flesh saw
corruption because, as Peter says, his tomb was still there. However, this
psalm is not speaking about David, it is speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 32 – “This Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we are all witnesses.” Peter now makes his point. This same
Jesus about whom David was speaking, who is his son, was the Messiah who would
go to the cross and die for the sins of the world. He says, ‘David knew that He
would rise up from the dead, and He has risen, and we have seen it; we have
actually seen the fulfillment of the 16th Psalm.’ “Raised up” is an
aorist tense, referring to the point of resurrection. And he says, “We keep on
being witnesses.”
Verse 33 – “Therefore being by the right hand of God
exalted.” The resurrection is only a step in the direction of the exaltation of
the humanity of Christ which is absolutely necessary to fulfill the angelic
conflict. Remember that after His resurrection Jesus Christ is seated at the
right hand of the Father, above all angels, as a member of the human race.
Humanity is above angels because Christ in His resurrection body is seated at
the right hand of the Father. Once Christ is seated at the right hand of the
Father He is glorified. His deity was always glorified, there never was a time
when His deity wasn’t glorified; but His humanity is glorified. While the body
is here: John 7:39 – the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not
yet glorified. There is no ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, or
even in the Gospels, as we have it today. But when Christ ascended and was
seated at the right hand of the Father, then He was glorified, and then we have
the first advent of the Spirit. And the purpose of the Holy Spirit in this
Church Age is to glorify Christ – John 16:14. He doesn’t do this through
ecstatic experiences, He does this by producing on the inside of us the very
character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is absent; how can people see Him?
They see Him through the filling of the Spirit. When God the Holy Spirit
controls the life of the believer, then Christ is seen. This brings Peter
around to the fact: What do you see before you? You see the filling of the
Spirit. This is the first manifestation of the filling of the Spirit.
“and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Spirit” – this is an important passage because it tells us that up
until this day the promise of the Holy Spirit to all believers was not
forthcoming. It also means that when Jesus said to His disciples, “Ask for the Holy
Spirit,” He was teaching them a principle under the Old Testament dispensation.
Today we do not ask for the Holy Spirit; today we do not pray as David did,
“Take not thy Holy Spirit from me,” because God the Holy Spirit indwells every
believer, starting at the point of salvation and continuing throughout his
lifetime. The issue as far as the ministry of the Spirit is concerned today: if
you are out of fellowship the Spirit is grieved; if you are in fellowship the
Spirit controls your life, and when the Spirit controls your life you execute
the plan of God, the Christian way of life and/or phase two. All of this is
bound up in the principle of the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Once He
is seated at the right hand of the Father, once He is exalted, then we have the
principle of the giving of the Holy Spirit.
“he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and here”
– this is an explanation of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost.
Verse 34 – he then explains the exaltation of Christ
from Old Testament Scriptures. “For David is not ascended into heaven.” So when
he is discussing in Psalm 110:1 the activity of Christ at the right hand of the
Father no one is to construe this as having anything to do with David. “The
Lord [deity] has said unto my Lord [same title for deity], Sit thou at my right
hand.” When God says to God, “Sit down,” this in itself in incomprehensible and
inscrutable because obviously God does not sit down. So obviously He is
speaking to the humanity of Christ, but He addresses Himself to God the Son
because Christ is the unique Person of the universe, the God-Man.
Verse 35 – “Until I make thine enemies thy
footstool,” is a reference to the demons who are going to become the footstool
of Christ at the Second Advent when the Church returns with Christ.
Verse 36 – “Therefore let all the house of Israel
know assuredly [with confidence].” In other words, if they will accept Christ
they can begin to have confidence with regard to these things; “that God hath
made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord [deity] and Christ
[humanity].”
Verse 37 – the response to Peter’s sermon. “Now when
they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts [mentality of their souls].”
The Greek word translated “pricked” is a compound verb, katenussw [kata = preposition of norm or
standard; nussw = to pierce]. The norm in this case is the Word of God, the Bible, as
Peter has preached it, and it has actually pierced the minds of these Jews who
are standing around. So the principle is quite obvious. Whenever Christ is
proclaimed and the gospel message disseminated the Holy Spirit then pierces the
mentality of the hearer, unbeliever; but He does so through the norm or the
standards of the Word of God. The aorist tense indicates at this point when
they heard the gospel they were pierced, and the passive voice means their
minds received piercing by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The indicative mood
is the reality of the fact that when the gospel is preached God the Holy Spirit
takes it and moves it into the understanding of the unbeliever. In other words,
these unbelievers are now under conviction, and they say to Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, “What shall we do?” – we who are unbelievers, we who are
religious Jews, we who are pilgrims who have come to this land to observe the
feasts.
Verse 38 – Peter answers the question. On this
verse, as it stands, many systems of false theology and apostasy have been
built. The most obvious one is so-called baptismal regeneration, that man can
actually do something to save himself. Remember that baptism is a work,
something that man does. All ritual involves human motion, human volition, in a
meritorious sense; so all ritual involves works. Water baptism is a ritual in
which someone is actually doing something, but doing in ritual always depends
upon knowing, and the secret of all the ritual involved in worship in the Old
Testament was the fact that they understood before they did. Because some
people have taken this ritual and made it a system of salvation they have
introduced the principle of salvation by works. Cf. Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8,9.
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent.” The word
“repent” is a non-meritorious word in this case. It means to change your mind
about Christ. Repent and believer are actually two parts of the same thing. You
cannot believe without repenting; you cannot repent without believing. But it
must be remembered that repent in salvation has nothing whatever to do with
sin. You do not repent of sin to be saved; you do not feel sorry for sin to be
saved. Repent means a complete change of mental attitude. The word was used in
this verse for a very simple reason. These people were Jews. They had come from
all over the world. They had been the recipients of the gospel under supernatural
conditions and they are still holding back, even though they are convicted, and
so they say, What must we do? And Peter tells them to repent. The reason he
says repent is because if they change their minds they will believe because
changing the mind about Christ and believing becomes automatic. You cannot
repent without believing. When “repent” is used it means believing, and when
“believe” is used it means repenting. Sometimes “repent” is used when Jews are
involved, and when Gentiles are involved the word “believe” is used. Cf. Acts
16:31 where a gentile says, What must I do to be saved?” In each case—Acts 2
and 16—an answer is given. Here Peter gives an answer, and he says repent. In
Acts 16 Paul gives the answer and he says believe. There is no difference, they
are both saying exactly the same thing. To the Gentiles “believe” is simply
because they had no previous Biblical information, and having no previous
information they understand systems of perception because Gentiles are under
Hellenistic culture. There is only one non-meritorious system of perception and
that is nothing more or nothing less than believe. So whether you say repent or
believe you are saying exactly the same thing, but you are saying to two
entirely different cultures. The Hellenistic culture was universal throughout
the Roman empire. The Romans had no culture of their own, they adopted the
Greek culture. So under Hellenistic culture the emphasis is on perception.
Therefore when we are dealing with Gentiles it is “Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ.” But under the culture of Judaism, which is as antithetical as it can
be, a change of mind is demanded but repent and believe are synonymous terms.
They are two sides of the same coin. It must be emphasized that “repent” has no
emotional connotation, it does not mean to feel sorry for sin. Whenever you
find the word repent sins are not involved at all, unless in the verse the
object of repent happens to be sin, and there is no such thing. In Luke 15 it
is the sinner who repents: sinner is subject; sinner is unbeliever. There is no
such thing as being saved by feeling sorry for sins; that is works.
“Repent” is an aorist tense, an active voice, an
imperative mood, and the person is second person plural. Aorist tense: repent
in a point of time when you hear; active voice: you do it, you are the subject;
imperative mood: this is a command, you have to change your mind, it comes from
your own volition; second person: addressed to the crowd; plural: all of them
are involved. The word means change of mind. The Greek word is metanoew = change your mind.
“and be baptized” – this is an aorist tense, but it
is a passive voice. It is an imperative mood. It is a third person verb and is
in the singular. It connotes water
baptism.
The word “baptize” in the Greek means to identify. There are seven different
kinds of baptism in the Bible. Water baptism is involved here, and water
baptism is a good thing to mention to the Jews because water baptism connotes
no more human good. The Jews who were there are pilgrims, they are trying to be
saved by good works, by observing the Passover, the firstfruits, the unleavened
bread, and the day of Pentecost. So obviously they are out of line. “Baptized”
– aorist tense: in a point of time; passive voice: you receive baptism;
imperative mood: it is an order. The third person is in contrast to the second
person and the plural is in contrast to the singular. This is very significant.
The Greeks punctuated syntactically. They did not have punctuation marks as we
do today. Here, the word “and” plus a change in person and a change in number,
and a change from the active to the passive voice, is what is known in the
Greek as a syntactical break. This means that these two things are entirely
separate and that one follows the other, but they do not go together. In a
syntactical break the second verb is not a part of the requirement but is a
command which follows after the first imperative is fulfilled. In other words,
you cannot be baptized until after you have been saved. Repent is the salvation
verb; baptize is a ritual which indicates that you have been saved and that you
now understand your salvation. Baptism is a ritual which indicates that you
have been saved and that you now understand your salvation. You understand that
when you believed in Christ the Holy Spirit entered you into union with Christ
in His death, therefore you are no longer under the power of good deeds, and
you no longer have to produce human good. Also, that you are in union with
Christ as He is at the right hand of the Father, that His life is your life,
that His righteousness is your righteousness, and therefore you are now in a
position to execute divine good. So the whole principle that Peter is bringing
out is that after salvation there is no place for human good. After salvation
you can only produce divine good which is produced by the power of the Spirit.
Peter has been emphasizing the coming of the Spirit.
This is a radical change because
under the Mosaic law you have believers and unbelievers living under it, and
they produce human good. But now you have the promise of the Holy Spirit and
the requirement is the production of divine good. The whole purpose of water
baptism: when you enter into that ritual you understand three things. You
understand that you are identified with Christ in His death, therefore you are
dead to human good. No longer do you have to perform human good. You understand
that you are identified with Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the
Father; you can’t lose your salvation. You understand that you are now in a
position to perform divine good.
The best way to translate this is,
“You all repent, and let each one of you be baptized.”
“in the name of Jesus Christ for” –
the word “for” isn’t for, it is a very sticky pronoun, e)ij. It can be translated many
ways and in other passages this same preposition is translated “because of.”
E.g. Matthew 3:11—should be “because of repentance,” not “unto.” Matthew
12:41—“because they repented” is translated correctly. Why the different
translations? Because different people worked on the translation. Most were
unbelievers; some were better scholars than others. Romans 4:20—“ . . . was
strong because of faith.” In each case e)ij should be translated
“because of.” There is another way this can be translated legitimately—“upon,”
as in Mark 1:10; Acts 27:26. So back to our verse 38, where it should be
“because of the remission of sins.” The sins were already forgiven. The word
“remission” means “payment,” and you can be baptized because all sins have been
paid for. The only issue left is human good. And because of the payment for sin
you can be baptized because the cross did something else: it not only solved
the sin problem, it rejected human good. You are identified with Christ in His
death. Christ rejected human good; you reject human good. That is what “because
of the remission of sins” means.
“and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit” – this means that you have rejected human good. You are
identified with Christ in His death. You will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit and he will produce divine good. The issue of the Christian life is
human good versus divine good. You are going to be baptized when you understand
that you are through with human good. Baptism is a recognition. It doesn’t
save. Water doesn’t wash away sins, it is the blood of Christ that washes away
sins. The principle is that once you understand what it is all about, then you
can be baptized.
There are other passages which these
people who insult the grace of God utilize. E.g. Mark 16:15ff. “He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be
damned.” The first thing that is wrong with this passage is that after verse 8,
Mark ends. Codex Aleph and Codex B are the two most ancient and the two most
accurate of all MSS, and they end with verse 8. In verses 9 to the end of the
passage are many things that are true and many things that are not, but the
point is, whether it is true or not true, it is not the Word of God. Galatians
3:23-27. Verse 27 is Spirit baptism, the emphasis is on current positional
truth. The believer enters into union with Christ as He is seated at the right
hand of the Father; he is identified with Christ as He existed on the cross. So
we have both retroactive and current positional truth.
Verse 39 – “For the promise is unto
you.” This is the promise of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ—the
fact that sins are remitted, the fact that Jesus Christ has paid in full; the
work of salvation was accomplished en toto on the cross and nothing can
be added to it. Everything was completed, Jesus said, “It is finished.”
Therefore, because salvation is completed we can have eternal life. The promise
is “unto you” – unbelievers; “and to your children” – this is the same as Acts
2:31 where “and thy house” is the subject, not the object. The subject means
when they believe in Christ they, too, shall be saved. Children have to believe
in Christ for themselves. Once they pass the age of accountability the children
are responsible for making their own decision; “and to all that are afar off”
refers to the Gentiles; “even as many as the Lord our God shall call” – here is
one of those interesting phrases whereby people get confused about the false
version of the doctrine of predestination. Predestination simply means to share
the destiny of Christ; election means exactly the same thing. When a person
believes in the Lord Jesus Christ he enters into union with Christ. Christ has
a destiny. Christ is elected from all eternity past and we simply share His
destiny and we share His election. Only in this sense are we predestined, only
in this sense are we elected. The Greek says here, “whom the Lord shall invite.”
The verb is an aorist middle subjunctive. The aorist tense refers to the point
of time when anyone is exposed to the gospel or to the time when anyone reaches
God-consciousness, and at that point of time the invitation is open. The middle
voice means that the subject is benefited by the action of the verb, but it
also has a reflexive connotation. Here it has the reflexive concept, the Lord
Himself actually invites every member of the human race to receive Christ as
saviour, due to the fact that when Christ died on the cross He died for every
member of the human race. The subjunctive mood indicates potential, and the
potential is based upon the fact that at the point of God-consciousness some
people go on negative signals, and when they do, then God does not have any
further responsibility though he often gives them the gospel anyway. Now the
word means to invite and not to call. God can only invite. It depends on your
volition, and volition expressed in a non-meritorious manner which is faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. God invites all members of the human race, “and whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Verse 40 – “And with many other
words did he testify [declared the gospel] and exhort.” The word “testify”
indicates, along with the words “other words,” that there are numerous ways of
presenting the gospel, and probably no two people will respond to the same
approach to it. But the content remains the same. Peter is declaring the gospel
in different words and different approaches. Then the word “exhort” is a change
from the aorist tense to the imperfect tense which is linear aktionsart, which
means he kept on exhorting. Not only did he present the gospel but he told them
what to do with the gospel, which is what the word “exhort” means. First of all
you have the content of the gospel itself—testify; but the word “exhort” tells
them what to do—believe in Christ.
“saying, Save yourselves from this
untoward generation.” The word “save” means to deliver, and when he says
“deliver yourselves” the word “yourselves” is a reflexive pronoun, and this
puts the responsibility on them. “Untoward” means crooked or perverse, and this
generation was perverse in that they were religious. He is addressing himself
to religious people, the most difficult of all to reach for the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Verse 41 – there was a response.
“Then” is a particle which introduces a result of Peter’s message and
exhortation; “they that gladly received his word” – an indication of the fact
that they believed in Jesus Christ. John 1:12. The word “received” is in the
aorist tense, indicating the principle of salvation; “and were baptized” –
these people were apparently taught the doctrine of positional truth between
the time of their decision and their baptism. Their baptism has to do with
their understanding of three factors: a) retro-active positional truth; b)
current positional truth; c) the filling of the Holy Spirit which produces
divine good. So human versus divine good is the issue in baptism, even as it
was at the cross.
“and the same day were added about
three thousand souls” – on that first day 3000 people found Christ as saviour.
Verses 42-47, the first local
church.
Verse 42 – the secret to their power
had nothing to do with the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues was to
evangelize, to give the sign of the fifth cycle of discipline; it was
discontinued in 70 AD, the power of the Church continues and tongues has
absolutely nothing to do with the power of the Church. In fact, today tongues
is apostasy and blasphemy, and many believers ignorant of doctrine are caught
up in its claws. “They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine” – the
first secret to their power was doctrine. The secret to power is always Bible
doctrine. The phrase “continued steadfastly” is made up of two verbs in the
Greek, and we call these verbs a periphrastic. A periphrastic is designed to
show that this is something that is begun and is continued. In other words, it
indicates the principle of stability and continuity. They started this; they
made it their lifetime pattern; they stayed with it. They continued to persist
in adherence to the principle of building their lives on doctrine. It is called
the apostles’ doctrine because it has to do with new doctrine not found in the
Old Testament—doctrine of the mystery, the doctrine of the Church—and since the
New Testament is not completed it is called the apostle’s doctrine. There is a
second factor involved in power, it has to do with fellowship: “and fellowship”
– i.e. the bottom circle, fellowship with the Lord, the filling of the Spirit.
This means that when they got out of fellowship they used rebound—1 John 1:9.
In other words, the logged a maximum amount of time in the bottom circle. There
is power. It doesn’t mean they were patting each other on the back in a mutual
admiration society. Fellowship with the Lord is the thing that counts;
fellowship with people is very definitely secondary. If you have your
fellowship with the Lord and if you are oriented to doctrine, then you will
have fellowship with people in a realistic and wonderful basis. Other wise
people will get you all confused. You’ll get your eyes on people and will be
miserable. The third factor was the breaking of bread: “and in breaking of
bread,” which had to do with the Eucharist. The purpose of the Eucharist is
occupation with Christ, remembering phase one, who and what Christ is and how
He did what He did. Behind the ritual of baptism is the concept of the filling
of the Spirit producing divine good. Behind the ritual of the Lord’s table is
the concept of occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. The fourth factor is
prayer: “and in prayers.” Prayer is designed to cover all of the unknown
situations in life, and therefore it became the basis of great power.
Verse 43 – the apostolic ministry.
“And fear came upon every soul.” The word “fear” here does not mean mental
attitude fright, it refers to respect. Notice that the apostles were not loved,
they were respected. The word “fear” is used for the concept of respect for
authority, respect for the authority of the apostles, and the reason is given
in that first word, “doctrine,” in the previous verse. As a result, “and signs
were done by the apostles.” They exercised their gift and the gifts that go
with it—temporary gifts which do not exist today.
Verse 44 – the problem: Christian charity versus
communism. The words “together and” are not found in the original Greek. The
verse should read, “And all that believed had all things in common.” People
have used this verse and said that Christianity advocates communism. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Everything in Christianity, all Bible
doctrine, is one hundred per cent in opposition to communism. The Word of God
is the chief source of opposition to communism now and forever, and there is a
vast gulf between communism and Bible Christianity. “And all that believed” is
an aorist active participle, indicating the people who had responded to the
gospel, who had believed in Christ; “had” – imperfect linear aktionsart, which
means that they kept on having.
1.
The
principle of believers helping believers in time of emergency or catastrophe is
the subject of this verse. We have an emergency situation. Believers, because
of their faith in Christ, were ostracized. The Jews were very strong in
ostracism. As a result many believers found themselves in dire straits—without
food, shelter, or help of any kind. This passage indicates how the early church
met a catastrophe: believers helped each other. Having all things in common
simply means that they provided charity.
2.
Almost
immediately persecution began with believers losing property, possessions, and
even their lives. The concept here is the Roman system called the “ten
percenters.” If a Roman could prove that a person was a Christian he could
report them to the procurator who would then take them to the Praetorium where
they would be tried. If found guilty the Romans would confiscate all of their
bank account, all of their business, and ten per cent of it would go to the
informer. So there were many in Jerusalem making ten per cent as informers on those
who had found Christ.
3.
There
is no more communism in what the believers did here than there is in any system
of charity. Charity is a bona fide operation, so long as it involves your free
will. When you are coerced it then becomes an infringement of freedom.
4.
Christianity
and communism are not only mutually exclusive, but antagonistic.
5.
Christianity
emphasizes the Godhead and relationship with God, whereas communism denies God
and glorifies man.
6.
Christianity
recognizes the freedoms and the rights of individuals, including the right of
private property, the right to private ownership of business, and so on. In
other words, all principle connected with divine institution #4 or nationalism.
Communism rejects all of these things.
7.
This
passage does not teach or advocate communism or socialism. We do not have socialism in this verse, we
have born-again believers helping each other in time of catastrophe—believers
producing divine good. Socialism at its best can only produce human good.
8.
Under
the persecution background of this passage dispossessed believers were helped
by those who still had materialistic things of this life—food, shelter,
clothing.
9.
When
the situation in Jerusalem became critical so that all of the believers were
dispossessed, then it was the apostle Paul who went through northern and
southern Greece and took up an offering for the relief of the poor saints in
Jerusalem.
Verse 45 – the mechanics.
They sold their possessions and put the proceeds into a common fund which was
then distributed: “as every man had need.” The
purpose
of these funds was to help the needy.
Verse 46 – “And they, continuing
daily with one accord.” Here is unity among believers. They achieved unity by
means of doctrine. They continued in two places. First of all, they went to the
temple to witness; Secondly, they went to homes in order to have church
services—daily.
“and did eat their food with
gladness” – the word “gladness” means with extreme joy. They had great mental
happiness as a result of Bible doctrine. Joy is not an overt activity, it is a
mental happiness; “and singleness of heart” – singleness means their lives were
anchored on one thing: doctrine. Their criterion was Bible doctrine.
Verse 47 – “Praising God, having
grace with all the people.” They actually manifested grace. This is important
because it avoids the facade of self-righteousness. They were relaxed around
unbelievers. They made an issue out of the gospel, and grace means they were
not accused of hypocrisy and self-righteousness which are the great enemies of
the gospel.
“And the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved.” The phrase “as should be saved” should be “as
were being saved.” The word “should” is not found in the original. How are they
added to the church? Positional truth; union with Christ. They became members
of the body of Christ.