Acts 2:17-18 17“‘And it will be in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams; 18even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.
The rhetorical style of Peter’s speech is forensic as he defends the group by providing proofs in his speech. The first thing he does in his speech is address the crowd and gain rapport with them. As fellow Jews, they all shared the same Scriptures, and so that is where Peter begins. He quotes from Joel 2:28-32, which answers the immediate question of the crowd about the amazing languages they were hearing. The prophecy has three major parts (verses 17-18, 19-20, 21). The context of this passage within Joel’s prophecy offered hope to Israel after a locust plague and famine. It spoke of a new age coming with the Day of the Lord, when God’s Spirit would be poured out. Peter believed that day had come, and the people of Jerusalem were witnesses of it.
The first part of the quotation focuses on the coming of the Holy Spirit. The last days refer to the age of the Messiah. This new age began with Jesus’ resurrection and would continue for eternity. Jesus spoke of the coming kingdom. Theologians refer to this as “inaugurated eschatology,” meaning that the new age has begun. Another way to refer to this is “realized eschatology,” which means that we are beginning to realize and experience God’s kingdom breaking into this present evil age, transforming lives into the likeness of Christ’s glory. The coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was the proof that this new age had started.
The word pour (ekcheō) is used metaphorically for giving a large quantity or refers to a full experience of something. The filling of the Holy Spirit brings the ability to proclaim God’s word and plan of salvation. The Spirit would not come only to certain people and on rare occasions, as in the old age described in the Old Testament. The Spirit would be available to all people. Like with the prophets of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would enable people to speak the prophetic word. Significantly, this word would not be confined to just a few but sons and daughters. This statement gives strong evidence that the Holy Spirit came upon all one hundred twenty believers who gathered to pray during those days of waiting. Women disciples were present and also received the ability to speak forth God’s praises. The Old Testament prophets also had visions and dreams by which they received God’s word for the people.
Verse 18 repeats the same type of ideas as verse 17 using Hebrew parallelism. The many different groups mentioned include various social groups within society, from the young to the old, both genders, and even the lowest class of slaves. No one would be left out. Everyone would receive the ability to prophesy. The unstated question of this quotation is the meaning of prophesy. What is the topic? Peter will illustrate that in the next part of his speech. All throughout Acts, this prophesying is the form of clearly proclaiming the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. It is focused on Jesus and his mission for the church.
This passage marks the beginning of the fulfillment of Jesus’ commission in Acts 1:8 and how the disciples would first go to Jerusalem. The many inhabitants of the city were hearing and seeing proof that the new messianic age had begun. This new movement was from God, for God is the one speaking in this prophecy: I will pour out. The disciples would receive two types of responses: many would believe the clear evidence, while others would reject it and actually seek to do harm to the disciples.
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