It is surprising that the synoptic tradition about the Holy Spirit has no influence on the record of the Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. Scholars typically define Luke's signature phrase "baptized in the Holy Spirit" according to Paul's meaning of the term.
CHAPTER TWO
On the other hand, all parties must develop a methodological consensus for the interpretation of the gift of the Spirit in the Acts of Luke. For example, contrary to some popular interpretations, Luke's characteristic phrase .. filled with the Holy Spirit”: 1) is modeled after its use in the Old Testament (LXX), 2) has the same meaning in the Gospel in Acts, and 3) has a different meaning in Luke-Acts than it does in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians.
Prolegomenon
When Luke's works are interpreted in light of this methodological program, Luke's message often turns out to be radically different from some of the contemporary interpretations given to it. This charismatic theology of the Spirit is no less valid for disciples in the twentieth century than it was for disciples in the first century.
The Charismatic Spirit of God
This study of the charismatic activity of the Spirit of God is divided into two parts. In part one I examine the charismatic Spirit in the Old Testament period, and in part two I examine the charismatic Spirit in the Intertestamental period.
Part One: The Charismatic Spirit in Old Testament Times
The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me, and his word was on my tongue." This charismatic gift of the Spirit of the Lord to the Messiah has a twofold meaning.
Part Two: The Charismatic Spirit in the Intertestamental Period
This future outpouring of the Spirit upon God's anointed and upon His people will create a charismatic community. In summary, as the prophets describe it, the gift of God's Spirit in the age to come will be characterized by two new dimensions. The inner renewal of the Spirit, resulting from the indwelling of the Spirit, completes the charismatic gift of the Spirit.
The cessation of prophetic inspiration has two important consequences for the religious literature of the intertestamental period. Aware of the absence of prophetic inspiration, Judaism looked ahead to the future restoration of prophecy in Israel. This terminology of the Spirit, though not theology, can be found in the Johannine description of the Spirit-Paraclete (John 14-16).
The Holy Spirit in the
In addition to the influence of these charismatic motifs, the Septuagint provides Luke with the terminology to describe the activity of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Jesus and His disciples. Finally, Luke-Acts contrasts with the intertestamental belief in the termination of prophetic inspiration; rather, it reports the restoration.
Gospel of Luke
The Charismatic Christ
The Infancy Narrative (15252)
The other four references to the activity of the Holy Spirit in the infancy narrative, in contrast, describe the charismatic activity of the Spirit. This charismatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the infancy narrative, then, invariably results in prophetic praise and worship. This gift of the Spirit will enable him to minister in the spirit and power of Elijah (1:17).
However, the Spirit's activity in the infancy narrative is also in tension with the Jewish perspective. Similarly, Jesus, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, will be the Son of the Most High (1:32, 35). Second, these programmatic elements are not limited to speeches, quotes and strategic hymns; they are also found in the charismatic activity of the Holy Spirit.
The Inauguration Narrative (3: l-4:44)
Each of the synoptic Evangelists connects the temptation of Jesus with His reception of the Spirit. JesuH therefore understands that the descent of the Spirit upon Him at His baptism accomplished His anointing. Luke alone notes that Jesus, when he is tested in the wilderness, is full of the Spirit.
Only Luke tells us that Jesus begins his Galilean ministry in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit's activity in baptism, temptation, and synagogue episodes inaugurate the public ministry of Jesus the Messiah. Luke also attributes a paradigmatic significance to the gift of the Spirit in the initiation narrative.
Individual Texts
In the ongoing history of salvation, at Pentecost, the ministry of the charismatic Christ is transferred to a necessarily charismatic community of disciples. Rather than Jesus' teaching about the Holy Spirit, it is the Spirit's charismatic activity that dominates Luke's narrative. The presence and power of the Spirit affects the restoration of prophecy, the conception and the anointing of Jesus.
Furthermore, the guidance, fullness, and power of the Spirit characterize the inauguration of His Messianic ministry.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Holy Spirit at Pentecost
The Charismatic Community
- The Promise of Pentecost (Luke 24:49; Acts 15, 8)
- The Miracle of Pentecost (2:1-4)
- Peter’s Pentecost Interpretation (2: 14-21)
- Peter’s Pentecost Application (2:37-39)
- Pentecost and the Mosaic Tradition
- The Religious Experience of Pentecost
Luke compares the baptism of the disciples with the anointing of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. This promise also reveals the purpose of the gift of the Spirit: it is for testimony. First, the gift of the Spirit to the disciples on the day of Pentecost is not an isolated and unique event.
First, the gift of the Spirit is eschatological; that is, it is a gift in the last days (Acts 2:17). Highlighting this era of restoration would be the Spirit's gift to the nation. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and other prophets describe the gift of the Spirit in graphic terminology.
CHAPTER FIVE
Our examination of the Pentecostal story therefore leads us to reject conventional interpretations of Pentecost, namely that the gift of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost signifies the institution or birth of the Church and a complementary initiation or incorporation of the disciples into the Church. Church. This interpretation arises from emphasizing the discontinuity between the periods of Israel, Jesus and the Church13, or from assigning a soteriological rather than a charismatic meaning to the gift of the Spirit. The result is that the Jews who do not accept the gospel are removed from Israel; the history of the people of God, of the one and only Israel, continues among obedient Jews who believe in Jesus.
We further showed that in Luke's charismatic theology, Jesus, the charismatic Christ, begins the mission of the disciples with the gift of the Spirit, instead of creating the Church. If we interpreted Luke's Pentecost narrative correctly, then the gift of the Spirit is not for salvation, but for witness and service. In other words, with the transfer of the Spirit to the disciples on the day of Pentecost, they become a charismatic community, inheritors of the earlier charismatic ministry of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles
Rather, Luke is concerned to show that when the gospel was preached, the one people of God, Israel, was divided into two.
The Charismatic Community in Mission
- The Gift of the Spirit at Samaria (8:14-19)
- The Gift of the Spirit to Saul (9:17-M)
- The Gift of the Spirit to the Household of Cornelius (10: 44-46)
- The Gift of the Spirit to the Disciples at Ephesus (19:1-7)
- The Means of Conferring the Holy Spirit
- Miscellaneous Texts
For Luke, the gift of the Spirit has a professional purpose and equips the disciples for service. For this shared responsibility they receive the same equipment - the professional gift of the Spirit. This narrative brings together two characteristic Lukan motifs: professional ability and the gift of the Spirit.
To explain the gift of the Spirit to Cornelius' household, Luke directs his readers to the account of Pentecost. This process has an Old Testament precedent in the gift of the Spirit to Joshua (Deuteronomy 34:9). As in the Pentecost narrative, the gift of the Spirit is invoked in these following narratives.
CHAPTER SIX
The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke
Synthesis and Challenge
Part One: A Synthesis of Luke’s Charismatic Theology
The inaugural Acts account focuses on the gift of the Spirit to the disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4). Furthermore, in both cases the transference of the Spirit results in an outburst of prophecy. Although Luke uses different terminology in each account, the gift of the Spirit to the disciples is.
The transmission of the Holy Spirit also takes place after Pentecost. In his terminology, the visible and/or audible phenomena "witness" the gift of the Spirit. Specifically, the charismatic gift of the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts is often prophetic.
Part Two: The Challenge of Luke’s Charismatic Theology
Luke's charismatic theology is characterized by an Old Testament heritage, an experiential dimension, frequent prophetic activity and no temporal limitations. Only those who resist the evidence can continue to interpret the gift of the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts as an initiation-conversion experience.
END NOTES Chapter One
Ward Gasque, A History of the Criticism of the Acts of the Apostles (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975), s. Howard Marshall, Luke: Historian and Theologian, Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970), s. Spittler (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976), og Ronald Kydd, I'm Still There: A Reafirmation of Tunger som det første bevis på dåb i Helligånden (Toronto: The Pentecostal Assemblys of Cananda, 1977).
It is significant that when he reviewed Michael Green's I Believe in the Holy Spirit, HIS (June, 1976), p.
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
George Foot Moore, Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era: The Age of Tannaim, Vol. It is important that in the Gospel of John, Jesus is also the exclusive bearer of the Holy Spirit throughout his public ministry. Earle Ellis, editor, The Gospel of Luke, New Century Bible (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1966), p.
Bruce, “The Spirit in the Apocalypse,” in Christ and the Spirit in the New Testament, ed. 17Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament: Aramaic Paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible: A Light on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1972), p. Recent books on the subject of charismatic and prophetic leadership in the New Testament include the following: E.
Chapter Four
6-7 Eusebius records the following testimony of Clement: "When Peter had publicly preached the word in Rome and by the Spirit had preached the gospel, those present, who were many, exhorted Mark as one who had followed him for a long time and remembered what had been spoken, to record what was said; and that he did this, and distributed the gospel among those who asked him. And that when the matter came to Peter's knowledge, he neither strongly forbade it, nor encouraged it to move on." Earle Ellis, Prophecy and Hermeneutic in Early Christianity: New Testament Essays (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1978); Martin Hengel, The Charismatic Leader and His Followers, trans.
Minear, To Heal and to Reveal: The Prophetic Vocation Ifølge Luke (New York: The Seabury Press, 1076).
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES