The lexical data which we have summarized appears to Note: these references are included irrespective of whether the
Holy Spirit is in the subject or predicate.
This distinctive Lukan terminology is virtually absent in, the Johannine and Pauline literature. Of equal significance, characteristic Johannine terminology, such as “the Spirit of Truth” and “the Paraclete,” and typical Pauline terminology,
’ Delling, “pimp&i, empimpfhi” TDNT VI, p. 128.
be uncomplicated and problem free. However, the literature on the subject, which represents different ecclesiastical and theological presuppositions, yields a wide variety of
R3 83
interpretations, some of which are mutually exclusive and contradictory. According to this literature, the term “filled with the Holy Spirit” describes either sanctification, that is, ethical or moral behavior, or service, whether it be prophecy, preaching or apostolic mission. There are, moreover, differences as to 1) ’
whether it is related to the Old Testament activity of the Spirit of God, or whether it is uniquely Christian, and 2) whether it is a temporary or a permanent possession-differences which are sometimes resolved by assuming that “filled with the Holy Spirit” has a different meaning in the Gospel than it does in the Acts. It is hoped that the following hermeneutical program will be the correct key to the resolution of these competing and sometimes contradictory interpretations.
Luke’s TermlnoJogy b Modelled
after
the SeptuaglntThough it is not unchallenged, there is a growing
: scholarly consensus that Luke is heir to the Septuagint. This indebtedness is true for his historiography. In his Acts and the Hisby of Earliest Christianity, Martin Hengel concludes:
Luke is evidently influenced by a firm tradition with a religious view of history which essentially derives from the Septuagint. Hi imitation of the Septuagint shows that he wants quite deliberately to be in this tradithx3
Similarly, in his Luke: Historian and ‘I’heoZogian, I.
Howard Marshall writes: “His [Luke’s] style of writing, which is frequently reminiscent of the Septuagint, demands that he also be compared to Jewish Historians.“’ Marshall’s comment
3 Martin Hengel, Acts and tk Histoy ojEudiest Chrisfiunily, trans. by John Bowden (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), pp. 51-52
’ I. Howard Marshall, Iwk Hi&rim ad Thadogian, Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970), p. 55.
reminds us that Luke’s indebtedness to the Septuagint extends beyond his historiography to his style. Conceding that “Luke may well have had the skill to write what looks like a deliberate LXX style,” Nigel Turner comme&, “alternatively, his may have been part of the style of a Jewish kind of Greek.“’ He concludes: “To us it seems doubtful whether such an artist would inadvertently leave any so-called ‘pools’ of Semitisms, if .his natural language were not Semitic Greek? Thus, whether his style is either “imitative” of the Septuagint, or “natural”
Semitic-Biblical Greek, Luke is clearly heir to the Septuagint in matters of historiography and style.
Luke’s stylistic indebtedness, in particular, extends to his terminology by which he describes the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit.’ The following chart illustrates that the majority of Luke’s terms are paralleled in the Septuagint to describe the presence and activity of the Spirit of God.
LUKE-ACTS I SEPTUAGINT
to lead (a$) 5x E2xk 8:3; ll:l, 24; 37:l; 435 to dothe (en&) 3x Jud. 6%; 1 Chron. 1218;
2 Chron. 2420 to fall upon (epilpipt~) l x Ezek 11:s to baptize (buptio0)
to come upon (eplerchomai) 2x Ezek. az; 3%
to give,( &d&i) 3x Num. 1129; Neh. 920;
Isa. 421
’ Nigel Turner, SryZe, Vol IV of A Grummar OJ New Tesfament Gre$c, edited by James Hope Moulton (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1976), p. 56.
6 Turner, Style, p. 57.
’ Roger Stronstad, “The Influence of the Old Testament on the Charismatic Theology of St. Luke,” Pncuma, Vol. 2 No. 1 (1980); p. 44ff. For a full discussion of the subject see my CJmrismuYic Thedogy of 9. Luke (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1984).
84 8 5
A comparison of the appropriate verbs between the Septuagint.
and Luke-Acts shows that the Septuagint has a wider variety than Luke-Acts on a ratio of 23/9.6 It is of great significance, however, that with the exception of the verb &apt&5 all nine Lucan terms are paralleled in the Septuagint. Of greatest significance, moreover, is the fact that Luke’s most characteristic term, “filled (pimp&&) with the Holy Spirit,” is paralleled in the septuagintal term “filled (pimpZ&ni) with the Spirit.”
Not only does Luke, and Luke alone in the New Testament, use this septuagintal term, but he also duplicates its semantic characteristics. As in the Septuagint, so in Luke-Acts, with a single exception in each, “filled” is an aorist passive. The single exception in both the Septuagint and Luke-Acts are the announcements that Jesse’s descendant and John the Baptist will be filled with the Spirit--thus the explanation for the future rather than the aorist tense.
From this discussion we may conclude: 1) Luke is generally a debtor to the Greek Bible for his terminology by which he describes the activity of the Holy Spirit, and specifically, for his distinctive “filled with the Holy Spirit”
terminology; 2) this septuagintal terminology in Luke-Acts describes the same kind of experience for Luke as it did for the translators of the Septuagint; that is, it describes a charismatic activity of the Spirit. These conclusions will be confirmed later in this study.
’ Ibid.
86
‘Filled with the Holy Spirit’ Has the Same Meaning in Both the Gospel and the Acts.
Ending several decades of scholarly skepticism concerning the literary unity of Luke-Acts, in his article, “Luke- Acts, A Storm Center in Contemporary Scholarship,” W. C. van Unnik reports:
We speak of it (Luke-Acts) as a unit . . . It is generally accepted that both books have a common author; the possibility that the Gospel and Acts, contrary to Acts l:l, do not belong together is not seriously discussed. By almost unanimous consent they are considered to be two volumes of a single work9
While consenting with this scholarly consensus on the literary unity of Luke-Acts, many scholars paradoxically assume a theological discontinuity between Luke and Acts.
While it applies to many aspects of Lukan theology, this assumption of theological discontinuity certainly includes Luke’s “filled with the Holy Spirit” terminology. The term is distributed between Luke-Acts on a ratio of 3/6. The following chart illustrates this distribution:
LUKE I A C T S
John the Baptist, 1:15 1 Disciples, 2:4 Elizabeth. 1:41 I Peter. 4:8 Zacharias, 1:67 Disciples, 4:31 Paul. 9:17
9 W. C. van Unnik, “Luke-Acts, A Storm Center in Contemporary Scholarship,” in Studies in Luke-Ads, ed. by L. K. Keck and J. L. Martyn (London: S.P.C.K., 1967), p.
18.
In spite of the fact that the term is the same in both the Gospel and in the Acts, in his monograph, The Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles, J. H. E. Hull asserts:
Elizabeth and Zacharias were, in Luke’s view, momentarily filled with the Spirit. In other words, they could only be aware of Hi (seemingly) fleeting presence and Hi (seemingly) fitful and necessarily limited activity. The disciples, on the other hand, were permanently filled with the Spirit.”
Similarly, Gerhard Del@, in his article on the words,
’ pimp/Emil empimpEmi,” in Theologicul Dictionary of the New Testament, writes:
The Spirit of prophecy causes Elizabeth (1:41) and Zacharias (1:67) to magnify the fulfillmenlof God’s promise of salvation in the sons of Mary and Elizabeth.. .In AC. pbthenai describes the work of the Hdy Spirit in Christians. The primary reference here is not to the receiving of the Spirit of prophecy but to the fact that the filling with the Spirit conveys the power of preaching.‘t
In principle, since Luke-Acts is a literary unit, scholars should not assume a theological discontinuity between Luke-Acts unless the semantic and contextual evidence demands it. In general, however, the evidence compels the interpreter to recognize a strong continuity for such important Lukan themes as salvation, forgiveness, witness, and the Holy Spirit.12
Specifically, in spite of assertions to the contrary, the evidence compels us to recognize that the term, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” has the same meaning in both the Gospel and the Acts. On the one hand, it means prophetic inspiration in both
lo J. H. E. Hull, The Holy Spitif in the Acts of the Apostles (London: Lutterworth Press, 1967), pp. 68-69.
” Delling “pimpfem;, empimpGmi ” TDhT, VI, p. 130.
” Marshall, Luke: Historian and Theologian, pp. 91; 93ff; 15ff; 190.
books, and not prophecy in the Gospel and preaching in the Acts. Luke, himself, makes this identification for Zacharias (1:67), and for the “other tongues” of the disciples on the day of Pentecost, where Luke not only describes the disciples as
“filled,” but where he also records Peter’s interpretation of this as prophecy, such as Joel wrote about (Acts 2:4,16ff.). On the other hand, “filled” is not temporary in Luke and permanent in Acts. As the examples of Peter (Acts 2;4; 4:8,31) and Paul (Acts 9:17; 13:9, 52) demonstrate, it is an occasional or repetitive experience for the disciples.13 We will demonstrate more fully that the term “filled with the Holy Spirit” is a potentially repetitive occasion of prophetic inspiration in both the Gospel and the Acts.
In order to adequately interpret the “filled with the Holy Spirit” terminology in Luke-Acts, the interpreter must integrate the following principles into his methodological program: 1) Luke’s terminology is modelled after a similar term in the Septuagint; 2) this term has the same meaning in the Gospel as it does in the Acts. These points provide the interpreter with a methodological orientation and strategy which will enable him to best understand the Lukan data.
I3 In The Acts of the Apostlezx The Creek Text with introduction and Commentary (2nd ed; Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1952), p. 120, F. F. Bruce comments: ‘The permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a believer must be contrasted with special moments of inspiration, such as the present (Acts 4:8), which was a fulfillment of our Lord’s promise in Mk. xiii. 11 and parallel passages.”
Q Q 8Q___-_ -___-____ ___ __-____-___
.