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THE CREDIBILITY AND THE ESCHATOLOGY
OF PETER’S SPEECH AT PENTECOST
by Jerry
Horner
the most
important
if he claimed that Acts is
No one would be charged with
exaggeration
history
book in the world. While the author’s intent was not
merely
to relate a chronological
early church,
it still remains that without his work we would know little
about the
beginnings
of Christianity
work, particular
interest
account of the
expansion
of the
and the
history
of the
early church,
by
the various
speeches
re-
Among
the numerous
their
literary speeches, high
in
interest, Christian Church.
apart
from what
may
be
gleaned
from the
epistles.
Within this valuable
is commanded
corded,
not
only
because of their historical
value, but also because of
and
theological significance.
Peter’s sermon on the
Day
of Pentecost must
certainly
rank
especially
since it is the first sermon
preached
in the
speeches
Commentators have
long
debated
whether the written record
in Acts,
questioning
the
place
of this and other
gives
an
Roberts Jerry
Horner is Chairman of the
Department
of Undergraduate Theology, Oral
University. He received the Th.D. degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth. Texas. Dr. Horner is a charismatic Southern Baptist
– 22-
1
Commentators
speeches
in Acts,
questioning accurate
delivered free
compositions
especially Thucydides,
reality,
the
speeches
intended
situations. The writers
presupposed
Le.,
as
literary compositions
record
gives
an actually
said. The
but that
they
are
his claim, he
their narratives with in the events described. In
and were
attempt
of Acts in the same
way,
have
long
debated the
place
of this and other
whether the written
and reliable account of what the
speakers
noted German scholar Martin Dibelius, who has devoted much attention to the
literary composition
of Acts,
suggests
that the
speeches
were not
by
the
persons
to whom
they
are
ascribed,
of the author, Luke.1 In
supporting
appeals
to the method of writing history on the
part
of ancient
historians,
who
liberally intermingled
speeches by people
who
figured prominently
were the inventions of the
historians,
as
literary
devices to
depict
more
vividly
certain historical
that there is no deliberate to
give
a false or fictitious account of
history. According
to various modern scholars, one must view the
speeches
of Luke, whose intent was to describe situations in the lives of the
apostles
in words which
they supposedly
had
writes: “The student of classical litera- ture will find it difficult to believe that
they
are not
compositions
“The
elaborate,
if not the
rhetoric,
of the
speeches
in the Greek and Roman historians.”3 This
held
among
the
formgeschichtliche with
only slight
concession on the
part
of some who entertain the
possi-
spoken. Thus,
Foakes-Jackson
writers.”2 H. J.
Cadbury
concludes: schematic
speeches suggest, composition
view is almost
unanimously
bility
that Luke based the
speeches
of the homogeneous
and at least the free
.
school,
on reliable
tradition,
editing
the
1 Martin Dibelius, Studies in the Acts of the Apostles (London: SCM Press, 1956), pp. 140ff. Cf. H. J. Cadbury, The Making of Luke-Acts (London: SPCK, 1961), pp. 184ff.
p.
2F. J. Foakes-Jackson, The Acts of the Apostles (New York: Harper& Brothers,1931), xvi.
Kirsopp
3H. J.
Cadbury, The Beginnings of Christianity, IL ed, F. J. Foakes-Jackson and Lake
(London: Macmillan, 1920-33), p. 15.
23
2
material and
impressing upon
it his mind and
style.1
The conclusion reached
by this approach
is that while the
speeches
of Acts are of value in helping
to set forth historical situations,
they
are not themselves historical.
While it is true that Acts is not
primarily biographical,
and that Luke’s inclusion of the
speeches
does not seem
prompted by motives of a historical-theological king,
these factors
certainly
do not
support
the contention that the
speeches
have no historical value and that one must attribute them to Luke rather than to the
purported speakers.
No doubt Luke
carefully
allotted to each of the
speeches
a significant place in the structure of Acts as ‘a whole, in accordance with his
unfolding
of the geographical progress
of the
gospeL
His work, therefore, is not
primarily a collection of documents
revealing
all that he knew of
people
such as Peter and Paul.
Rather,
he selected from the material available to him that which would assist him in achieving the
purpose
evident
throughout the book-that of
describing
the
continuing ministry
here on earth performed by
the ascended Lord
through
the
agency
of servants em- powered by the promised Holy Spirit.
2 Such a deliberate
arrangement
is also true of the discourses of Jesus in Matthew’s
Gospel, yet
who dares to compare
those discourses to the
speeches
in Thucydides?
Therefore,
to insist that the
speeches
in Acts are inventions of Luke shows a total lack of appreciation of his
writings.
Even
though
Acts
may
not be a biography of Peter or
Paul,
nevertheless its value
depends upon
the historical character of Luke’s information. One must
always
remember that in both of his
volumes,
Luke
emphasized
his own careful
investigations,
exer- cised
great
care over his choice of sources, and
faithfully reproduced
his material.
Throughout
the book of Acts Luke
depicts
the confirmation of
.
lParticularly devastating is Ernst Haenchen’s judgment in The Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, to the 1971),
103ff. For an refutation of those who appeal
methodology of ancient
pp. enlightening
historians, see T. Francis Glasson, “The Speeches in Acts and Thucydides,” The Expository Times, VoL LXXVI 165. (Feb., 1965), p.
2 In his stimulating study entitled Pentecost and Missions (Grand Rapids: E erdmans, 1961), Harry Boer traces a missionary motif throughout Acts. The would
be in accord with such a as one considers the position
of the speeches
scheme, particularly diversity of the persons in the audiences to which they were addressed.
–
– 24-
3
of the
apostles.
Hence the
content of the
preaching
equal importance
to its
geographical
That Luke was
acquainted apostles’ preaching
heard Paul’s
speeches,
the
gospel
in the deeds and in the
preaching
and the manner in which it was done were of
personally experienced
extension.
He himself had seen and
with the content and manner of the
can
hardly
be
questioned.
and
although
he
may
not have heard the others, he was in close contact with
Peter, Mark, Philip,
and others who had
the earlier
years
of the church at Jerusalem. this
point
a question may be raised
concerning
uerba,
or
merely preserved
must be considered when
seeking
to arrive at a
satisfactory
the
ipsissima
such a
question.
At
whether Luke recorded the content. Several factors
answer to
and
manuscript if a person wished to possess ,
.
1. In those
days
the
printed
book was nonexistent,
rolls were scarce and
expensive. Therefore,
or a
story
he had to remember it For
example,
tells of how people could
repeat
the whole of the Iliad and the
a
poem,
a
speech,
Xenophon
Odyssey
from
memory (Symposium, met Christians
less could
quote
extended
iiii
5).
This writer has
personally
how his medical students
in Russia who have never owned a Bible, but neverthe-
portions
of
it, including complete
books.
2. There seems to have been a primitive method of shorthand in use during
ancient times. Galen
(xix. 11)
describes
took down his lectures in some kind of shorthand. This does
not,
of course, mean that there
was a shorthand account of everything that the apostles
had said on
any
and
every
occasion.
3. The E ast is naturally
meditative,
content particular,
speaker,
4. Whatever tradition would
dependent
and it was not difficult for those
its
of the
Church, Peter in
if such
existed,
who had heard the
apostolic preaching again
and
again,
to remember
and the
way
in which the leaders
had witnessed to Christ. The Jew much more than the Greek considered the actual
wording
of teaching as the essential
thought
of the
and would be more
likely
to remember it.
lay
behind the
speeches,
be a communal tradition. The source material would not be
on the
memory
of one or two
persons,
but that of the church.
5. The sermons of the
apostles
and
evangelists
something
to be listened to but
something
to be acted
upon. They must,
have been stored in the
memory
and
repeatedly
6. One must never minimize the role of the
Holy Spirit
in inspiring
therefore,
25
were not
merely
discussed.
4
the
writing
of
Scripture,
a factor so obvious that it demands little comment.
The discussion above is intended to lead to the conclusion that Luke had no need, as Thucydides, to give new life to vague figures out of the dim
past by putting
into their mouths
speeches
of his own rhetorical inventions in order that
they might appear, speaking,
in his account. We are
justified, therefore,
in regarding the
passage
under consideration as containing
the substance of the first recorded sermon in the Christian Church. In fact, Luke calls attention to the importance of the sermon by the word with which he introduces it. He states that Peter lifted
up
his voice and said
(aTre(pt5e-y4aro)
unto them. This word occurs elsewhere in the New Testament
only
in Acts
2:4,
where it describes the utterance given
to the Christians
by
the
Holy Spirit,
and Acts
26:25,
where Paul declared to Festus that he was uttering “words of sober truth.” All Greek lexicons
agree
that the word
signifies
an utterance of
weighty impor- tance.
Typical
is the definition
give by Arndt
and
Gingrich:
“The word of the wise
man,
the
oracle-giver,
the
diviner,
the
prophet,
the exorcist, and other
‘inspired’ persons.”
It seems
certain, therefore,
that Luke chose this word to indicate that what followed was not the
expression
of a man’s s opinion,
but the utterance of a message from God mediated
by the Holy Spirit.
Peter
begins
his sermon with a declaration which constitutes the ground
on which all his
preaching rests,
the fact that the time of eschatological
fulfillment has dawned. This consciousness lies behind Peter’s whole
kerygma,
and
everything
else finds its
place
and its significance
within this
eschatological setting.
This is most
clearly
stated in Acts 1:16,
17,
where the
apostle
affirms that in the
pouring
out of the Holy Spirit
the
prophecy
of Joel
concerning
the last
days
is fulfilled. The Jews saw time as divided into two ages. There was
this present age, wholly under the domination of evil, and thus
wholly bad,
and there was the
age to
come,
the
golden age
of the
Kingdom
of
God,
and thus
wholly good. How was the one
age
to
give way
to the other? That
change
could not be effected
by
human effort and reformation, but demanded a direct inter- vention
by God.
The
day
on which God would intervene was known as the Day
of the
Lord,
and that
Day
would introduce “the last
days” (cf. Heb. 1 :1,2).
In effect Peter is declaring that the Day of the Lord has come. God has
acted; eternity
has invaded time; the old order has ended and the
.
.
– 26-
5
new order has
begun.
Various manifestations
prophets
their
messages
in the Old Test-
,
‘
This is not to
say
that the
Spirit
was inactive in the old order.
of the
Spirit
are described
ament. He was
present
at creation
(Gen. 1:2),
He endowed
people
with physical strength (Jdg. 14:6, 19; 15:14);
He
gave
skill
(Ex. 31:3-5)
and wisdom
(Jdg. 3:1; 11:29;
1 Sam.
16:13; Neh. 9:20, etc.);
He
gave
the
(Ezek. 11:5;
Num.
24:2;
2 Chron.
24:20;
Isa. 51:1; Micah 3:8, etc.);
He
gave
ethical instructions and
power
to live well (Micah 3:8, etc.);
He
inspired
the
writing
of the Old Testament 1:20, 21).
These and scores of other references
activity
of the
Holy Spirit
in the Old Testament.
However,
manifold and
striking though
the work of the
Spirit
was to
the Old Testament
writers, they recognized
Lord’s
people
were
prophets,
(II
Pet. amply
illustrate the
that the best was
yet
to be.
the desire that “all the
What
they
saw of the
Spirit
of God was far from
exhausting
the
possi- bilities,
so they
longed
for a day when God would intervene in the affairs of men with
striking
results. Moses
expressed
that the Lord would
put
His
Spirit upon them”
(Num. 12:29).
Isaiah and Ezekiel looked forward to a work of the Spirit among
men
(Isa. 44:3;
Ezek.
36:26f.).
But the classical
passage
in this
regard
is that from Joel which served as the text for Peter’s sermon at
Pentecost.
The
prophet
looked
through
all the troubles of the
present
time to the latter
days
when there will be an
activity
of the
Spirit
such as
men have never before witnessed.
pre-eminently
_
The Old Testament, then, ascribes a multiplicity of activities
among men to the work of the
Spirit,
but nowhere
suggests
that
they
manifest the full revelation of the
Spirit.
It points forward to the
coming day
of the Messiah,
when the
Spirit
would be
poured
out
upon
all. The
Spirit
will be
concentrated in the Messiah and He will wholly indwell the
people
of God who shall live in the
eschatological period inaugurated by His outpouring.
The
abiding presence
of the
Spirit
will be, as Eichrodt has
declared,
“the central wonder of the new aeon,” in which He will no
but He will exercise “an
longer appear “start-wise” on men.”1
enduring
influence
‘
1 W. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament. VoL II (London: SCM Press, 1961), 59.
p.
i.
– 27-
6
It was to that
expectation
7 :39 in his
explanation
of the
proclamation
that the
apostle
John referred to in John
and no finer
exegesis
is to be found of John’s
parenthesis
by
Peter in Acts 2:33. Peter
proclaims
only
in
temporary
fashion,
of Jesus in the
previous verse,
than that
given that
something
has
happened,
of the
prerogative
of all
of the
different
something
which is the fulfillment of the
hopes
and
expectations prophets.
What
previously
had been
experienced only by
a few, and that
was now the common
children of God. The events of Pentecost are that
very outpouring Spirit
which Joel foretold. No strict boundaries set between
times
may
be found in the
kerygma
of Peter, but what is
of Christ the
age
of the
Spirit,
so long
by the prophets,
has
begun
and is demonstrably
is what was
spoken
of through the
prophet
Joel”
(2:16).
The
experience
eschatological
clear is that with the enthronement predicted
and
enjoyment
of the
personal indwelling distinctive feature of the last
days.
The variations
interesting
and most
fascinating
present:
“this
of the
Holy Spirit
is the
from Joel make an
made
Pentecost the
emergence reading …
Further,
in the text of the
quotation
study. First,
there are alterations in the
quotation.
In Joel 2:28 the
passage begins
“after these
things” (K«i co-rcti juerct ra:uTQ:), that is, after the terrible
plague
of locusts described earlier in the
chapter.
B retains this
reading
in Acts
2:17,
but the other main uncials have “in the last
days” (guraL
EV ‘t’aLS 17J.1.gpaLS). It seems certain from this
slight
alteration that Peter saw in the events of
of the new
age.
Zehnle comments,
is almost
certainly
the
product
of Christian
the words “and
they
shall
prophesy”
part
of the text in Joel, and are, in fact, omitted in D. Peter’s
emphasis upon
the universal outbreak of prophecy is quite significant.
on Ps. 14:6
(57b)
states:
Rabbi Levi said…
“Hence the
exegesis.”1 in verse 18 are not
‘
A midrash
‘
the Master is God who said’ 0 that
they
had such a heart as to fear me’
(Dt 5:29);
the
pupil
is Moses who said, ‘0
that all the Lord’s
people
were
prophets’ (Num. but neither the words of the Master nor of the
pupil
find ful-
11:29);
1 Richard F. Zehnle, Peter’s Pentecost Discourse (Nashville: Abingdon Press,1971), 29.
p.
– 28-
7
fillment in this
world,
but in the future the words of both will
find
fulfillment,
the words of the Master for `I will give you a new
heart’
(Ezek. 36:26),
and the words of the
pupil
for `I will pour
out
my spirit upon
all flesh’
(Joel 2:28).
The
suggestion
is clear.
only
in the
heavenly age
would the
gift
of universal
prophecy
come to men. Here is another indication of divine intervention in the
coming
of Jesus and the
outpouring
of His
Spirit.
Two more variations deserve mention. D has E7TL 1Tauas
UapKaf) in verse 17 instead of the Neutral Text E1TL 7rauav
cra’p/co’.
But as the idea of the
people
of God has its
realization, so far as
the
history
of redemption is concerned, in the collective
body
of
believers on Christ without distinction of nations; so also in the
Messianic fulfillment of that
prophecy
meant
by Peter,
and now
begun,
what the
prophet
has
promised
to all
flesh
is not to be
understood
by the Jewish people
as such … but of all the true
people
of
God,
so far as
they
believe on Christ
1
.
In
addition,
instead of ot VIOL Kat at
8vyarEpEs u,uwv, “your
sons and daughters,”
D has OL OWL aurcrm Kat aL
8vyarEpEs ao'[“wv, “their
sons and their
daughters.” Knowling
feels that the
purpose
of this alternation is to exclude all nationalism from
prophecy,
and to stress that the promise
is to the whole world. “The universalism of the
gospel
is an inseparable aspect
of the
eschatological emphasis
in the New Testa- ment. This universalism embraces the whole of mankind and is geographically
without bonds…. The whole world is taken
up
into the eschatos
concept.”2
As noted
earlier,
the consciousness of a great drama
being
enacted is evident in Peter’s
speeches. Indeed,
the same consciousness
may
be seen in the
teaching
of Jesus and
Paul,
and in fact of the whole New
1 H. A. W. Meyer, Criticial and Exegetical Handbook to the Acts of Apostles, trans. by P. J. Gloag (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1883), p. 57.
2R. J. Knowling, “The Acts of the Apostles,” The Expositor’s Greek Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.), p. 79.
29
8
Testament. Peter
speaks
of the
fulfilling
of
prophecy
and the
inaugu- ration of the new
age
in comprehensive terms of both
present
and future. The fulfillment is
partly already realized, namely
in the
coming,
the death, the resurrection,
and the ascension of Christ and the
gift
of the Holy Spirit.
The fulfillment
belongs partly
to the
future,
since it is also Christ “who has been
appointed by
God as
Judge
of the
living
and the dead”
(10:42).
The
“great
and
glorious day” (2:20)
is still
awaited, and repentance
is
urged
in view of that
day.
The
“being
saved” which is constantly
mentioned
(2:21, 40, 47; 4:9, 12; 5:31)
has both a present and a future
significance.
“The End is … viewed as not
only
a
particular point
in time, but also
a period
of time, that
period, namely,
which extends between the first and the second
coming
of Christ.”l The relation between the
present
and the future
aspects
of salvation and the
length
of the interval between Christ’s ascension and second
coming
do not constitute a
subject
for conscious reflection in Peter’s
speeches.
A possible exception
is 3:19-21, where the
emphasis
is on the still awaited revelation of the Messiah Jesus.2 This
emphasis
does not alter the fact that in Him the
prophecy
has
already
found its
provisional
fulfillment
(cf. 3:22, 26).
But there is still an interval between the
beginning
and the end of “these
days”
of the fulfillment
(v. 24).
Thus,
we conclude that at Pentecost Peter affirmed that the new age,
“the last
days,”
“became a reality in the life of the Church. It was then that the still here of the new
age
to
bring
into
being
the New Testament
now,
the ‘time between the times.’
“3
Peter’s
proclamation was that
eternity
has broken in on time, that the
promised
Messianic
age has come.
Things
which are
possible only
in that
age
are
happening before the
very eyes
of men. R. A. Nelson
provides
an adequate summary of the matter.
.
Everywhere
in the New Testament the
Holy Spirit
is spoken of in
eschatological
terms.
Pentecost,
like Cross and Resurrec-
1 Boer, op. cit., pp. 148f.
‘
‘ .
2Ibid, p. 150.
3For an analysis of the eschatology of this passage, see Zehnle, op. cit., pp. 89ff.
– 30-
9
tion,
was an
eschatological
event. The
Holy Spirit
was the first- fruits of the new
age,
the first installment which
guarantees
the rest. The New Testament Church was certain of the new
age not only
because Christ was risen and ascended but because the Holy Spirit
was
given.
The
Holy Spirit
was the first installment of the
Age
which was to come, and
through
it the
powers
of the Age
to come were at
work,
in the
healing
of
disease,
the over- throw of
demons,
the
patterns
of
community life,
and the striking phenomenon
of the Pentecost event itself …
1
1 R. A. Nelson, “Mission and Eschatology,” Ecumenical Review.
149f.
(January, 1954), pp.
– 31-
10
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