J\u00e1nos Bal\u00e1zs (1904-1927), \u201cGolgota\u201d (1923);\u00a0Wikimedia Commons public domain image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The principal action of Acts 2 occurs on Pentecost, as Acts 2:1 explains: \u00a0\u201cWhen the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mainstream Christian holy day of Pentecost, which is still celebrated fifty days after Easter Sunday \u2014 meaning, of course, that it too always occurs on a Sunday \u2014\u00a0recalls the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles and other disciples of Jesus\u00a0while they were in Jerusalem marking the Festival of Weeks, or Shavuot (\u05e9\u05d1\u05d5\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea<\/span>). \u00a0The Greek word \u03c0\u03b5\u03bd\u03c4\u03b7\u03ba\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae<\/span>\u00a0(p<\/em>ent\u0113kost\u0113<\/i>)\u00a0means \u201cfiftieth.\u201d \u00a0The Feast or Festival of Weeks is a harvest festival that is celebrated seven weeks and one day after the first Sabbath of Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Which is a long-winded way of explaining that the narrative of Acts 2 concerns the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. \u00a0According to Acts 1:3, Jesus intermittently appeared to his disciples \u201cover a period of forty days\u201d following his emergence from the tomb, presumably training them and preparing them for their new role as the leaders of the Church. \u00a0(Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on the fortieth day after Easter Sunday.) \u00a0So Pentecost comes ten days after Christ ascended into heaven, and, so far as we are aware, it marks the apostles\u2019 first public preaching after the death and resurrection of Jesus.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll discuss only a very small part of the narrative, Acts 2:14, 22-24, 36, using the English Standard Version (ESV) as my English text. \u00a0And, where it\u2019s specifically cited, I\u2019m also using Mikeal C. Parsons and Martin M. Culy, Acts: A Handbook on the Greek Text<\/em> (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2003), to which I will refer as Parsons\/Culy:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
14\u00a0<\/sup>But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: \u201cMen of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. . . . \u00a022\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cMen of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know [\u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u1f7c\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f34\u03b4\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5]\u2014<\/span> 23\u00a0<\/sup>this Jesus,\u00a0delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified\u00a0and killed [\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03c0\u03ae\u03be\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03bb\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5] by the hands of lawless [\u1f00\u03bd\u03cc\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd] men.<\/span> 24\u00a0<\/sup>God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. . . . \u00a036\u00a0<\/sup>Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified [\u1f43\u03bd \u1f51\u03bc\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c1\u03ce\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5].\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n1:22 \u2014 \u201cas you yourselves know\u201d [\u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u1f7c\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f34\u03b4\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5] \u2014 \u201cThis rhetorically powerful clause implies that the listeners were slow to accept the implications of what they knew to be true.\u201d \u00a0(Parsons\/Culy 36).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n1:23 \u2014\u00a0\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03c0\u03ae\u03be\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 (literally, \u201chaving nailed up\u201d)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n1:23 \u2014 \u00a0\u201ckilled\u201d [\u1f00\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03bb\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5] \u2014 The verb here comes from<\/span>\u00a0\u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u1f73\u03c9 (\u201cto bear away,\u201d \u201cto carry away,\u201d \u201cto destroy\u201d). \u00a0Its ending is already in the second person plural, which shows that Peter is directly addressing his audience. \u00a0But it isn\u2019t emphatic. \u00a0Not yet<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n1:23 \u2014 The \u201clawless men\u201d (literally a-nomoi<\/em>, \u201cpeople without law\u201d) were presumably the Romans and the Roman soldiers. \u00a0They were Gentiles. \u00a0But they were merely the instruments of the truly guilty, who killed Jesus \u201cby the[ir] hands.\u201d \u00a0\u201cYou crucified\u00a0and killed\u201d him, Peter says to the \u201cmen of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem\u201d (2:14) and to the \u201cmen of Israel\u201d (1:22).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n1:24 \u2014 \u201cwhom you crucified\u201d [\u1f43\u03bd \u1f51\u03bc\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c1\u03ce\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5] \u2014 The verb \u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c1\u1f79\u03c9 (\u201cto crucify\u201d) derives from the noun \u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03c1\u1f79\u03c2 (cross). \u00a0Like\u00a0\u1f00\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03bb\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5 above (\u201cyou [pl.] killed\u201d),\u00a0<\/span>this verb, which is already in the second person plural, does not need an independently standing pronoun (\u201cyou\u201d [pl.]\u201d for its reference to be clear. \u00a0The freestanding\u00a0\u1f51\u03bc\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2 (\u201cyou\u201d [pl.]), standing before the verb, is emphatic: \u00a0\u201cwhom you<\/em> killed.\u201d \u201cThe overt fronted subject pronoun clearly identifies the agents of Jesus\u2019 crucifixion, helps bring the speech to its climax, and implicitly calls for a response from the listeners\u201d\u00a0(Parsons\/Culy 43).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Assuming that the account given by Luke in Acts 2 is essentially accurate, I\u2019m very struck by this speech of Peter\u2019s. \u00a0It depicts belief in the resurrection of Jesus as very, very early. \u00a0And Peter, who, with the other apostles, had been hiding out in an upper room immediately following the crucifixion of their leader, is now, less than two months later, both (1) flatly and fearlessly accusing his audience of a judicial murder against God\u2019s chosen Christ and (2) publicly proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the tomb at a time when that tomb was presumably well known and when it could easily have been examined. \u00a0The very authorities who had killed Jesus because they perceived him as a threat to them are still very much in power.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 The principal action of Acts 2 occurs on Pentecost, as Acts 2:1 explains: \u00a0\u201cWhen the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.\u201d \u00a0 The mainstream Christian holy day of Pentecost, which is still celebrated fifty days after Easter Sunday \u2014 meaning, of course, that it too always occurs on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10940,11141,1821,1266,9775,1356,1369,3190,11144,3343,1366,11147,1573],"class_list":["post-84842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-acts","tag-acts-2","tag-apostle","tag-apostles","tag-apostolic","tag-christ","tag-jesus","tag-passover","tag-pentecost","tag-peter","tag-resurrection","tag-shavuot","tag-testimony"],"yoast_head":"\n
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