By prof. A.P. Lopukhin
Chapter 2, Acts of the Apostles. 1 – 4. The first Christian Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. 5 – 13. The astonishment of the people. 14 – 36. Speech of the Apostle Peter. 37 – 45. The impact of the first sermon. 43 – 47. The internal situation of the first Christian community in Jerusalem.
Acts. 2:1. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one mind.
“When the day of Pentecost came.” It pleased the Lord – like the Passover – that the first Christian Pentecost coincided with the day of the Jewish Pentecost, which meant nothing more than the cancellation and better replacement of the two Jewish festivals.
Blessed Theophylact spoke about this event as follows: “on the day the Law was given, on the same day it was necessary to give the grace of the Spirit, because as the Savior, who had to bear the holy suffering, was pleased to give Himself in no other time, and then, when the [Passover] lamb was slain, to connect the truth with the very image, so the descent of the Holy Spirit according to the good will from on high, was granted at no other time, but at that in which the Law was given, to show that even then the Holy Spirit legislated, and he legislates now. As on the day of Pentecost the sheaves of the new fruit were gathered together, and different people flocked together under one heaven (into Jerusalem): so on the same day this also had to happen, that the beginnings of every nation of the nations living under heaven should be gathered into one sheaf of piety and by the word of the apostles to be brought to God”…
“All of one mind were together” – ἦσαν ἅπαντες ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. Who all and where? The Slavic translation adds “apostles”, the Russian – “them”. By “all” is meant not only the apostles, but all believers in Christ who were then in Jerusalem (Acts 1:16, cf. Acts 2:14), who came again to the feast of the Jewish Pentecost.
From the next verse (2) it is clear that the meeting of these believers in Christ took place in the house, probably the same one in which the previous meeting took place (Acts 1:13). It is hardly possible to suppose that the home was particularly crowded, for that is to suppose that a house of immense dimensions was at the disposal of the apostles.
Acts. 2:2. And suddenly there was a noise from heaven as of a mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
“A noise… as if a strong wind was coming.” Therefore, the wind itself was not there, only a noise similar to a wind (cf. St. John Chrysostom and blessed Theophylact), which came down from above, from heaven to the place where the apostles were gathered – this noise was so loud that it attracted everyone’s attention (verse 6).
“Filled the whole house,” i. focus on this house.
“where they were,” more precisely “where they sat” (οὗ ἦσαν καθήμενοι·), abiding in prayer and pious conversation, waiting for the promise to be fulfilled.
Acts. 2:3. And tongues appeared to them, as if of fire, which parted, and rested one on each of them.
“Tongues as of fire.” As noise was without wind, so tongues were without fire, only resembling fire. “He beautifully says: as if fiery, as if wind, so that you do not think something sensual about the Spirit (Theophilus, St. John Chrysostom).
The noise was a confirmation sign for the hearing that the Holy Spirit had descended, and the tongues for the sight. Both the one and the other exalted the apostles and prepared them for the greatness of the event and its impact on the soul, which was actually the main object of the miracle of the promised baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
“Languages that separated” – διαμεριζόμεναι γλῶσσαι – more precisely: “divided languages”. The impression of the moment of the descent of the Holy Spirit was evidently that from some invisible but near source there suddenly arose a noise which filled the house, and suddenly tongues of fire began to issue forth, which were divided among all present—so that it was felt the same common source of them all.
The noise from heaven was also a sign of the mightiness of the power of the Holy Spirit given to the apostles (“power from on high”, cf. Luke 24:49), and the tongues – the fervor of preaching, which was to serve as the only weapon for the subjugation of the world at the foot of Christ’s cross. At the same time, the tongues were an accurate indication of the change that took place in the souls of the apostles, expressed in the unexpected ability they felt to speak in other languages.
Acts. 2:4. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
“they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Saint Gregory the Theologian (IV, 16) says: “The Holy Spirit worked first in the angelic and heavenly forces…, then in the fathers and prophets… and finally worked in Christ’s disciples, and in them three times – according to the measure of their receptivity and in three different times: before Christ’s glorification through suffering, after His glorification through Resurrection and after His ascension to heaven (Acts 3:21). As the first shows – the cleansing from diseases and spirits, which happened, of course, not without the Spirit; also after the completion of the house-building, the breathing of Christ, which was evidently a Divine inspiration, and finally [His action was manifested in] the present division of the tongues of fire… But the first was not clear, the second was more manifest, and the present was perfect: for no longer by action, as before, but essentially by presence, – as someone would say – “the Spirit coexists and coexists.”
“as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Explaining this, St. Cyril of Jerusalem says: “Peter and Andrew, the Galileans, spoke in Persian and Median, John and the other apostles spoke in all languages with those who came from among the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit taught them many languages at the same time, which those taught by Him did not know at all. This is divine power! What comparison can there be between their long ignorance and this comprehensive, manifold, unusual, sudden power of speaking in all languages.’
Saint Theophylact taught thus: “Why did the apostles receive the gift of tongues before the other gifts? For they were to be scattered abroad; and as at the time of the building of the pillar the one language was divided into many languages, so now the many languages were united in one man, and the same man, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, began to speak in Persian, and in Roman, and in Indian , and in many other languages. This gift was called the “gift of tongues” because the apostles could speak in many languages.
Saint Irenaeus (died in 202) says of many Christians living in his time who have “prophetic gifts, speak in tongues (παντοδαπαῖς γλώσσαις), discover the secrets of the human heart for edification, and explain the mysteries of God” (Against Heresies , V, 6).
In the Conversations on the Lives of the Italian Fathers, written by St. Gregory the Two-Syllabic, mention is made of a young man, Armentarius, who spoke in foreign languages without having learned them. Traces from antiquity of how the gift of tongues was understood in its own sense can also be seen in the fact that Philostratus, describing the life of Apollonius of Tyana, whom he wanted to contrast with Jesus Christ, notes about him that he knew no only all human languages, but also the language of animals. In church history there are also later examples of miraculous understanding of foreign languages, for example with Ephraim the Syrian.
Acts. 2:5. And in Jerusalem there were Jews, pious men, from every nation under heaven.
In addition to the fact that there were quite a few Jewish immigrants living in Jerusalem “from every nation under heaven”, and on the occasion of the great feast of Pentecost, many temporary worshipers from different countries gathered there, who became involuntary witnesses and confirmers of the miracle that happened over the apostles, when they all heard them speak in the languages of their countries.
Acts. 2:6. When this noise was made, many people gathered together and were amazed, because everyone was listening to them speak in his language.
“Everybody listened to them talk.” St. Gregory the Theologian taught: “Stop here and consider how to divide speech, for in speech there is reciprocity removed by punctuation. Did they hear, each in his own way, that – so to speak – the speech proceeded from one, and many speeches were heard because of such a commotion in the air, or, I will say more clearly, from one voice proceeded many? Or else the word “listened” “to speak in his speech” should be referred to the following, in order to understand the meaning of the spoken speeches, which were their own for the listeners, and this means – foreign language speeches. With the latter I agree more, because the former would be a miracle, which would refer more to the hearers than to the speakers, who were reproached for being drunk, from which it is evident that they themselves, by the operation of the Spirit, worked miracles by uttering voices” .
Acts. 2:7. And they all marveled and wailed, saying among themselves: Are not all these who speak Galileans?
“Are they not all Galileans?” that is, firstly, from the well-known part of Palestine where they speak this idiom, and, secondly, from that particular part that was not famous for enlightenment. The one and the other, with which they connected the Galileans, intensified the greatness of the miracle and the astonishment of its witnesses.
Acts. 2:9: We Parthians and Medes, Elamites and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, of Pontus and Asia,
“Parthians and Medes, Elamites,” i.e. Jews who came for the holiday from Parthia, Media and Elam – provinces of the former powerful Assyrian and Medo-Persian kingdoms. These countries were located between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. At first, the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Israel were resettled there after its destruction by the Assyrians around 700 BC, and then the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Judah, after its destruction by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BC. Many of them returned to Palestine in the time of Cyrus, but most remained in the countries of settlement, unwilling to part with their profitable occupations.
“inhabitants of Mesopotamia” – a vast plain along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Here was the main area of the Assyro-Babylonian and Persian kingdoms, and here there were numerous Jews resettled by Nebuchadnezzar.
“Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia” – all are Asia Minor provinces that were part of the then Roman Empire. Asia in particular, according to the Roman enumeration of the provinces, was called the whole western coast of Asia Minor, where were the provinces of Mysia, Caria, and Lydia; its capital was Ephesus.
Acts. 2:10. of Phrygia and Pamphylia, of Egypt and the Libyan countries adjacent to Kyrenia, and those who came from Rome, both Jews and proselytes *,
“The Libyan Countries Adjacent to Kyrenia”. Libya is a region to the west of Egypt, which was a huge steppe, inhabited only in its northern part along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, where the main city of the region, Cyrene, was located. This coast is here called the “Libyan countries,” belonging to Kyrenia or Cyrene. As here, Jews were numerous in Egypt in general. They even had a special temple. The translation of their sacred books into the then generally accepted Greek language was also done here for them. In Cyrene a full quarter of the population were Jews.
“those who came from Rome” – arrived for the feast of Pentecost from Rome, or in general from the cities of the Roman west, where the Jews were also scattered everywhere. In Rome itself there was a whole Jewish quarter.
“Jews, so proselytes” – i.e. Jews by birth, as well as Gentiles who accepted the Jewish faith, of which there were also many everywhere in the listed localities.
Acts. 2:11. Cretans and Arabs, – how do we listen to them speak in our languages about the great works of God?
“Cretans” – inhabitants of the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea, speaking a slightly different dialect from the Greek language.
“Arabs” – inhabitants of Arabia, to the southeast of Palestine, whose language, Arabic, had some similarities and a significant difference from the Hebrew language.
“we hear them speak in our tongues” – a clear indication that the apostles did indeed speak in different languages and dialects.
“to speak in our tongues of the great works of God” – τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ Θεοῦ, i.e. for everything great that God has revealed and is revealing in the world, especially with the coming of the Son of God into the world. But the greatness of such a subject of speech, and the speech itself, should have been of a lofty and solemn character, of inspired glorification and thanksgiving to God.
Acts. 2:14. Then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice and began to speak to them: Jewish men and all you who live in Jerusalem! Let this be known to you, and heed my words:
“Peter rose up with the eleven.” As before, at the council for the selection of the twelfth apostle, “Peter served as the mouthpiece of all, and the other eleven were present, confirming his words with testimony” (St. John Chrysostom).
Acts. 2:15. they are not drunk, as you think, for it is three o’clock in the day;
As proof that they were not drunk, the apostle points out that it is now “the third hour of the day.” This hour, which corresponds to our 9th hour, was the first of the three daily hours for daily prayer (3, 6, 9), coinciding with the offering of the morning sacrifice in the temple. And according to the custom of the Jews, no one tasted food before this hour, even more so on such a great holiday as Pentecost.
Acts. 2:16 a.m. but this is what was said through the prophet Joel:
Deyan. 2:17. “and behold, in the last days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
“the saying of Joel the prophet,” therefore 700 years before (Joel 2:28-32). The prophecy of Joel itself is brought by the writer in a slightly modified form from the original and the text of the Septuagint, as the Lord Himself and the apostles often do. Thus, instead of the original indefinite expression “after that” in the apostle Peter, we see a more definite expression – “in the last days”. This excludes any relation of the prophecy to a closer Old Testament time, and its fulfillment refers to the New Testament time, since, according to the biblical view, the entire period of the New Testament kingdom of God is presented as the last age of the house-building of human salvation, after which it will followed by a general judgment and the Kingdom of glory. At the same time, under the expression “in the last days,” the prophecies usually indicate not only events that must occur at the end of the Old Testament time and the beginning of the New Testament, but also those that will occur throughout the entire New Testament time, until his end (cf. Is. 2:2; Mic. 6, etc.).
“I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” In the sense of this expression, the Spirit of God is presented as the fullness of all gifts, from which one or another gift is poured out to one or another believer.
“pouring out” – giving in abundance, similar to the pouring out of rain or water.
“on all flesh” – on all people, on all humanity redeemed by Christ, who will enter the new Christ’s Kingdom, throughout the time of its spread on earth, on all peoples, without distinction of Jews and Gentiles. To begin the fulfillment of this prophecy, the holy apostle points to the present moment, filled with such wonderful signs.
“they shall prophesy…they shall see visions…they shall dream dreams,” etc. As the gifts of the Holy Spirit are incalculably varied, only some of the most familiar ones in the Old Testament are given separately: “prophecy” as a general action of those who received the Holy Spirit, “visions” (in the waking state) and “dreams” as the two main modes of Divine revelation to the prophets (Num. 12:6).
“sons… daughters… youths… old men” is an indication that the Holy Spirit is poured out on all, regardless of gender or age; although the actions of the Holy Spirit are distributed in such a way that to sons and daughters he gives prophecy, to youths – visions, to old men – dreams; but this dispensation, made for the strengthening and beauty of speech, has the meaning that the Holy Spirit pours out His gifts upon all without distinction.
Deyan. 2:18. and in those days I will pour out My Spirit on My servants and My maidservants, and they will prophesy.
“and on My slaves and My slave-girls”. With the prophet in this place we find an important peculiarity of speech arising from the absence of the added pronoun “My.” He says simply, “upon the male slaves and upon the female slaves.” With the latter expression the prophet expresses more categorically the idea of the superiority of the New Testament outpourings of the Holy Spirit over the Old Testament: in the whole Old Testament there is not a single case of a slave or a slave who possessed the gift of prophecy; but in the New Testament, according to the prophet, this difference in condition will disappear under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who will give the gift of prophecy. The Spirit will be given to all without distinction not only of sex and age, but also of human conditions, because in Christ’s kingdom all will be equal before the Lord and all will be servants of the Lord.
Deyan. 2:19. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and omens on the earth below, blood and fire, smoke and smoke.
“I will show miracles.” The prediction of the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Messiah’s Kingdom is also connected with the prediction of the last judgment on the wicked world and the salvation of those who worship the true God. As harbingers of this judgment, special signs in heaven and earth are pointed out. Signs on earth will be “blood and fire, smoke and smoke”, which are the symbols of bloodshed, turmoil, wars, devastation… Signs in heaven are the eclipse of the sun and the bloody appearance of the moon. In the figurative language of the sacred writers, these phenomena generally mean great calamities in the world and the coming of God’s judgment upon it.
Deyan. 2:20. The sun will turn into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
“Lord’s Day” – i.e. the day of the Messiah; according to the New Testament usage of the word, it is the day of judgment of the Messiah upon the world, the day of judgment.
“the great and glorious” – great is called because of the greatness and decisive importance of the judgment for mankind; and glorious (επιφανῆ) is called because the Lord will come “in His glory.”
Deyan. 2:21. And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Terrible for the unbelievers and the wicked will be the last judgment, but saving for everyone “who calls on the name of the Lord”, but not just to call on Him, because Christ teaches that not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! God! He will enter the kingdom of heaven’, but he who calls with diligence, with a good life, with appropriate boldness’. (Saint John Chrysostom). From this it is clear that what is meant here are true believers in the Lord – ie. the righteous.
Applying this prophecy to the event of the day of Pentecost, the apostle evidently does not say that it was entirely fulfilled on that day, but only indicates the beginning of its fulfillment, which must continue for a long time, the duration of which is known only to God, until the end of everything.
Deyan. 2:22. Men of Israel! Hear these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a Man testified before you by God with powers, miracles and signs, which God did through him among you, as you yourselves know,
Saint John Chrysostom says that, starting to preach about Jesus, the apostle “does not say anything lofty, but begins his speech extremely humbly…, with wise caution, so as not to bore the ears of unbelievers.”
“witnessed before you by God,” i.e. for His messianic dignity and messengership.
“signs which God did through Him among you.” According to the interpretation of St. John Chrysostom, the apostle “does not say: He Himself did it, but God through Him, to draw them through modesty.”
“among you” – the inhabitants of Jerusalem are meant, and then all those present, not only those who could have had any contact with Jesus Christ during His activity in Galilee and Judea, but also the representatives of the people as a whole , responsible for a case of such important general human importance. In this sense, we also talk about “traditions”, i.e. of Judas, whom “you seized, and having bound with the hands of lawless men,” i. with the help of the pagan authorities and those who crucified Christ, “You killed Him” (verse 23).
Deyan. 2:23. Him, delivered up by God’s determined will and foreknowledge, you seized and, having chained with the hands of lawless men, killed Him;
To clarify the seemingly strange circumstance that a man so witnessed by God (Jesus) could be crucified by the hands of lawless men, the apostle adds that this happened “according to the determined will and providence of God” (cf. Rom. 8:29; Heb. 10:5 – 7), or, as the blessed Theophylact explains, “they did not by their own power, because He himself had consented to it.”
Deyan. 2:24. but God raised Him up, freeing Him from the birth pangs of death, because it could not hold Him.
“God raised Him” - according to the interpretation of blessed Theophylact, “if it is said that the Father raised Him, it is because of the weakness of the hearers; for through whom does the Father work? By His power, and the Father’s power is Christ. And so He Himself raised Himself, although it is said that the Father raised Him”… (cf. John 5:26, 10:18).
“by freeing from the bonds of death” – in Greek: ἀνέστησε λύσας τὰς ὠδῖνας τοῦ θανατου, it is more precisely translated into Slavic: “resolved болезни сомерния”. According to the interpretation of blessed Theophylact, “death was tormented (as if by birth) and terribly suffered when it detained Him. The woman in labor does not retain what is within her, and does not act, but suffers and hastens to release herself. The apostle beautifully called the resurrection a release from the pains of death, so it can be said: tearing apart the pregnant and suffering womb, the Savior Christ appears and comes out as if from some birthing womb. That is why he is called the firstborn from the dead.”
Deyan. 2:25. For David says of Him: “I always saw the Lord before me, for He is at my right hand, that I should not be moved.”
The apostle confirms the truth of Christ’s resurrection through the prophecy of King David, especially authoritative in Judea, in a remarkable passage from his 15th Psalm (Ps. 15:8-11). Having set forth this place fully and accurately according to the translation of the Septuagint (verses 25-28), the apostle immediately proceeds to interpret it himself (verses 29-31), making manifest the evident gift of the Holy Spirit in himself to interpret the Scriptures Applied to David, this passage from his psalm expresses his joyful confidence in the constant help and goodness of God, extending even beyond the grave (immortality). But if, applied to David, all this was fulfilled only in part, then applied to the Savior (the expression of the apostle is indicative: “David spoke of Him”, i.e. of Christ), it was fulfilled literally exactly and completely, as St. Peter points out.
Source in Russian: Explanatory Bible, or Commentaries on all the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments: In 7 volumes / Ed. prof. A.P. Lopukhin. – Ed. 4th. – Moscow: Dar, 2009, 1232 pp.
(to be continued)
