All Things Seen & Unseen

Pentecost Sunday is the day churches celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2.1-21. Luke, the disciple, mentions the coming of the Holy Spirit first in his gospel account (Lk 24.49) and I particularly appreciate the translation 'clothed with power from on high'. In these words, three ideas are given but I will focus on the aspect of power.

It's Pentecost Today! (Well yesterday it was anyway!) You know, the day the Church of 120 in the first century got its first dose of the Holy Spirit with power . Being brought up in the AoG in the 50s and 60s we knew Acts 2.1-4 off by heart because we heard and we sang it often. In the church I was in, the choir used to sing a rendition of this passage and I can hear that choir's recital coursing through my heart's memory as I write this. This filling with the Holy Spirit equipped the Church for service and the service was for the salvation of those around. It was not just for the edification of the apostles and disciples but for the salvation of others. That's the whole business of the gospel which is 'the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes' (Rom 1.16). But Pentecost had been celebrated and still is within the Jewish community. Pentecost (denoting 50th day) was the 50th day after the Exodus reaching to the giving of the Law at Sinai. Th...

The day of Pentecost was 50 days after Resurrection Sunday so how does John manage to speak of the coming of the Spirit in his gospel account (20: 19-23)? Are these two accounts to be harmonised somehow are just recognised as contradictory? I wouldn't accept either of these approaches. Both are concerned to bring everything in the Scriptures under the rubric of historicity when the Scriptures evidence in many instances a lack of concern for historical exactitude. The Scriptures were not primarily given to tell us about history. They are intended to "open the mind to the salvation which comes through believing in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 3:15, Phillips). To understand both St John and St Luke's differing accounts, we would have to examine their different renditions of the coming of the Spirit in the context of their gospel accounts. Despite the differences in timing, both connect the coming of the Spirit with the mission of the church. According to one writer , John's ...