Tag: Book of Acts

Acts: His-story, Our Story, and My Story

Robert P. Menzies in “The Role of Glossolalia in Luke-Acts” contends, “We Pentecostals have always read the narrative of Acts, and particularly the account of the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), as a model for our own lives. The stories of Acts are our stories: stories of ordinary people in need of God’s power; stories of fishermen called to hear bold witness for Jesus in the face of great opposition; stories of peasants persevering in the midst of great suffering…Pentecostals the world over identify with these stories, especially since so many face similar challenges. This sense of connection with the text encourages us to allow the narrative to shape our lives, our hopes and dreams, our imagination.”

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He goes on to say, “The hermeneutic of the typical Pentecostal is straightforward and simple: the stories in Acts are my stories…that shape our identity, ideals and actions.” He reiterates,

“This simple hermeneutic, this straightforward approach in reading Acts as a model for the church today, is one of the key reasons why an emphasis on speaking in tongues played such an important role in the formation of the modern Pentecostal movement…”

“Acts is simply not a historical document; rather Acts presents a model for the life of the contemporary church. Thus, tongues serve as a sign that ‘their experience’ is ‘our experience.’” Acts is His-story, our story, and my story. The question is it your story as well?

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Acts History The Experience

In Acts 19, Paul’s understanding of theology, coupled with his personal experience became the basis of his discussion. Experience should not be the starting point for biblical interpretation, usurping biblical authority, but should not be locked outside the door either. Charles Parham and his students did not have the experience but were looking for what was expected or could be considered normative.

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“Luke is very careful to describe his method of researching and compiling material.”

LUKE’S HERMENEUTICAL STYLE

Validation of eyewitnesses – “…Just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word” (Luke 1:2)

Meticulous handling of truth – “…handed down…” (v.2) and “carefully investigated” (v. 3).

All-inclusive study – “Investigated everything from the beginning” (v. 3); “All that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1).

Correspondence of written material with divine purposes and activities – “Certainty” (v. 4).

Systematic, organized presentation – “Draw up an account” (v. 1).

Role of the Spirit in directing the writer for the origin and certainty of prophecy – “…For no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s private interpretation…” See 2 Peter 1:19-21

Confirmed by revelation – “From the beginning” (v. 3) This phrase is from a Greek word translated elsewhere by “from above.” Luke suggests that what he writes, derived from those that were eyewitnesses, is also confirmed by revelation (Scofield 2004 Edition, 1338).

Traditionally, Pentecostals have hidden behind their experience, and probably over-emphasized it, coming up short on other aspects of hermeneutics (biblical interpretation and exegesis). This author recalls, after conversion, often hearing others say, “Pentecost; it’s not a religion, it’s an experience.” Still others advised: “People can argue with your doctrine; but they cannot argue with your experience.” We would do well to present both doctrine and experience in a way that it cannot be easily discarded.Pentecost happened for our example. It was recorded by Luke for our instruction. It is the pattern for the church in all ages. Scripture sets the stage for this: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

This writing concentrates on the experiences found in the Pentecost narrative concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is not limited, however, to Acts 2 (the Jerusalem Pentecost), but extends briefly to the Samaritan Pentecost (Acts 8); Gentile Pentecost (Acts 10); and the outpouring on the disciples at Ephesus (Acts 19). We should ask: What took place in the first century church which must happen in the ongoing church?

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Acts: Their Story. The Experience

How frustrating to read of a potentially life-changing book, only to order it, and discover it is out of print. How annoying to rush to the store to purchase the perfect gift and to find it is out of stock. How aggravating to want something and find that it is unavailable. How disturbing to hunt for a part and find it is now obsolete. How equally frustrating, annoying, aggravating, and disturbing it would be to walk down the aisles of the Book of Acts only to find those things we desire: divine empowerment, miracles, healing, and things pertaining to the supernatural are no longer available, out of stock, and meant only for the first century church.  Regretfully, that is exactly what some believe happened, or should happen, when thinking that the baptism of the Spirit, evidenced by speaking in other tongues, stopped at worst on the Day of Pentecost, or at best at the end of the Book of Acts; having a brief life span of some thirty years.

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Steven Ger shares his reflections:

The book of Acts grants readers a unique and fascinating glimpse into the world of the early church. We peer through the corridors…and see the still vivid foundations of our own faith….Acts shows us the road we believers have traveled to arrive at our present state….It is story—a simple story about regular human beings who are just like us. They share our same hopes and similar fears, our worst biases and best qualities. In fact, Acts is, essentially, our story. It is your legacy and mine. It is the record of our brothers and sisters who came before us, blazing a revolutionary, messianic trail from Jerusalem to ‘the ends of the earth.’ (Ger, 2004, 1).

Unfortunately, Ger eventually and sadly, comes up short, believing Pentecost was unique, unrepeatable, and possesses no timeless truth or doctrine. How perplexing. How confusing.

Even questions arise within the Pentecostal ranks, but are often swept under the proverbial carpet, silenced, or excused away as a lack of love for truth, and drifting from the old paths. Not all questions indicate moving away from what is right. What is left could be a sincere desire to understand; the ability to intelligently, logically, and persuasively explain beliefs to others. Rather than forcing such questioners into corners—causing them to be hesitant in asking, afraid of being misunderstood—one would do well to create an environment of learning; freedom to ask, freedom to explore, freedom to experience, freedom to discover, and a freedom to learn. 

F. L. Arrington said:

The interplay of Scripture, experience, Pentecostal tradition, and reason under the direction of the Spirit have strong implications for a Pentecostal approach to hermeneutics. Out of the Pentecostal reality and dimension of life in the Spirit emerges a uniquely Pentecostal approach to hermeneutics. (172)

Experience and history reveals that tongues did not cease with the Apostolic Age, and have not disappeared during the Church Age (the entire period between Christ’s first and second coming). Church historian, Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. revealed, “Speaking in tongues has always been in the Church, although with varied levels of expression and acceptance” (874). It would be difficult to convince over five hundred million Pentecostals and Charismatic’s worldwide their experience is invalid and ceased a couple thousand years ago. They represent the second largest ecclesiastical body in the world, second only to the Roman Catholics. Not bad for a group that recently celebrated a century of existence. Many are receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit daily. Each evidenced by speaking in tongues. Each persuaded their experience is biblically based. F. J. May (1990) tells of an old-timer that said, “You are wasting your breath trying to tell a man he can’t have what he has already got” (84).

Whereas experience can never be the basis of theology, experience is the contemporizing of history. Thus, the understanding of the Bible generally, and Luke-Acts, particularly, involves a hermeneutic cycle. In this cycle the record of the experience of the divine by God’s people in the past addresses the experience of God’s people in the present, and the present experience of the divine informs the understanding of the past. In this way the divine word as a historical document becomes a living Word—a Word, which, like God himself, is, was, and is to come. (Stronstad 1995, 64)

This is referred to as an experience-certified theology. Every interpreter brings to the text, a cognitive and practical presumption. Pentecostal hermeneutics should be holistic; combining experience, the Spirit, genre, and incorporate traditional, and rational forms of interpretation. Unfortunately, non-Pentecostals lack the premise of experience, and the ability to verify it.

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Seeing the Future by Looking at the Past

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A little over one hundred years have passed. Here is what the Christian world is saying today:

According to Christianity Today, twenty-five percent of the world’s Christians are Pentecostal or charismatic with a world growth rate of about 19,000,000 per year. 

C. Peter Wagner in his book Prayer Shield, stated, “The most massive growth of churches is found in Pentecostal/ Charismatic traditions.”

Estimates show that there are between 400 and 600 million Pentecostals worldwide—a half billion or more—not bad for a group that found its humble beginnings in a Bible school classroom.

Philip Jenkins anticipates that by 2050 there will be one billion Pentecostals/Charismatic in the world.

Mark Noll said the 21st century will belong to the Pentecostals not only in religion but in all other areas of life as well.

Global Pentecostalism is “the new face of global Christian missions.” Surely, this is ample reason to trace our roots and perform exegetical and hermeneutical analysis to ensure we are on the right track and stay there.

Lloyd Oglivie states my every-day quest, and maybe yours as well: “The greatest longing in the church today, stated both directly and indirectly, is the quest for something more than dull religion. People are in need of the intimacy, inspiration and impelling power of the Holy Spirit…It is impossible to live the Christian life without the indwelling Spirit. Courageous discipleship in the crisis of society cannot be accomplished without the guidance and enabling energy of supernatural power. The church today, like the disciples in the Upper Room, is waiting on the edge of a miracle (1983, 55-56).

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