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NASB | Acts 2:16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 2:16 but this is [the beginning of] what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: |
Subject: An Exegete of Acts 2 |
Bible Note: Dear Jeff, Saturday evening greetings from the foothills of the Arkansas Ozarks where the sky is clear and the air brisk and bracing. ..... The few thoughts that follow, if they apply to anyone, apply to me as much as you, and to all other participants in this Forum as much as the participants in this thread. ...... This Acts 2 is a glorious chapter in God's word; if for no other reason, it heralds the birthday of the church and what a blessed event that was. But in this chapter are points that have been the subjects of lively debate over the years. To cite two examples: At the beginning is the passage about the visitation on the brethren of tongues as of fire, their being filled with the Holy Spirit who empowered them to speak with other tongues as He gave them utterance. And the other example comes near the wrap-up of the chapter, at the conclusion of Peter's sermon, wherein he tells his audience, "Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ...... In the first example, there exist differences of interpretation of the meaning of speaking in tongues, some holding that it means simply the ability to speak and be understood in various known lanuages in order to facilitate communication, while others see this miracle as being the empowerment to speak ecstatically in a tongue unknown to man. .... And in the latter passage concerning baptism, the controversy revolves around whether baptism has any salvific significance. ..... And the vast mid section of the chapter which records Peter's sermon provides, as I understand this thread, the main thrust of the tension between different points of view being presented here. ...... Now, I won't take part in this controversy here, because that is not the object of this post, and I should be very glad if people would not draw inferences from my silence on these disputed matters, for my silence need not mean that I am sitting on the fence about what has been written in Acts 2. On some biblical points I am on the fence still, even after being a Christian for more than half a century, not knowing and not pretending to know all the answers or even most of the answers. Some I may never know this side of eternity, and even if I asked them in heaven, I might for all I know be answered, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me." ...... But there are other points, other issues, other questions about which I am surely on one side of the fence or the other. Sometimes I speak out volubly on these things and other times I say nothing, depending on what the things are and how crucial they are to core Christian doctrine. On what may be called secondary issues, if you please, often it is better to remain silent to a controversy than to fan the flames of a discourse that already has more than enough fire of its own. ...... I like C. S. Lewis. For an Englishman intellectual who began his adult life as an atheist who disdained the church and had a snobbish contempt for believers, and later became one of the greatest apologists of the faith in modern times, Lewis did pretty good. One of his books that I read and re-read is called "Mere Christianity" and from the preface of that book come the following words: "In this book I am not trying to convert anyone to my own position (Anglican). Ever since I became a Christian, I have thought that the best, perhaps the only, service I could do for my unbelieving neighbours was to explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times. I had more than one reason for thinking this. In the first place the questions which divide Christians from one another often involve points of high Theology or even of ecclesiastical history which ought never to be treated except by real experts. I should have been out of my depth in such waters; more in need of help myself than able to help others. And secondly, I think we must admit that the discussion of these disputed points has no tendency at all to bring an outsider into the Christian fold. So long as we write and talk about them we are much more likely to deter him from entering any Christian communion than to draw him into our own." ----- With these sagacious words of C. S. Lewis, the Oxford Don, I am pleased to end my post with good wishes for your health and continued spiritual growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. --Hank |