What passes for Wednesday morning Bible study

Again, on the church calendar, this coming Sunday is the Day of Pentecost. This will be one of those Sundays when the principal reading will not be the gospel lesson. It will be from Acts:


Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

`In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' 

Yes, it's long. As is his want, our anonymous author "Luke" has quite a moving speech for Peter (yes, as Luke will, it isn't only Gospel John who likes long verbatims, e.g. see Acts 7:1-53 Stephen’s eloquent recitation of Israel's salvation history to the Sanhedrin before they stone him) quoting verses of Scripture that are well known to the Jewish audience.

Liking to settle practical issues first, I compared and found, as expected, that Luke copy and pasted his Joel quotation from the Septuagint. In our Bibles it's Joel 2, in the LXX it's Joel 3, that offsetting of chapters is common. 

The only significant difference I found in Luke and the LXX is at Acts 2:18, where Luke adds καὶ προφητεύσουσιν so that even the male and female slaves shall prophesy. Anyone who wants to can go online and quickly double-check me, which I welcome and invite. (or scroll down, my quick work is there).

As we like to do in Sunday School class, note that Luke has Peter quoting Joel "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved". In the Hebrew text, Joel says whosoever calls upon בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה be-shem y'Vah shall be saved. In Jewish worship, Joel's Hebrew text would have been read aloud "the Shem of Adonai", and hearing it in Greek, Peter's Jewish audience would have taken it that way, to mean God. But conveniently, Luke in Acts, from the LXX Peter quotes Joel whosoever calls upon ὄνομα Κυρίου, name of the Lord shall be saved. It's one of many instances where the LXX rendering the Hebrew word יְהוָה as the Greek word Κυρίου, Lord, serves the NT writer well, because we, and I think Luke intended this for his audience of Acts, take Κυρίου, Lord to mean the Lord Jesus. Indeed, bringing this into Christian salvation understanding, means us to take it that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved.   

Pentecost was/is "fifty days" for the Jewish festival that's fifty days after Passover, that's why foreign Jews from all over the world were in Jerusalem.

With a lot more in mind to talk about, I'm still fiddling with Luke's use of Joel at eight-thirty on Wednesday morning, so I think I'll close it out except to add that Pentecost, a Principal Feast of the Church, is one of my favorite worship events. I love the flame red liturgical colors, and I love that everyone tries to wear something red to church. This morning I'd meant to go into something about the power of the Holy Spirit, and our theology that at our Baptism, the Holy Spirit enters into us and dwells within us as Her/His temple; which makes you part of God and God part of you. And if we were live in class together, to explore what it means to each of us to be witnesses for Jesus.

Anyway, I used to love opening Sunday worship on Pentecost with Jesus' words from Acts 1,

Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you! And you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the Earth!  

And then as incense and processional cross headed down the center aisle, Bedford at the organ, choir and congregation burst into the hymn 


Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest,
Vouchsafe within our souls to rest;
Come with Thy grace and heav’nly aid,
And fill the hearts which Thou hast made.

To Thee, the Comforter, we cry;
To Thee, the gift of God most high;
The fount of life, the fire of love,
The soul’s Anointing from above.

The sev’nfold gifts of grace are Thine;
O finger of the hand divine;
True promise of the Father Thou,
Who dost the tongue with speech endow.

Thy light to every sense impart,
And shed Thy love in every heart;
Thy own unfailing might supply
To strength our infirmity.

Remembering it is almost more than my heart can take!

T+

DLNT Disciples Literal New Testament

Acts 217 ‘And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour-out from[a] My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your older men will dream with dreams. 18 And[b] indeed upon My male-slaves and upon My female-slaves I will pour-out from My Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 And I will give wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth below— blood, and fire and a vapor of smoke. 20 The sun will be changed into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious[c] day of the Lord comes. 21 And it shall be that everyone who calls-upon the name of the Lord will be saved’. 

Luke's NT Greek

Acts 2:17 Καὶ ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις, λέγει ὁ θεός, ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται, καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν [a]ἐνυπνίοις ἐνυπνιασθήσονται· 18 καί γε ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν. 19 καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ σημεῖα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω, αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ· 20 ὁ ἥλιος μεταστραφήσεται εἰς σκότος καὶ ἡ σελήνη εἰς αἷμα πρὶν [b]ἢ [c]ἐλθεῖν ἡμέραν κυρίου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐπιφανῆ. 21 καὶ ἔσται πᾶς ὃς [d]ἐὰν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου σωθήσεται.

Septuagint

Joel 2:28-32

LXXJoel3:1ΚΑΙ ἔσται μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν ἐνύπνια ἐνυπνιασθήσονται, καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται· 2 καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου. 3 καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ· 4 ὁ ἥλιος μεταστραφήσεται εἰς σκότος καὶ ἡ σελήνη εἰς αἷμα πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐπιφανῆ. 5 καὶ ἔσται, πᾶς, ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου, σωθήσεται·