One of the great foundations of the modern Christianity is that Acts
chapter 2 is the birthday of “the church”. This remains the great
foundation of Christian faith and practice right across the
denominational spectrum. So broadly held and concreted is this
foundation that it is rarely questioned.
The word “church”
appears in the opening chapters of this book and without examination
everyone injects themselves into the scene. “Church” is often used
to mean a local assembly (Acts 2:47. 5:11) rather than a divinely
established company. Israel is just as much a “church of God” as the
Body of Christ.
Pentecost was
fulfilled on that day so many years ago and there, supposed by
tradition, Israelites and Gentiles were baptized into the body of
Christ.
This lesson we
shall examine the Word of God to determine whether this ancient
foundation is scripturally sound. But first some background
concerning the disciples.
Some teach the disciples were either confused regarding the Feast of
Pentecost or at least unaware of the incredible new beginning God
was about to unfold before them. Apparently they were a sad and
unfulfilled group who were finally made aware of God’s purpose when
the Holy Spirit gave them the enlightenment. Is this true?
The book of Acts
was written by Luke and his gospel happily overlaps events of that
time for our clearer understanding of these things. Here are some
verses from the last chapter where our Lord had revealed himself to
the two on the road to Emmaus and later the other disciples, and in
both cases confirming some things to them;
Luk
24:25
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken:
Luk
24:26
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
his glory?
Luk
24:27
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them
in all the scriptures the things concerning himself
Luk
24:44
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
psalms, concerning me
The resurrected
Saviour spoke to the two downhearted disciples on the road and
encouraged them that suffering must be endured before glory. The
suffering was all foretold in the OT and the glory that was to
surely follow was foretold in the OT as well. This should begin to
prepare us for the fact that the glory was all OT based and includes
the Feast of Pentecost and the other Feasts which follow it.
Then the Saviour
did something marvellous for them, He opened their minds to
understand the Scriptures;
Luk
24:45
And He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures.
The disciples had
their intellect opened to comprehend the very Scriptures our Lord
had been using to describe the glory that was to come. It is near to
ridiculous to suggest that the disciples had no idea what Pentecost
was all about when Christ opened their minds.
We note at the end
of Luke a statement is made concerning the emotional state of the
disciples and with opened minds and explanations from the Lord we
are not surprised to read:
Luk
24:51
And it happened as He blessed them, He withdrew from them and was
carried up into Heaven.
Luk
24:52
And worshiping Him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
Luk
24:53
And they were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.
Amen.
Let all Christians
note, the disciples were not dejected and confused, nor uncertain in
any way of what was about to happen but were filled with great joy,
in the Temple, praising and blessing God.
The opening chapter
of Acts adds further evidence that the disciples were not ignorant
of the Lord’s purposes or confused or dejected or downhearted;
Act
1:1
Truly, O Theophilus, I made the first report as to all things that
Jesus began both to do and teach
Act
1:2
until the day He was taken up, having given directions to the
apostles whom He chose, through the Holy Spirit;
Act
1:3
to whom He also presented Himself living after His suffering by many
infallible proofs, being seen by them through forty days, and
speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Pentecost was the
50th day from the wave offering in the Feast of
Unleavened Bread. For forty of those days the Lord, after he had
opened their understanding, spoke to them of the things pertaining
to the Kingdom of God. Some Christians think that the term “the
Kingdom of God” really means “the church”. However we note that
after all this speaking by the Lord, and His command to tarry in
Jerusalem until they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, the disciples
had one question and one question only. And this question is asked
in the light of Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which was
about to befall them;
Act
1:6
Then, indeed, these coming together, they asked Him, saying, Lord,
do You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?
Tradition links
this baptism of the Holy Spirit with “the church” but the educated
and illuminated disciples linked it with the restored Kingdom to
Israel. Which is true?
Tradition says the
disciples had no idea of what was going on at Pentecost. Tradition
does not believe our Lord Christ really opened their minds.
Tradition says our Lord Christ was one of the worst teachers the
world has ever seen. Tradition says the disciples must be listed as
the dumbest followers of Christ ever.
We must stand with
the Word of God. The disciples were correct in their question and
later, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit Peter says this;
Act
3:17
And now, brothers, I know that you did it through ignorance, as also
your rulers did.
Act
3:18
But those things which God before had shown by the mouth of all His
prophets, that Christ should suffer, He fulfilled in this manner.
Act
3:19
Therefore repent and convert so that your sins may be blotted out,
when the times of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord.
Act
3:20
And He shall send Jesus Christ, who before was proclaimed to you,
Act
3:21
whom Heaven truly needs to receive until the times of
restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth
of His holy prophets since the world began.
We do not restore
something by bringing in something entirely new or different. Peter
refers to the times of “refreshing” or revival for Israel and the
times of “restoration” which the prophets spoke about and friends
the prophets spoke about the restoration of Israel not “the church”.
So the question in Acts 1:6 is still in the mind of Peter in Acts
3:17-21 after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost is one of
the Feats given to Israel and it therefore foreshadowed something
for that nation. The Lord gave Israel commands concerning the Feasts
and this one is very relevant to this examination;
Deu
16:16
Three times in a year shall all your males appear before Jehovah
your God in the place which He shall choose: in the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of
Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before Jehovah empty,
In the times of the
NT, Jerusalem was swollen with pilgrims from the known world and
Luke mentions these in the second chapter;
Act
2:5
And dwelling at Jerusalem there were Jews, devout men out of
every nation under heaven.
Act
2:7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another,
Behold, are not these who speak all Galileans?
Act
2:8
And how do we each hear in our own dialect in which we were born?
Act
2:9
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia,
and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Act
2:10
Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya around
Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Act
2:11
Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking the great things of God
in our own languages.
Twice in this
passage we are told that the crowd consisted of Jews (and
proselytes) from twelve nations and regions who had gathered to the
Feast. They are also described as being devout since at great
expense they had obeyed the command of God to appear before Him.
Please note a
proselyte was not considered a Gentile by the Israelites, having
been baptized, circumcised, presented an offering and according to
their terms “born again”.
To further confirm
that the crowds were Israelites and Israelites only we list here the
terms of address Peter used;
Act 2:14 But Peter, standing up
with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke out to them, "Men of
Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,
Act
2:22
"Men of Israel, hear these words:
Act
2:29
"Men, brothers,
Act
2:36
"Therefore let all the house of Israel know
And also in chapter
three;
Act
3:12
So when Peter saw this, he replied to the people: "Men of Israel,
why do you marvel at this?
Act
3:25
You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made
with our fathers,
No gentile is a man of Israel or a physical brother to Peter or any
part of the house of Israel or a son of the prophets or a son of any
covenant God made with Israel’s Fathers. If the Gentile is a
proselyte then he is no longer a Gentile.
Thus far we have
presented to sound Scriptural reasons why there were no Gentiles in
those crowds on the Feast of Pentecost. But there is further
irrefutable evidence.
In Acts chapter 10
this very same Apostle Peter had journeyed to Joppa. He was hungry
and had fallen into a trance. In this trance a sheet was let down
from heaven three times in which were all kinds of animals. A voice
called to him to rise, kill and eat;
Act
10:10
And he became very hungry and desired to eat. But while they made
ready, an ecstasy fell on him.
Act
10:11
And he saw the heaven opened and a certain vessel like a sheet
coming down to him, being bound at the four corners and let down to
the earth;
Act
10:12
in which were all the four-footed animals of the earth, and the wild
beasts, and the reptiles, and the birds of the heaven.
Act
10:13
And a voice came to him, saying, Rise, Peter! Kill and eat!
We note the Apostle
refused the voice from heaven on the grounds of faithful observance
of the Law. Peter was a Law abiding Israelite;
Act
10:14
But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that
is common or unclean.
Please note the
words “common or unclean”. What Laws would have crossed Peter’s mind
at the vision which made him respond with the words common or
unclean? The vision of animals undoubtedly referred to the laws
given to Israel regarding their diet;
Lev
20:25
And you shall make a difference between clean animals and unclean,
and between unclean fowls and clean. And you shall not defile your
souls by beast, or by fowl, or by any kind of living thing that
creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
Lev
20:26
And you shall be holy to Me. For I, Jehovah, am holy, and have
severed you from the nations, so that you should be Mine.
Israel’s diet was
to remind them that God had severed them from the Gentiles and Peter
was about to receive an invite from a Gentile. Let the reader be
assured that without this vision and voice from Heaven, Peter would
have spurned the invitation with a “not so Lord”. Nothing less than
the Lord’s own voice would change this man’s mind;
Act
10:15
And the voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has made
clean, you do not call common.
What was it that
God had made clean (John 1:29) and Peter was not to call common? The
following statement by Peter to Cornelius clearly links the vision
with Gentiles who up till this time were considered by Peter to be
common and unclean;
Act
10:28
And he said to them, You know that it is an unlawful thing for a
man, a Jew to keep company with or to come near to one of another
nation. But God has shown me not to call any man common or unclean.
Up until Acts 10
Peter believed it was an “unlawful” thing for an Israelite to keep
company with a Gentile so there were no Gentiles at Pentecost else
the Lord was many years late teaching Peter. Peter goes on to say
“but God has shown me”. When did God show Peter? Not at Pentecost
but in the vision at Acts 10.
Peter received a
threefold vision immediately prior to three men arriving with an
invitation from Gentile and when the invitation was delivered Peter
received yet another confirmation, this time from the Holy Spirit;
Act
11:11
And behold, immediately three men stood at the house in which I was,
sent from Caesarea to me.
Act
11:12
And the Spirit told me to go with them, not discriminating.
The Lord told Peter
that he was not to call Gentiles common or unclean since He had
cleansed them. The Holy Spirit confirmed the words of the Lord by
also telling Peter not to discriminate. So Peter went to Cornelius’s
house and then asked an incredible question;
Act
10:29
Therefore I came without complaint, being sent for. I ask, then, for
what reason have you sent for me.
Christian Bible
student, this question of Peter’s must make you think. Why ask
Cornelius what he wanted if Peter had preached to Gentiles in Acts
2?
I am praying you
have already asked the obvious question. Why would Peter need a
threefold vision to go to a Gentile if they had already been
baptized into “the church” at Acts 2?
And as if these
things are not enough then we shall make a few final points from
Acts 11.
Act
11:1
And the apostles and brothers who were in Judea heard that the
nations had also received the Word of God.
When did the
apostles and brethren hear that the Gentiles had ALSO received the
Word of God? These events are many years after Acts 2. Were these
apostles and brethren also confused?
Included among the
brethren were the members of the circumcision group who contended
with Peter;
Act
11:2
And when Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision
contended with him,
Act
11:3
saying, You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them.
Why would this
group contend with Peter if Gentiles had been baptized into the
“church” at Acts 2? Note, Peter was of the circumcision and all
believers to this time were of the circumcision so this use of the
word must refer to the Pharisaic or Judaizers within the Israeli
community.
Peter then fully
recounts the event and concludes with these words;
Act
11:15
And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as on us at
the beginning.
Act
11:17
If God gave to them the same gift as to us, they having believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to prevent God?
If ever we wanted
the final proof that there were no Gentiles at Pentecost this is it.
Peter declares that Cornelius received the Holy Spirit just like the
Israelites did at the beginning, which is Pentecost.
It was God who gave
the Cornelius the gift so perhaps Peter would have tried to prevent
God without the vision. Again, how would Peter speak like this if
gentiles had already been so blessed at Acts 2?
The apostles and
brethren also came to a realization:
Act
11:18
When they heard these things, they were silent and glorified God,
saying, Then God has also granted repentance to life to the nations.
In Acts 10 &11 five
groups or individuals confirm to us that there were no Gentiles at
Acts 2.
1. The Lord
Himself, who had to give Peter a vision about the Gentiles.
2. The Holy Spirit
who told Peter not to discriminate against them.
3. Peter himself,
who would have refused to go had he not been given such clear
commands.
4. The Circumcision
group.
5. The other
Apostles and brethren who finally acknowledged that God had been in
this.
In the mouths of
two or three witnesses will a thing be established but yet, despite
these plain statements from the Word, the traditions of men continue
to hold sway. The “church started at Pentecost where Israelites and
gentiles were baptized together is as far from the truth as can be
imagined.
Let the honest
Bible student acknowledge that the disciples were not confused and
ignorant men; they knew exactly what Pentecost was about, it
concerned Israel and its coming Kingdom on the earth.
Let the honest
Bible student acknowledge that the ridiculous tradition claiming
Israelite and Gentile were baptized into the “church” at Acts 2 is
totally without Scriptural basis.
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