Question

Acts of Apostles Chapters

1 When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together,

2 when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting;

3 and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them.

4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves.

5 Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven,

6 and at this sound they all assembled, and each one was bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language.

7 They were amazed and astonished. 'Surely,' they said, 'all these men speaking are Galileans?

8 How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language?

9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; residents of Rome-

11 Jews and proselytes alike -- Cretans and Arabs, we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.'

12 Everyone was amazed and perplexed; they asked one another what it all meant.

13 Some, however, laughed it off. 'They have been drinking too much new wine,' they said.

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed them in a loud voice: 'Men of Judaea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, make no mistake about this, but listen carefully to what I say.

15 These men are not drunk, as you imagine; why, it is only the third hour of the day.

16 On the contrary, this is what the prophet was saying:

17 In the last days -- the Lord declares -- I shall pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young people shall see visions, your old people dream dreams.

18 Even on the slaves, men and women, shall I pour out my Spirit.

19 I will show portents in the sky above and signs on the earth below.

20 The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes, that great and terrible Day.

21 And all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

22 'Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you know.

23 This man, who was put into your power by the deliberate intention and foreknowledge of God, you took and had crucified and killed by men outside the Law.

24 But God raised him to life, freeing him from the pangs of Hades; for it was impossible for him to be held in its power since,

25 as David says of him: I kept the Lord before my sight always, for with him at my right hand nothing can shake me.

26 So my heart rejoiced my tongue delighted; my body, too, will rest secure,

27 for you will not abandon me to Hades or allow your holy one to see corruption.

28 You have taught me the way of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence.

29 'Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us.

30 But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne,

31 he spoke with foreknowledge about the resurrection of the Christ: he is the one who was not abandoned to Hades, and whose body did not see corruption.

32 God raised this man Jesus to life, and of that we are all witnesses.

33 Now raised to the heights by God's right hand, he has received from the Father the Holy Spirit, who was promised, and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit.

34 For David himself never went up to heaven, but yet he said: The Lord declared to my Lord, take your seat at my righthand,

35 till I have made your enemies your footstool.

36 'For this reason the whole House of Israel can be certain that the Lord and Christ whom God has made is this Jesuswhom you crucified.'

37 Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'What are we to do, brothers?'

38 'You must repent,' Peter answered, 'and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 The promise that was made is for you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lordour God is calling to himself.'

40 He spoke to them for a long time using many other arguments, and he urged them, 'Save yourselves from this perverse generation.'

41 They accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their number.

42 These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

43 And everyone was filled with awe; the apostles worked many signs and miracles.

44 And all who shared the faith owned everything in common;

45 they sold their goods and possessions and distributed the proceeds among themselves according to what each one needed.

46 Each day, with one heart, they regularly went to the Temple but met in their houses for the breaking of bread; they shared their food gladly and generously;

47 they praised God and were looked up to by everyone. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved.

1) Who are the principle actors in this scene? who are all these people in the city? who are the prohets quotes in peter's speech?

2)How is unity described in this passage ( consider 1,3,4,32,41,42,44)

3) When do the poeple ask, What are we suppose to do with this ?

4) Where does the group ,eet daily? why two places? why both places?

Answer 1

1) The principle actors in this scene are twelve apostles of Jesus that is eleven disciples who followed Jesus in his life time and Matthias who was appointed as apostle by the disciples in place of Judas Iscariot. Many women were there with Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.

Most of these people belonged to the lower working class in the city as fishermen and taxcollectors with minimal educational background who represented the most common form of people in the city.

Peter quoted prophet Joel in his speech in the verses from 17 to 21.

2)

• In verse 1 they waited for the promise of Holy spirit with same heart, same love for God, same trust in their God for his promise, and in the same place.
• In verses 3 and 4 they all were filled with the same holy Spirit in the form of fire, fire symbolises purification, this means they were purified by the Holy Spirit and they received the blessing of tongues that is now they were able to speak different languages.
• The verse 32 describes their unity in witnessing the promise fulfilled in them.
• The passage 41 shows their unity in receiving God's word and getting baptized accordingly
• The verse 42 shows unity in following doctrines and having fellowship with each other , living in the way Jesus has shown to them.
• In the verse 44 they showed their uniry sharing whatever they had and helping each other as they could from their mere resources.

3) We are supposed to have that unity in God's goodness and love, we should be gracious as our God is to us, we should be united in our prayers for the promises of God, and should be ready to sacrifice our luxuries and comforts when we are asked by our God through the Holy Spirit.

4) Groups ate together at each others houses. Initially they were few people who did not had a common place to meet and they were peolpe who had many economic restraints. So they met at each others houses and broke the bread in unity with Jesus Christ.