Originally posted by atestring:
BTW M&M man
Why did peter when answering the question:
"What meaneth this?",
Say This promise is unto you and to as many as the Lord our God shall call>
Why didn"t He say ,this promise is for the ealry Apostles to kick off the church and then it will not be valid afterwards?
Please give me an answer to this.
That is a great question and I would like to discuss it.
First of all, let's get the context. Peter and the other apostles had just preached the good news about Jesus to the Jews, who were responsible for the death of Jesus. That message cut them to the heart and those believers wanted to know what they needed to do.
Now notice verses 38-41 of Acts 2, "And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls."
What promise? That those believers who repented and were baptized would receive the forgivness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Who was this promise to? You, your childeren, and all who are far off, and everyone whom the Lord our God calls. II Thess shows that we are called through the gospel, which is how they were called in Acts 2.
This gift of the Holy Spirit, what is it. While there has been much discussion concerning this, I think we can rule out signs and wonders and miracles. Why?
Is there any question that the 3000 in vs 41 received the "gift of the Holy Spirit"? I don't think anyone would argue to the contrary, but I don't know. Anyway, the supporting texts do not imply or suggest that those baptized on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and received the indwelling Spirit could perform signs and wonders and miracles, but rather to the contrary. At first, it appears that only the Apostles could perform these things.
Look at verse 43 of Acts 2, “and fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles”. If verse 38 meant that everyone who believed and was baptized could perform miracles by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, there would have been hundreds, if not thousands in Jerusalem who could perform the signs and wonders. This is contrary to verse 43.
Now lets consider the miracle performed by Peter and John in Acts 3. This appears to have been an unusual event. Note what the Jewish leaders said in Acts 4:16 “. . . for that indeed a notable miracle hath been wrought through them, is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it” (Acts 4:16).
There is not the slightest hint that hundreds or thousands of Christians were duplicating such signs in the city.
Now look at Acts 5:12-17, "Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed."
The multitudes held only the apostles in high esteem which suggests they were doing signs not characteristic of the saints.
It is only when one comes to Acts chapter 6 that we have others performing signs and wonders and this ability is passed through the laying on of the Apostles hands (Acts 6:6,8).
Acts 8 also has one of these men performing miracles and the ability to perform these signs was only bestowed by the laying on of the apostles hands (Acts 8:18).
Time will not permit me to go any further at this point, but there is more to say on this topic.