Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming barriers with the Spirit

“This revelation of the purpose of God in Scripture should be sought in its didactic, rather than its historical parts. More precisely, we should look for it in the teaching of Jesus, and in the sermons and writings of the apostles, and not in the purely narrative portions of the Acts” Stott 1964:8). Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

“Thus, rather than providing a flimsy foundation upon which to erect a doctrine of the Holy Spirit, as is commonly alleged, the historical accounts of the activity of the Spirit in Acts provide a firm foundation for erecting a doctrine of the Spirit which has normative implications for the mission and religious experience of the contemporary church” (Stronstad 1984:9). Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

Stronstad specifically states that “in general terms" the Holy Spirit in Luke "is not brought into relation to salvation or to sanctification, as is commonly asserted, but is exclusively brought into relation to a third dimension of Christian life—service” (1984:12). Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

In this respect the Spirit in Luke “not only initiates mission, he also guides the missionaries about where they should go and how they should proceed” (1991:114). Bosch feels that this “intimate linking of pneumatology and mission is Luke's distinctive contribution to the early church's missionary paradigm” (1991: ). Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

“By the second century AD the emphasis had shifted almost exclusively to the Spirit as the agent of sanctification or as the guarantor of apostolicity. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century tended to put the major emphasis on the work of the Spirit as bearing witness to and interpreting the Word of God. Only in the twentieth century has there been a gradual rediscovery of the intrinsic missionary character of the Holy Spirit” (Bosch 1991:115). Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit AngelPeter Salvation Luke 1:16 Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord. Acts 2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Sanctific ation Luke 1:17 to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Acts 2:40 “Save yourselves from this corrupt [unholy] generation.” Service Luke 1:17 He will go on before the Lord, in the power of Elijah. Acts 2:32 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of this.

Fitzmyer notes that “almost a third of Acts (about 295 verses out of 1,000)” contains speech material (1998:103). Along with this he lists some twenty-eight instances in Acts which can be regarded as speeches or discourses (1998:104). In recounting these stories, Luke introduces “his own theological and missionary aims” (1998:107). Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit “Everyone who calls will be saved” Prophecy of JoelProphecy of David What does is mean?What shall we do? Many GatheredMany Baptized Disciples Together

Although Fitzmyer allows for the possibility that ecstatic speech is operative in the Acts 10 and 19 episodes, in Acts 2 it can only refer “to xenologia, 'speaking in foreign tongues,' as many patristic commentators understood it” (1998: ). Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

According to Turner, Schweizer (1956) Stronstad (1984) and Menzies (1991) all posit that the gift of the Spirit in Luke-Acts is normative and has an exclusive prophetic and not soteriological function. While the emphasis on mission is most credible and affirmed by others, the two key areas of disagreement center on the words “exclusive” and “normative” as they are used by the Pentecostal scholars. Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

The insistence by the Charismatic movement that tongues-speaking or other gift is the hallmark of the Christian experience pushes to the background the true test of discipleship taught by Jesus. “By their fruit [not gifts] you will recognize them” (Matt. 7:20). This affirmation of fruit-bearing people is placed in direct contrast to the condemnation of the “gifted” people which appear in Matt. 7:22. Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit

Fitzmyer goes on to say that the gift of tongues was “a miracle suited to the theological thrust of the episode, which is interested in the universality of salvation to which testimony is being made” (1998:239). The church, which is first located only in Jerusalem, will gradually become “a universal society, hinted at in the gift of tongues enabling the apostles to speak to people of all nations” (1998:233). Mission Seminar in Acts Overcoming Barriers by the Spirit