In my previous post I set the stage for Peter’s “spirit-filled” sermon. This was not the first time Peter preached. He was, after all, among those sent out by Jesus – specifically once and most likely the second recorded time also with the seventy.
Luke 9:1 He called the twelve (1) together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.
2 He sent them forth to preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
Luke 10:1 Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him (1) into every city and place, where he was about to come. …
10 But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into the streets of it and say,
11 ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the Kingdom of God has come near to you.’
While Peter was no stranger to preaching, the scriptures never hint he was prepared for for his words on Pentecost other than what Jesus prophesied.
Luke 12:11 When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don’t be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say;
12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.”
While Peter wasn’t “brought there” in this instance and thus not the actual circumstances Jesus prophesied about, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn those words occurred to some in their circle. That said, let us dispense with talking around Peter’s sermon and delve into the meat of what he said. If you consider his words as “speaking by the spirit of God” and therefore true and accurate then those words speak volumes. Here is the entire sermon. I’ll break out some highlights below.
Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
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;
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
First things first, after Peter straightens out the audience by informing them that no, we aren’t drunken, he immediately quotes the prophet Joel.
Acts 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
There are three things in this prophesy that should stand out. First, Joel says God will pour out His spirit. I’ll leave you with those words without comment at this time.
Second is verse 20 “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:” (Italics mine, for emphasis) This indicates a specific period of time. I see this as saying God will pour out His spirit until the “day of the Lord”. This sort of kills the popular traditional teaching that speaking in tongues and other manifestations of the spirit went away when “the bible was completed”. Then there’s verse 21…
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Have you ever asked yourself… saved from what? While I suspect this may not be the end of what we are saved from, one thing that comes to mind is “the wrath to come”.
1 Thessalonians 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead— Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Oh, yeah, that. Moving on… Peter next indicts the audience:
Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
Did you notice what Peter called Jesus? He referred to him as “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God” (Italics mine). Huh. A man. Approved of God – NOT “God”. Peter knew better. He knew who and what Jesus was and is as well as who and what God was and is. Many might want to point out Thomas’ confession recorded in John.
John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Peter was there. I’m sure he heard it. I am just as certain he took that phrase for what Thomas meant and not some indication that Jesus is God.
In Acts 2:24 above, Peter states unequivocally that God raised him (Jesus) from the dead. Many in today’s trinitarian circles seem to be confused as to who did what, saying Jesus “got up” from the dead. This implies he had no help. Everything in the scriptural record says God, i.e. our Heavenly Father, raised Jesus from the dead. It was a deliberate act by God Almighty. I point this out because I once faced a pastor who looked me in the eye stating, well, Jesus didn’t really die. He backed up his false teachings with printouts from Wikipedia no less. I kid you not.
Peter then refers to David extensively referring to some golden prophesies spoken by him. The Peter boldly states yet another refutation of a now popular doctrine of man – none of us “really” die but rather are instantly transported to heaven (if we are saved). Do let me now state, that in a sense, I do partly agree with this. We don’t really “die” per se but rather simply sleep. This concept is well backed up by scriptures. However the idea of going straight to heaven, well, that is just without foundation.
Here’s what Peter said about David, whom God Himself called “a man after His own heart”.
Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Oh, so, David didn’t instantly go to heaven? Not if you believe Peter’s words. The same can be said for Moses and Elijah. Yes, Peter and John did see them “talking with Jesus” on the mount. Can you say “vision”? This is not to say it is impossible for any man prior to Jesus to be hanging out in heaven right now. I don’t know. What I do know is, according to Peter, David was dead and buried on the day of Pentecost and is likely still dead and buried, as is “Aunt Sally”, et al. Once again, this passage does not stand alone but it alone is certainly indicative of what we should expect rather than some plethora of platitudes.
Acts 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Peter once again states Jesus was raised up (from the dead) by God and goes on to say Jesus is at the right hand of God. Verse 22 is quite clear so let’s take a close look at verse 33.
Hoo-boy, this looks like a problem, though it is not easily seen without the help of the Greek texts, so I’ll once again consult my interlinear version. There I see the words “the Holy Ghost” is actually the Holy the Spirit (capitalizations added by me). Thus this seems to state the Father shed forth the promise of the Holy the Spirit. Now I’m just realizing this for the first time so bear with me.
If God is Holy and God is Spirit (He is both!) and He is the Giver and thus can be referred to as The Holy The Spirit – what is this in this verse? I was taught that the designation of both articles “the” in this instance always refers to the Giver who is God Almighty, the Father. Well, I do not see how this can be accurate. Oh-oh – what to do now?
What I did was take advantage of the resources available to me. In this case my resources include a software program, Theophilos, (I love this program!), and the Greek texts I have loaded into it. Now my Zondervan Interlinear New Testament says the interlinear text was Nestle’s. Okay great. I have three others loaded into my Theophilos. One of the neat things about this software is “compare mode” where I can look at several versions of the same verse on one screen. I use that a lot. For this job, I included my three Greek texts – something I normally exclude. Guess what? They don’t all agree on the text! Wescott-Hort agrees with Nestle. Two others, Scrivener’s Greek NT (1894) and Stephanus Textus Receptus only show one article “the”. Is this definitive? No, BUT, this discrepancy does indicate my interlinear may not be 100% reliable.
Now keep in mind, NONE of the texts we have today are originals – not the Greek, not the Aramaic (the common language in Israel in Jesus’ time), and not the Latin. We don’t even know what the original language of the New Testament writings were, much less have them in the original.
What all texts agree on is there was one article “the” used in conjunction with holy spirit. Also note in the Greek the words “shed forth” might more accurately be rendered “poured out”. Now if you ask a trinitarian, I’d expect to hear this verse is proof of the “third person of the trinity” as it mentions the Father and “The Holy Ghost” while referring to Jesus (who certainly is “on the right hand of God). Without the second article “the” such an assumption is really a stretch, at best. Even IF one could assume the second article, the statement is awkward. Think about it.
If such a being as the “third person of the trinity” exists, why would our Heavenly Father need to “shed (it) forth”? Rendering the Greek as “poured out” makes it even more difficult. Not to mention the “having received the promise of (the) holy spirit” refers to whom? This phrase refers to Jesus. How much sense does it make that Jesus would need to receive from our Heavenly Father this promise of the unnamed “third person of the trinity”?
On the other hand, Jesus told us our Heavenly Father would endue us with “power from on high” i.e. holy spirit. Peter, standing up with the eleven, manifesting that spirit, informs those present God has just made good on this same promise. No wrangling needed! That said WHAT did I just say? Let’s look at the verse again.
Acts 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
If, instead, you read “holy spirit” in the above verse instead of “the Holy Ghost”, I’m saying the verse makes much more sense. So…
Acts 2:33 [Jesus] Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of holy spirit he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
On to verse 34-36
Acts 2:34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Again Peter quotes scripture – this time Psalm 101:1
This is a passage deserving of a very close look because the Greek does not give justice to the Hebrew when it comes to the words LORD and Lord. In the Hebrew, the word for “LORD” refers to YHWH – the Hebrew Tetragrammaton for the proper name of God. Meanwhile the Hebrew word for “Lord” is adonai meaning “master” or “ruler”. Understanding this, we can also understand David’s psalm should read
YHWH said to my lord (Jesus – David did not know his name) sit thou on my right hand…
Once again, one need not wrangle the scriptures to make sense of them. The meaning is clear. David prophesied that God Almighty would tell the Messiah Jesus to sit at His right hand until HE make his (Jesus’) foes his footstool. In the next verse (36) Peter goes on to state God indeed made Jesus both Lord (master, ruler) and Christ (Messiah).
I have yet to have any trinitarian explain to me exactly why God would need to make Jesus both Lord and Christ if he was already God. Seems like a lot of work for nothing, if you ask me.
Now lets get to the end of Peter’s sermon – Acts 2:37-40
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Here Peter wraps it all up after his audience asks what they should do now. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. (holy spirit)”.
In verse 41 we are informed about 5,000 souls came to Christ at that time. Do note Peter’s instruction was quite clear here – “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”. These instructions came with a promise that they would receive remission of sins and the gift (singular) of holy spirit.
Much wrong teaching can be refuted from this one simple spirit-filled sermon. By comparing this with other passages, such as I Corinthians 15, we can come to a better understanding of what happens when we die. I cannot explain why people have such a problem accepting the idea that death is like sleep and we will wake when Jesus returns. Instead they grasp the false idea that their loved ones immediately find themselves in the presence of God. They twist and wrestle with scriptures to understand this trinity idea. Why? What benefit is there to this? What is so hard about accepting that God Himself, our Heavenly Father is the Giver and He gives us holy spirit? Why wrangle with the misrendered word for spiritual things (pneumaticos in the Greek – rendered “spiritual gifts” in the King James) so as to entirely misread I Corinthians 13?
When Jesus was operating his ministry to his people here on earth, his greatest opposition came from the rulers of the Hebrew faith. How true his assertion concerning doctrines of men!
Mark 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Some things never change. I cannot say I’ve done so much better myself. I know what it is like to hold my tongue while church leaders spout such doctrines when I know, I KNOW, they are not what the scriptures teach. Even posting here, on this all but entirely obscure website, I wait for the day when one of my posts rubs someone the wrong way and begins attacking me.
I’ve had brothers in Christ, good men, tell me they doubted my salvation because I stand on my belief Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God and not God. I know what it is like fearing my family will be asked to leave a church because we do not accept trinitarianism. Things were bad enough when I challenged the idea that the dead do not immediately go to heaven. The pastor of that church looked me right in the eye and said, “Well, Jesus didn’t really die”. I understand his logic, if Jesus indeed is God, how could he die? And yet the apostle Paul stated:
1 Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
Now wait just a doggone minute! Nowhere in this passage does Paul state Jesus really died! True that, but how could Christ rise from the dead unless he actually was dead? Of course, this is not the only scripture stating that God raised Jesus from the dead. My contention is Jesus had to actually die in order to be raised from the dead. While this concept is not definitive in refuting the trinitarians, one must ask, is it possible for God to die – even if only for three days and three nights? I don’t know the answer and I decline to speculate further because I do not need to answer this question to satisfy my stand. If Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, a man who lived a perfect life, never sinning, and thus was qualified to shed his innocent blood for payment of man’s sins, then his death is perfectly logical.
As you read this passage in Acts, and re-read it I hope, you will find this impromptu spirit-filled sermon given by Peter chock full of truths. For the most part, I consider this one of the least adulterated scriptures in the Bible. In other words, there’s not much in it for us humans to muck up.
It is so rich, I cannot begin to capture all of the treasures revealed in these two posts. While I have pointed to some of the fallacies taught in today’s churches – those traditions of men – that directly contradict what Peter taught here, this passage should be a starting point rather than the end all and be all for those teachings. By all means, ask questions, search the scriptures for yourselves. I am not opposed or afraid of new light shining on those things I’ve come to understand. Are you?
There is a saying, nothing I found exactly like it in scripture though it rings true. “The eye sees what the mind tells it to see.” I’ve personally witnessed, and experienced, this phenomena, as I’m sure you have too. How many times have you faced a puzzle, a riddle, or some problem where the solution evaded you until, all of a sudden, you saw it. Maybe it just came to you or maybe it had to be revealed but once you saw the solution, you could never again unsee it. This same principle is true of scripture.
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Do you think Paul, after the truth of the risen Messiah was shown to him, could ever go back to hauling believers to jail? Of course not!
Surely some reading these posts will scoff and click away, shaking their heads or maybe their fists. Others may simply get bored quickly and go find something more exciting. These posts are not for them. These posts are for those who are curious, who want to know more about what God has to offer and are not afraid to seek Him out. Either you are ready to begin your journey or you are on the way already. Either way, I urge you to stay on the path. Keep searching. Do not depend on any one man to serve up God’s truth on a platter. Go directly to the source. Ask God for guidance. Search the scriptures. Pray for understanding, for the scales to drop from your eyes.
If I can say these two posts have a primary purpose, I suspect it is a demonstration of how rich just this small part of the whole can be if you just take the time to look. The scriptures are a gold mine of spiritual truths, but it is up to you to learn how to mine them.
May our Heavenly Father bless you and keep in in the precious name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.