Chapter 2 – One God Translation

Acts

   2 When the day of Pentecost had come and was being fulfilled,[755] they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a strong wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 There appeared flames of fire distributed to them, one sitting on each of them. 4 They were all filled with holy spirit and began to speak foreign languages,[756] as the spirit gave them the ability to speak.
    5 Now there were devout Jews living in Jerusalem from every nation on earth. 6 When this sound was heard a crowd gathered, bewildered because each one heard them speaking his own native language. 7 Amazed and confused, they exclaimed, “Look, are not all those who are speaking Galileans? 8 How are we hearing them speak our own native languages? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia; Egypt and the area of Libya around Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own languages about the mighty works of God.” 12 They continued to be astonished and perplexed, and said to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocked and said, “They are drunk with sweet wine!”
    14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and spoke to them: “People of Judea and all of you living in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and pay attention to my words. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose, as it is only nine in the morning! 16 But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘It will be in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out from My spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters[757] will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 On My servants, both male and female, I will pour out from My spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth beneath — blood, fire, and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be darkened and the moon will appear like blood before that great and glorious Day of the Lord will come. 21 And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
    22 “People of Israel, listen to my words: Jesus from Nazareth, a man[758] fully accredited to you by God by the miracles, wonders and signs that God did through him among you, as you well know — 23 this man was delivered up by the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of God, and using godless men, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God raised him up, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for him to be held in death’s grip. 25 For David refers to Jesus’ experience: ‘I saw the Lord always before me, because He is on my right hand so that I will not be shaken.[759] 26 So my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced, and my body will rest in hope 27 because You will not leave my soul in the grave, nor will You allow Your holy one to decay. 28 You made known the ways of life to me. You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’
    29 “Brothers, I confidently tell you that the patriarch David both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this very day. 30 Being a prophet, David knew that God had sworn an oath to him that He would seat one of his descendants on his throne. 31 Foreseeing this he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah: that he was not abandoned to the grave[760] nor did his body decay. 32 This Jesus, God resurrected, and we are all witnesses of that fact. 33 So now that he has been exalted to the right hand of God,[761] and has received from the Father the promised holy spirit, he has poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 For it was not David who went up to heaven,[762] but David himself said, ‘The Lord said to my lord,[763] “Sit at My right hand 35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ 36 Let the whole house of Israel therefore know with absolute certainty that God has made him both lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” [764]
    37 Hearing this, they were very troubled and asked Peter and the rest of the Apostles, “Brothers, what are we to do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized,[765] each one of you, in the name of Jesus Messiah[766] for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of holy spirit. 39 For this promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off — as many as the Lord our God will invite to Himself.” [767] 40 With many other words Peter continued to testify, and he warned them, “Save yourselves from this crooked society!” [768] 41 So those who received his word were baptized,[769] and there were added that day about three thousand persons. 42 They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and to fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayer.
    43 Awe came on everyone, and many miracles and signs were performed by the Apostles. 44 All who had believed were together, and had all things in common. 45 They sold their property and belongings and shared with all, as anyone had a need. 46 Day after day they met regularly and with one mind in the Temple courts, and breaking bread from house to house, they were eating their meals together with joy and humble hearts, 47 praising God and finding favor with all the people. The Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts

[755]

The Greek suggests that it not only came but was being fulfilled, the calendar day being superseded by its spiritual fulfillment (see Col. 2:16-17; Heb. 8:5; 10:1). “Adam is a type of the one to come” (Rom. 5:14) and the tri-fold calendar — holy days, new moons and weekly Sabbaths — are a shadow of the Messiah who has come.

[756]

The narrative is quite clear that it was not a miracle of hearing on the part of the audience, but a miraculous ability on the part of the Apostles (and others, up to 120) to speak in real foreign languages (v. 6, 8, 11). They were the languages of various nationalities attending the Feast. “Every man heard them speaking in his own language” (v. 6). It is misleading to translate glossa as other than “language.” On no account should the miracle be moved from the Apostles to their international audience. “There is no evidence whatever of [the languages in Acts or at Corinth] being mere gibberish as distinct from language. All that Paul said to the Corinthians is fully applicable to any language spoken when there were none present who understood it” (Pulpit Commentary, Acts, p. 50). The miracle points to a time when all persons including angels will be united in Christ. This reversed the Tower of Babel. Paul covers the extent of the language gift when he refers to “human or angelic languages” (1 Cor. 13:1). He was no friend of unintelligibility and tried to expose a hidden false “tongue” by telling the speaker to pray in order to interpret for the benefit of the church (1 Cor. 14:13). Today’s claims to foreign language supernaturally spoken need to be verified. Such claims to be speaking in “tongues” (really foreign language unlearned) require inspection and verification (“prove all things”). Otherwise there is the great danger of self-deception and false claims, an exercise in dishonesty. The situation is aggravated when the claim to “tongues” is made the sign of having the holy spirit, leading the one who has the “tongues” to consider all who do not have the “tongues” to be without holy spirit, and thus not Christian, since every true believer must have the spirit (Rom. 8:9).

[757]

Showing that the spirit and its gifts were not limited to the men! So also in 1 Cor. 12 and 14. Both men and women exercised their gifts in church.

[758]

Peter knew nothing about a “GOD-man,” which is the product of post-biblical theology confusing the central doctrine of Jesus and of Scripture that “the Lord our God is one Lord” (Mk. 12:29) and that the Father is “the only one who is true God” (Jn. 17:3; 5:44).

[759]

The pronoun “him” refers to the Messiah, the holy one of God as Peter goes on to say, quoting David.

[760]

I. e. “gravedom,” the world of all the dead, both good and evil, Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek.

[761]

Fulfilling Ps. 110:1 where the Messiah is adoni, my lord (not LORD!) and thus not Deity but a supremely exalted man. This is the easy early creed of the Christians (1 Tim. 2:5). Adoni, my lord, is never a title of Deity, all 195 times. When occurring in contrast to GOD, it is regularly rendered kurios mou, my lord. There is no uncertainty or evidence of corruption in the Greek text here.

[762]

David was obviously not then alive in heaven! This demonstrates the pervasive teaching of the Bible that the dead are non-conscious until the future resurrection (Dan. 12:2). The dead know nothing at all and there is no activity in Sheol/Hades, the place of all the dead (Ecc. 9:5, 10; Jn. 11:11, 14).

[763]

The key term is adoni, my lord, which in all 195 occurrences is never the title of Deity. This shows how confusing the later philosophical, non-biblical attempt was to say that Jesus was co-equal God and member of a triune God not once recognized in the Bible. The word “God” in the NT refers to the Father of Jesus over 1300 times and none of the various words for God in Scripture (Adonai, YHVH, Elohim, Theos) ever means a triune God. Jesus as founder of the Christian faith (Heb. 2:3) was not a Trinitarian, because he and a fellow Jew were in complete agreement on the unitarian creed of the Hebrew Bible (see Mk. 12:28ff). The capital letter on the second lord of Ps. 110:1 is most misleading, forcing the reader to believe that the second lord is Adonai, the Lord GOD — a second GOD! Adoni is never a title of Deity. Adonai always is.

[764]

The Bible’s Jesus is just that, “the lord Messiah” who was born in Bethlehem (Lk. 2:11) and is also the LORD’s, Yehovah’s Messiah (Lk. 2:26). See Ps. 2 where Yehovah has put His Messiah on the hill at Jerusalem, that is He will do this when Jesus returns.

[765]

The command was to be baptized in water of course, and this is a standing order for all believers according to Scripture. It is commanded equally by Jesus in the Great Commission and is an issue of obedience. Disobedience would be a gravely dangerous mistake (Heb. 5:9; Jn. 14:15; 3:36).

[766]

That is, based on the teaching of Messiah and his authority. The name of a person in Scripture means all that that person stands for and represents — certainly not how to pronounce the name in Hebrew! Yahweh, YHVH, is the personal name of the One God. The meaning of His name is given us in Greek in Rev. 1:4, 8; 11:17; 16:5, but not the name in Hebrew, which is found nowhere in the NT Greek scripture. An attempt was made by some Jews who translated the LXX to reproduce the divine name in Hebrew, but this is never attempted in NT Scripture.

[767]

Acts 17:30 states that “God now commands all men everywhere to repent.” He also “wants all men to be saved” (1Tim. 2:4). Calvinism is opposed to this universal invitation of God to salvation in Jesus. Matt. 13:15 states the problem of blindness cannot be blamed on God: “They have closed their eyes.” In Acts 13:46 Paul told his opponents who refused the Gospel that they were “counting themselves unworthy of salvation in the age to come.”

[768]

The Greek word genea means evil society right up to the time of the Second Coming. See Mark 8:38 where Jesus compared the present evil genea with the future age of the Kingdom to begin at the Second Coming. Note the use of genea to mean “brood” or type of person in Prov. 30:11-14: and Luke 16:8.

[769]

In water of course, as a public demonstration of their becoming part of the body of Messiah. Baptism in water is an essential part of the salvation process (Acts 8:12), as “the response of a clear conscience” (1 Pet. 3:21).