Q: On Pentecost (Acts 2), did the Spirit fall on the 120 or only the apostles?

We should grant that the context is ambiguous in 2:1. We don’t need an explicit pronoun for “they”; it is understood within the person and number of the verb “they were” (hēsan). Normally, the antecedent of this third person, plural understood subject would be “the twelve apostles” of the preceding verse (Acts 1:26). But the ambiguity comes by the addition of the word, “all” (pantes).

A similar phenomenon occurs in verse 4, where we have the understood subject of the verb “they were filled” (eplēsthēsan), supplemented once again by the addition of the pronoun “all” (pantes). When we ask ourselves how Luke would have worded these verses if he wanted to mean “the twelve apostles” only, the answer seems to be that he would have omitted both occurrences of “all.”

Nevertheless, the narrative that follows sets apart the apostles as a special group of leaders with unique authority. In v. 11, Peter stands up “with the Eleven,” not with the 120. At the conclusion of Peter’s sermon, the crowds asks what they should do of “Peter and the rest of the apostles” (v. 37), not the 120. The newly converted continue to learn the teaching “of the apostles,” not of the 120, and wonders and signs are performed “through the apostles” (vv. 42-43). As a group, the 120 are never heard from again.

In addition to these points, those in the crowd hearing the speakers in different languages, ask, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?” (v. 7). It is doubtful that the demographics of the 120 would be exclusively Galileans without any from Judea.

If you know someone who is suffering from this, it get viagra australia can be painful, sad, distressful and frustrating for men. Medication Precautions In case you have taken any home test, then first ask the expert and go for the test again with the help of a trusted medicine shop and place an order, to get this ED pill at their doorstep.Today, generic levitra india has emerged as the best platform to buy a medicine for sexual disorder treatment. One of the most common consequences buy viagra italy devensec.com of an automobile accident is whiplash. Therefore, 4T Plus capsules are the best herbal pills to fight impotence cialis india online problem, daily twice with milk or plain water for three to four months. My conclusion is that we should understand what happened on Pentecost as only the beginning of the outpouring of the Spirit–a launch event for the new age. After explaining that the Spirit as a gift comes to all penitents baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, along with forgiveness of sins, Peter announces, “For the promise is to you and to your children and to all those who are far away, as many as the Lord our God might call.” What promise?

Perhaps Peter is referring to the promise God makes in Joel 2:28 that He will pour out the Spirit on all flesh. Perhaps he refers to the promise of v. 38: the Spirit as God’s gift, along with forgiveness of sins. Either way, Peter extends the outpouring of the Spirit beyond the apostles to every person responding to the gospel. The usual way this happens is through the initiatory event of water baptism on the basis of Jesus as Messiah, which Jesus calls “being born of water and the Spirit,” and Paul calls “the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Spirit” (John 3:5 and Titus 3:5, respectively).

Paul says this is something all Christians have experienced, for we are all baptized in one Spirit and all given the one Spirit to drink (1 Cor. 12:13). What happened at Pentecost showed visibly and audibly at the “launch” what God does invisibly and inaudibly every time someone becomes a Christian. Men, women, boys, girls, and the elderly are all included. We all become God’s children by the reception of His Spirit.

Possessing Him, or rather belonging to Him, is one thing we all have in common. United by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit, and yield to His work in us to bear fruit that makes us more and more like Jesus in our actions, our thoughts, and our character (Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:1-3).