A Study on the book of Acts Chapter 2

A Study on the book of Acts Chapter 2

ACTS2:1 – 47

Bible Study Notes                                                                                                        Rev. Betsy Perkins

The Holy Spirit Arrives

  • Have you ever had an experience with speaking in tongues?  What happened?

Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 11:15 – 22:38

Here Comes the Power!(2:1-13)

  • In English, the words ‘spirit’, ‘wind’ and ‘breath’ are 3 different words.  In Hebrew they are all expressed by the word, ‘ruach’.  The same is true of the Greek word, ‘pneuma’, which is what Luke uses in Acts 2.  How is the Holy Spirit given to the disciples in John 20:22?  How is the Holy Spirit given here in Acts?
  • Where does the wind come from?  Why is that significant?

It is most significant, in light of what we said before about the ascension, that the wind came ‘from heaven’. The whole point is that, through the spirit, some of the creative power of God himself comes from heaven to earth and does its work there. The aim is not to give people a ‘spirituality’ which will make the things of earth irrelevant. The point is to transform earth with the power of heaven, starting with those parts of the ‘earth’ which consist of the bodies, minds, hearts and lives of the followers of Jesus – as a community: notice that in verse 1, Luke stresses the fact that they were all together in one place; the spirit comes, not to divide, but to unite.                  N.T. Wright

  • What did John the Baptist say about Jesus in Matthew 3:11-12?  How is that fulfilled at Pentecost?
  • What does Jesus say about the Spirit in Luke 11:9-13?
  • What is the immediate reaction of some who do not understand what is happening?

Peter Shares God’s Plan(2:14-36):

  • How does Peter explain what is happening when a group of Galileans begin speaking in many languages that they haven’t been taught?
  • What are “the last days”?  How are “the last days” different than “the day of the Lord”?
  • In Joel’s prophesy, who is it that will be given God’s Spirit?
  • What will happen for those who call on the name of the Lord?  What does that mean?

‘Being saved’ doesn’t just mean, as it does for many today, ‘going to heaven when they die’. It means ‘knowing God’s rescuing power, the power revealed in Jesus, which anticipates, in the present, God’s final great act of deliverance’. Peter will now go on to encourage his hearers to ‘call on the Lord’s name’, and so to know that ‘salvation’, that rescue, as a present reality as well as a future hope. If these really are ‘the last days’, then ‘salvation’ has already begun. Anyone who knows they need rescuing, from whatever, can ‘call on the Lord’ and discover how it can happen.                                                                                                                            N.T. Wright

  • Read verses 22, 23 and 24, slowly, one at a time.  What is Peter saying about Jesus? about God?
  • Why does Peter bring up David in this speech? How does Peter see Psalm 16, written in the first-person by David, to be a prophesy about Jesus rather than David writing about himself?

The New Family(2:37-47):

  • How do people react to Peter’s explanation?
  • What instructions does Peter give to the people?
  • In Luke’s first book, he shared Jesus’ warnings against the “corrupt generation” (vs.40) as being those who have bought into a way of life that is directly opposed to what God wants – a way that ignores the plight of the poor, that embraces violence, that denies God’s call to His people to be the light of the world.  Does the “corrupt generation” only refer to those alive in Peter’s time?

This is the first beginning, the first small glimpse, of the church’s developing understanding of the purpose of the cross. That understanding doesn’t begin as an abstract theory about sin and judgment. It begins as the very concrete and specific awareness: ‘this corrupt generation’ is heading for disaster, but Jesus stands in the way and can stop them from falling over the cliff. The message is then clear: ‘Be rescued’ – in other words, let God rescue you, let Jesus rescue you – from the ruin that will come upon the city and the nation, not as a specific punishment for rejecting Jesus, but as the necessary consequence of that entire way of life of which rejecting Jesus was a key, telltale sign.                                                                                                                               N.T. Wright 

  • In the time of Jesus, Pentecost was an agricultural festival held 50 days after Passover.  Farmers would bring the first sheaf of harvested wheat to offer it to God as a sign of gratitude and as a prayer that the rest of the crop would be safely gathered in.  How are the events of the Pentecost story in Acts 2, a story of “first fruits”? 
  • Pentecost also celebrated God’s gift of the Commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, providing them a guide for life as a free people.  How is the gift of the Holy Spirit like the gift of the Law?
  • What is the difference between treating someone as a member of your family versus treating them as a neighbor or friend?  Which of these best explains how the new believers were behaving?
  • Verses 42-47 are often used to point to 4 keys patterns for life in Christian community, sometimes called the ‘Four Marks of the Church’.  What are the four marks?  Why is each necessary?

When Jesus’ followers behave like this, they sometimes find, to their surprise, that they have a new spring in their step. There is an attractiveness, an energy about a life in which we stop clinging on to everything we can get and start sharing it, giving it away, celebrating God’s generosity by being generous ourselves. And that attractiveness is one of the things that draws other people in. They were praising God, says Luke, and stood in favor with the people; and day by day the Lord was adding to their number those who were being rescued. Of course they were, and of course He did. That’s how it works. Where the church today finds itself stagnant, unattractive, humdrum and shrinking – and, sadly, there are many churches, in the Western world at least, of which that has to be admitted – it’s time to read Acts 2:42-47 again, get down on our knees, and ask what isn’t happening that should be happening. The gospel hasn’t changed. God’s power hasn’t diminished. People still need rescuing. What are we going to do about it?                           N.T. Wright 

  • Read Max Lucado, Life Lessons from Acts, page ix-x.The Holy Spirit gave Peter boldness to speak the truth. What ability or gift have you received from God?  Why do we sometimes resist the work of the Holy Spirit?

In light of this passage and our discussion, what one truth about God and about yourself stand out as something to “take to heart” this week? 

Are there steps you will take, by God’s grace, to more fully apply it to your life? 

Resources: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, 2015

N.T. Wright, Actsfor Everyone, Part 1 2008

Max Lucado, Life Lessons from Acts: Christ’s Church in the World, 2018

Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – The Acts of the Apostles (RightNowMedia), 2014

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