One of the purposes of the outpouring was to provide testimony for the induction of Jews and Gentiles into one body. The Holy Spirit would transform Israel from the Old covenant glory to the New covenant glory. This was the mission of Paul, who speaks of his ministry in 2 Corinthians chapters 3-6. The Israel of God is no longer the physical descendants of Abraham. Rather, God’s people are the spiritual descendants of father Abraham identified by faith in Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Circumcision is that of the heart. This transformation or creation of God is depicted as a resurrection. Paul quotes Ezekiel 37 in a miraculous context of raising Israel from the dead. That was “this ministry” that Paul references in 2 Corinthians. The ministry that involved the grafting in of the Gentiles required the miraculous confirmation of the Spirit’s power to confirm their inclusion. Such a tremendous change required extraordinary measures to prove that God was behind it. For a Jew and Gentile to embrace each other as brethren required a new heart. Ezekiel 36:25 speaks of putting “a new spirit (heart) within you.” The spirit, here, is neither the miraculous nor non-miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit, but a new mind. In other words, Israel had to change their thinking to accept this transformation of both into one body. His purpose through the miraculous outpouring of first-century Christians was designed to convince all of them that God has accepted all men as recipients of His grace.
For example, the case of Acts 2 shows the effect of the outpouring of the Spirit was amazement among the Jews. Something was necessary to produce a captive audience so that by the time Paul writes to Colossae in a Roman prison, every creature had access to the gospel. The statement that immediately follows the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentile household is the same thing that we find on the day of Pentecost. It reads, “And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” That is the beauty of the comparison. Whatever was said to a Jew to remit his sins is the same required of a Gentile.
Consider the evidence contained in 1 Corinthians 1:4-7. It reads,
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (ESV).
First, you will notice the connection between the confirmation and the gifts that were given. The gifts gave early Christians the proof or testimony of their identity as His people as well as the revelation of His will through Spirit-guided teaching. The gifts were proof in the present work of the Holy Spirit at that time. Those gifts had confirmed them as children of God and apostles of Jesus Christ, while also confirming their spoken word and letters as the Word of God. Verse seven ends with the participial phrase, “eagerly waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ who will confirm you even til the end.” We can only imagine that when “Christians” claimed that Jesus is the promised Messiah that claims no province, city, or temple to define physical boundaries (spiritual as opposed to earthly), but only people with a new law written on their hearts, resistance would be a natural expectation. Gamaliel’s advice recorded in Acts 5 is to leave the disciples of Jesus Christ alone because if it is the work of men, it will fail like others have in the past (Acts 5:36-38). If, on the other hand, it is the work of God, “you will not be able to overthrow it (5:39). What would be necessary to prove that this new movement was from God? Undeniable proofs of miraculous signs and wonders. It confirmed their claims and teaching. When Jehovah gave the law at Sinai, thunder, lightning, and a mighty voice speaking through a smoking mountain was witnessed by the people. They were fearful and begged Moses to be their mediator lest they die. This is the kind of proof necessary to make a believer out of unbelievers. Similarly, when a sound as of a rushing mighty wind filled the house and what looked like flames of fire sitting on their head, the disciples began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The miracle was on the speaker. Possibly, the miracle was on both the hearer and speaker, but definitely, the miracle was in the power to speak in languages never before learned by such ignorant Galileans. While a Jew may be thinking that these men are out of their minds, there was a constant reminder whenever such miraculous power was present that the messenger must be telling the truth. The claim is so alarming and unbelievable for a Jew to accept, but what is he/she to do with the miraculous proofs that testified to its accuracy? Acts 14 is a good example of the effect this had on the Jewish communities. It reads,
And it came to pass in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed. But the disobedient Jews stirred up the souls of the Gentiles and made them evil affected against the brethren. Long time, therefore, they tarried there speaking boldly in the Lord, who bare witness unto the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided, and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles (verses 1-4, ESV).
Those people that held with the apostles accepted the objective evidence that Paul had to be a spokesman for God. It is in this way that the Corinthians were confirmed and the testimony of the apostles accepted. Without it, few would have listened to the apostles on the day of Pentecost. With it, 3,000 souls were obedient to the message, and by Acts 5, they had grown to 5,000 besides women and children. As they continued in the Apostles teaching and fellowship, they must be realizing that they are the new community.
How had these gifts of the Spirit confirmed the Corinthian Christians? This confirmation had to be based on some objective evidence. Paul was living in a time where there was an incredible controversy. Who are the people of God? This new group of believers was claiming that Jesus is the Messiah, who created a new community without geographical boundaries, or a localized city as capital. Their emphasis was on the Heavenly Jerusalem, a new temple, a new law not written on tablets of stone, and a new sacrifice that had no tie to the animal sacrifices. Because of the revolutionary views of Jesus and the spiritual nature of His kingdom, the Jews stumbled over such claims. They had been the people of God for over 1500 years. Now, this movement is sweeping across the country, taking many Jews with them. Their world was under attack. They were zealous and ready to defend their way of life. But, at Pentecost, three thousand gladly received the word and were baptized. By Acts 5, the number had grown to five thousand and was still multiplying.
This controversy was no small matter that resembled a mere difference of opinion. The Jewish way of life was under attack and they were not about to lie down without a fight. The very idea of a new people, kingdom, community, and a redefining of long-standing traditions would be like someone walking into your churches and tearing down the very foundation of your views. Jesus and his disciples taught that the temple and city of Jerusalem were going to be destroyed and the sacrifices with it. Some folks have been known to get upset and angry with my teaching because it demands a different way of life, too. Imagine how these Jews must have felt when their world is being threatened out of existence. They handled it the best way they could – by force. They did not just run them out of town, they set up an ambush with the intent to kill, and pursued them with the intent to rid them from their land.
This seemingly insurmountable task of preaching the gospel to every creature in the face of great persecution was accomplished by the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit confirmed that these preachers of the gospel were from God, and spoke God’s will. How did the Holy Spirit do this? Did he wait on men and women to gather in an assembly and lay hands on one another and anoint with oil in the name of Jesus while praying for the healing of God? The New Testament healing was not primarily performed for the sake of one needing to be healed? Jesus told his native town that there were many lepers in Israel, but only one was cleansed (Luke 4:27). There were also many widows during the famine of Elijah’s day, yet he was sent to only one (Luke 4:25-26). Did Jesus come to heal every leper in Palestine? He would indeed heal as it was prophesied he would do. Yet, this was not his primary purpose as it was not an end in itself. The gospel of John makes it abundantly clear that his miracles gave testimony to his claims. As Nicodemus puts it, “We know you are a teacher who has come from God, because no man can do these things unless God is with him.” His miracles confirmed his claims (cf. John 20:30-31). The same purpose is true in the work of His apostles. Not everyone would accept even the miraculous events of the day because the message was too offensive to them. Their eyes and ears were closed. Yet, the growth of the saints in Jerusalem was not accomplished by someone jumping up and down, jerking as if they had an epileptic attack, and formulating nonsensical sounds under the guise of the Holy Spirit’s power. Instead, the proof of the Holy Spirit is stated in Acts 2:4. It reads, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues (languages), as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The miracle was not on the hearer. Before the hearer heard this sound and came together to see what it was all about (verse 5-6), they were speaking the many different dialects that were later referenced in verses eight and eleven. The reason the Jews heard them speak in their own tongue was that the uneducated disciples of Christ from Galilee were speaking them. Verses 7 and 12 describe the effect that it had on the hearers. First, they were all amazed and marveled, saying, ‘Are not these that speak Galileans.’ Second, they were amazed and perplexed, ‘What does all of this mean?’ When you hear a mighty rushing wind and see flames of fire sitting upon heads, how likely are you to give it your attention? The miraculous element coordinates with the divine, inspired message just as the non-miraculous coordinates with an uninspired message.
Compare one other text found in the fourteenth chapter of Acts. It reads,
And it came to pass in Iconium that they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed. But the disobedient Jews were stirred up the souls of the Gentiles and made them evil affected against the brethren. Long time, therefore, they tarried there speaking boldly in the Lord, who bare witness unto the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided, and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles (verses 1-4).
This is very similar to Acts 2. Both Acts 2 and Acts 14 have these in common. They have unbelieving Jews, a divine message, and miraculous power. If Paul could perform miracles, it would bear witness to the word of His grace. Years ago, there was a TV commercial that ended with the motto, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.” This was one of the largest financial brokerage firms in the United States during the 1970s and the commercial was advertising the respected opinion of Hutton’s projections and financial advice. What is going to make a first-century Jew pay attention to a man whose opinion he does not respect? The one thing that he could not dispute and that he cannot ignore are the miracles. Without it, there would be little or no response, the threat to the Jewish way of life would be non-existent. Without the miraculous, their efforts would probably have produced only a very small and short-lived movement resembling others that Gamaliel recognized as originating with a man (cf. Acts 5:35-39). The miraculous provided the objective proof and gave the kind of evidence necessary to cause one to pay attention to the message. As much as the unbelievers disliked the message and the messengers, they could not deny the miraculous (cf. Acts 2:22, 4:16). It provided an opportunity to address the people. This is how the Corinthians were confirmed and would continue to be confirmed until the end (John 14:16, Gr. telos). In adding 1 Corinthians 4, we see that the gifts and the Holy Spirit are said to remain until the end. If the end of time is the end he is discussing, do the Corinthians still need assurance that they are children of God? Are they still receiving spiritual gifts in proof of the Holy Spirit’s presence? Of course, the terms used neither support the end of time, nor the end of the cosmos. The time of the end was in view.
Second, these miraculous gifts were granted until the revelation of Jesus, i.e. the revealing of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who would return in judgment against the nation of Israel. 1 Corinthians 1:7 is not referring to the revelation of inspired truth, but to the time when he would be revealed. Notice the following contexts that speak of the revelation of Jesus defined to mean that Jesus and His glory would be revealed. Paul speaks of the “revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire” (2 Thessalonians 1:7). Peter writes, “that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7). He also writes, “Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter1:13). Again, he writes, “but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy (1 Peter 4:13). Paul also speaks of the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:19). Only He knows those who are His (2 Tim.2:19), but the time would come when their identity would be revealed. First-century Christians were waiting, standing on tiptoes with out-stretched necks. They were not leaning back in the recliner saying, “He will return ‘one day’ or ‘someday’.” Instead, they are “eagerly expecting” the appearing of the Lord Jesus, when he will have fulfilled and completed his task.
To summarize, the result of those possessed with gifts was the confirmation that the promise of the Holy Spirit would continue until the end (not the end of time, but the completion or fulfillment of the age). As long as men and women had spiritual gifts, the end may be near but it had not been completed. They would possess the gifts until Christ appears. At that time of completion, the Holy Spirit would no longer be present. As far as time is concerned, Jesus’ appearing would be in that generation (Matthew 24:34) and would be seen by Caiphas, when he came upon the clouds of heaven in the glory of His father. The expected time of His coming was imminent by all those who referenced it.