The Acts of the Apostles
The Growth and Expansion of the Church in Jerusalem
The Day of Pentecost: The Age of the Spirit (2:1-46) (2)
The Dawning of the Age of the Spirit
I. The Prologue (1:1-8)
II. The Growth and Expansion of the Church in Jerusalem (1:9-8:3)
A. The Prelude to Pentecost (1:9-26)
B. The Day of Pentecost: The Age of the Spirit (2:1-46)
1. The Advent of the Holy Spirit (2:1-13)
a. The Decent of the Spirit (2:1-4)
1) The Setting of the Decent (2:1)
 Their commitment to fulfill the directive of the
Savior led them to gather every day, early to be
found within the gathered fellowship.
2) The Decent (2:2-3)
a) Its Suddenness (2:2a1-4)
● suddenly short span of time,
unexpectedly
 God had determined to give His Spirit and
the plan and the timing was determined by
Him, not by the actions of man. Their
waiting was not the cause of the Spirit’s
coming. The waiting was not for the purpose
of getting Him to come, but for the purpose
of experiencing what was going to happen
based on God’s plan and will.
b) Its Direction (2:2a5-6)
c) Its Force (2:2a7-13)
 The noise punctuated the importance of the
event and the attention believers should pay
to it. God was also providing for us, as
modern day readers, assurance of the
importance of these events.
d) Its Scope (2:2)
e) Its Occurrence (2:3)
1
 It was not that fire descended from heaven,
but something that had the appearance of
fire to it. That what appeared was
distributed, that is, broken into pieces and
handed out was a powerful communication
that everyone received the same thing and
the same amount.
3) The Result of the Descent (2:4)
 This is where our text fits, filling for the purpose of
speaking.
● other allos - other of the same kind
heteros - other of a different kind
● tongues glossia - language
b. The Recognition of His Advent (2:5-13)
1) The Gathering of the Multitude (2:5-6)
● bewildered pour together, commingle, confound,
confuse
● language dialektos - dialect
2) The Composition of the Multitude (2:7-11)
 Luke used glossia and dialektos in parallel to each
other. This emphatically demonstrates that these
two words were being used interchangeably within
this text and the emphasis was upon a known
human language, not gibberish.
3) The Conclusions of the Multitude (2:12-13)
 Luke concludes with conflicting claims regarding
what was taking place.
 The gift of tongues was given not to overcome a
language barrier, but as a sign gift, a sign to Israel
of their judgment and God’s plan (cf. 1 Cor.
14:21-22).