Acts 2 - Acts 2

Acts 2 is the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the events on the day of Pentecost, about 10 days after the ascension of Jesus Christ. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.

Text

The original text is written in Koine Greek and is divided into 47 verses. Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter are:

• Papyrus 91 (3rd century; extant: verses 30-37; 46-47)
• Codex Vaticanus (AD 325-350)
• Codex Sinaiticus (AD 330-360)
• Codex Bezae (c. AD 400)
• Codex Alexandrinus (c. AD 400-440)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (c. AD 450)
• Codex Laudianus (c. AD 550)

Structure

This chapter can be grouped:

• Acts 2:1-4 = The Coming of the Holy Spirit
• Acts 2:5-13 = The Crowd’s Response
• Acts 2:14-39 = Peter’s First Sermon
• Acts 2:40-47 = A Vital Church Grows

Cross reference

• Acts 2:21: Joel 2:28â€"32
• Acts 2:23: Psalm 16:8â€"11
• Acts 2:35: Psalm 110:1

Coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost

The biblical narrative of Pentecost is given in the second chapter of the Book of Acts. Present were about one hundred and twenty followers of Christ (Acts 1:15), including the Twelve Apostles (i.e. the eleven faithful disciples and Matthias who had replaced Judas Iscariot), his mother Mary, various other women disciples and his brothers (Acts 1:14). Their reception of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room and their empowerment to speak in tongues are recounted in Acts 2:1â€"6:

While those on whom the Spirit had descended were speaking in many languages, the Apostle Peter stood up with the eleven and proclaimed to the crowd that this event was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel: "I will pour out my spirit". In Acts 2:17, it reads: "'And in the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams." He also mentions (2:15) that it was the third hour of the day (about 9:00 AM). Acts 2:41 then reports: "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls."

Peter stated that this event was the beginning of a continual outpouring of the Holy Spirit that would be available to all believers from that point on, present and future generations of Jews and those who were 'afar off' or 'distant' (International Standard Version), text which is generally interpreted to refer to the Gentiles because a similar phrase was used by Paul in Ephesians 2:17, υμιν τοις μακραν, where the context clearly refers to gentile converts to Christianity.

Location of the First Pentecost

Traditional interpretation holds that the Descent of the Holy Spirit took place in the Upper Room, or Cenacle, while celebrating the day of Pentecost (Shavuot). The Upper Room was first mentioned in Luke 22:12-13 ( "And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover."). This Upper Room was to be the location of the Last Supper and the institution of Holy Communion. The next mention of an Upper Room is in Acts 1:13-14, the continuation of the Luke narrative, authored by the same biblical writer.

Here the disciples and women waited and they gave themselves up to constant prayer: "And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."

Then, in Acts 2:1â€"2, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.", "They" refers to the aforementioned disciples, and it includes the women. The "place" referring to the same Upper Room where these persons had "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication".