Acts 2:1-21
Why is the Holy Spirit so misunderstood?
Let’s begin with a look at the history behind this Day of Pentecost that we hear about in our text today from the book of Acts 2:1-21.
We’re all familiar with the story of how God led the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. He then had them celebrate the Passover festival that same night, and commanded them to celebrate it annually, as a memorial of their Exodus out of Egypt and how they had been “passed over” when God struck down the firstborn in Egypt. Counting from that day, they journeyed in the desert for fifty days to Mount Sinai, where the Law was given to them by God, through Moses.
God commanded the Israelites to also commemorate this event annually, the giving of the Law, with what in Hebrew, is called the “Feast of Weeks”, as it was 7 weeks after the end of Passover, “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath,” as God told Moses in Leviticus 23:15. In the New Testament, the Greek word “Pentecostes” (which means “fiftieth day”) was used for this Feast of Weeks, to signify that it occurred on the fiftieth day after Passover. It is one of 3 feasts that required Jewish men annually to travel to Jerusalem, so that’s why in our passage today, we see the city full of Jews from near and far, “from every nation under heaven” celebrating this “Feast of Pentecost”.
They had been reaffirming the Old Covenant, by celebrating God giving them the Law on Mount Sinai, but we see here the Holy Spirit comes and brings the New Covenant.
The events that occurred on this Day of Pentecost and the role of the Holy Spirit remain among the most misunderstood and misused areas of Scripture.
To start with, the Holy Spirit is a ‘who’ not a ‘what’. He is the 3rd person of the Trinity, but that does not relegate him to 3rd place in the league table of holiness. He is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son. He “proceeds from the Father and the Son” as we confess in the Nicene Creed.
Then there is the confusion that arises from verse 4 in our text, when the tongues of fire rest on each of the disciples:
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Taken in isolation this verse has led to much misunderstanding. The first part:
“ … they were all filled with the Holy Spirit …”
… has been misinterpreted as meaning that the Holy Spirit is something that people can “top up with”, like petrol or an energy drink. That can be called down from heaven when a boost or spiritual high is needed, so that people can then do the second part of the verse: “speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” There are churches today, where this verse has been misused to encourage and pressure people into demonstrating that they’ve been “taken in the Spirit” by babbling in a pseudo-Hebrew non-language that no-one understands, or dance around wildly, or fall to the ground. Some even teach that these experiences of the Spirit are necessary to validate one’s faith.
But what does Scripture tell us happens, verses 6-8 say:
“ … and they (the crowd) were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?”
Not an unintelligible, confusing babble, but “we hear, each of us in his own native language.” And why would the Holy Spirit enable the disciples to perform this miracle? Verse 11 tells us:
“we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God”
So that ALL can hear what God has done, to proclaim God’s glory to them. And this is just the beginning.
The Holy Spirit then prompts Peter to stand up in front of all these people and lift up his voice to explain what’s going on. He first of all quotes the prophet Joel:
“I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, even on my male servants and female servants, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
“I will pour out my spirit” is used here twice, leading to further misinterpretation to diminish the Holy Spirit to a magical essence, entirely missing the truly incredible part:
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Peter then goes on to preach a wonderful and compelling sermon on the Gospel in the verses following our text, ending with:
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Wonderful!
In John’s Gospel the Greek word Jesus uses to describe the Holy Spirit is “paraklētos”. Depending on the Bible you use this is translated into English as “Helper”, “Comforter” or “Advocate”. These are all good translations as they each highlight a different characteristic of the Holy Spirit
And here we see the Holy Spirit as Helper.
The disciples who a few weeks before were cowering in a locked room, scared, fearful of what might happen to them. Peter, the three times Christ-denier, who along with the other disciples over and again didn’t get who Christ is. But when they receive ‘the Helper’ that Christ promised, there is an incredible transformation. Peter boldly, and without fear, preaches the Gospel to a huge crowd of strangers.
So we see that the first work of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ ascension was to reveal the true meaning of God’s Word to the disciples, removing the veil, removing the scales from their eyes, hearts and minds so they can finally understand who Jesus is, what he has done and what scripture truly says about him.
Jesus had prophesied precisely this in John 14, when he told them at the Passover supper:
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)
And after Peter’s sermon, the Holy Spirit, the Helper, then brings 3,000 people to repentance and gives them faith through baptism.
I ask you – What is more important to God? For us to be able to dance around and speak gibberish? Or is it to proclaim His Word boldly to people so that His Holy Spirit can work on their hearts and minds so that they can be counted amongst His saved people?
And what else did Jesus tell us, and the disciples, that the Holy Spirit will do when he comes? In John 16 v8 he says:
“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”
He will open our eyes to the truth of our sinful state, that no-one is righteous and that we are judged guilty under the Law.
The Law, that is written on our hearts and we hear in Scripture, condemns us. It tells us that our works are pointless, and that our human nature has made us hostile to God. All we can see before us is judgement, punishment and death.
We either double-down and wallow deeper in our cesspit and mud pool of sin, or our sinful nature unwillingly and outwardly obeys some of God’s commands in a self-righteous attempt to avoid the punishment that we know we deserve. But in our sin riddled hearts, we know that we do not love God, cannot love God and would prefer that there was no God.
Either way we are utterly lost. And we, just like the disciples a few weeks before the day of Pentecost, lock ourselves away from God in sorrow and fear.
But the Helper drags us up out of the dark pit of despair to the foot of the cross in repentance.
And at that moment, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, says to us “Look up and be comforted for there is your sin, there is your unrighteousness, nailed to the cross.” He comforts us with the Gospel. That the Father sent his dear Son to shed his blood and die to cancel our sins, redeem us and reconcile us to God.
The Holy Spirit as Advocate pleads our case before court of judgement and clothes us in Christ’s righteousness. He advocates for us to be declared innocent, as Christ is, for:
15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he (the Holy Spirit) will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:15)
And this isn’t a one-time deal. Holy Spirit’s work is ongoing in us. We are a work in progress. We still sin, we sometimes still feel like failures and that we’re unworthy, but: Holy Spirit will always be there to comfort and strengthen us when we feel weight of our sin and see judgement deserve.
Comforter daily reminds us of our Baptism, when our Old Adam drowned and we received faith, he reminds us our salvation doesn’t depend on us but on Christ alone. That we have “ an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” 1 Peter 1
As we daily immerse ourselves in God’s Word, the Helper stands next to us as teacher to open our hearts and minds to reveal the truths of Scripture that he inspired men to write. The author of scripture speaks to us of the wondrous comforting Gospel. As Jesus tells us in John 15:26
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me”
He teaches and readies us so that we are:
“always prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”
Knowing the truth of the Gospel, He emboldens us so that, just like Peter, we can confidently speak to others about the hope, the certainty that we have through faith in Christ.
The knowledge he gives us means we know what is pleasing to God and what are true and good Christian fruits in our daily lives, in our roles and vocations.
He continues to work on us throughout our lives to prepare us for the day that we stand before God, when the Advocate will declare us innocent.
Take heart the Holy Spirit is with you. The Helper, the Comforter and the Advocate gives you all you need until Christ comes again.
Amen