Thinking with C. René Padilla about the Holy Spirit (Part VI: English Version)
Preface
This is the sixth essay in a seven-part series on C. René Padilla’s essay “The Holy Spirit: Power for Life and Hope.” The series’ first five English-version essays are here, here, here, here, and here. Its first three Spanish-version essays are here, here, and here. Mi padre y yo hope you enjoy the series ¡Saludos!
A Brief Reminder and Word about Where We’re Going
Padilla’s essay considers the Spirit of God’s work in creation and history (Part 1), in Jesus’ mission (Part 2), and in the life and mission of the church (Part 3). The previous post examined the first part of Padilla’s teachings on the place of Pentecost in the Church’s mission. There we focused on the Pentecost event (Acts 2:1-13). In this post, we consider the second and third parts of Padilla’s teachings on Pentecost: The meaning of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-39) and the results of Pentecost (Acts 2:40-47).
The meaning of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-39)
Those who proclaimed the gospel at Pentecost were Galileans (Acts 2:7). This is a striking truth for, as we noted last time, people in Jerusalem generally regarded the Galileans as inferior. We get a glimpse of this prejudice in John 1 when Nathaniel asks, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” upon hearing about Jesus, the teacher from the Galilean city of Nazareth.
There is another striking truth about Pentecost’s connections to Galilee: It is a Spirit-empowered reversal of Peter’s denial of Jesus. Here is Luke’s account of Peter’s denial.
Then they seized [Jesus] and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance; and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a maid, seeing him as he sat in the light and gazing at him, said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. (Luke 22: 54-62)
The third time people accuse Peter of being with Jesus, they ground their accusation upon Peter’s being from Galilee—like Jesus. Matthew tells us how they made this connection: “After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you’” (Matthew 26:73). Peter’s accent betrayed him. It signaled he, like Jesus, was a Galilean. Acts 2, then, recounts that God poured out the Spirit upon “lowly” Galileans, equipping those with accents that flagged their supposed inferiority to proclaim the gospel in the languages of the diaspora gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost.
Padilla’s treatment of the meaning of Pentecost picks up with this linguistic diversity. “Despite the diversity of the languages represented at Pentecost, all the people can hear the proclamation of the gospel in their own language, and that provokes great amazement (Acts 2:12).” Yet some present hear but do not understand. Instead, they mock the gospel-proclaimers, claiming that they must be drunk. In response, Peter—yes, Peter the former Jesus-denier from Galilee—presents “an interpretation of the meaning of Pentecost.” Padilla highlights three aspects of Peter’s interpretation.
First, Peter employs Scripture to explain what has happened. Padilla offers an extended discussion of how Peter uses Joel 2.
The quotation of Joel 2:28-32 is an open window that enables us to see the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament…the quotation resembles what in the Dead Sea Scrolls is called a pesher, that is, an interpretation of the Old Testament in light of a contemporary event that is understood as the fulfillment of an eschatological prophecy. From this perspective, with the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the new age has arrived and God is fulfilling his promises and carrying out his purpose in history. From this eschatological perspective, what has just happened is what the prophet Joel predicted—“the day of the Lord” has arrived, and God has poured out the Spirit on all people, including sons and daughters, young and old, men servants and woman servants, without making distinctions. Pentecost means the creation of a new humanity in which God “democratizes” the experience of the Spirit and consequently makes it possible that all the members of the church prophesy. All of them participate in the proclamation of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
For Padilla, Peter’s interpreting of Pentecost through Joel 2 stresses the democratization of the Spirit’s out pouring. These belittled Galileans have received the Spirit and are bearing witness to the mission of Jesus, the Messiah. Theirs is a communal evangelistic endeavor. Padilla stresses this point by quoting Orlando Costas. “The early church interpreted the ministry of evangelization as a communal mission. The traditions of the New Testament…affirm categorically that evangelization is not the private property of gifted individuals but rather the responsibility of the whole people of God.”
Second, Peter discusses Pentecost from a Christological perspective. Padilla demonstrates this point by walking through Acts 2:22-36.
According to [Peter], the sender of the Spirit is Jesus of Nazareth, “a man accredited by God” by miracles, wonders, and signs that God did through him (Acts 2:22), who was crucified (Acts 2:23), raised from the dead (Acts 2:24-32), and “exalted to the right hand of God” as Lord and King (Acts 2:33-36).
Padilla proceeds by underscoring the relationship between Jesus’ authority, Pentecost, and the church’s mission to the nations. “From the position of universal authority to which he has been exalted by the Father, he has sent the Spirit and invested the church with power to be his witness ‘to the ends of the earth.’ As is made clear by Matthew 28:16-20, this universal lordship of Jesus Christ is the basis for the mission of the church to all nations.” The exalted, authoritative Christ empowers the Church with the Spirit to continue his Spirit-empowered mission.
Third, Peter ties Pentecost to the call to union with Jesus. Padilla writes: “Peter links the Pentecost experience with the call to repent and to be baptized ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ as well as with the promise of forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37-39). Any person who responds to the call receives the promise. The gifts of the Spirit have the same outreach as his call.” Through fellow Galileans, the ascended Christ calls all people to repent, be baptized, and receive the promise of forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Here too Peter is Christological.
The Results of Pentecost (Acts 2:40-47)
Padilla is unambiguous about the results of Pentecost: they are “amazing.” Moreover, “they point to what the church can expect throughout the centuries as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit in it and through it.” Padilla synthesizes these results into four groups: evangelization, apostolic teaching, fellowship, and celebration.
The process of evangelization transforms a small group of Galileans “into a church that even today would be considered large.” This growth is a direct result “of the preaching of the gospel in the power of the Spirit: ‘Those who accepted his [Peter’s] message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to them that day’ (Acts 2:41).” The text identifies the primary cause of this growth. “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Recognizing God’s agency, Padilla delineates the means God used to grow the church.
There is no doubt with regard to the subject of the action, but it is also clear that the Lord uses several means to accomplish his purpose: the proclamation of the gospel (Acts 2:41), “many wonders and miraculous signs…done by the apostles” (Acts 2:43), love expressed in terms of mutual sharing and communion among the believers (Acts 2:44-46), a worship spirit (Acts 2:47), and “the favor of all people” (Acts 2:17).
Taken together, these means and God’s agency in the church’s growth show that it is dangerous to define “church growth” in terms of “numerical growth accomplished mainly, and sometimes even exclusively, through the oral communication of the gospel.”
Padilla unpacks the result of apostolic teaching in terms of an awakening. “The presence of the Spirit is made evident through a theological awakening in all the community: ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching’ (Acts 2:42).” These gatherings were not an exercise in bible trivia. As Padilla writes, “It is not sterile intellectualism but a genuine search for a deep understand of God’s truth revealed in Jesus Christ and mediated through the apostles, so as ‘to call people…to the obedience of faith (Rom 1:6; see Rom 16:26).” Padilla takes this claim further. “The apostolic teaching (the didaché) is at the center of every church that is open to the work of the Spirit.”
The fellowship that follows Pentecost demonstrates that “the Spirit creates new relationships in the body of Christ.” Padilla notes that in Jerusalem, the Spirit’s presence propels believers to devote themselves “to the fellowship” (Acts 2:42). “The extent of this fellowship is clarified in the following verses, which refer to the believers’ mutual sharing of material things (Acts 2:44-45; see Acts 4:32-37).” Padilla unpacks this insight.
The same Spirit who sends ‘what seemed to be tongues of fire’ (Acts 2:3) motivates the believers to sell their possessions and goods and to give ‘to anyone as he [or she] had need’ (Acts 2:45). Although this passage is descriptive rather than prescriptive, it clearly illustrates how the Christian community created by the Spirit affects personal relationships to such an extent that it includes radical change in the economic field—a field in which, perhaps more than in any other, the authenticity of both our trust in God as the only true sustainer of our lives and our concern for our neighbors, especially the poor and needy, is tested.
The same Spirit that empowered Jesus to identify as Messiah and proclaim liberty to the captives and good news to the poor empowered Jesus’s followers to proclaim the good news among the colonized and impoverished, and to share that “there should be no poor among you” (Deut 15:4).
The final result of Pentecost that Padilla specifies is celebration. “Luke points to this ingredient of the communion created by the Spirit as he affirms that the believers in the church of Jerusalem ‘devoted themselves…to the breaking of bread and to prayer’ (Acts 2:42). This is apparently a reference to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (probably as part of a community meal) and to joint prayer at community meetings.” Acts 2:46-47 adds to this picture, noting that “they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”
Padilla concludes his reflection on Pentecost thus.
The preaching of the gospel and the community life that the believers experience as a result of Pentecost are the means that the Spirit of God uses to accomplish a purpose that transcends the Jerusalem church: the creation of a new humanity that confesses Jesus as Lord of history and lives in light of that confession. As in Jesus’ cases—the purpose of whose anointing he himself defined in the synagogue of Nazareth—the experience of the church in Jerusalem resulted in a mission oriented toward the transformation of every aspect of human life including, as we have seen its material basis.
