Reading Scripture in the Light of the Spirit of Pentecost

The events at Pentecost reveal yet another of God’s new horizons for our understanding of God and God’s purpose for the world. God’s work at Pentecost reintroduces us to the Holy Spirit in a new way. While evident throughout the Hebrew Scriptures at creation and conferred upon Judges, Kings, and Prophets, for example, it is Jesus who affirms God’s action through the Spirit at His baptism and through the Gospels. However, it is in the Book of Acts that we read of the Holy Spirit being sent into the world to build and transform communities. Through Luke and Acts, there are seventy-three direct mentions of the Holy Spirit, with fifty-seven references to the Spirit in the book of Acts. This stands in contrast to the twelve references to the Spirit in Matthew’s Gospel and the six references in the Gospel of Mark. Quantifying the Spirit’s presence in the synoptic Gospels compared to Acts highlights the Spirit’s significance in this New Testament book.

The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ provocation for the Gospel to be sent to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:9). It demonstrates the essential nature of the Spirit driving, energising, and leading the action in Acts. Luke uses the Spirit as a character; the Spirit is a dynamic “person“ of the story, prompting and energising the action. Luke also describes the function of the Holy Spirit operating in particular ways that are natural to the Spirit’s purpose. The Holy Spirit creates confusion (2:2–13), empowers believers (1:8), is poured out for prophecy (2:17), is offered as a gift through conversion (2:38), and gives direction (8:29).

The Spirit also reveals the importance of contextual engagement. This is exemplified when the Spirit moves the apostles into new contexts. The Spirit’s prompting of apostolic engagement with Samaritans, Greeks, and Romans, as well as the movement of the gospel into Ethiopia and the inclusion of Gentiles, demonstrates the Spirit’s intercultural engagement as an essential ingredient in this story. This is a lens for all who claim dynamic experiences of the Spirit and the Spirit’s gifts for their ongoing knowledge of God and God’s mission for today.

This is a lens through which to read scripture for inspiration and learning. This way of reading also reinforces that the risen and ascended Christ has sent into world history an advocate who will help us experience Jesus’ continuing presence and empower us to proclaim Jesus’ work for that world. This is not just God’s new eschatological horizon prompted by the gift of the Spirit, but the continuation of God’s Spirit, who breathed over the waters of creation and now forms us into the foretaste of heaven. For us today, it is the Spirit that employs our human experiences to reveal the true character and power of Jesus.

We read in a way that privileges the Spirit’s work and views the Spirit’s role as dynamic, focusing on change and transformation. Readers of Luke recall Jesus’ direction to his followers that they were to fulfil his mission to the nations with the aid of the heavenly power this same Spirit would provide (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8). This understanding of the Spirit begins in the Gospels and is fully developed in the opening two chapters of Acts. The Pentecost Spirit helps to reveal the text’s meaning, encouraging us to explore, interpret, investigate, and uncover the author's intentions. Reading in this way allows us to appreciate the lessons biblical writers wish to communicate about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, as well as how these lessons are to be put into action. Through the Apostles and their cohort’s response to the Spirit in Acts, we can uncover the depth of the missional experience of the Apostles and the early Jesus community. We can recognise that the impetus for their actions is what we need to continue our missional journey today. We read with the intent to understand what God’s call is for us. This is the apostolic endeavour to which we are called.

For the sake of God’s mission, one of the Spirit’s responses in the world is prophetic. Justo Gonzales* believes that when the Spirit is unleashed at Pentecost, we gain the freedom to recognise how the Spirit corrects and guides us toward new directions in God’s mission for the world. When we reflect on this today, we perceive the resonances of the Spirit’s multicultural, post-colonial, and decolonising influence on the world. Later in Acts, we see this in the Spirit’s encounter with the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:6–40), the conversion of the fire-breathing Saul (Acts 9:1–9), and the inclusion of the Gentiles (Acts 10:1–11:18). We also observe this in reshaping the community and its values, holding everything in common (Acts 2:44–46; Acts 4:32) and forming deacons to assist the poor, widows, and orphans (Acts 6:1–6).

The Spirit also provides opportunities for signs and wonders. We read to witness that the Spirit’s power is not for its own sake but for the ongoing mission set forth. We remember Jesus’ empowerment for benevolence and healing (Luke 6:7; 13:14). The Apostles were empowered in the same way, continuing the ministry of Jesus through the Spirit. God answers their prayers and those of others for boldness (Acts 4:31). This exemplifies for readers today that by living in God’s presence and in the Spirit, we are empowered to undertake the mission of God.

The Spirit of Pentecost guides us to understand the importance of God's mission for the world, empowering our intercultural engagement, inspiring our learning, and shaping communities of transformation through our prophetic voice. By reading in this way, we can discern the dynamic nature of those affected by the Spirit and feel compelled to reflect on how that motivation, wherever we encounter it, encourages us to respond in mission. It is our responsibility today to continue the journey and the work initiated by those first believers at Pentecost who spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth in the power of the Spirit.

* Justo L. González, ACTS: The Gospel of the Spirit. New York: Orbis Books, 2001.

The Spirit of Pentecost guides us to understand the importance of God's mission for the world, empowering our intercultural engagement, inspiring our learning, and shaping communities of transformation through our prophetic voice.