NOTES for Act 2:1-47

On the day of Pentecost, a new age begins: the age of apostolic preaching and the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church. More has probably been said and written about this chapter than about all the rest of Acts, but here we can dwell on only a few points. When we speak of the Spirit, we must understand how He, invisible and incomprehensible, manifests Himself in the life of a person and in the life of the Church. First of all, the fire in their hearts prompts the apostles, who had previously been afraid to appear in public, to go out into the squares of Jerusalem and preach the Kingdom revealed in Jesus. In Peter’s preaching we see extraordinary boldness (some would probably say “originality”) in the interpretation of Scripture, especially the psalms of David. This too is a gift of the Spirit: to see and perceive God’s revelation in Scripture and in contemporary events. Finally, in the last part of the chapter we see how the Spirit multiplied and transformed the apostolic community. These verses (41–47) are worth reading carefully once again in order to understand the principles on which the Lord begins to build His Church.