When I was a first-year student in seminary, the book we used for our first course in theology was An Outline of Christian Theology by William Newton Clarke. Recently, I found it on my shelf and, perusing it, recollected although I appreciated and learned much from it, I even then resisted the conclusion that Christianity could be reduced to a system of some kind.

This was particularly my reaction to Part V of the book, “The Holy Spirit and the Divine Life in Man,” when Clarke seemed to attempt to systematize what the Holy Spirit had done, was doing and would do. It appeared to me Clarke and many other theologians were trying to define the Holy Spirit, while both the Old and New Testaments were content to present a chronicle of what the Holy Spirit did.

I have raised this issue with you because over the 20-plus centuries since the first Day of Pentecost many Christians have attempted to make a system out of the contents of Acts 2. This is, perhaps, an unconscious attempt to control the Spirit of God, something I believe is quite beyond the powers of any human mind. Actually, I believe it is really a denial of the Spirit.

So, when we read Acts 2 we need to approach with open minds and hearts this indefinable, unlimited power of the Holy Spirit.

The Church’s birthday

Before we consider what Acts 2 is telling us about the meaning of Pentecost for the earliest disciples, we need to understand what it meant for Jews before that day.

This was not the first observance of Pentecost, for Jews traditionally celebrated this 50th day after the Passover and it was also called as the Feast of Weeks. It was a celebration of God giving Moses the law on Mt. Sinai and a thanksgiving for the safe harvest of the first crop of barley, part of which was offered to God. According to the law (Levit. 23:21, Num. 28:26), no one should labor on that day.

Because Pentecost was as important as the Passover and seasonal traveling conditions were at their best, it drew Jews from many locations in the Mediterranean. Just as Israel became a community on the day when the law was given, so disciples of Jesus became a community on the day of Pentecost – symbolically, the birthday of the Church. A promise had been given the disciples in Acts 1:8 and the promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.

It is difficult to totally understand what happened on that Day of Pentecost. This was almost certainly not the first time the power of the Spirit was experienced. In the first chapter of Genesis, at the beginning of creation (1:2), we are told “the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.”

In Exodus 35:31 Moses pronounces that God has “filled with the Spirit of God … Bezalel … of the tribe of Judah.“ We tend to think of the Spirit as a New Testament term (365 mentions), but there are 222 mentions in the Old Testament. In both testaments most of these are references to the Spirit of God, but there are some uses for the human spirit as well.

I cite these statistics only to indicate this event in Acts 2 is not the first time the Spirit is bestowed. But, it is probably unique in that it happened to all or most of those assembled and the experience of the Spirit’s power was a group event, rather than individual.

Glossolalia?

The power of the Spirit on Pentecost is often assumed to be identical to the experience of glossolalia, “speaking in tongues.” Glossolalia, described as “the outpouring of inarticulate sounds under the stress of an overpowering religious emotion” is not what Acts 2 indicates, for it says various people in Jerusalem “were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking  in his own language” (Acts 2:6,7).

Glossolalia, on the other hand, is speech that is not understandable to the ordinary listener. So the power of the Spirit is not limited to those who speak glossolalia, but all followers of Jesus Christ who are inspired and armed by the Holy Spirit.

Although the media use “Pentecostal” only with those who speak in tongues, I believe all followers of Jesus Christ are Pentecostal – even if they are unaware of the term.

In Paul’s time, there were a growing number of Christians who spoke in tongues and exhibited the evidence of spiritual empowerment, but Paul found some of these were causing problems in the churches because they encouraged a pride and separation that became divisive (see 1 Cor. 12,13,14).

A relative who became a tongue-speaking Pentecostal told me my mother would go to Hell because she was not “Pentecostal.” I think by implication she was also making the same judgment upon me.

How ironic that the issue of “Pentecostalism” should prove to be divisive in the Body of Christ, when on the Day of Pentecost the outpouring of the Spirit came upon those assembled because “they were all together …” (2:1). The Spirit came upon them because they were of one accord, not of one opinion.

Is it possible that Pentecostal experiences are rare today because Christians are so often not of one accord? That “accord” is to follow and serve Christ, not to agree on one definition of the work and nature of the Holy Spirit.

Those who heard the gospel being proclaimed in their own native tongue wanted to know “What does this mean?” It means the Spirit of God enables us to feel the reality and experience power of the spiritual realities – the unseen and the immaterial.

The Holy Spirit is manifested in many different ways to many different people, but there is one Spirit.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Those with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.