What happened in on Pentecost in Acts 2?

Any knowledgeable Christian knows that early believers spilled onto the street speaking in tongues. Peter preached to the crowd that gathered, and 3,000 people believed and received baptism.

In other words, Acts 2 described the birthday of the church, but let’s not pass too quickly over the opening verses of the chapter. The first four verses describe five important events.

They were all together in one place

Acts 2:1 says they were all together in one place. Who are “they”?

Ten days separate the Ascension from Pentecost, ten days that saw some important decisions. Acts 1:15 says that Peter stood up to address a group of 120 people. It must be these people gathered together on Pentecost, and that raises an odd problem.

According to 1 Corinthians 15:6, Jesus appeared to 500 people at the same time after his resurrection. Five hundred people, in addition to those Paul mentions in previous verses who saw Jesus sometime earlier.

Surely those 500 all count as believers, yet apparently only 120 of them gathered together on Pentecost, including the Twelve and probably including the women who saw the resurrected Jesus at the tomb. So more than 380 believers, for whatever reason were not there. They must surely count among the earliest members of the church, but they did not receive any of the signs that took place in that room.

A large part of receiving God’s blessings consists in showing up where they manifest.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” – Hebrews 10: 24-25 NIV.

The 380 might have missed out on signs and a dramatic experience, but surely they did not miss out on indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is the privilege of all believers.

The sound of a violent wind

The Holy Spirit came first on Pentecost not to the people but the place where they were gathered. The text says that the sound of wind filled the house. It came suddenly, with no warning or preparation. They heard no earthly wind; the sound came from heaven. The NIV calls it the sound of a violent wind. The Holy Spirit comes with power.

Does the symbolism of wind seem strange? It is very natural in Greek. The word for “wind” is pnoe,the word for “spirit,” whether ours or God’s, is pneuma. Both words are derived from pneo, which means to breathe or to blow. Think of the hymn “Breathe on Me Breath of God.”

The text says the sound of wind filled the entire house. It doesn’t say that anyone felt it blowing.  A mighty wind indoors would have caused a disturbance, perhaps even destruction, which would have distracted people from the coming move of God. The sound interrupted whatever else they were doing and caught their attention.

Tongues of fire

No one saw anything blowing around. They saw fire, divided into separate tongues of flame that rested on each person present. The Holy Spirit doesn’t come to groups but to individuals. In the Garden of Eden, God rested from his work because he had finished it. He rested in the same sense on Pentecost.

The wind sounded like it was rushing, moving from one place to another.  But the flames rested. Fire means many things in Scripture. It this case, it is a refining fire. Let’s not pay too much attention to the fire, though. It was a one-time experience that didn’t last.

It called attention to the Holy Spirit, who remained with those people all their lives.  The Holy Spirit completed his task of coming as the Paraclete, a comforter called alongside to help. Thus, resting implies permanence. Having come into the world, he will not leave it.

Filled with the Holy Spirit

When the fire appeared, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, but not permanently. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit three times in the opening chapters of Acts: in Acts 2:4 (as one of the 120), in Acts 4:8 when he addressed the Sanhedrin, and again in Acts 4:31 at the end of a prayer meeting he attended.

The phrase “Spirit-filled believer” has become commonplace, but no one is filled all the time. We leak a lot. Plus, the filling comes when we have special need of the Spirit’s enabling to complete a task God assigns us. We should pray for it, expect it, and rely on it frequently, but not assume we have it at any given moment. And as Acts 2 demonstrates, we might receive the filling of the Holy Spirit even when we haven’t prayed for it or even thought about it.

Someone filled with the Holy Spirit may or may not be aware of it. The infilling is not a matter of feeling but the divine will and power.

Spoke with tongues

Here we come to what everyone associates with Pentecost: they began to speak with other tongues. 1 Corinthians 12 lists nine ways the Holy Spirit makes his presence known, including tongues. The Holy Spirit is a resident Spirit, but these are not resident gifts. He gives them as he chooses. Sometimes an individual might exhibit one of them regularly, but each occurrence is a separate manifestation. People might exercise a spiritual gift and not be aware of it.

(Romans 12, on the other hand, lists seven resident, hard-wired gifts of the Father. These are the ones we can say we have.)

The tongues served as a sign. Luke identifies people of fifteen nationalities who heard the declaration of the wonders of God in their own language. If everyone of the believers spoke with a different tongue, that leaves 105 people speaking an unmentioned language. Did someone perhaps speak English? As with the sound of wind, speaking in tongues got people’s attention so they could hear what the Holy Spirit had to say to them through Peter’s address.

What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Acts 2 depicts the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But in which event? It’s not the sound of the wind. That sound filled the house but didn’t affect the people at all. It’s not the tongues. Speaking with other tongues is one way the Spirit manifests his presence.

In Luke 3:16, John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus repeated the promise before his ascension (Acts 1:15). Therefore, the baptism of the Holy Spirit happened when the tongues of fire rested on each person.

Of course, that baptism doesn’t require the appearance of fire. According to 1 Corinthians 12:13, all believers experience it. It’s what unites us with Christ.

The conclusion of Acts 2 doesn’t explicitly state that 3,000 people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (which they did), but it does say that 3,000 people believed in Jesus after Peter preached to them. Pentecost marks the birthday of the church.

Related articles:

Happy birthday, universal church!
Holy drunkenness at Pentecost
How was Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit?Pentecost––and Babel––is every day
Speaking in tongues: why are some churches so afraid?