Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Acts 2:14a, 36-41 (NRSV)

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, 

³⁶ Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” ³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” ⁴⁰ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

Acts 2:14a, 36-41 present the conclusion of the first sermon by Peter on Pentecost.

¹⁴ However, Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them. Peter is speaking as a leader of the church in Jerusalem.

Peter now offers his conclusion to the first sermon, which he offered on Jewish feast of Pentecost to the pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem. The first mission of the church is to proclaim or preach in a way the people present could understand. The resurrection of Jesus and his exaltation to the Father results in the fulfillment of the prophecy from Joel concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The new age of the work and power of the Spirit has begun. The Crucified One is the one who God raised. Jesus of Nazareth, whose life resulted in crucifixion by Jewish and Romans leaders, is the same person the Father, through the life-giving power of the Spirit, raised from the dead. ³⁶ Therefore, let the entire house of Israel, in characteristic Lukan style, a phrase drawing from the Greek version of the Old Testament (LXX Psalms 97:3; 113:20; 117:2, 134:19). While Luke considers the Jews in Peter’s audience at this point in the narrative of Acts to constitute “Israel,” it becomes apparent as the plot unfolds that the designation “Israel” (and the corresponding term “people of God”) is going to be passed on to the community that proclaims Jesus as the Messiah. Thus, Jewish people who reject Jesus are in danger of forfeiting their rightful claim to be called the people of God (see, e.g., Acts 28:29); we get the first glimpses of this in the statements in the present passage by Peter to the Jews who have heard him speak. Peter wants his largely Jewish audience to know with certainty that God has made him both Lord (Κύριον) and Messiah (Χριστὸν), this Jesus whom you crucified.” The first sermon of Peter focuses upon the power of the Word of God to interpret their experience of Jesus of Nazareth, especially in his crucifixion and resurrection. The evidence for such exaltation is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which in turn is a final proof, after Joel, that the messianic age has arrived; for the gift of the Spirit is the work of the glorified Jesus and shows him to be Lord and Christ. It matters that the Crucified is the one God raised from the dead. The resurrection is not an isolated event but has a direct relation to the earthly course of the life of Jesus.[1] Thus, the main point of Peter’s scriptural arguments is to demonstrate who the crucified truly is in the eyes of God. The verse concludes the argument from scripture that the resurrection constituted Jesus as Lord and Messiah. Both terms would have been surprising to ancient Jews. First, the expectation that God would send a messiah was widely held, and even though there were divergent views about the identity, role and function of this figure, nobody would have imagined that some Jews would proclaim a crucified prophet Messiah after the fact. Second, the Bible reserves the term “Lord” (in Greek) for the one God who ruled over Israel; one did not apply it to people. It is no wonder, then, that early Christian exegetes of the Scriptures of Israel had their work cut out for them!

Belief in the resurrection has been challenged by some biblical scholars and theologians (what else is new?). This text is an opportunity to counter those challenges with a strong, informed affirmation of the resurrection. We have the stories of resurrection, but now we must step back and reflect upon the meaning of those narratives. We must take some time to do some theology. In so doing, our reflections will be both pedagogical and pastoral. Doubts about something as surprising as the resurrection of Jesus is quite normal. Responding to such a witness with faith is unnatural and maybe even miraculous. 

Acts 2:37-40 has the theme of the response to the message given by Peter on Pentecost. We will read of the response to the message. They could have debate with Peter about whether the Crucified One could be Lord and Messiah. Instead, they wonder what the apostles think they should do. Peter had to have his ears open to the longing of their hearts. He also had to point them to their spiritual home. Peter had seen the risen Lord and received the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Peter invites them to repent, receive baptism in the name of Jesus, receive forgiveness of sin, and receive the gift of the Spirit. Peter, seeing the pain, wants to rescue them from the corruption of this generation. ³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. Peter’s exhortation convicted some of his listeners. Despite the audacity of Peter’s claims about the person of Jesus, the crowd takes his words quite seriously, and in fact is shocked and deeply troubled.  Peter’s Spirit-inspired message challenged his audience, because it not only presented a fresh understanding of the Scriptures (cf. vv. 16-21, 25-31, 34), but also convicted them of their complicity in Jesus’ death (cf. v. 23). They press Peter and the other apostles with their question and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” The same question that the crowd asks John the Baptist in Luke 3:10 after he has excoriated them.

Consider the question of what we shall do in the context of the Christian community today. Someone devoted to orthodoxy will quickly hear the answer: “Make sure the preaching of the church is pure.” To the segment of the church that especially values orthodoxy, by far the most important thing about being a Christian is to believe the right thing. The next category is moralism. Moralists want to see, above all else, that people in the church behave. Christianity, to them, is mainly a matter of discovering the ethical precepts of the faith and following them. The third answer to the question is the social-activist answer. To the activist, the purpose of the church is to change the world: to root out and destroy injustice, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to make this planet a better place for everyone to live. Finally, there are the pietists. The pietists say that nothing else in this life matters, if one has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Becoming a Christian is a matter of getting to know Christ — no more, no less. And living the Christian life is primarily a matter of trying to bring others into the fold. In truth, Christianity is all these things. Jesus is all these things, throughout the course of his earthly ministry. His deepest desire for us is that we might believe the right thing ... do the right thing ... advocate the right thing ... pray the right thing.[2]

Let us return to the text and consider the answer Peter offers to the question of what they should do in response to his preaching. ³⁸ Peter said to them, his brief answer containing several themes that are important in Luke-Acts. First imperative is to “Repent. Each of the great apostolic discourses concludes with a call to repentance to obtain forgiveness of sin.  The formula may not be the baptismal formula but may indicate its significance, that the baptized profess their faith in Christ. Peter’s first charge is that his listeners “repent.” The verb in Greek implies a change of mind or reorientation of one’s thinking that in Acts is often associated with conversion (e.g., 3:19; 5:31; 13:24; 17:30). And, second imperative, be baptized every one of you. Baptism had become the standard ritual of initiation into the Christian community by the time Acts was written. Note the close connection between conversion and baptism. Baptism replaces the word of Jesus himself that summoned people into a relation of discipleship. Conversion and the act of faith are still under the control of the believer, while baptism is an act of submission. In that sense, saving faith in the full sense is submission to baptism.[3] Such baptism is in the name of Jesus Christ, a validating feature of many deeds carried out by the apostles (e.g., 4:10; 5:28; 9:16; 16:18). The effect of such baptism is so that your sins may be forgiven. Forgiveness has strong links with the ministries of John the Baptist (Luke 3:3) and of Jesus himself (Luke 5:20-24; 7:47-49; 11:4; 17:3-4; 23:34; 24:47) and is one of the hallmarks of the Christian community (Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 22:16; 26:18). Primitive Christianity quickly came to relate baptism to the forgiveness of sins, doing so by linking the baptized Christian to Jesus Christ.[4] And, third imperative, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. If this phrase is a subjective genitive, the gift comes from the Holy Spirit, and the end of verse 38 would be translated more clearly as “and you will receive the Holy Spirit’s gift.” If it is an objective genitive, the Holy Spirit is the gift, and the final phrase of verse 38 could be appropriately translated as, “and you will receive the gift, which is the Holy Spirit.” The latter interpretation is most likely. The link between baptism and reception of the Spirit was part of primitive Christianity.[5] We should also note that the distinction John the Baptist made between baptism and the coming of the Spirit does not describe Christian baptism, where baptism is also closely associated with the baptism of the Spirit. The fruit of repentance and baptism will be the reception of the Holy Spirit, just as Peter and the others had just experienced (2:1-4).[6] ³⁹ For the promise, alluding to the Holy Spirit or to, in Luke-Acts, to the promise of blessings made by God to Abraham (see, e.g., Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-6; 22:15-18; and Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4; 3:24-36; 13:32; 26:6).[7]  Here, however, the promise is not offspring, land, political dominion or the like, but rather the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (the blessing has thus been literally “spiritualized”). Before his ascension, Jesus instructed his apostles to wait in Jerusalem “for the promise of the Father” (1:4). They were to “be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (1:5). In addition, they were “to receive power when the Holy Spirit” came upon them (1:8), which occurred when “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). And even Jesus himself “received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit” (v. 33). Though easily overlooked, it is important to note as well that this promise is for everyone just as Joel had prophesied (v. 39; cf. v. 17). The promise is for you, the Jewish people, for your children, and for all who are far away, Gentiles, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” An echo of the Greek version of Joel 2:28-32, which immediately follows the passage from Joel that Peter had cited in his speech (2:21). In this Greek version of Joel 3:5b (which is different from the Hebrew versions that are translated in our English Bibles), “those whom the Lord summons” are a remnant of the Jews who “will be preached the good news.” This verse makes it even clearer why the author of Acts thought the Joel 3:1-5 passage was foreshadowing the events that had transpired on Pentecost. Whomever the Lord calls belongs to the promise. ⁴⁰ And he testified (διεμαρτύρατο) with many other arguments and exhorted them. Peter continued to instruct and exhort the crowd for some time, saying, “Save yourselves (Σώθητε, more properly translating the imperative as “Be saved,” which resonates with the reference to those who “shall be saved” in the Joel citation earlier in the speech in 2:21), from this corrupt generation.” The emphasis here is on God’s act of rescuing the believer from the “corrupt generation.”

In this episode, the author of Acts attempts to demonstrate that the Old Testament promises of the restoration of the people of God are being realized in the messianic community that looks to the resurrected Jesus as its Lord. Joel 2 predicted the reception of the Holy Spirit by the believers and represents the blessing promised long before Abraham.

I direct your attention to the notion of a corrupt generation. I suspect every generation has its unique form of corruption. The question this raises for the people of God in every generation is how they recognize their need for saving from their generation and how they can still witness to it. 

Ulee’s Gold is a 1997 movie, one easily overlooked. Peter Fonda portrays Ulee. The movie is deceptively old-fashioned. The film is about family. In a time when many people forsake the family so easily, this film stands up and declares that salvation of the family lies in our ability to support and love each other, through the good times and the bad. The film does not pretend that the bad times do not wear you down. Nevertheless, it shows that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel, and if there is even one spark of hope in the darkness, not all is lost. This is a realistic look at a family in need of a second chance on life. 

Since Ulee is a beekeeper, we find out something about bees and beekeepers. Ulee’s gold is, after all, the honey from the bees. The relationship between bee and beekeeper is simple: You take care of them, and they will take care of you. In one scene (1:06:48 to 1:07:52), Penny, his granddaughter, has drawn a picture of Ulee going to the swamp to get the bees. With Ulee listening in, she tells her mother, who has had problems with addiction to drugs, 

“See, sometimes the bees get confused, and run away — that’s them there on the tree. But they don’t really want to be gone, and they’re happy when someone helps them back into their home. But you got to keep calm and don’t panic when they sting, ’cause they don’t mean nothing by it.”

I have a question for you. Have some people in your family lost their way? Have some people in your neighborhood or at work lost their way? They might even lash out at you. Maybe the corruption of this generation has grabbed them. I confess I have not always responded well in that situation. I keep trying to respond as a disciple, by which I mean, with forgiveness and love. 

The church in America struggles. The American landscape has changed. Many people have lost their way. Some people have developed intellectual struggles. They find they can no longer believe what the church believes, and often have no place to go within the church to raise their questions. Some people develop spiritual problems with the church, for it seems as if many churches have lost their way. They care more about buildings and the way they have always done things, rather than reaching people with the good news. Some have moral questions but are not sure they can raise them within the church. Some people notice that the church has too often supported injustice. Of course, still others see the imperfection of the church and its members. That ought to sadden us. If we have failed to reflect the love of Christ to others, it ought to call us within the church to repentance. Yet, in another sense, people within the church are imperfect, and in fact, the church is for imperfect people. If you are perfect, you have no need of what the church offers. If you need grace, we want you to find it within the community of faith. 

Here is the point: Being a follower of Jesus is both a group trip and an individual experience. The writer of Hebrews told the Christians of his day to not neglect to meet, but to assemble as believers to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25). He was right. Church is not like school where you attend for a while until you receive your degree and then you graduate. The church has no alumni association. 

The huge redwood trees of California amaze people who see them. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are 300 feet high and over 2,500 years old. One would think that trees so large must have a tremendous root system that reaches down hundreds of feet into the earth. But not so! The redwoods have a very shallow root system. If one were to get down on one’s knees and examine the redwoods’ root system, one would find that all the roots intertwine. They join their roots to each other. When the storms come, the winds blow, and the lightning flashes, the redwoods still stand. They are not alone, for all the trees support and protect each other. Each tree is important to all the other trees in the grove.[8] The same needs to be true of us. Our spiritual roots interlock with others who share the journey.

At the same time, however, we need to take individual responsibility for the health of our faith. We do that through such private activities as prayer and Bible reading and giving to the work of the church and the like, but we also do it by making sure we connect regularly with a body of believers. While the church has a prime responsibility to help us in our life of faith, we as individual Christians always have a prime responsibility to our church to help it be a place where the things Peter outlined — the preaching of repentance, baptism, seeking the Holy Spirit — happen. The church, with our help, should also ensure that the practices of the early converts — worship, fellowship, caring for one another, common goals in mission and ministry, an active prayer life among the membership, a thorough Christian education for children and newcomers to the faith and so on — are carried out.

In one of the memorable quotes from Ulee’s Gold, Ulee says, “There's all kinds of weakness in the world, not all of it is evil. I forget that from time to time.” The corruption of this generation can get inside of people. We may spot weakness of faith, hope and love in a fellow church member; we may spot such weakness in a family member, neighbor, coworker, or friend. Weakness is not time to play “gotcha.” Weakness is time for grace. Weakness is a time to listen for something like, “Friend, I have lost my way. What must I do?” Oh, they may not use those words, but with their lives and other words, they just might be saying it. We need to listen. Seeing weakness is a time to invite people to find their way out of the corruption and find their way home.

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[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 344.

[2] Inspired by Shirley Guthrie.

[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 245-6.

[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 240.

[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 279.

[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 260.

[7] Luke Timothy Johnson (The Acts of the Apostles, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press)

[8] —Source unknown.