Every Tongue

Acts 2: The risen Jesus pours out the promised Spirit

Pentecost makes the promised Spirit publicly audible in languages the gathered hearers recognize, and the first reactions already divide between wonder, questions, and mockery. Peter refuses to leave the event unexplained. Joel gives him language for the outpouring, while the Psalms let him argue that David's words reach beyond David's own occupied grave to the risen and exalted Jesus. The sound in Jerusalem is tied to authority in heaven: the Jesus who was crucified is proclaimed as Lord and Christ and as the one who has poured out what the crowd can see and hear. The hearers' question, “what shall we do?”, moves the chapter from interpretation to response. Repentance, baptism, forgiveness, and the gift of the Holy Ghost are joined to a promise extending beyond the immediate crowd. The chapter then turns three thousand additions into a daily life of teaching, fellowship, meals, prayer, generosity, and continuing need.