Skip to main content

The Early Believers

One thing that sermons about the early believers at the end of Acts 2 frequently miss is that they were mostly Jews! Albeit many of them living outside Judea. The god-fearers among them (if there were any) were essentially converts to Judaism from the nations. Most of them were Jews who had lived outside Judea so long their mother tongue was Parthian or Arabic or Median (Persian) or whatever. One proof of the fact they were Jews is that they met daily in the temple courtyard, or colonnades, as well as in their homes:

'And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts' 2:46

The book of Acts shows the fulfilment of Jesus' own post-resurrection prophecy that the good news would be preached to the nations, starting in Jerusalem, then spreading out to all Judea, Samaria, and then to the non Semitic nations in the 'ends of the earth' (Acts 1.8).

So when the Samaritans receive the Holy Spirit this is proof of the gospel having reached them. Likewise with the non-Semitic gentile nations. As well as seeing Acts as acts of the Holy Spirit, which it is, we need to see it as support for cross-cultural mission.

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts of the Apostles 1:6‭-‬8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/act.1.6-8.NLT

At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem.
Acts of the Apostles 2:5 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/act.2.5.NLT

Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.
Acts of the Apostles 8:1 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/act.8.1.NLT

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts of the Apostles 8:14‭-‬17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/act.8.14-17.NLT

Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too.
Acts of the Apostles 10:44‭-‬45 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/act.10.44-45.NLT



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Person's Contextualisation is Another Person's Syncretism

I was in an interesting discussion full of anthropologists the other day. They were discussing syncretism. Most of them were of the view that outsiders cannot decide which practices are syncretistic and which are not. It has to be a decision made by local believers. This is because only local people can create indigenous theologies, that is, interpret Scripture according to the local worldview(s).  Not only that, some practices need to be tolerated in the short term, as we trust that new believers will gradually mature, and realise that those practices need to be weaned out of their lives. This can take time, perhaps years. Outsiders can, however, help local believers through the process of deciding for themselves which practices need to be rejected, which can be accepted, and which need to be modified according to (local formed) principles from Scripture. For example, ancestor practices, which my PhD thesis was on, are often continued by people after they have come to faith. They...
Post a Comment
Read more

Scripture Engagement for Translation Advisors

What do translation advisors need to know about Scripture engagement (SE), and why? Let's look at the 'why' first: Translation advisors (TAs) are often involved in day-to-day exegesis. They help mother-tongue translators (MTTs) prepare drafts. The MTTs they work with might not know Hebrew or Greek. The TAs then take part in the team check of that draft, which involves other MTTs in the project as well as the TA. Sometimes they are also involved in the coordination of the translation programme. They are very busy people. So why do they need to know about SE? Because: The translation is ultimately for an audience that has felt needs that are not being addressed by the translation programme. Analysing and meeting (or helping to meet) the felt needs of the audience should be the first priority of any mission worker, including TAs. Only about 30% of completed translations are well used. The initial set up of the programme needs to take SE into consideration (it's no good wai...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Problems and Pitfalls of Proof-Texting

Why is it wrong to proof-text when making an argument?  Proof-texting is when someone simply quotes a verse from the Bible, out of context, to make a point. This can be in a book, a conversation, an essay, or a sermon, to give some examples. I just did a quick read of some other blogs on this topic, and none of them wowed me, so I thought I'd write my own. Then I had an even better idea: why not get you to tell me why proof-texting is problematic? In other words, I want to crowd-source the problem, and get lots of input. Since it is my suggestion, and I already did some research, let me get the ball rolling. Proof-texting is problematic because: It ignores the original context of the verse. There are actually two types of context: The literary context of the verse, that is, the verse is situated in a passage (that might be making an entirely different point) of Scripture that has a certain genre. For instance, the book of Acts is narrative, which means it is descriptive of what hap...
3 comments
Read more