07.05.2012

John Stott

Acts of the Holy Apostles

2:1–47 2. Day of Pentecost

Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship is unthinkable and even impossible. There can be no life without the Giver of life, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no imitation of the character of Christ without the fruit of the Spirit, and no effective witness without His power. Just as a lifeless body is a corpse, so the Church without the Spirit is dead.

Luke is well aware of this. Of the four evangelists, he is the one who places the most emphasis on the Spirit. In the opening verses of each of his two books, he shows the need for the presence in believers of those qualities that the Holy Spirit gives. Just as at John’s baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit “came upon Him” so that He would begin His public ministry “filled with the Spirit,” “led by the Spirit,” “in the power of the Spirit,” and “anointed” with the Spirit (Luke 3:21; 4 :1,14,18), so now the Spirit descends on the disciples of Jesus to equip them for missionary service to the world (Acts 1:5,8; 2:33). In the first chapters of Acts, Luke speaks of promises, gifts, baptism, the power and fullness of the Spirit in the experience of God's people. There are many terms and they are used interchangeably; but there is only one reality, it cannot be replaced by anything.

This reality is multifaceted, and we can view the day of Pentecost in at least four aspects. First, it was the final act of Jesus' saving ministry before parousia He who was born into our human society, lived our lives, died for our sins, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, has now sent His Spirit to His people to form His Body and form in us that which He redeemed for our sakes. In this sense, the day of Pentecost is unique. Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost are annual holidays, but the birth, death, resurrection, ascension and gift of the Spirit that we celebrate happened once and for all. Secondly, Pentecost gave the Apostles the vestments they needed to fulfill their special mission. Christ anointed them to be His chief and authoritative witnesses and promised them the subsequent leading ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 14–16). Pentecost was the fulfillment of this promise. Third, Pentecost marked the opening of a new era of the Spirit. Although His coming was a unique and unrepeatable historical event, now all of God's people can receive help at all times through His ministry. Although He made the Apostles His main witnesses, He also gave us everything necessary to become His subsequent witnesses. Although the inspiration of the Spirit was given only to the Apostles, the fullness of the Spirit is given to all of us. Fourthly, Pentecost has been called, and correctly, the first "revival," the "new birth, or birth again," using the word to designate one of the most extraordinary visits of God, when the whole community becomes clearly aware of His powerful and tangible presence. Therefore, perhaps not only the physical phenomenon (2ff.), but also the deep consciousness of sin (37), 3,000 people who believed (41) and the feeling of awe that gripped everyone (43) were signs of this “new birth”. However, we must be careful not to try to use the concept of the “new birth” to justify ourselves when we lower our expectations or make exceptional what God intended to be the norm for the church. Breather and flames were not the norm, perhaps other tongues too; but new life and joy, brotherly fellowship and worship, freedom, courage and strength became the norm.

Chapter 2 of Acts is divided into three parts. The first part begins with a description of Pentecost itself (1–13), the second gives an explanation of this event through the mouth of Peter through his sermon (14–41) and the third ends with the consequences of Pentecost - its influence on the life of the Jerusalem church (42–47).

1. Luke's account: the event of Pentecost (2:1–13)

Luke's account begins with a brief, matter-of-fact mention of the time and place of the descent of the Spirit. They were all unanimously together, he writes, and is clearly not going to dwell on this any further. Therefore, we do not know whether the “house” referred to in verse 2 was the same upper room (Acts 1:13), or one of the many rooms or halls in the temple (Luke 24:53; Acts 2 :46a). The time, however, is given exactly: when the day of Pentecost arrives(1). This ancient Jewish holiday has two meanings: one is agricultural, the other is historical. It originally fell on the middle of the three annual Jewish harvest festivals (Deut. 16:16) and was called either the “Feast of the Firstfruits” (Ex. 23:16), because it was celebrated after the completion of the grain harvest, or the “Feast of Weeks” or Pentecost, because it was celebrated after seven weeks, or fifty days ( pentecostos means “fiftieth”) after Passover, when the grain harvest began (Ex. 34:22; Lev. 23:15ff.; Num. 28:26). But a very long time ago, Pentecost began to be celebrated in memory of the giving of the law to the people at Mount Sinai, since it was believed that the law was given fifty days after the Exodus.

It is tempting to see symbolism in establishing a holiday in honor of the harvest and the passing of the law on the same day - the day of Pentecost. Certainly the 3,000 souls won for Christ were a good harvest that day, the first fruits of the Christian mission. As Chrysostom says about this, “the time has come to use the sickle of the word; for here came the two-edged Spirit, like the sickle.” It is also certain that the prophets regarded the two promises of Jehovah's Covenant as almost identical to each other, “I will put My spirit within you” (Ezek. 36:27), and “I will put My law within them, and write it on their hearts” (Jer. 31:33), for when the Spirit enters our hearts, He writes the law of God there, as Paul clearly taught. Nevertheless, Luke does not see a double symbol in this. We cannot be sure whether this was so important to him, although even Jewish tradition associated wind, fire and noise with the holy Mount Sinai (cf. Heb. 12:18–19), that is, the three phenomena that he collects describe.

A. Three phenomena

And suddenly, says Luke, this event occurred. The Spirit of God came upon them. His arrival was accompanied by three supernatural signs - noise, flames and strange speech. Firstly, there came a noise from heaven, as if from a rushing strong wind, and it (i.e. the noise) filled the whole house where they were (2). And, secondly, splitting tongues, as if of fire, appeared to them quite clearly, which divided and rested one on each of them (3), separating each one. Thirdly, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues (i.e., some kind of tongues), as the Spirit gave them to speak (4).

These three phenomena were similar to natural phenomena (wind, fire and speech); however, they were supernatural in origin and character. The noise wasn't wind, but it sounded like it; they saw fire, but it was not ordinary fire, it only resembled it; and their speech was not in ordinary languages, but, somehow, “in other languages.” Three senses were affected: they heard a noise like wind, saw something like fire, and heard “other” tongues. And yet what they experienced was much more than just sensations - it all had a certain meaning. This is what they were trying to understand. "What does it mean?" people later asked (12). If we try to understand what happened based on other scriptures, we will see that these three signs were at least symbolic of a new era of the Spirit that had already begun (John the Baptist specifically noted wind and fire) (Luke 3:16), and the new work He came to do. If so, then the noise like the wind may symbolize force(the one that Jesus promised them for testimony, Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8), vision of fire - cleansing(like the burning coal that purified Isaiah 6:6–7) and speaking in other tongues - universality and the universality of the Christian church. In the subsequent narrative, Luke no longer dwells on the phenomena of wind and fire; He devotes all his attention to the third phenomenon, that is, languages.

5 Now in Jerusalem there were Jews, pious people, from every nation under heaven. 6 When this noise was made, the people gathered and were in confusion; for everyone heard them speaking in his own language. 7 And they were all amazed and amazed, saying to one another, “Are not these all Galileans who speak?” 8 How can we each hear our own dialect in which we were born?

Luke draws special attention to the international character of the crowd that gathered to listen to the Apostles. These were Jews, pious people, and they were all located (that is, lived) in Jerusalem (5). However, they were not born there; they came from dispersion, from every nation under heaven(5). From what follows it clearly follows that we should not understand the expression “from every people” to mean that it included, for example, American Indians, Australian aborigines or the Majori tribe of New Zealand. The author said this because all biblical authors normally did this, relying on their own horizons of knowledge, and not ours, meaning the Greco-Roman world located in the Mediterranean basin, where there were indeed Jews in every nation.

Luke's list consists of five subgroups. If you mentally move along the map from east to west, you can see them all there. He begins to list them: Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and Mesopotamians(9a), that is, people who lived west of the Caspian Sea. Many of them were descendants of Jewish exiles deported to those areas in the eighth and sixth centuries BC. Secondly, in verses 96-10a Luke speaks of five regions of Asia Minor, or Turkey, namely the regions Cappadocia(East), Ponta(north) and Asia(west), Phrygia And Pamphylia(south). Because the Judea(9) strangely listed between Mesopotamia and Cappadocia, some commentators believe that Luke uses this word to designate a wider area, embracing the whole of Palestine and Syria, even including Armenia. Other scholars follow the version of ancient Latin where we read Joudaioi(“Jews”) instead Joudaian(“Judea”), and thus translate this word as “the Jews inhabiting Mesopotamia and Cappadocia, etc.” The third group listed here (106) is North Africa, namely the Jews from Egypt and parts of Libya adjacent to Cyrene(its main city), fourth (JV) - those who came from Rome across the Mediterranean Sea (both Jews and converts to Judaism), and the fifth group, which seems to have just been remembered, is Cretans and Arabians(11a) .

It was an international and multilingual crowd, gathered around 120 believers. We hear them speaking in our own tongues about the great deeds of God.(116), they said, that is, we each hear our own dialect (8). However, it was known that the speakers were Galileans (7), who had a reputation for being uneducated (cf. John 1:46; 7:52). “They had difficulty pronouncing guttural sounds and had a habit of swallowing entire syllables during speech; therefore in Jerusalem they were looked at as provincials.”

It is not surprising that the crowd reacted with utter amazement (6). Really, and they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other: What does this mean?(12). And others, a minority who for some reason did not know any languages, mockingly they said: they got drunk on sweet wine(13).

b. Glossolalia

What exactly was that third phenomenon to which Luke paid special attention and as a result of which people heard about the miracles of God in their own language? How does Luke understand the phenomenon? glossolalia! Let's start our answer with a negative.

First of all, what happened was not the result of intoxication, the result of a large amount of drink gleukos“sweet new wine” (13, BAGS). Peter emphasizes this point: “They are not drunk as you think, for it is now the third hour of the day” (15). Khenchen explains that at such an early hour “even drunkards and hawkmoths had not yet started drinking.” In addition, Jews fasted on holidays until the morning services in the temple ended. We must also add that the experience of believers from being filled with the Spirit It does not seem the result of intoxication for others doesn't look as if they had lost control of their mental or physical state. No, for the fruit of the Spirit is the gaining of “self-control” (Gal. 5:23), not the loss of it. Moreover, only “others” (13) made such a remark and, although they said it, they do not seem to mean it. Because, as Luke notes, “they spoke in mockery.” It was more of a gesture than a serious comment.

Secondly, this speaking in tongues was not a mistake or a miracle designed to deceive the ears, where the audience assumes that people are speaking in other languages, but in fact nothing of the kind occurs. Some of Luke's statements seem to support this theory: "everyone heard them speaking his dialect” (6); "how are we we hear each his own dialect” (8); and “we hear them speaking with our tongues about the great deeds of God” (11). But when Luke begins his own narrative, he allows no doubt about this: they “began speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them to speak” (4). Glossolalia was indeed an auditory phenomenon, but only because it first became a speech phenomenon.

Thirdly, these were not meaningless statements. Liberal commentators begin by rejecting miracles, suggesting that the 120 believers began to ramble, ecstatically, and Luke (who had been with Paul in Corinth) mistakenly thought they were speaking in tongues. In their opinion, Luke got into a mess and confused two completely different things. What he took to be languages ​​were in fact "incoherent ecstatic babblings" or "a stream of meaningless sounds in a non-existent language." However, those of us who fully trust Luke as a historian, not to mention his enormous theological contribution to the New Testament, come to the conclusion that it is not he who is mistaken, but rather his rationalist interpreters.

Fourthly, and positively, glossolalia on the day of Pentecost, she had the supernatural ability to speak in recognizable languages. Some believe that these were Aramaic, Greek and Latin, which were spoken by everyone in the multilingual Galilee; that "other tongues" meant "other than Hebrew" (the holy biblical language which would fit the case); and that the amazement of the crowd was generated by the great works of God, and not by the languages, by the content, and not by the medium. This is plausible and quite consistent with Luke's story. On the other hand, he still places more emphasis on the linguistic means (4, 6, 8, 11) than on the message itself (12). It would be more natural to translate the expression “other languages” as “different from the native language” than “different from Hebrew.” The list of fifteen regions presented in verses 9-11 suggests a wider range of languages ​​than just Aramaic, Greek and Latin. The surprise of the crowd seems to grow from the fact that the languages ​​that were “other” for those who spoke were for those gathered their own (6, 11), truly their “own dialect” (8), in which they were born (see AB). From this I conclude that the miracle of Pentecost, although this includes the content of what one hundred and twenty people said (great works of God) was primarily their speech (foreign languages ​​that those who spoke them had never studied before).

Until now I have paid all my attention to how Luke himself understands the phenomenon glossolalia on the day of Pentecost. This can only be discovered through the interpretation of the second chapter of Acts. Presumably glossolalia, to which he refers in Acts 10:46 and 19:6 was the same speaking in foreign tongues, since he uses the same vocabulary (although many ancient texts omit the word "others"). What to say, then, about the reference to speaking in tongues in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14? Do Acts and 1 Corinthians refer to the same phenomenon? We must seek the answer from the biblical text rather than from modern sources.

Some believe that these phenomena are different from each other in many ways. Firstly, they differed in direction: glossolalia in Acts was a kind of public, “speaking” (11) about the great works of God, telling other people about them, while in 1 Corinthians speaking in tongues is speaking “not to men, but to God” (1 Cor. 14 :2; cf. verses 14–17,28). Secondly, they differed in character: glossolalia in Acts it was manifested in speaking in tongues that were understandable to different groups of listeners, but in 1 Corinthians 14 the speech of those speaking in tongues was impossible to understand, and therefore a translator was needed. Thirdly, they differed in their goals. In Acts glossolalia was a kind of proof, a certain initial “sign” given to everyone as evidence of the reception of the Spirit, and in 1 Corinthians it is an edifying sign, a continuing “gift” descending on some people for the establishment and building of the church.

However, other scholars point out that throughout the New Testament the Greek words and expressions regarding this phenomenon are the same. Glossa(“tongue”) has only two meanings (“organ in the mouth” and “tongue as speech”), and hermeneuo(“interpret, translate”) usually means “to translate language.” From this they conclude that the passages in both Acts and 1 Corinthians refer to the same phenomenon, namely, tongues. Even those who believe that target is different, recognize that character is the same. For example, a commentator on the Assemblies of God Church. Stanley M. Horton writes that “the languages ​​here (i.e., in Acts 2) and the languages ​​in 1 Corinthians chapters 12–14 are the same.” As the official for. imitation of the Assemblies of God Church (para. 8), they are “the same in essence” but “different in character and application.”

As a result, abandoning the liberal approach that declares the Corinthian glossolalia incomprehensible statements and likens the phenomenon of Acts to them, it is better to propose the opposite, that is, that the phenomenon of Acts was speaking in existing tongues and the experience in 1 Corinthians should be likened to it. As a main argument, it can be recalled that although glossolalia mentioned in several places in the New Testament without explanation, Acts 2 is the only passage where this phenomenon is explained and described in sufficient detail. It seems more reasonable to interpret the unexplained in the light of the explained rather than the other way around.

Character controversy glossolalia We must not distract our attention from the significance Luke attached to this phenomenon on the day of Pentecost. It symbolized a new unity in the Spirit, transcending all racial, national and linguistic barriers. Therefore, Luke tries to emphasize the cosmopolitan nature of the crowd using the expression “from every nation under heaven” (5). Although not all nations were present there literally, but they were all there presented. For Luke includes in his list the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and presents in Acts 2 a table of nations comparable to the table in Genesis 10. Bishop Stephen Neil made the following observation: “The greater part of the people mentioned by Luke fall under the Semites, of which the Elamites are the first of the Semitic nations mentioned in Genesis 10. But Luke also includes Egypt and Libya, which fall under the Hamites and Cretans (Kittim), and the inhabitants of Rome, located in the territory once given to Japheth... Luke does not call our attention to the fact that does; but in his unobtrusive manner he makes us understand that on the day of Pentecost the whole world was present there in the person of representatives of the most diverse nations.” Nothing better than this could demonstrate the multiracial, multiethnic, and multilingual nature of Christ's Kingdom. Ever since then, the early Church Fathers and commentators have viewed the blessing of Pentecost as the reversal of the curse of Babylon. At Babylon the languages ​​of men were mixed and the nations scattered: at Jerusalem the language barrier was supernaturally lifted as a sign that now all nations would be gathered together in Christ, anticipating that great day when a redeemed people “from every nation and kindred and people and tongue ” will stand “before the throne” (Gen. 11:1–9; Rev. 7:9). Moreover, in Babylon the earth arrogantly tried to reach heaven, while in Jerusalem heaven itself came down to the earth with meekness.

2. Peter's Sermon: Pentecost explained (2:14–41)

Before we begin to study Peter's preaching in detail, we must consider the speeches in Acts.

A. Speeches in Acts

Every reader of Acts is struck by the great emphasis placed on speech in Luke's text. In this regard, it is especially noticeable how incomplete the title of this book is, whether the acts of Christ are meant, or the acts of the Spirit or the Apostles. For it contains as many “addresses” as there are “acts.” Luke is right in his desire to record what Jesus continued (after His ascension) to both “do” and “teach” (1:1). The second book of Luke contains no less than nineteen significant Christian speeches (not counting the non-Christian speeches of Gamaliel, the magistrate of Ephesus, and the Sanhedrin rhetorician Tertullus). Of these, eight belong to Peter (in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 15), one each belongs to Stephen and James (in chapters 7 and 15), nine belong to Paul (five sermons in chapters 13, 14 , 17, 20 and 28, and four speeches in his defense in chapters 22 to 26). Approximately 20% of Luke's text is taken up by the addresses of Peter and Paul; if we add Stephen's speech to this, their number increases to 25%.

But are these speeches the original texts of those to whom they are attributed? How accurate are they? There are perhaps three possible answers here.

First, no one ever suggested that the speeches in Acts were verbatim(verbatim) reports of what was said in each case. There are several reasons why such an idea should be rejected. The speeches are too short to be complete (Peter's sermon at Pentecost lasted three minutes, according to Luke's records, and Paul's speech at Athens lasted one and a half minutes). At the end of his account of Peter's preaching, the author of Acts emphasizes that the Apostle continued to exhort and edify the crowd “and with many other words” (40). Of course, in those days there were no recording technologies, not even shorthand, and of course Luke was not personally present at every sermon or speech. Therefore, he had to rely on stories that were presented to him either by the author of the speech himself or by someone who heard him. It is therefore obvious that he provides no more than a summary of each appeal.

The second modern critical approach, which became popular between the last world wars, is represented in the English-speaking world by H. J. Cadbury and in Germany by Martin Dibelius. This approach is more skeptical. Their concept of unreliability of speech is based on two main arguments. First, when comparing the speeches to each other and to Luke's account, the author's full text reflects his style and vocabulary, while many of the speeches are formatted similarly and have similar theological themes and quotations of Scripture. The natural explanation for this similarity is that all the speeches and addresses are rather the result of the experience of Luke himself and his pen, than of different speakers. As a second argument, the statement was put forward that “the main tradition among ancient historians was the custom of including the speeches of the main characters in their narratives,” while these speeches were compiled by the authors of the narratives themselves. Thus, speeches in Greek history served the same explanatory function as the chorus in Greek drama. Moreover, these historical authors believed that readers would understand and recognize this literary device, which was used in both Greek and Jewish historical literature.

The most often cited example from Greek history is Thucydides, a historian of the Peloponnesian War of the fifth century BC. A key passage from his chronicle includes the following statement:

“As for the speeches... it was difficult for me and those who told me about them to remember the exact words. Therefore I had to put into the mouth of each speaker statements appropriate to the occasion, expressed as, in my opinion, he would most likely formulate them, but at the same time I dared to convey as accurately as possible the general idea that was actually expressed ".

Because of Thucydides' references to his fickle memory of what was said by his heroes and his personal opinion of what might have been said by them, his statement must mean that he simply made up the speeches he wrote. The most commonly used example from Jewish history is Josephus, who seems to be less self-centered than Thucydides, and even downright unprincipled. H. J. Cadbury writes about how in some cases he simply replaces the Old Testament narrative with “his own colorless platitudes,” sometimes “inserting a long diatribe of his own at inappropriate places,” and in cases of more contemporary history he “clearly makes up speeches.” . Summarizing these traditions of Greek and Jewish history, Cadbury writes: “Since Thucydides, speeches have been pure fiction in the minds of historians.”

Assuming the universality of this belief in relation to Greek and Jewish historians, biblical critics believe that Luke, as a Christian historian, was no different from them. “The assumption,” wrote Cadbury, “that his speeches were usually not supported by sufficient evidence in the form of concrete information, is a strong one, even when the accompanying narrative seems completely reliable.”

A third approach to the speeches of Acts, which rejects both absolute literalism and extreme skepticism, views them as a true account of what was said on each particular occasion. It is possible to build a three-stage defense against the Cadbury-Dibelius design. The first thing that has been said cannot be called fair in relation to all ancient historiography. Josephus and some other Greek historians did seem to regard speech as belonging more to rhetoric than to history. However, this is not true of Thucydides. Conservative commentators argue that he is misunderstood. On the one hand, not enough attention was paid to the final sentence, already quoted, namely, that he tried "to convey as accurately as possible the general idea that was actually expressed" (a sentence which, according to F. F. Bruce, expresses "historical Thucydides' conscience"). On the other hand, the quote was not continued further as it should have been. For Thucydides continues:

“I did not dare to talk about military events, based on random sources of information or on my own conjectures. I have not described anything that I have not either seen myself, or have not learned from others and verified most carefully. It was a time-consuming task..."

A. W. Gomm sums up this statement of Thucydides with the following words:

“I tried to correlate these events as accurately as possible both in speeches and in actions, despite any difficulties.”

Dr. Ward Hajek also points out that Polybius, a Greek historian of the second century BC, “again and again openly condemns the practice of free speech writing by historians.” Dr. Gajek concludes that "the free invention of speeches was not a common practice among historians of the Greco-Roman world."

Second, critical skepticism about the speeches in Acts is also unfair to Luke. For Luke declared in his preface, as we have seen, that he was writing a history carefully researched, and at the beginning of his second book that his conception of history included words as well as deeds. He did not invent events, and therefore it is difficult to believe that he would invent speeches. There is also no reason to believe that because some, indeed many, ancient historians took liberties with their sources, Luke should do the same. On the contrary, we know from his Gospel how much respect he had for his main source of information, Mark. Even Cadbury concluded that in the Gospel "he reworks the speech material from his source into his own text with a minimum of changes." Therefore, even if the speeches of Acts differ from the sayings and parables of Jesus, there is every reason to believe that Luke treated the former with as much respect as he treated the latter. In addition, he actually heard several of Paul's speeches himself and met people who heard other speeches that he gives in Acts, and therefore was much closer to the originals than other historians.

Third, skeptical critics are unfair in their assessment of the diversity and consistency of the speeches in Acts. When we read Peter's first sermons in Acts 2 through 5, we realize that we are listening to the earliest apostolic interpretation of the gospel. H. N. Ridderbos has drawn attention to their apparently "old-fashioned" character because "neither the Christological terminology nor the remarkable method of quoting Scripture in these speeches... bears any trace of later amendments."

b. Peter's quotation of Joel (2:14–21)

Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and cried out to them: Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem! Let this be known to you, and listen to my words: 15 They are not drunk, as you think, for it is now the third day of our day; 16 But this is what was foretold by the prophet Joel:

17 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

and your young men will see visions,

and your elders will be enlightened by dreams;

18 And on My servants and on My handmaids in those days I will pour out My Spirit,

and they will prophesy;

What Luke described in verses 1–13 is now explained by Peter. The supernatural phenomenon of the descent of the Holy Spirit on believers, speaking about the great deeds of God in other tongues, is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy that God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh. Peter's explanation is similar to what the Dead Sea Scrolls call "pesher," or "interpretation, interpretation" of Old Testament passages in light of their fulfillment. Therefore (1) Peter begins his sermon with the words “this is what was foretold” (16, AV), that is, what the listeners themselves saw “this” is what Joel “predicted”; (2) he deliberately changes Joel's words “and it shall come to pass after that” (that is, when the Spirit is poured out) with the words “and it shall come to pass in the last days” to emphasize that with the coming of the Spirit the last days come; (3) he refers this passage to Jesus, so that the "Lord" who shows salvation is no longer Jehovah, who saves on Mount Zion (Joel 2:32), but Jesus, who saves from sin and judgment everyone who calls His name is (21).

All the New Testament writers are united in the unanimous belief that Jesus began the countdown of the last days, or messianic era, and that the final evidence of this was the outpouring of the Spirit, since it was a promise from the Old Testament promise regarding the end of times. Therefore, out of caution, we should not re-quote the words of Joel as if we were still awaiting the fulfillment of his prophecies, or as if that fulfillment was partial and we are awaiting its future full fulfillment. For this is how Peter understood and used the text of the prophecy. The entire messianic age, which stretches between the two comings of Christ, is the era of the Spirit, in which His ministry is an abundant ministry. Isn't that the meaning of the verb "to pour out"? A picture of a strong tropical downpour immediately appears in the imagination, which illustrates the generosity of God’s gift of the Spirit (this is not a drizzle, or even a heavy rain, but torrential torrents), its completeness (for what is “poured out” cannot be collected again), its universality and universality (distributed on the widest scale among various groups of the entire population of the earth). Peter further emphasizes this universality. Expression all flesh (pasa sane, 17a) does not mean everyone, regardless of his internal readiness to accept the gift, but everyone, regardless of his external status. Of course, there are certain spiritual conditions for receiving the Spirit, but there are no social differences, be it gender (your sons and your daughters, 176), or age (and your young men and your old men, 17c), or rank (and against my servants and against my handmaids, 18, who are not merely “servants” as in Hebrews, but whom God defines as being wholly His own).

And they will prophesy (18). Here we seem to encounter a multifunctional use of the word "prophecies." As Luther says, “Prophecies, visions, and dreams are essentially the same thing". That is, the universal gift (Spirit) leads believers to universal ministry (prophecy). And yet this promise is amazing, because in other places in Acts - and in the New Testament in general - only a few are called prophets.

How then can we understand the idea of ​​a universal prophetic ministry? If prophecy is essentially God speaking, God making Himself known through His Word, then surely it means (as was assumed in Old Testament times) that in the days of new promises the knowledge of God will be universal. And now the authors of the New Testament declare that this was fulfilled through Christ (Jer. 31:34, “all of you will know Me”; 1 Thess. 4:9, “you yourselves have been taught of God”; 1 John 2:27, “This anointing teaches you everything.” In this sense, all of God's people are now prophets, just as all are priests and kings. Thus, Luther understood such prophecy as “the knowledge of God through Christ, which is kindled by the Holy Spirit and continues to burn through the word of the Gospel,” while Calvin wrote that “it simply means a rare and excellent gift of understanding.” In fact, the basis of the universal command to bear witness is this manifold knowledge of God through Christ by the Spirit (1:8). We must give people the opportunity to know Him because we know Him ourselves.

Peter continues to quote from Joel: And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and smoking smoke:(19). The sun will turn into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.(20). One can understand these predictions either literally, as an expectation of natural disasters (which had already begun on Good Friday (Luke 23:44–45), and many of which Jesus predicted would come to pass before the end (Luke 21:11)), or as a metaphorical representation of historical upheavals (since these are traditional apocalyptic images for times of social and political revolutions, for example: Isa. 13:9ff; 34:1ff; 32:7ff; Amos 8:9; Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25–26; Rev. 6:12ff.). In the meantime, between the day of Pentecost (when the Spirit appeared to open the last days) and the day of the Lord (when the Lord will appear to close these days) stretches a long day of opportunity during which the gospel of salvation will be proclaimed throughout the world: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”(21).

V. Peter Testifies of Jesus (2:22–41)

However, Pentecost can best be understood not through the predictions of the Old Testament, but through the fulfillment of the New Testament, not through Joel, but through Jesus. Peter calls: Men of Israel! Listen to these words, - and the first words of the Apostle are:- Jesus of Nazareth, a Man testified to you by God... after which he tells the story of Jesus, presenting it in six successive stages:

(1) His life and ministry (2:22)

He was truly a “Man”, but “witnessed to you of God” through supernatural works, which are called in three words - forces(literally - dynameis, the characteristic of this word is a demonstration of the power of God), and miracles (terata, their effect is to surprise observers) and signs (semeia, Their purpose is to embody or commemorate spiritual truth), which God created through Him and in front of everyone, among you, as you yourself know.

(2) His death (2:23)

Peter speaks of this Man who was killed partly because you took Him, not because Judas betrayed him to these people (although the same verb is used in relation to his betrayal in the original), but according to the definite advice and foreknowledge of God, and partly because they, nailed by the hands of the lawless(presumably Romans) killed His. Thus, the same event, the death of Jesus, is attributed both to God's predestination and to the iniquity of men. The doctrine of the atonement is not yet fully expressed, but it is clear that God's salvation works through the death of Jesus.

(3) His resurrection (2:24–32)

But God raised Him up, breaking the bonds of death, because it was impossible for it to hold Him. 25 For David says of Him:

“I saw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand, so that I would not be shaken;

26 For this my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;

even my flesh will rest in hope,

27 For You will not leave my soul in hell

and You will not allow Your holy one to see corruption;

28 You made me know the way of life;

You will fill me with joy before You.”

29 Men, brothers! let it be allowed to boldly tell you about the forefather David, that he died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day; 30 Now being a prophet and knowing that God had promised him with an oath from the fruit of his loins to raise up Christ in the flesh and seat him on his throne, 31 He first said about the resurrection of Christ that His soul was not left in hell, and His flesh did not see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Of death it was impossible to hold Him(24; Peter sees that death was unable to hold Christ in a moral sense, but does not explain this idea). Although people killed Jesus, God raised Him up Thus breaking the bonds of death, which in English sounds like "agony of death" This phrase in Russian is translated as “agony of death,” and “agony” literally means “pain in childbirth,” so His resurrection is depicted as rebirth, birth to new life through death into life.

Peter further confirms the truth of Jesus' resurrection by referring to Psalm 16:8–11, where he claims it was foretold. David could not say this about himself when he wrote that You will not leave my soul in hell, or You will not allow Your holy one to see corruption(27) because David and died and was buried, and his tomb is still located in Jerusalem (29). However, being a prophet and remembering God's promise erect a distinguished descendant on His throne (cf. 2 Kings 7:16; Ps. 89:3ff.; 131:11–12), he first spoke about the resurrection of Christ(30–31). Peter's use of Scripture may sound strange to us, but we must remember three things. First, all Scripture testifies to Christ, especially His death, resurrection and universal mission. This is the character and purpose of all Scripture. Jesus Himself spoke about this before and after His resurrection (eg: Luke 4:21; John 5:39-40; Luke 24:27,44ff.). Secondly, as a consequence, with the help of the teachings of the risen Jesus, His disciples began to see in the Old Testament references to God's Anointed One, or King, to David and his royal seed, the fulfillment of prophecies in the form of the incarnation of the Messiah in Jesus (for example: Ps. 2:7; 15:10; 109:1). It is this point that Maison Jacques Dupont called “the radically Christological character of early Christian exegesis.” and thirdly, once such considerations are presented, the Christian use of the Old Testament, like Peter's appeal to Psalm 16, is "perfectly logical and internally sound."

After quoting these verses of Psalm 16 as applied to the resurrection of Jesus, Peter adds: This Jesus God will rise again, of whom we are all witnesses.(32). So, the spoken testimony of the Apostles and the recorded prediction of the prophets coincided. Or, one might say, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments agreed in their testimony of the resurrection of Jesus.

(4) His ascension (2:33–36)

Peter now moves from the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to His ascension to the right hand of God. From a position of supreme glory and absolute authority, Jesus receives from the Father the promised Spirit and pours out that Spirit on His faithful.

So He, having been exalted by the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, poured out what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says:

“The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,

35 Until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

36 Know therefore, all the house of Israel, that God hath made this Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Once again, Peter supports his argument with an appropriate Old Testament quotation. Just as he used Psalm 15 to apply to the resurrection of Jesus, he now uses Psalm 109 to speak of the ascension of the Messiah. For David did not ascend to heaven(34), just as he did not escape corruption thanks to the resurrection. He calls “My Lord” the One whom Jehovah has seated at His right hand. Jesus had already applied this verse to Himself (Mark 12:35–37; Luke 20:41–44), just as Paul later applied it to Jesus in his Epistles (1 Cor. 15:25; Heb. 1:13). Peter concludes that now all Israel must know that God made this Jesus Lord and Christ, whom they rejected and crucified. Of course, Jesus did not become Lord and Christ only at the moment of His ascension, for He was (and claims to be) both throughout His earthly ministry. Rather, God now lifted Him into that reality and gave Him the power that He always rightfully possessed.

(5) His salvation (2:37-39)

Now Luke describes the crowd's reaction to Peter's preaching and Peter's response to the crowd.

37 Hearing this, they were touched in heart and said to Peter and the other apostles: What should we do, men and brethren? 38 Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; 39 For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call.

Touched by the heart - that is, convinced of their sin and tormented by their conscience, Peter’s listeners worriedly asked him what they should do now (37). Peter responded that they must “repent” by completely changing their minds and attitudes towards Jesus: and may each of you be baptized in the name His. They were to submit themselves to baptism (which the Jews considered necessary only for Gentile converts) through humility, and were to submit to this baptism in the name of Him whom they had recently rejected. It was to become a symbol of their public repentance and faith in Him. And although Peter does not specifically call the crowd to believe, the people clearly believed, since in verse 44 they are already called “believers.” In any case, repentance and faith are unthinkable without each other; renunciation of sin is sometimes impossible without turning to God, and vice versa (cf. 3:19). Both acts are marked by baptism in the name of Christ, which means "entering oneself into His service, relying entirely on His worthiness and His authority, acknowledging His rights and His doctrines."

And then they will receive from God two free gifts - forgiveness of sins (and even the sin of not accepting God’s Christ) and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Who will revive them, dwell in them, unite and change them). For they must not think that the gift of Pentecost was intended only for the Apostles, or only for the 120 disciples who waited for 10 days for the manifestation of the Spirit, or for any other elite group, or even for any one nation or generation. God placed no restrictions on His offer and gift. On the contrary (39), the promise of the Spirit (1:4; 2:33)—that is, the “gift” or “baptism”—was also for them (those who listened to Peter) and for their children (that is, for the next and subsequent generations), and for all those who were far away (certainly for the Jews of the dispersion and, perhaps prophetically, for the distant pagan world) (as in Is. 49:1, 12; 57:19; cf. : Eph. 2:13,17) in fact everyone(without exception), whomever the Lord our God calls. Everyone whom God calls to Himself through Christ receives both gifts. The gifts of God accompany God's call.

(6) His new community (2:40–41)

Luke adds that this is not the end of Peter's preaching, for and with many other words he testified and exhorted. The essence of his testimony and exhortation was the call: save yourself from this corrupt generation(40). That is, Peter called not only for personal and individual conversion, but also for public communion with other believers. Commitment to the Messiah implied commitment to the messianic community, that is, the Church. Indeed, they had to change society, moving from one, old and corrupt, to another, new and saved.

What follows is an amazing response to Peter's call. A huge number of people who willingly accepted his word(i.e. those who repented and believed), as a consequence, were baptized. Actually, About three thousand souls joined that day(41). The Body of Christ in Jerusalem multiplied twenty-six times, from 120 to 3,120. They were, according to Peter's promise, to receive petition and the Spirit, although this time without obvious and supernatural signs. Luke, at least, does not mention any phenomena like wind, fire, or speaking in tongues.

d. Gospel Today

We have seen that Peter directed his attention mainly to Christ and told His story in six stages. (1) He was a Man, though witnessed by divine miracles; (2) He was put to death by the hands of the wicked, though according to God's foreknowledge; (3) He was raised from the dead, as the prophets had foretold and the apostles testified; (4) He was exalted to the right hand of God, and from there poured out the Spirit; (5) He now gives forgiveness and the Spirit to all those who repent, believe and are baptized; and (6) in this way He brings believers into a new community.

There have been many attempts to reconstruct this material. Particular attention should be paid to the famous lectures of C. H. Dodd at King's College, London, on kerygma(proclamation, sermon) of Peter and Paul, according to similar passages in their sermons, which was subsequently published under the title “Apostolic Sermon and Events Connected with It.”

The author systematizes Peter's sermons as follows: (1) the dawn of the era of prophecy fulfillment, the messianic era; (2) it happened through the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, as Scripture testifies; (3) Jesus is exalted to the right hand of God as Lord and Head of the new Israel; (4) the activity of the Holy Spirit in the church is a sign of the presence of Christ in power and glory; (5) the messianic era will reach its conclusion at the return of Christ; (6) forgiveness and the Spirit are offered to those who repent.

Our task today is to be faithful to this apostolic Gospel and at the same time present it in a way that is acceptable to modern people. There is no doubt that we, like the Apostles, must focus our attention on Jesus Christ. The beginning in Peter’s sermon, “Hear these words: Jesus…” (22) should also become our beginning. It is impossible to preach the Gospel without preaching Christ. But how? I myself have found the right way to express the Apostolic message in this way:

First - gospel events, that is, the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is true that Peter began with the life and ministry of Jesus (22), continued with His ascension (33), and then spoke of His return as Judge. The apostles could talk about the entire saving mission of Christ. But they focused primarily on the cross and resurrection (23–24) as historical events whose significance lies in salvation. Although the doctrine of the atonement had not yet been fully developed, it was already implied by references to God's purpose (23), His suffering in ministry (3:13,18), and to the "tree" as the place of God's curse (5:30; 10:39 ; 13:29, cf.: Gal. 3:13). The resurrection also has the meaning of salvation because through the resurrection God transferred His judgment on humanity to Jesus, took Him from the damned place and exalted Him to the place of glory.

Second, witnesses of the Gospel. The apostles did not proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus without evidence, but did so in the light of Scripture and history. They appealed to double witness to prove the truth about Jesus, because with two witnesses the truth is established. The first evidence is the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which were fulfilled. In Acts 2, Peter spoke of Psalm 15, Psalm 109, and Joel 2 to illustrate his teaching about Jesus' resurrection, ascension, and the gift of the Spirit. The second was the testimony of the Apostles. “We are witnesses,” Peter repeats (e.g. 2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 10:39ff), and this eyewitness experience was an integral part of the apostleship. So Christ alone has a double testimony. We do not have the right to preach Christ at the will of our imagination or even to resort to our own experience, since we are not eyewitnesses of the historical Jesus. It is our duty to preach the true Christ of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. His chief witnesses are the prophets and apostles; our testimony always follows them.

Third, the promises of the Good News. The Gospel is good news not only because Jesus did(He died for our sins and rose from the dead, according to Scripture), but also because it was He offers as a result. He promises those who answer His call both forgiveness of sins (erasing the past) and the gift of the Spirit (He makes us new people). All together, this gives the freedom that many are looking for, freedom from guilt, freedom from vices, from future judgment and one’s own selfishness, freedom to be the way God created us and the way He wants us to be. Forgiveness and the Spirit together constitute “salvation,” and both are proclaimed in baptism, that is, in the cleansing from sin and the outpouring of the Spirit.

Fourthly, conditions of the Gospel. Jesus Christ does not give Us His gifts without conditions. The Gospel demands that we decisively and irrevocably break with sin and turn to Christ, so that everyone repents and comes to faith and receives baptism. For submission to baptism in the name of Christ, whom we previously rejected, gives public evidence of repentant faith in Him. Moreover, by this repentance, faith and baptism we move into the new community of Jesus.

So, we have four components of the Good News: two events (the death and resurrection of Christ), confirmed by two witnesses (prophets and apostles), on the basis of which God makes two promises (forgiveness and the Spirit) subject to two conditions (repentance and faith with baptism ). We have no right to shorten this apostolic Gospel by proclaiming the cross without the resurrection, or by appealing to the New Testament without the Old, or by offering forgiveness without the Spirit, or by demanding faith without repentance. It is this integrity that the biblical Good News has.

It is not enough to just “proclaim Jesus.” For today the multitude of Jesuses is being proclaimed. However, according to the New Testament, He historical(He truly lived, died, rose again and was exalted in the arena of history) theological(His life, death, resurrection and ascension all have saving significance) and modern(He lives and reigns to bring salvation to those who respond to Him.) Thus, the Apostles told the same story of Christ in three aspects - as a historical event (witnessed by them), as having theological significance (explained by Scripture), and as a modern message (by presenting people with a decision to make). We have the same obligation to tell the story of Jesus to our contemporaries today as fact, as doctrine, and as gospel.

3. Life of the Church: The Effect of Pentecost (2:42–47)

Having described in his own narrative what happened on the day of Pentecost, and then presented Peter's explanation of what happened through the mouth of Peter through Christ-centered preaching, Luke then goes on to paint the effect of Pentecost, painting a brilliant little picture of a Spirit-filled church. Of course, the church began on the wrong day and it is incorrect to call the day of Pentecost the “birthday of the church.” For the Church as a body of God's people dates back at least 4,000 years from the time of Abraham. And at Pentecost, the remnant of God's people became the Body of Christ filled with the Spirit. What evidence showed the presence and power of the Holy Spirit? Luke puts it this way:

And they constantly continued in the teaching of the Apostles, in fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayer. 43 Now there was fear on every soul; and many wonders and signs were performed through the Apostles in Jerusalem. 44 But all the believers were together and had everything in common: 45 And they sold their possessions and all property, and distributed it to everyone, according to each person’s need; 46 And every day they continued with one accord in the temple and, breaking bread from house to house, ate their food with joy and simplicity of heart, 47 Praising God and being favored by all the people. The Lord daily added those who were being saved to the Church.

A. It was the church in teaching

And they continued constantly in the teaching of the Apostles, which was the first proof of the presence of the Spirit of God in the Church. It can be said that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit opened a school in Jerusalem; its teachers were the Apostles whom Jesus appointed, and there were 3,000 disciples. It should be noted that the new converts did not experience such a mystical influence as to cause them to cease mental pursuits and reject theology. Resistance to doctrine and being filled with the Spirit are incompatible because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Those early disciples did not think that, having received the gift of the Spirit, they had found the only Teacher they needed and that they could now do without the edification of earthly teachers. On the contrary, they sat at the feet of the Apostles, waiting to receive instruction, persistently remaining in this teaching. Moreover, the teaching authority of the Apostles, to which they gladly submitted, was witnessed by miracles: many wonders and signs happened through the Apostles(43). The two references to the Apostles in verses 42 (their teaching) and 43 (their miracles) are hardly accidental (cf. 2 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:1-4). Since the teaching of the Apostles has come down to us in the New Testament in a precisely defined form, fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles at this time will mean submission to the authority of the New Testament. The Spirit-filled church is the New Testament church. She abides in doctrine and submits to the edification of the New Testament. The Spirit of God leads the people of God to obey the Word of God.

b. It was a church of love

They were constantly... in communication (koinonia). Koinonia (from koinos,“common”) testifies to the common life in the church in two aspects. Firstly, this word expresses something in which we all together and each separately have a share and participation. God Himself is present in this, for “our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3), and in this is “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with everyone” (2 Cor. 13:13). Thus, koinonia there is the experience of the Trinity; this is our common share in God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But secondly, koinonia also expresses what we collectively share with each other, that we give as much as we receive. Koinonia- this is the word that Paul uses to designate those collections (gifts, donations, which Paul also expresses by the word “ministry”) that he organized among the Greek churches (2 Cor. 8:4; 9:13), a koinonicos - it is a Greek word meaning “generosity.” This is exactly what Luke is getting at, because he immediately begins to talk about how these early Christians shared their property with each other: Yet the believers were together and had everything in common (koina). And they sold estates and all kinds of property(perhaps this means real estate and valuables), and shared it with everyone, depending on the need of each(44–45). But these verses sound somewhat alarming. Does this mean that every Spirit-filled believer and every Christian community should follow their example in everything?. This agreement, as Geza Vermis comments, "strongly resembles the custom adopted in the first church in Jerusalem."

So, did the early Christians imitate the Qumran community and should we do the same today? At various times in the history of the church, some have thought and acted this way. I have no doubt that Jesus is still calling some of His disciples, like the rich young ruler of the New Testament story, to a life of absolute and voluntary non-covetousness. Yet neither Jesus nor His Apostles intended to prohibit private property for all Christians. Even the sixteenth-century Anabaptists of the so-called “Radical Reformation,” who sought to supplement the Protestant principles of church life with fellowship and brotherly love (regarding the Word, sacraments, and discipline) and who spoke much of Acts 2 and 4 and the “community of property,” recognized that this The item is not mandatory for everyone. The only exception appears to be the Moravian Brethren, who did make common property a condition of their membership. But Menno Simone, the most influential leader of this movement, pointed out that the Jerusalem experience was neither universal nor permanent and wrote: “we ... never taught or practiced a community of property.”

It is important to note that the division of property and property, even in Jerusalem, was completely voluntary. The expression in verse 46 is breaking bread from house to house, What makes it clear is that many still had homes - not everyone sold them. Another thing to note is that both verbs in verse 45 are in the imperfect tense. This indicates that the sale and division of property was not a one-time and general action, but occurred periodically, from time to time, as a certain need arose. Further, the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, which will be discussed further in Acts 5, was not a manifestation of greed or material interests, but an ordinary deception: it is not that they wanted to keep part of the proceeds from the sale, but that By keeping this part for themselves, they pretended to give everything. Peter said this clearly: “What you owned was not yours, and what was purchased by sale was not in your power?” (5:4).

At the same time, although the sale and distribution of one’s own property was and is a voluntary matter and every Christian himself must make a decision according to his conscience before God, we are all called to generosity, especially towards those who are poor and in need. Already in the Old Testament there is a clear tradition of caring for the poor, and the Israelites were required to give a tenth of their produce to “the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow” (Deut. 26:12). How can believers filled with the Holy Spirit give less? This principle is stated twice in Acts: depending on everyone's needs(45). “There was no one in need among them; for all, ... selling, ... brought the price of what was sold; …and to each one was given whatever he needed” (4:34–35). As John later wrote, if we “have plenty in the world, but seeing our brother in need, we close our hearts from him, how does God’s love abide in us?” (1 John 3:17) Christian fellowship is Christian concern, and Christian concern is Christian concern for the needs of others. Chrysostom gave an excellent definition of the atmosphere that reigned in the early church: “It was an angelic community where no one called things their own. The roots of evil were destroyed there... No one reproached, no one envied, no one was angry; there was no pride, no contempt there... The poor man was not ashamed, the rich man was not arrogant.” We should heed the call expressed in these verses. A direct reproach to those of us who are richer are the hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged brothers and sisters. It is the duty of Spirit-filled believers to meet the need and abolish poverty in the new community of Jesus.

V. It was a worshiping church

And they continued constantly... in breaking bread and in prayers (42). That is, their communication was expressed not only in caring for each other, but also in joint worship. Moreover, the definite article used in the original in both cases (before the “breaking” of bread and “prayers”) suggests a reference to the Lord’s Supper on the one hand (although at that early stage the breaking of bread was more of a communal meal), and prayerful worship services or meetings (rather than individual prayers), on the other hand. Worship in the Early Church has two aspects that indicate its stable balance.

First, the services were both formal and informal, as they took place in the temple... and at home(46), An interesting combination arises here. It may seem surprising that they continued to remain in the temple, but it is so. They did not abolish what can be called the institution of the church. I do not think that they continued to participate in the sacrifices that were carried out in the temple, for they had already begun to realize that the need for sacrifices had been fulfilled in the sacrifice of Christ. But they seem to have continued to participate in temple services (cf. 3:1), until, it is supposed, they went to the temple to preach rather than pray. At the same time, they performed temple services in a more informal manner, holding spontaneous meetings (including the breaking of bread) in homes. Perhaps we, with our understandable intolerance of inherited church structures, have something to learn from the believers of the early church. I think that the way of the Holy Spirit to transform the institution of the church in accordance with the gospel is a way of patient reform rather than impatient denial. And of course, a much more acceptable option is the formal and solemn worship of the local church, complemented by the informality and spontaneity of home meetings. There is no need to contrast the regulated and the free, the traditional and the spontaneous. The Church needs both.

A second example and evidence of balance is that the worship services of the early church were filled with joy and reverence. There is no doubt that there was this joy, for it is written about the believers that they remained in joy and simplicity of heart(46), which literally means “in raptures” and sincerity of heart." NAB combines both words, translating them “with pure joy.” Because God first sent His Son into the world and now sent His Spirit, believers had (and still have) much reason to rejoice. In addition, “the fruit of the Spirit is... joy” (Gal. 5:22), perhaps even more

joy than is customary in the staid traditions of historical churches. Yet every worship service should be a joyful celebration, glorifying and praising the mighty works of God through Jesus Christ. It is correct to behave decently during public worship; It's unforgivable to be gloomy. At the same time, their joy was always expressed with reverence. If joy in God is a true work of the Spirit, so is the origin of the fear of God. There was fear in every soul(43), and this seems to include both Christians and non-Christians. God visited their city. He was among them, and everyone knew it. The people knelt before Him in humility and wonder. It is therefore a mistake to imagine that adoration and joy in public worship are mutually exclusive. The combination of joy and reverence, as well as the unity of formality and informality, is a sign of healthy balance in Christian worship.

d. It was an evangelical church

So far we have talked about teaching, fellowship, and worship in the Jerusalem church. However, these are all aspects of the internal life of the church. They tell us nothing about their compassionate impulse towards the outside world. Tens of thousands of sermons have been preached on Acts 2:42 alone, illustrating the dangers of treating the text in isolation from its context. Taken alone, this verse presents a very one-sided picture of the life of the church. Verse 476 should be added here: The Lord daily added those who were being saved to the Church. Those early Christians in Jerusalem were not so busy studying, socializing, and worshiping that they forgot their commission to bear witness. For the Holy Spirit is the missionary Spirit who created the missionary church. As Harry Boyer put it in his edifying book, Pentecost and the Missions, in Acts “one dominant, superior, and all-subduing motive predominates. This motive is the spread of faith through missionary witness in the power of the Spirit... The Spirit continually leads the church to witness, and from these testimonies churches continually grow. The Christian Church is a missionary church."

From the early believers of Jerusalem we can learn three vital lessons for use in the life of the local church and in evangelism. First, the Lord Himself (that is, Jesus) did this: The Lord supplied those who were being saved. No doubt, He did this through the preaching of His Apostles, through the testimony of the church members, through their universal love in the life that was an example, when they were all together, praising God and being favored by all the people(47a). And yet it was the Lord who did it. For He is the Head of the Church. He alone has the prerogative to accept people into the fold of the church and give them salvation from the height of His throne. This needs to be emphasized because many people today talk about evangelization with self-confidence and even with a sense of triumph, as if they believed that the evangelization of the world would be a complete victory and an achievement by human hands. In the task of evangelism, we must use everything that God has given us, but we can humbly rely only on Him as the Chief Evangelist.

Second, Jesus did two things together: He made efforts to save(present participle sozomenous“saved” either indicates the absence of a category of time, or emphasizes that salvation is an act in progress that will culminate in the final glorification). He did not add people to the church without saving them (by the way, we note that in the beginning there was no nominal Christianity). He also did not save them without adding them to the church (there was no solitary Christianity then either). Salvation and church membership went hand in hand; Now, in essence, the situation is the same. Third, the Lord added to those being saved daily-

The verb is in the imperfect tense (“continued to apply”), and the adverb (“daily”) dispels the last doubts. The evangelism of the early church was not a periodic or spontaneous activity. Believers did not make five-year or ten-year plans for missionary activity (missions are only good when they are only stages in an ongoing program of action). No, since their worship was daily (46a), their testimony was daily. Praise and proclamation also came from hearts filled with the Holy Spirit. And since their aspiration to the world was constant, there was a constant influx of new converts. We must renew the same desire for constant and uninterrupted growth of the church.

Looking again at these features of the first Spirit-filled community, we are convinced that they all touch upon issues of relationships in the church. First, believers were connected with the Apostles (in humility). They sought to accept the teachings of the Apostles. The Spirit-filled church is an apostolic church, a New Testament church that strives to believe and obey what Jesus and His Apostles teach. Second, they were connected to each other (in love). They were constantly in communication, supporting each other, alleviating and meeting the needs of the disadvantaged. A Spirit-filled church is a loving, caring and compassionate church. Third, they were connected with God (in worshiping Him). They praised Him in the temple and in their homes, at the Lord's Supper and in prayer, with joy and reverence. A Spirit-filled church is a God-worshipping church. Fourth, they were connected with the world (in striving for its needs). They were constantly preaching the gospel. No self-centered, self-absorbed church can claim to be filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the missionary Spirit. Therefore, a Spirit-filled church is a missionary church.

We do not need to wait, as one hundred and twenty people waited, for the coming of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit had already appeared on the day of Pentecost and never left His church again. We need to humble ourselves before His Divine authority, not quench the Spirit within ourselves, but give Him complete freedom. And then many people will be able to find in our churches those signs of the presence of the Spirit that they are looking for, namely, biblical teaching, brotherly fellowship in love, living worship of God and evangelism without boundaries.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all with one accord together.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as from a rushing strong wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting;

And cloven tongues as of fire appeared to them, and one rested on each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now in Jerusalem there were Jews, pious people, from every nation under heaven.

When this noise was made, the people gathered and were in confusion; for everyone heard them speaking in his own language.

And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Are not these all Galileans who speak?”

How can we hear our own dialect in which we were born?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjacent to Cyrene, and those who came from Rome, Jews and proselytes,

Cretans and Arabians, do we hear them speaking in our own languages ​​about the great deeds of God?

And everyone was amazed and perplexed and said to each other: what does this mean?

And others mockingly said: they got drunk on sweet wine.

Every male Jew who lived thirty kilometers from Jerusalem was required by law to take part in three major Jewish holidays: Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. Another name for Pentecost was the “Feast of Weeks,” and it received this name because it fell on the fiftieth day, the week of weeks after Easter. Easter fell in mid-April, therefore Pentecost fell in early June. This was the best time to travel. No fewer people arrived for the Feast of Pentecost than for Easter. This explains the long list of countries given in this chapter. There has never been such an international crowd in Jerusalem as at Pentecost.

The Feast of Pentecost had two main meanings: 1) Historical meaning. It commemorated Moses' receipt of the law on Mt. Sinai. 2) It also had agricultural significance. On Easter, the first sheaf of barley from the new harvest was sacrificed to God, and on Pentecost, two loaves of bread were sacrificed to God as a sign of gratitude for the harvest. This holiday had one specific feature. The law prohibited any work on this day, even for slaves. (A lion. 23, 21; Number 28, 26) and therefore it was a holiday for everyone, and the crowds in the streets were larger than ever.

We still don’t know everything that happened on the day of Pentecost, except that the disciples were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, which they had never experienced before. We must remember that this part Acts Luke did not write as an eyewitness. He also talks about how the students suddenly began speaking in other languages. When considering this phenomenon, it should be borne in mind that: 1) A phenomenon arose in the early Christian Church that never completely disappeared. He called "speaking in tongues"(cf. Acts 10, 46, 19, 6). This manifestation is touched upon in particular detail in 1 Cor. 14. The point was that when one of the brothers fell into ecstasy, he poured out a stream of incomprehensible sounds in an incomprehensible language. They believed that this was inspiration from above, from the Spirit of God, and this gift was highly valued. Paul didn't really approve of it because God's message is best communicated in plain language. He even says that a stranger coming to such a meeting might think that he has entered into a campaign of madmen (1 Cor. 14, 23), which fits Acts 2:13: Those speaking in tongues may well have appeared drunk to those unfamiliar with the phenomenon.

2) At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the entire crowd consisted of Jews (poem 5) and proselytes (poem 10). Proselytes were called pagans who accepted Judaism and the Jewish way of life. To speak with such a crowd, two languages ​​would be enough. Almost all Jews spoke Aramaic; and the Jews in the dispersion, who came from other countries, would also speak Greek, that is, the language that almost every person spoke at that time.

It is obvious that Luke described speaking in tongues as foreign languages. In fact, for the first time in their lives, this ethnically diverse crowd heard the voice of God in a form that touched their hearts and they understood it in their native language. The power of the Holy Spirit was such that He conveyed a message through the disciples that touched the hearts of everyone.

First Christian sermon

Acts 2, 14-42 is one of the most interesting passages in the New Testament because it contains the first Christian sermon. In the early Christian Church, four forms of preaching were used:

1) Firstly, there was kerygma, that is messenger message, which gives a simple statement of the facts of Christian doctrine, which, from the point of view of the preachers of that time, did not give rise to any controversy or doubt.

3) They also used the form paraclesis, what does it mean exhortation, sermon. This form of preaching was aimed at convincing people to build their lives in accordance with the standards they had learned at the stage kerygma And didache.

4) Finally, use the form homilia, that is, instructions on how to transform your entire life in the spirit of Christian teaching.

A solid sermon includes these four elements: a simple presentation of the truth of the gospel; an explanation of these truths and facts and their meaning in human life; exhorting people to order their lives in accordance with them; and, finally, the transformation of people's lives in the light of Christian doctrine.

IN Acts we meet mainly with kerygma, because it's on task Acts includes, first of all, the presentation of the good news to those who have never heard of it. Kerygma built on a specific form that is often repeated in the New Testament.

1) In it we find the statement that the life of Jesus and all His deeds and sufferings were the fulfillment of the prophecies set out in the Old Testament. Nowadays, less and less attention is paid to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. It is widely assumed that the prophets did not so much predict future events as serve to convey divine truths to humanity. But, the emphasis on the prophecies of early Christian preaching firmly established that history is not a chain of random events, but that it has meaning. Faith in prophecy is the belief that God is in control and He will fulfill His purposes.

2) In Jesus, the Messiah appeared in the world, the prophecies about Him were fulfilled and the dawn of a new era arose. The early Christian Church was animated by the irrefutable sense that Jesus was the core and essence of all history; that with His birth eternity invaded our time, and therefore both life and the world must change.

3) Next in kerygme it was claimed that Jesus was descended from David, that He taught and performed miracles, and was crucified, but rose from the dead, and now He sits at the right hand of God. The early Christian Church was convinced that the basis of Christian doctrine was the earthly life of Christ. But she was also sure that His earthly life and death were not the end, but that after them came the resurrection. For them, Jesus was not the historical figure they had read and heard about, but they knew Him personally and met Him—He lived and was with them.

4) Early Christian preachers further claimed that Jesus would return in glory to establish His kingdom on earth. In other words, the early Christian Church firmly believed in the Second Coming. This doctrine is less mentioned in modern preaching, but the idea of ​​the development of history and its final conclusion is alive in it. Man is on a journey and he is called to an eternal inheritance.

5) The sermon ended with the statement that the salvation of man is only in Jesus, that those who believe in Him will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and those who do not believe will face terrible torment. In other words, the sermon ended at the same time promise and threat. This sounds exactly like the voice that Bunyan heard asking him, “Will you forsake your sins and go to hell?”

If we read Peter's entire sermon, we will see how these five elements are intertwined.

Acts 2:14-21 The day of the Lord has come

They are not drunk as you think, for it is now three o'clock in the afternoon;

But this is what was predicted by the prophet Joel:

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

And on My servants and on My handmaids in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they will prophesy;

And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and smoking smoke:

The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes;

And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Here we are faced with one of the main concepts of the Old and New Testaments, the concept Lord's Day. Much of the Old and New Testaments will be incomprehensible unless we first understand its basic principles.

The Jews never abandoned the idea that they were God's chosen people. This special position was seen in the fact that they were given special privileges. They have always been a small people. Their story consisted of a continuous chain of misfortunes. They clearly recognized that by purely human means they would never achieve the position they deserved as God's chosen people. And so, gradually they realized that what man cannot do, God must do; and began to wait for the day when God would intervene directly in history and lift them to the glory of which they dreamed. The day of this intervention was called day of the Lord.

The Jews divided all time into two centuries. This century was terrible and doomed to destruction; A the coming century will be God's golden age. There must be between them day of the Lord, which will reveal the terrible birth pangs of the age to come. He will come completely unexpectedly, he will come like a thief in the night; on this day the world will move from its place; it will be a day of judgment and horror. Everywhere, in all the Old Testament prophets and in many places in the New Testament, a description of this day is given. Typical descriptions are given in Is. 2, 12; 13, 6 sl; Am. 5, 18; Soph. 1, 7; Joel. 2, 1; 1 Fez. 5, 2 sl; 2 Peter 3, 10.

Here's the app. Peter tells the Jews this: “For many generations you have dreamed of the Day of the Lord, the Day when God would directly intervene in human history. And now, in Jesus, this day has come.” Behind the faded images of the imagination lies a great truth: in Jesus, God personally entered the arena of human history.

Acts 2:22-36 Lord and Christ

Men of Israel! Hear my words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man testified to you by God with powers and wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.

This, according to the definite advice and foreknowledge of God, you took him and, having nailed him with the hands of the lawless, you killed him;

But God raised Him up, breaking the bonds of death, because it was impossible for it to hold Him.

For David says about Him: “I saw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand, so that I would not be shaken;

For this my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; even my flesh will rest in hope,

For You will not leave my soul in hell, and You will not allow Your holy one to see corruption;

You made me know the way of life; You will fill me with joy before You.”

Men, brothers! let it be allowed to boldly tell you about the forefather David, that he died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day;

Being a prophet and knowing that God promised him with an oath from the fruit of his loins to raise up Christ in the flesh and seat him on his throne,

He first said about the resurrection of Christ that His soul was not left in hell, and His flesh did not see corruption.

This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

So He, having been exalted by the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, poured out what you now see and hear.

For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand.

How long will I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

Know therefore surely, all the house of Israel, that God hath made this Jesus, whom ye crucified, to be Lord and Christ.

Before us is a typical sermon of the early Christian preachers.

1) It argues that the crucifixion of Christ cannot be viewed as a tragic accident. This was part of God's eternal plan (verse 23). This fact is reiterated again and again in Acts(cf. Acts 3, 18; 4, 28; 13, 29). Set forth in Acts The thought warns us against two serious mistakes in our thinking about the death of Jesus: a) the cross is not some kind of last resort to which God resorted when all other means had failed. No, he is part of the very life of God, b) We should never think that what Jesus did changed God's attitude towards people. Jesus sent God. This can also be expressed this way: the cross is the window through which we see the suffering love that eternally fills His heart.

2) B Acts it is emphasized that this, however, does not reduce the gravity of the crime of those who crucified Jesus. Any mention of the crucifixion is filled with Acts a feeling of shudder and horror for the crime committed (cf. Acts 2, 23; 3, 13; 4, 10; 5, 30). Among other things, the crucifixion, to the highest degree, convincingly shows how monstrously sin can manifest itself.

3) Acts prove that the suffering and death of Christ were predicted by the prophets. It was unthinkable for a Jew to imagine a crucified Messiah. Their law was: "Cursed before God any hanging from a tree" (Deut. 21, 23). To this the early Christian preachers replied: “If you had read the Scriptures correctly, you would have seen that all this has already been predicted.”

4) B Acts the fact of the resurrection is emphasized as the final proof that Jesus was truly God's Chosen One. Acts also called the Gospel of the Resurrection. The fact of the resurrection of Christ was extremely important for the early Christian Church. We must remember that without the resurrection there would be no Christian Church at all. When Jesus' disciples preached the centrality of the resurrection, they spoke from personal experience. After Christ's crucifixion they were broken and confused; their dreams were shattered and their lives were shaken to their core. But the resurrection changed everything and made the fearful heroes. One of the tragedies of the Church is that the sermon about the resurrection of Christ is preached only during the Easter period. Every Sunday and every Lord's Day should be the day of the Lord's resurrection. There is a custom in the Orthodox Church: when two people meet on Easter, one says: “Christ is risen!”, and the second replies: “Truly he is risen!” A Christian should never forget that he lives and walks next to the risen Lord.

Acts 2:37-41 Repent

Hearing this, they were touched in their hearts and said to Peter and the other Apostles: What should we do, men and brethren?

Peter said to them: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit;

For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.

And with many other words he testified and exhorted, saying: Save yourself from this corrupt generation.

So those who willingly accepted his word were baptized, and about three thousand souls were added that day;

1) This passage shows with amazing clarity the effect of the cross on people. Once the people realized what they had done by crucifying Jesus, their hearts were broken. “And when I am lifted up from the earth,” Jesus said, “I will draw everyone to Me.” (John. 12, 32). Every person was somehow involved in this crime. One day a missionary was telling the story of Jesus' life in an Indian village. After this, he showed them the story of the life of Christ in transparencies on the whitewashed wall of the house. When a crucifix appeared on the wall, one of those present ran forward. “Come down from the cross, Son of God,” he shouted, “I, and not You, should be crucified.” The cross, if we are fully aware of what happened on it, strikes the heart.

2) And the person who realizes this must react accordingly. “First and foremost,” said Peter, “repent.” What does repentance mean? This word originally meant meditation. It often happens that a thought that comes to mind later shows that the first thought was wrong. Therefore, this word later came to mean change thoughts. But for an honest man this means lifestyle change. Repentance must involve both a change in the way you think and a change in the way you act. A person's way of thinking may change and he will see that he did wrong, but he may have become so accustomed to it that he will no longer change his way of life. It may also be the other way around: a person changes his way of acting, but his way of thinking does not change; this change is caused only by fear or considerations of prudence. True repentance involves changing the way you think And behavior change.

3) When repentance occurs, the past also changes: God’s forgiveness for the sins committed. But frankly speaking, the effects of sin have not gone away. Even God cannot do this. When we sin, we cause something not only to ourselves, but also to others, and this cannot be erased without a trace. Let's look at it this way: when we were children and did bad things, a kind of invisible barrier arose between us and our mother. But if we asked her for forgiveness, the old relationship was restored and everything was fine again. Forgiveness of sins does not eliminate the consequences of what we have done, but it justifies us before God.

4) When repentance took place, our future is changing too. We got gift of the Holy Spirit and with His help we can overcome difficulties we never dreamed of, and resist temptations against which we ourselves would be powerless.

Acts 2.42-47 Characteristic features of the church

And they constantly continued in the teaching of the Apostles, in fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayer.

There was fear in every soul; and many wonders and signs were performed through the Apostles in Jerusalem.

Yet all the believers were together and had everything in common:

And they sold estates and all property, and distributed it to everyone, depending on the need of each;

And every day they remained with one accord in the temple and, breaking bread from house to house, ate their food with joy and simplicity of heart,

Praising God and being in the love of all the people, the Lord daily added those who were being saved to the Church.

In this passage we received a vivid, albeit brief, description of the early Christian Church:

1) She constantly studied; she diligently listened to the apostles who taught her. The church is in great danger if it looks backward instead of forward. Because the treasures left to us by Christ are inexhaustible, we should always move forward. Every day that does not give us new knowledge and in which we do not penetrate deeper into the wisdom of God's grace is a wasted day.

2) She was brotherhood; someone said that she had a high degree of feeling unity. Nelson explained one of his victories in the following words: “I was lucky enough to command a detachment of brothers.” A church is only a true church when it represents a brotherhood.

3) She prayed; The early Christians knew that they could not overcome life on their own, and this was not required of them. Before going out into the world, they always turned to the Lord; meeting him helped them overcome all difficulties.

4) It was a church full of reverence. The Greek word rightly translated fear in verse 43 has the meaning of reverent fear. One great Greek of antiquity said that he walked through the world as if through a temple. A Christian lives in reverence because he knows: the whole world, the whole earth is the temple of the living God.

5) In it important events took place. Signs and wonders were performed there through the apostles (verse 43). If we expect great achievements from God, and we ourselves work in His field, great feats will come true. Even more would come true if we believed that with God's help we can bring them to life.

6) She was community church(verses 44, 45). The first Christians were filled with a sense of responsibility for each other. It was said of William Morris that he never looked at a drunken person without feeling responsible for him. A true Christian cannot bear to have too much when others have too little.

7) In it services took place(verse 46). The brotherhood never forgot to pray in the temple of God. We must remember that “God does not know the religion of individuals.” Miracles happen when the community prays. The Spirit of God hovers over those who worship Him.

8) She was happy church(verse 46); joy reigned in her. The gloomy Christian is a clear contradiction in the terminology of the New Testament.9) This Everyone loved the church. For the word Fine There are two words in Greek. Agathos means that the thing is simply good. Kalos means that the thing is not only good, but also charming. True Christianity is attractive and charming. But there are so many good people who exhibit unattractive rigidity. Someone said that if every Christian did good to others, this would help the Church more than anything else. There was a lot of charming power among the believers of the early Christian Church.

. Now in Jerusalem there were Jews, pious people, from every nation under heaven.

In addition to the fact that many Jewish immigrants lived in Jerusalem "from every nation under heaven", - on the occasion of the greatest holiday of Pentecost, many temporary pilgrims from different countries flocked into it, who became unwitting witnesses and confirmers of the miracle that happened over the apostles, when all the strangers heard them speaking the languages ​​of their countries.

. When this noise was made, the people gathered and were in confusion, for everyone heard them speaking in his own dialect.

"Everyone heard them speaking". “Stay here not for long,” teaches St. Gregory the Theologian, “and think about how to divide speech, for in speech there is reciprocity, which is eliminated by punctuation. Did you hear, each in his own dialect, that - so to speak - one voice came out, and many voices were heard, due to such a shaking in the air, or, more clearly, I will say, many came from one voice? Or, stopping at the word “heard,” the words “speaking in their own voices” should be attributed to what follows, so that the meaning of the uttering voices, which were their own for those listening, would come out, and this means voices in a foreign language. I agree more with the latter, because the first would be a miracle that would apply more to those who listen than to those who speak, who are reproached for being drunk, from which it is clear that through the action of the Spirit they themselves worked miracles in uttering voices."

. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Are not these all Galileans who speak?”

“Are not these all who speak Galileans?”, that is, firstly, from a well-known part of Palestine, where they speak one well-known dialect, and, secondly, from such a part that was not particularly famous for enlightenment. Both, expressed in the name of the Galileans, aggravated the greatness of the miracle and the amazement of its witnesses.

. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

"Parthians and Medes and Elamites", i.e. Jews who came to Jerusalem for the holiday from Parthia, Media and Elam - provinces of the former powerful kingdoms of Assyria and Medo-Persia. These countries lay between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. First, the inhabitants of the kingdom of Israel were resettled here after its destruction by the Assyrians, about 700 BC, then the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah, after its destruction by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar - about 600 BC. Many of them returned to Palestine under Cyrus, but even more remained in the countries of settlement, not wanting to part with profitable enterprises.

"Inhabitants of Mesopotamia"- a vast plain along the Tigris and Euphrates. Here was once the main region of the Assyrian and Persian kingdoms, and here there were especially many Jews resettled by Nebuchadnezzar.

"Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia"- all the provinces of Asia Minor, which were part of the then Roman Empire. In particular, Asia, according to the Roman calculation of provinces, called the entire western coast of Asia Minor, where there were the provinces of Mysia, Caria, and Lydia; its main city was Ephesus.

. Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjacent to Cyrene, and those who came from Rome, Jews and proselytes,

"Parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene". Libya is a region to the west of Egypt, representing a huge steppe, inhabited only in its northern part along the Mediterranean coast, where the main city of the region, Cyrene, was located. This coast is called here the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene or Cyrene. Both here and in Egypt in general, there were quite a lot of Jews. They even had a special temple here. Here a translation of their sacred books into the then generally accepted Greek language was made for them. In Cyrene, a full quarter of the inhabitants were Jews.

"Coming from Rome"- those who arrived for the holiday from Rome, or in general from the cities of the Roman west, where Jews were also scattered everywhere. In Rome itself, a whole special quarter was entirely occupied by Jews.

"Jews and Proselytes"– i.e. natural Jews and pagans who accepted the Jewish faith, of which there were also quite a few everywhere in the listed areas.

. Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our languages ​​about the great affairs God's?

“Cretans” are the inhabitants of the island of Crete on the Mediterranean Sea, who spoke a dialect somewhat different from the Greek language.

“Arabians” are the inhabitants of Arabia, southeast of Palestine, whose language - Arabic - despite some similarities, also had significant differences from Hebrew.

“We hear them speaking in our languages”- a clear indication that the apostles actually spoke different languages ​​and dialects.

"Talking about the greatness of God" – τά μεγαλεῖα τοῦ Θεού , i.e. about everything that has shown and is showing great things in the world, especially with the coming of the Son of God. But given the greatness of such a subject of speech, the speech itself had to have the character of sublimity, solemnity and enthusiasm, generally inspired glorification and thanksgiving to God.

. Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and cried out to them: Men of the Jews, and all who live in Jerusalem! Let this be known to you, and listen to my words:

"Peter stood with the eleven". As before, at the meeting when choosing the 12th apostle, “Peter served as the mouth of all, (says Chrysostom), and the other eleven stood, confirming his words with testimony.”

. they are not drunk as you think, for it is now the third hour of the day;

To prove that they are not drunk, the apostle points out that “It’s now three o’clock in the afternoon”. Corresponding to our 9th, this hour was the first of three daytime hours of daily prayer (3, 6, 9), coinciding with the offering of the daily morning sacrifice in the temple. And according to the custom of the Jews, until this hour no one ate food, especially on such a great holiday as Pentecost.

. but this is what was predicted by the prophet Joel:

. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

"Foretold by the Prophet Joel"– therefore 700 years ago (). The prophecy of Joel itself is cited by the Writer in a slightly modified form against the original and the LXX, as the Lord Himself and the apostles often do. So, instead of the genuine indefinite expression “after that”, in the Apostle Peter we see a more definite expression - "Last few days". This, first of all, excludes any relation of the prophecy to any immediate Old Testament time, namely, its fulfillment is assimilated to the New Testament time, since according to the biblical view, the entire period of the New Testament kingdom of God seems to be the last era of the economy of human salvation, which will already be followed by a general judgment and kingdom glory. At the same time, under the expression "Last few days" prophecies usually indicated not only such future events that were to occur at the end of the Old Testament time and the beginning of the New Testament, but also those that would take place throughout the entire New Testament time, until its end (cf. Mic. 6, etc.).

“I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh”. According to the meaning of this expression, the Spirit of God appears as the fullness of all gifts, from which this or that gift is poured out on this or that believer.

“Outpouring” is a message in abundance, like rain or water poured out.

"For All Flesh"- to all people, to all humanity redeemed by Christ, who will be part of the new Kingdom of Christ, throughout its spread on earth, among all nations, without dividing Jews and pagans. The beginning of the fulfillment of this prophecy of St. The apostle points to the present moment, full of such wondrous signs.

"They will prophesy... see visions... dreams" etc. Since the gifts of the Holy Spirit are innumerably diverse, only a few, better known in the Old Testament, are given separately: “prophecy” - as the general action of those who have received the Holy Spirit, “visions” - (in the waking state) and “dreams” - as two main ways of Divine revelation to the prophets ().

“Sons... daughters... young men... elders” is an indication that the Holy Spirit will be poured out on everyone without distinction of gender and age; although at the same time the actions of the Holy Spirit are distributed in such a way that sons and daughters receive prophecy, and young men receive vision , to the elders of the dream; however, this distribution, made for the strengthening and beauty of speech, has the meaning that in general the Holy Spirit, with His various gifts, will be poured out on everyone without distinction.

. And on My servants and on My handmaids in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they will prophesy.

"And against My servants and against My handmaids". In the prophet in this place we find an important feature of speech, resulting from the absence of the addition of “Mine”. It simply says: "for male and female slaves". This last expression from the prophet more sharply expresses the idea of ​​​​the superiority of the New Testament outpourings of the Holy Spirit over the Old Testament: in the entire Old Testament there is no case where a male or female slave has the gift of prophecy; Meanwhile, in the New Testament, according to the prophet, this difference in states will disappear in relation to the influence of the Holy Spirit, which will be communicated to everyone without distinction not only of gender and age, but also of human conditions, since in the Kingdom of Christ everyone will be equal before the Lord and all will be servants of the Lord.

. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on earth below, blood and fire and smoking smoke.

"I'll show you miracles." Connected with the prediction of an abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom of the Messiah is the prediction of the final judgment of the wicked world and the salvation of the worshipers of the true God. At the same time, special signs in heaven and on earth are indicated as harbingers of such a judgment. Signs on earth: "blood and fire and smoking smoke"- symbols of bloodshed, disturbances, wars, devastation... Signs in the sky: an eclipse of the sun and the bloody appearance of the moon. In the figurative language of sacred writers, these phenomena generally signify great disasters in the world and the onset of God’s judgment upon it.

. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

"Day of the Lord", – i.e. the day of the Messiah, or the time of the Messiah; according to New Testament usage, the day of the Messiah's judgment over the world, the day of the Last Judgment.

"Great and Glorious"– great – in terms of the greatness and decisive significance of the judgment for humanity; Glorious (επιφανῆ) – because the Lord will come "in His glory".

. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Terrible for the unbelievers and the wicked, the final judgment will, however, be salutary for everyone, "whoever calls on the name of the Lord", will not simply call, for not everyone, says Christ, says to Me: Lord, Lord! will enter the kingdom of heaven, but will call with zeal, with a good life, with due boldness”... (Chrysostom). Thus, here we mean those who truly believe in the Lord - the righteous.

Applying this entire prophecy to the event of the day of Pentecost, the Apostle, obviously, does not represent it as being fully fulfilled on this day, but only indicates Start its fulfillment, which must continue throughout the long times known to God alone, until the final end of everything.

. Men of Israel! Hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man testified to you by God with powers and wonders and signs, which He did among you through Him, as you yourselves know,

"Breaking the bonds of death"- Greek λύσας τάς ωδίνας τυῦ θανάτου , or rather glory. "resolving mortal illnesses". According to the interpretation of Blessed Theophylact, “Death suffered (as if in childbirth) and suffered terribly when it took hold of Him. The woman giving birth does not hold back what is in her, and does not act, but suffers and hastens to free herself. He beautifully called the resurrection the resolution of the diseases of death, so that we can say: having torn apart the pregnant womb and suffering from childbirth, Christ the Savior appears and emerges, as it were, from some giving birth womb. That is why he is called the firstborn from the dead."

. For David says of Him: I saw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand, so that I should not be shaken.

The Apostle confirms the truth of the resurrection of Christ with the prophecy of King David, especially authoritative for the Jews, in the remarkable passage of his 15th Psalm (). Having set out this passage fully and accurately according to the translation of the 70 (verses 25–28), the Apostle himself immediately interprets it (verses 29–31), revealing in himself the obvious gift of the Holy Spirit in the understanding of Scripture. When applied to David, the indicated passage of his psalm expresses his joyful confidence in the constant help and goodness of God, extending to God’s non-abandonment even outside the tomb (incorruption). But if, when applied to David, all this was only partially realized, then when applied to the Savior (the Apostle’s expression is significant: "David speaks of Him", i.e. about Christ) was realized with literal accuracy and completeness, as St. Peter points out.

. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad; even my flesh will rest in hope,

. for You will not leave my soul in hell, and You will not allow Your holy one to see corruption.

“My flesh will rest in hope, for You will not forsake”, Greek η σάρη μου κατασκηνώσει επ έλπιδι ότι ουκ εγκαταλείψεις ... glory. more precisely: “My flesh rests in hope, because you will not forsake it”. One should say in Russian: “my flesh will dwell” (i.e. in the tomb) “in the hope that You will not leave.” Regarding these words, Blessed Theophylact notes: “since Jesus, having accepted death, put off the flesh that He had accepted according to the plan of dispensation in order to resurrect it again from death: it is fair that His flesh nourished itself with hope in anticipation of immortality”...

"You will not leave my soul in hell", i.e. you will bring her out of hell again into life, which will be quite possible if the body is incorruptible - you will “resurrect” her for a new, better life (v. 28).

. You have made me know the way of life, You will fill me with joy in Your presence.

“You have made me know the ways of life, You will fill me with joy before You.”. “It was not without reason that I used these words (says Blessed Theodoret), mentioning the resurrection, teaching thereby that instead of sorrow there will be eternal joy, and by human nature having become impassive, unchangeable and immortal; because God has always been such, and it was not difficult for Him to communicate this to human nature soon after its formation in the mother’s womb, but He allowed the nature He had perceived to pass through the path of suffering, so that in this way, having crushed the dominion of sin, put an end to the torment of the devil, destroy the power of death and give all people the opportunity to revive. Therefore, as a person accepts both incorruptibility and immortality."

. Men, brothers! let it be allowed to boldly tell you about the forefather David, that he died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

"Let it be permitted with boldness". Intending to speak of the greatest, most respected forefather, as the inferior of Jesus Crucified, the Apostle deliberately uses such a cautious and gentle expression.

"Died and Buried", as an ordinary person, to whom, after his death and burial, nothing special or extraordinary happened, i.e. in fact, it is implied that he did not rise from the dead, and that, therefore, what he said in his own person about the righteous who will not remain in the tomb was not fulfilled.

“We have his coffin to this day.”, i.e. with the remains of his body, which had undergone decay like the bodies of all other people.

Chrysostom says, moving on to further interpretation: “now he (Peter) proved what he needed. And after this he has not yet passed over to Christ, but again speaks with praise about David... so that they, at least out of respect for David and his family, would accept the word about the resurrection, as if otherwise the prophecy and their honor would suffer "...

. Being a prophet and knowing that with an oath he promised him from the fruit of his loins to raise up Christ in the flesh and seat him on his throne,

“God promised with an oath”. Such a promise, fulfilled only in the Messiah, is found in; srv. th. - In essence, it is both a prophecy and about the resurrection, without which this prophecy could not be fulfilled.

"He will place him on the throne", i.e. precisely as the Messiah (cf.). “As in many places of Divine Scripture, so here too, the throne is used instead of the kingdom.” (Blessed Theophylact).

. He raised this Jesus, of which we are all witnesses.

“This Jesus” – this, and not any other, namely Jesus of Nazareth.

“What we are all witnesses to”, for they saw Him risen, talked with Him, ate with Him, touched Him, and through all this they were sufficiently convinced of the reality of His resurrection to have the right to testify about Him to others.

. So He, having been exalted by the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, poured out what you now see and hear.

“Therefore He was exalted by the right hand of God”- Greek τῆ διξιᾶ οῦν οῦ Θεού υξωθείς , glory “He is exalted by the right hand of God”(probably instead of “ascended”) - an expression that allows for two interpretations: or - “having been taken up” into heaven by the right hand of God - in the same sense in which it is said above that He raised Him from the dead (v. 24); or – having been ascended, i.e. exalted until he sits at the right hand of the Father in glorified human flesh. Both interpretations are equivalent and equivalent.

“Having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit”, i.e. having received from the Father the authority to send to those who believe in Him the Holy Spirit promised by the Father and Him, proceeding from the Father.

. For David did not ascend into heaven; but he himself says: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,

Having established, as the main truth, the truth of the resurrection of Christ on the prophecy of David, the Apostle in the same way finds it necessary to establish the truth of the ascension of Jesus, the immediate consequence of which was the outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The apostle affirms this truth precisely by referring to the prophetic saying of David in Psalm 109 (v. 1), attributing the fulfillment of this saying entirely to Christ. The Lord Himself applies this same saying to Himself in a conversation with the Pharisees (etc.).

. Know therefore, all the house of Israel, that you have made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

"The Whole House of Israel", i.e. the entire Jewish people.

“God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be Lord and Christ.”, in other words: “God caused this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be the true Lord And Christ yours", or Messiah(a double designation of His Messianic dignity - more general and more specific).

"Whom you crucified". As Chrysostom remarked, “he concluded his word beautifully with this, in order to shake their soul through this.”

. Hearing this, they were touched in their hearts and said to Peter and the other Apostles: What should we do, men and brethren?

"Touched at heart"- they came to heartfelt contrition that this was done to the Messiah, and were determined in their hearts to atone for their guilt by believing in him, which is why they ask further: "what should we do?"

“Men and brethren” is an address full of trust, respect and love to the Apostles, on whose behalf Peter spoke.

. Peter said to them: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For reconciliation with God and the rejected Messiah, Peter offers repentance and baptism, with their grace-filled fruits - the forgiveness of sins and the reception of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

“Let everyone be baptized... in the name of Jesus Christ”. According to the interpretation of blessed. Theophylact - “these words do not contradict the words - "baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit"(), because he thinks of the Holy Trinity as inseparable, so that due to the unity of the three hypostases in essence, the one baptized in the name of Christ is baptized into the Trinity, since the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable in essence.” Obviously, when the Apostle calls to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, he indicates by this only the main content of our faith and confession, which determines the recognition of everything that openly came to Earth by the Son of God.

. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as our Lord will call.

"To you... and your children", i.e. descendants in general "and to everyone far away", i.e. standing in the most distant degrees of kinship and closeness to the Jewish people. Here one can also think of the pagans, about whom the Apostle speaks secretly, sparing the weakness of the Jews, who could see something tempting in granting the pagans equal participation in the Kingdom of the Messiah. This question had to be resolved by time itself, but here it was necessary to avoid everything that should cast a shadow on the dignity of the new truths being preached.

"Whomever Our Lord Calls". The Lord calls everyone, desires salvation for everyone; Obviously, this refers to those who, applying their own free will to the calling of the Lord, actually carry out the calling by accepting repentance and baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ.

. And with many other words he testified and exhorted, saying: Save yourself from this corrupt generation.

"And in many other words", which the Writer does not cite, setting out only the main essence of what the Apostle said. "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation", σώθητε από τῆς γενεάς τῆς σκολιᾶς ταύτης , more precisely, save yourself from the modern kind of people who are crafty, obstinate (σκολιός, actually crooked, then - cunning, crafty), from the judgment and punishment of God awaiting these people who have brought their obstinacy to such a terrible and dangerous matter as the rejection of the Messiah and unbelief into Him. This admonition of the Apostle is applicable to all subsequent times, pointing out the need for all Christians to be saved from a world that lies in evil by pure faith in Christ and life according to this faith, and at the same time to be saved from God’s punishment, which inevitably weighs on every evil that spreads in the world.

. So those who willingly accepted his word were baptized, and about three thousand souls were added that day.

"Baptized". Since in Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings there is not such an abundant collection of waters that so many people could be baptized by immersion at one time, it can be assumed that the baptism itself followed a little later, separately for each, in their homes, or in groups at more or less sufficient reservoirs , through one or another of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord.

. And they constantly continued in the teaching of the Apostles, in fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayer.

"And they remained continually", Greek: ῆσαν δε πρός καρτερουντες , more precisely slav.: "I'm so patient", literally - “they were tireless” in the teaching of the Apostles, etc.

It is difficult to admit, of course, that this entire mass of people (3000 on top of the previous also considerable number of believers) would gather in one place or house. Most likely, the believers, having divided into several groups or communities, gathered in several places, where the apostles taught them new truths, prayers and sacraments. Between all these communities there was the closest mutual communication, uniting them into one fraternal family, the soul of which was the Apostles.

"In the Breaking of Bread". Usually this expression means eating food (etc.), but at that time it was also used in another higher meaning of performing and participating in the Sacrament of the Eucharist (). Both meanings may be implied here - both separately and together, especially since that was the time when the Eucharist usually consisted evenings of love, with the participation of all believers, in the spirit of fraternal equality, love and mutuality. Thus, the main features of the original Christian worship, separate and independent from the Old Testament worship, are revealed: teaching, the breaking of bread (Eucharist) and prayers, although the apostles and other believers until time did not break ties with the Old Testament temple and its services (. Yet the believers were together and had everything in common.

The Slavic text of this verse has an extra line compared to the Greek original and Russian translation (repeating the beginning of verse 43): “The fear was great upon all of them. Yet the believers were together", i.e. gathering in certain places (cf.) for teaching and prayer, they all together formed a most unanimous family, strong in brotherly love and communication.

"We had everything in common". The distinctive feature of the first Christian fraternal family or community was communication of assets , which was by no means forced or legalized, but was created completely voluntarily from the sublime impulses of the living faith and brotherly love of the first Christians among themselves. There was no destruction of property rights (cf.); but a completely voluntary distribution or concession, entirely and privately, in favor of others in need.

How long this distinctive feature of the early Christian communities lasted is unknown; traces of it, in any case, are very soon lost to history. One might think that the disappearance of this feature and its elimination is due to the significant inconveniences and difficulties that the rapid growth and multiplicity of Christ’s followers began to threaten more and more (cf.).

. And every day they remained with one accord in the temple and, breaking bread from house to house, ate their food with joy and simplicity of heart,

“Every day they remained in the temple with one accord.”, i.e. were present at the Jewish temple service, “because, as Chrysostom says, they had not yet rejected anything Jewish; and the very respect for the place passed on to the Lord of the temple.”... All temple worship was based on and embodied the aspirations of the Messiah; this made this service useful for Christians, who differed from the Jews in this case only in that they believed not in the Coming Messiah, but in the Messiah who had already come.

"Breaking bread from house to house". Greek κάτ ’ οῖκον allows us to say “in houses” (different, several)” and “in a house” (one). Both have their rights (cf. Art. 42), depending on the crowdedness of those gathered and the capacity of the meeting place (general and partial meetings).

“They ate their food with joy and simplicity of heart”.

Wed. Art. 12, and . From the indicated places of the Writer we can conclude that in the very first times of Christianity there were double kind of love supper (αγάποι): those that were celebrated in different houses, and therefore – separate communities of believers (mainly in Jerusalem), and those who are in famous days, exactly Sunday, were committed everyone a meeting of believers. The supper opened and ended with prayer and washing of hands. During the supper itself, psalms and other sacred songs were sung, passages from the Holy Scriptures were read and interpreted. Scriptures.

At first, love suppers were very common, and together with the Eucharist they were celebrated very often, almost daily. But already in the first centuries of Christianity there were Churches in which no trace of these suppers was visible. Justin Martyr, speaking about the celebration of the Eucharist and the worship of Roman Christians of his time, does not mention agapes. St. says nothing about them either. Irenaeus. With the spread of Christianity, the initial life of Christians, which had a family character, more and more took on the vast dimensions of social, church-folk life. This led to the fact that the original agapes gradually fell out of use on their own, with the inevitable unwanted abuses and disorder mixed in with them...

. praising God and being favored by all the people. The Lord daily added those who were being saved to the Church.

“Praising God” is a general designation of the high religious mood of the spirit of the first society of Christians ().

"Being in the love of all the people"- undoubtedly - for his strict religiosity, purity of life and virtue, peaceful, joyful and benevolent attitude towards everyone, etc.

“The Lord added daily those who were being saved to the Church”.

Here, therefore, the growth of the Church of Christ seems not to be a matter of ordinary growth and development of society, but a direct matter of the Lord Himself, invisibly ruling His own.

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord together.

2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Day of Pentecost. Artist Y. Sh von KAROLSFELD

3 And cloven tongues as of fire appeared to them, and one rested on each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 Now in Jerusalem there were Jews, pious people, from every nation under heaven.

6 When this noise arose, the people gathered together and were in confusion, for everyone heard them speaking in his own language.

7 And they were all amazed and amazed, saying to one another, “Are not these all Galileans who speak?”

8 How can we each hear our own dialect in which we were born?

9 The Parthians, and the Medes, and the Elamites, and the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia,

10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjacent to Cyrene, and those who came from Rome, Jews and proselytes,

11 Cretans and Arabians, do we hear them speaking in our tongues about the great works of God?

12 And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

13 But others mocked and said, “They are drunk on sweet wine.”

14 And Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and cried out to them: Men of Judah, and all who dwell in Jerusalem! Let this be known to you, and listen to my words:

15 They are not drunk as you think, for it is now the third hour of the day;

16 But this is what was foretold by the prophet Joel:

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

18 And on My servants and on My handmaids in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they will prophesy.

19 And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and smoking smoke.

20 The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

21 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

22 Men of Israel! Hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man testified to you by God with powers and wonders and signs, which God did through Him among you, as you yourselves know,

23 This, according to the definite advice and foreknowledge of God, you took him and, nailing him with the hands of the wicked, you killed him;

24 But God raised Him up, breaking the bonds of death, because it was impossible for it to hold Him.

25 For David saith of Him, I saw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand, that I should not be moved.

26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; even my flesh will rest in hope,

27 For You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will You allow Your holy one to see corruption.

28 You have made me know the way of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence.

29 Men, brothers! let it be allowed to boldly tell you about the forefather David, that he died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

30 Being a prophet, and knowing that God had promised him with an oath, from the fruit of his loins, to raise up Christ in the flesh and to set him on his throne,

31 He first said about the resurrection of Christ that His soul was not left in hell, and His flesh did not see corruption.

32 This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

33 So He, having been exalted by the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, poured out what you now see and hear.

34 For David did not ascend into heaven; but he himself says: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,

35 Until I make Your enemies Your footstool.

36 Know therefore, all the house of Israel, that God hath made this Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ.

37 When they heard this, they were touched in their hearts and said to Peter and the other apostles: What should we do, men and brethren?

38 Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call.

40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

41 So those who gladly accepted his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added.

42 And they continued continually in the teaching of the apostles, in fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and in prayer.

43 Now there was fear on every soul; and many signs and wonders were performed through the Apostles in Jerusalem.

44 But all the believers were together and had everything in common.

45 And they sold the estates and all kinds of property, and distributed them to everyone, according to each person’s need.

46 And every day they continued with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with joy and simplicity of heart,

47 praising God and being favored by all the people. The Lord daily added those who were being saved to the Church.

). Church tradition already in the 2nd century (Canon Muratorium, compiled in Rome around 175, Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen) names the Evangelist Luke as the author of these books. A comparative analysis of the language and style of the third Gospel and Acts confirms that they belong to the same author. Although the book is called “The Acts of the Apostles,” its first chapters mainly talk about the activities of the apostle. Peter, and the second part of the book tells in more detail about the acts of St. Paul, whose companion Luke was during his second and third journey (Acts 20:6f). Concluding the story (Acts 28:30), the author reports about the two-year imprisonment of the apostle. Paul in Rome (61-63), which helps determine the date the book was written. The Gospel of Mark is usually dated to 64, Hev. Luke and Acts were written later, but probably before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70, for in Acts certain buildings of the city are mentioned: the porch of Solomon (Acts 3:11) and the fortress of Antonia (Acts 21:34; Acts 22:24 ). According to the testimony of St. Jerome, the book of Acts was written in Rome. The author (see the preface to Luke) was undoubtedly an eyewitness to many of the events he described and carefully collected information about the rest: about the activities of Peter and Philip, whom he saw in Caesarea (Acts 8: 4-40), about the emergence of a community in Antioch etc. He undoubtedly learned about Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus and the first period of his preaching activity from the apostle himself. Continuing the presentation of New Testament events from the day of the Ascension of the Lord, Luke in his second book shows how, under the influence of the Holy Spirit who descended on the apostles in Jerusalem, the Christian gospel quickly spread throughout all regions of the Roman Empire. According to the word of the Lord to the apostles: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), Luke depicts the growth of the Church first among the Jews (Acts 1:4-8:3) and then among the pagans (Acts 8-28), for whom the spread of the teachings of Christ was evidence of his divine origin.

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38 For reconciliation with God and the rejected Messiah, Peter offers repentance and baptism, with their grace-filled fruits - the forgiveness of sins and the reception of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Let everyone be baptized... in the name of Jesus Christ. According to the interpretation of blessed. Theophylact - " these words do not contradict the words - baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit(Matthew 28:19), because the Church thinks of the Holy Trinity as indivisible, so that due to the unity of the three hypostases in essence, the one baptized in the name of Christ is baptized into the Trinity, since the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable in essence" Obviously, when the apostle calls to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, he indicates by this only the main content of our faith and confession, which determines the recognition of everything that openly came to Earth by the Son of God.

Acts of the Holy Apostles- the next New Testament book of historical content after the Holy Gospels, which in terms of its importance deserves to take first place after them. “This book,” says St. Chrysostom, - can bring us no less benefit than the Gospel itself: it is so filled with wisdom, such purity of dogmas and such an abundance of miracles, especially those performed by the Holy Spirit" Here one can see the fulfillment in practice of those prophecies that Christ proclaims in the Gospels - the truth shining in the very events, and the great change for the better in the disciples, accomplished by the Holy Spirit. Christ said to the disciples: He who believes in Me, the works that I do will he do also, and greater works than these will he do ( John 14:12), and predicted to them that they would be taken to rulers and kings, that they would be beaten in the synagogues ( Matthew 10:17-18), that they will undergo the most severe torment and triumph over everything, and that the Gospel will be preached throughout the world ( Matthew 24:14). All this, as well as many other things that He said when addressing his disciples, seems to be fulfilled in this book with all accuracy... The events of the book of Acts are a direct continuation of the events of the Gospel, beginning with how these end (the ascension of the Lord into heaven ), and revealing the subsequent history of the Church of Christ before the imprisonment of the one who worked the most among the apostles - Paul. Noting the special nature of the presentation and selection of events, St. Chrysostom calls this book containing primarily evidence of the resurrection of Christ, since it was easy for anyone who believed in this to accept everything else. He sees this as the main goal of the book.

Writer book of Acts - St. Evangelist Luke, according to his own instructions about this ( 1:1-2 ; Wed ). This indication, quite strong in itself, is confirmed by external evidence of the ancient Christian church (testimony of St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen and many others. etc.), and internal signs that all together make the complete and unconditional reliability of the writer’s tales down to the smallest particulars and details beyond any doubt As the closest companion and collaborator of St. Apostle Paul, the writer was himself an eyewitness to most of the events he described; He had the opportunity to hear about other such events from the Apostle Paul himself (especially regarding what concerned Peter himself), and from other apostles with whom he was in constant living communication. The influence of Paul especially on the writing of Acts is significant and obvious. .

Time and place of writing the book- are not exactly definable. Since the book concludes with an indication of the two-year preaching activity of the Apostle Paul in prison in Rome ( 28:30-31 ), but there is no mention of either the death of the apostle or the liberation, then one should think that in any case it was written before the martyrdom of the apostle (in 63-64 A.D.) and precisely in Rome (as the blessed one believes Jerome), although the latter is not indisputable. It is possible that during the travels themselves with the Apostle Paul, Ev. Luke kept notes of everything that was most noteworthy, and only then did he bring these notes into order and the integrity of a special book - “Acts.”

Having set out to present the most important events of the Church of Christ from the Ascension of the Lord to his last contemporary days, St. Luke's book covers a period of about 30 years. Since the supreme apostle Peter worked especially hard during the spread of the faith of Christ in Jerusalem and during its initial transition to the pagans, and the supreme apostle Paul worked especially hard during its spread in the pagan world, the book of Acts accordingly represents two main parts. In the first ( 1-12 ch.) tells primarily about the apostolic activity of Peter and the church of the Jews. In the second - ( 13-28 ch.) about the activities of Paul and the church of the Gentiles.

Several more books were separately known in ancient times under the name of the Acts of one or another apostle, but all of them were rejected by the Church as spurious, containing unreliable apostolic teaching, and even as unhelpful and harmful.

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The Acts of the Apostles is, in a sense, a continuation of the Gospel according to Luke. The second book was written by the evangelist, according to New Testament scholars, in Rome between 63 and 68 AD. according to R.H. Like the Gospel, it was addressed to Theophilus.

In his story about the life of the first Christians, Luke was driven by the desire to show what he considered the main thing: everything that God began to do on Earth through Christ, He will continue to do through His Church. Therefore, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, an amazing event occurred: God gave His Holy Spirit to the twelve disciples and all those who trusted Him. And then many people became aware that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and it was these people who created the first Christian community in Jerusalem. Luke describes in detail how the Church lived and worked from then on. Believers lived and acted with the knowledge that the Good News of the dead and risen Jesus must now sound not only in Jerusalem, but in all corners of the Earth.

A special role in spreading the Christian message was entrusted to the Apostle Paul. Much of the book "The Acts of the Apostles" is devoted to a description of his ministry in the world of the pagans. Luke talks about the travels Paul undertook: he passed through the lands where Turkey and Greece are today, and even reached Rome. Everywhere the apostle spoke about what God had done for the salvation of all people. The all-conquering power of this message led to the emergence of many Christian communities in the world.

The third edition of “The New Testament and Psalms in Modern Russian Translation” was prepared for printing by the Institute of Bible Translation in Zaoksky at the suggestion of the Ukrainian Bible Society. Conscious of their responsibility for the accuracy of the translation and its literary merits, the staff of the Institute used the opportunity of a new edition of this Book to make clarifications and, where necessary, corrections to their previous many years of work. And although in this work it was necessary to keep deadlines in mind, maximum efforts were made to achieve the task facing the Institute: to convey to readers the sacred text, as far as possible in translation, carefully verified, without distortion or loss.

Both in previous editions and in the present, our team of translators has strived to preserve and continue the best that has been achieved by the efforts of the Bible societies of the world in the translation of the Holy Scriptures. In an effort to make our translation accessible and understandable, we, however, still resisted the temptation to use rude and vulgar words and phrases - the kind of vocabulary that usually appears in times of social upheaval - revolutions and unrest. We tried to convey the Message of Scripture in generally accepted, established words and in such expressions that would continue the good traditions of the old (now inaccessible) translations of the Bible into the native language of our compatriots.

In traditional Judaism and Christianity, the Bible is not only a historical document to be treasured, not only a literary monument to be admired and admired. This book was and remains a unique message about God’s proposed solution to human problems on earth, about the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, who opened the way for humanity to an ongoing life of peace, holiness, goodness and love. The news of this must be conveyed to our contemporaries in words directly addressed to them, in a language simple and close to their understanding. The translators of this edition of the New Testament and the Psalter did their work with prayer and hope that these sacred books, in their translation, will continue to support the spiritual life of readers of any age, helping them to understand the inspired Word and respond to it with faith.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

Less than two years have passed since the “New Testament in Modern Russian Translation” was published at the Mozhaisk Printing Plant commissioned by the Dialogue Educational Foundation. This publication was prepared by the Institute of Bible Translation in Zaoksky. It was received warmly and with approval by readers who love the Word of God, readers of different confessions. The translation was met with considerable interest by those who were just getting acquainted with the primary source of Christian doctrine, the most famous part of the Bible, the New Testament. Just a few months after the publication of The New Testament in Modern Russian Translation, the entire circulation was sold out, and orders for the publication continued to arrive. Encouraged by this, the Institute of Bible Translation in Zaoksky, whose main goal was and remains to promote the familiarization of compatriots with the Holy Scriptures, began to prepare the second edition of this Book. Of course, at the same time, we could not help but think that the translation of the New Testament prepared by the Institute, like any other translation of the Bible, needed to be checked and discussed with readers, and this is where our preparations for the new edition began.

After the first edition, the Institute, along with numerous positive reviews, received valuable constructive suggestions from attentive readers, including theologians and linguists, who prompted us to make the second edition, if possible, more popular, naturally, without compromising the accuracy of the translation. At the same time, we tried to solve such problems as: a thorough revision of the translation we had previously made; improvements, where necessary, of the stylistic plan and easy-to-read design of the text. Therefore, in the new edition, compared to the previous one, there are significantly fewer footnotes (footnotes that had not so much practical as theoretical significance have been removed). The previous letter designation of footnotes in the text has been replaced by an asterisk for the word (expression) to which a note is given at the bottom of the page.

In this edition, in addition to the books of the New Testament, the Institute of Bible Translation publishes its new translation of the Psalter - the very book of the Old Testament that our Lord Jesus Christ loved to read and often referred to during His life on earth. Over the centuries, thousands and thousands of Christians, as well as Jews, have considered the Psalter to be the heart of the Bible, finding for themselves in this Book a source of joy, consolation and spiritual insight.

The translation of the Psalter is from the standard scholarly edition Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Stuttgart, 1990). A.V. took part in the preparation of the translation. Bolotnikov, I.V. Lobanov, M.V. Opiyar, O.V. Pavlova, S.A. Romashko, V.V. Sergeev.

The Institute of Bible Translation offers to the attention of the widest circle of readers “The New Testament and Psalter in the Modern Russian Translation” with due humility and at the same time with confidence that God still has new light and truth ready to illuminate those who read His holy words. We pray that, with the blessing of the Lord, this translation will serve as a means to achieve this goal.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Meeting any new translation of the books of Holy Scripture gives rise to any serious reader a natural question about its necessity, justification and an equally natural desire to understand what can be expected from new translators. This circumstance dictates the following introductory lines.

The appearance of Christ in our world marked the beginning of a new era in the life of mankind. God entered history and established a deeply personal relationship with each of us, making it abundantly clear that He is on our side and doing everything He can to save us from evil and destruction. All of this was revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The world was given in Him the utmost possible revelation of God about Himself and about man. This revelation shocks with its greatness: the One who was seen by people as a simple carpenter, who ended his days on a shameful cross, created the whole world. His life did not begin in Bethlehem. No, He is “He who was, who is, and who is to come.” It's hard to imagine.

And yet all sorts of people have steadily come to believe it. They were discovering that Jesus was God who lived among them and for them. Soon the people of the new faith began to realize that He lives in them and that He has the answer to all their needs and aspirations. This meant that they acquired a new vision of the world, themselves and their future, a new experience of life unknown to them before.

Those who believed in Jesus were eager to share their faith with others, to tell everyone on earth about Him. These first ascetics, among whom there were direct witnesses of the events, put the biography and teachings of Christ Jesus into a vivid, well-remembered form. They created the Gospels; in addition, they wrote letters (which became “messages” for us), sang songs, said prayers and recorded the Divine revelation given to them. To a superficial observer it might seem that everything written about Christ by His first disciples and followers was not specially organized by anyone: all this was born more or less arbitrarily. In just fifty years, these texts formed an entire Book, which later received the name “New Testament.”

In the process of creating and reading, collecting and organizing written materials, the first Christians, who experienced the great saving power of these sacred manuscripts, came to the clear conclusion that all their efforts were guided and directed by Someone Mighty and Omniscient - the Holy Spirit of God Himself. They saw that there was nothing accidental in what they recorded, that all the documents that made up the New Testament were in deep internal interconnection. Boldly and decisively, the first Christians could and did call the resulting body of knowledge “the Word of God.”

A remarkable feature of the New Testament was that its entire text was written in simple, colloquial Greek, which at that time spread throughout the Mediterranean and became an international language. However, for the most part, “it was spoken by people who were not accustomed to it from childhood and therefore did not truly feel Greek words.” In their practice, “it was a language without soil, a business, trade, service language.” Pointing to this state of affairs, the outstanding Christian thinker and writer of the 20th century K.S. Lewis adds: “Does this shock us? I hope not; otherwise we should have been shocked by the Incarnation itself. The Lord humiliated Himself when he became a baby in the arms of a peasant woman and an arrested preacher, and according to the same Divine plan, the word about Him sounded in popular, everyday, everyday language.” For this very reason, the early followers of Jesus, in their testimony about Him, in their preaching and in their translations of the Holy Scriptures, sought to convey the Good News of Christ in a simple language that was close to the people and understandable to them.

Happy are the peoples who have received the Holy Scriptures in a worthy translation from the original languages ​​into their native language that is understandable to them. They have this Book that can be found in every family, even the poorest. Among such peoples, it became not only, in fact, prayerful and pious, soul-saving reading, but also that family book that illuminated their entire spiritual world. This is how the stability of society, its moral strength and even material well-being were created.

Providence wished that Russia would not be left without the Word of God. With great gratitude we, Russians, honor the memory of Cyril and Methodius, who gave us the Holy Scriptures in the Slavic language. We also preserve the reverent memory of the workers who introduced us to the Word of God through the so-called Synodal translation, which to this day remains the most authoritative and best known among us. The point here is not so much in his philological or literary characteristics, but in the fact that he remained with Russian Christians throughout the difficult times of the 20th century. It was largely thanks to him that the Christian faith was not completely eradicated in Russia.

The Synodal translation, however, with all its undoubted advantages, is not considered today to be completely satisfactory due to its well-known (obvious not only to specialists) shortcomings. The natural changes that have occurred in our language over more than a century, and the long absence of religious education in our country, have made these shortcomings sharply noticeable. The vocabulary and syntax of this translation are no longer accessible to direct, so to speak, “spontaneous” perception. In many cases, the modern reader can no longer do without dictionaries in his efforts to comprehend the meaning of certain translation formulas that were published in 1876. This circumstance responds, of course, to a rationalistic “cooling” of the perception of that text, which, being by its nature uplifting, should not only be understood, but also experienced by the whole being of the pious reader.

Of course, to make a perfect translation of the Bible “for all times,” a translation that would remain equally understandable and close to readers of an endless series of generations, is impossible, as they say, by definition. And this is not only because the development of the language we speak is unstoppable, but also because over time the very penetration into the spiritual treasures of the great Book becomes more complex and enriched as more and more new approaches to them are discovered. This was rightly pointed out by Archpriest Alexander Men, who saw the meaning and even the need for an increase in the number of Bible translations. He, in particular, wrote: “Today pluralism dominates in the world practice of biblical translations. Recognizing that any translation is, to one degree or another, an interpretation of the original, translators use a variety of techniques and language settings... This allows readers to experience the different dimensions and shades of the text.”

In line with precisely this understanding of the problem, the staff of the Institute of Bible Translation, created in 1993 in Zaokskoe, considered it possible to make an attempt to make a feasible contribution to the cause of familiarizing the Russian reader with the text of the New Testament. Driven by a high sense of responsibility for the work to which they devoted their knowledge and energy, the project participants completed a real translation of the New Testament into Russian from the original language, taking as a basis the widely recognized modern critical text of the original (4th expanded edition of the United Bible Societies, Stuttgart , 1994). At the same time, on the one hand, the characteristic orientation towards Byzantine sources, characteristic of the Russian tradition, was taken into account, on the other hand, the achievements of modern textual criticism were taken into account.

The employees of the Zaoksk Translation Center could, naturally, take into account in their work foreign and domestic experience in Bible translation. In accordance with the principles that guide Bible societies around the world, the translation was originally intended to be free from denominational bias. In accordance with the philosophy of modern biblical societies, the most important requirements for translation were fidelity to the original and preservation of the form of the biblical message wherever possible, with a willingness to sacrifice the letter of the text for the sake of an accurate transmission of the living meaning. At the same time, it was impossible, of course, not to go through those torments that are completely inevitable for any responsible translator of the Holy Scriptures. For the inspiration of the original obliged us to treat its very form with reverence. At the same time, in the course of their work, the translators had to constantly convince themselves of the validity of the thought of the great Russian writers that only the translation that, first of all, correctly conveys the meaning and dynamics of the original can be considered adequate. The desire of the staff of the Institute in Zaoksky to be as close as possible to the original coincided with what V.G. once said. Belinsky: “Closeness to the original consists in conveying not the letter, but the spirit of the creation... The corresponding image, as well as the corresponding phrase, does not always consist in the visible correspondence of the words.” A glance at other modern translations that convey the biblical text with harsh literalness made us recall the famous statement of A.S. Pushkin: “Interlinear translation can never be correct.”

At all stages of work, the Institute’s team of translators was aware that not a single real translation could equally satisfy all the diverse requirements of different readers. Nevertheless, the translators strove for a result that could, on the one hand, satisfy those who turn to Scripture for the first time, and on the other, satisfy those who, seeing the Word of God in the Bible, are engaged in its in-depth study.

This translation, addressed to the modern reader, uses mainly words, phrases and idioms that are in common circulation. Outdated and archaic words and expressions are allowed only to the extent that they are necessary to convey the flavor of the story and to adequately represent the semantic nuances of the phrase. At the same time, it was found expedient to refrain from using highly modern, transient vocabulary and the same syntax, so as not to violate the regularity, natural simplicity and organic majesty of presentation that distinguish the metaphysically non-vain text of Scripture.

The biblical message is of decisive importance for the salvation of every person and, in general, for his entire Christian life. This Message is not a simple account of facts, events, and a straightforward exhortation of commandments. It is capable of touching the human heart, inducing the reader and listener to empathy, and arousing in them the need for living and sincere repentance. Zaoksky's translators saw their task as conveying such power of the biblical narrative.

In cases where the meaning of individual words or expressions in the lists of books of the Bible that have come down to us does not lend itself, despite all efforts, to a definite reading, the reader is offered the most convincing reading, in the opinion of the translators.

In an effort to achieve clarity and stylistic beauty of the text, translators introduce into it, when the context dictates, words that are not in the original (they are marked in italics).

Footnotes offer the reader alternative meanings of individual words and phrases in the original.

To assist the reader, chapters of the biblical text are divided into separate meaningful passages, which are provided with subheadings in italics. While not part of the text being translated, subtitles are not intended for oral reading or interpretation of Scripture.

Having completed their first experience of translating the Bible into modern Russian, the staff of the Institute in Zaoksky intend to continue searching for the best approaches and solutions in transmitting the original text. Therefore, everyone involved in the appearance of the translation will be grateful to our dear readers for any help that they find possible to provide with their comments, advice and wishes aimed at improving the text currently proposed for subsequent reprints.

The staff of the Institute are grateful to those who helped them with their prayers and advice throughout the years of work on translating the New Testament. V.G. should be especially noted here. Vozdvizhensky, S.G. Mikushkina, I.A. Orlovskaya, S.A. Romashko and V.V. Sergeev.

The participation in the now implemented project of a number of Western colleagues and friends of the Institute, in particular W. Iles, D.R., was extremely valuable. Spangler and Dr. K.G. Hawkins.

For me personally, it was a great blessing to work on the published translation together with highly qualified employees who devoted themselves entirely to this work, such as A.V. Bolotnikov, M.V. Boryabina, I.V. Lobanov and some others.

If the work done by the Institute’s team helps someone in knowing our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, this will be the highest reward for everyone who was involved in this translation.

January 30, 2000
Director of the Institute of Bible Translation in Zaoksky, Doctor of Theology M. P. Kulakov

EXPLANATIONS, CONVENTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

This translation of the New Testament is made from the Greek text, mainly from the 4th edition of The Greek New Testament. 4th revision edition. Stuttgart, 1994. The translation of the Psalter is from the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Stuttgart, 1990).

The Russian text of this translation is divided into semantic passages with subtitles. Subheadings in italics, although not part of the text, are introduced to make it easier for the reader to find the right place in the proposed translation.

In the Psalter, the word “LORD” is written in small capital letters in cases where this word conveys the name of God - Yahweh, written in Hebrew with four consonant letters (Tetragrammaton). The word “Lord” in its usual spelling conveys another address (Adon or Adonai), used in relation to both God and people in the meaning of “Lord”, friend. trans.: Lord; see in Dictionary Lord.

In square brackets contains words whose presence in the text is considered not fully proven by modern biblical studies.

In double square brackets contain words that modern biblical scholarship considers to be insertions into the text made in the first centuries.

Bold Quotes from the books of the Old Testament are highlighted. In this case, poetic passages are located in the text with the necessary indents and breakdowns in order to adequately represent the structure of the passage. A note at the bottom of the page gives the address of the citation.

Words in italics are actually absent from the original text, but the inclusion of which seems justified, since they are implied in the development of the author’s thoughts and help to clarify the meaning inherent in the text.

An asterisk raised above the line after a word (phrase) indicates a note at the bottom of the page.

Individual footnotes are given with the following abbreviations:

Lit.(literally): formally accurate translation. It is given in cases where, for the sake of clarity and a more complete disclosure of the meaning in the main text, it is necessary to deviate from a formally accurate rendering. At the same time, the reader is given the opportunity to get closer to the original word or phrase and see possible translation options.

In meaning(in meaning): given when a word translated literally in the text requires, in the translator’s opinion, an indication of its special semantic connotation in a given context.

In some manuscripts(in some manuscripts): used when quoting textual variants in Greek manuscripts.

Greek(Greek): used when it is important to show which Greek word is used in the original text. The word is given in Russian transcription.

Ancient lane(ancient translations): used when you need to show how a particular passage of the original was understood by ancient translations, perhaps based on another original text.

Friend. possible lane(another possible translation): given as another, although possible, but, in the opinion of the translators, less substantiated translation.

Friend. reading(other reading): given when, with a different arrangement of signs denoting vowel sounds, or with a different sequence of letters, a reading different from the original, but supported by other ancient translations, is possible.

Heb.(Hebrew): used when it is important to show which word is used in the original. Often it is impossible to convey it adequately, without semantic losses, into Russian, so many modern translations introduce this word in transliteration into the native language.

Or: used when the note provides another, sufficiently substantiated translation.

Nekot. manuscripts are added(some manuscripts add): given when a number of copies of the New Testament or Psalter, not included in the body of the text by modern critical editions, contain an addition to what is written, which, most often, is included in the Synodal translation.

Nekot. manuscripts are omitted(some manuscripts are omitted): given when a number of copies of the New Testament or Psalter, not included in the body of the text by modern critical editions, do not contain an addition to what is written, but in a number of cases this addition is included in the Synodal translation.

Masoretic text: text accepted as the basis for translation; a footnote is given when, for a number of textual reasons: the meaning of the word is unknown, the original text is corrupted, the translation has to deviate from the literal rendering.

TR(textus receptus) - an edition of the Greek text of the New Testament prepared by Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1516 based on lists of the last centuries of the Byzantine Empire. Until the 19th century this publication served as the basis for a number of famous translations.

LXX- Septuagint, translation of the Holy Scriptures (Old Testament) into Greek, made in the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC References to this translation are given from the 27th edition of Nestlé-Aland. Novum Testamentum Graece. 27. revidierte Auflage 1993. Stuttgart.

ABBREVIATIONS USED

OLD TESTAMENT (OT)

Life - Genesis
Exodus - Exodus
Leo - Levite
Number - Numbers
Deut - Deuteronomy
Joshua - Book of Joshua
1 Kings - First Book of Samuel
2 Kings - Second Book of Kings
1 Kings - Third Book of Kings
2 Kings - The Fourth Book of Kings
1 Chronicles - 1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles - 2 Chronicles
Job - Book of Job
Ps - Psalter
Proverbs - Book of Proverbs of Solomon
Ekkl - Book of Ecclesiastes, or Preacher (Ecclesiastes)
Is - Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Jer - Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
Lamentations - Book of Lamentations of Jeremiah
Eze - Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Dan - Book of the Prophet Daniel
Hos - Book of the Prophet Hosea
Joel - Book of the Prophet Joel
Am - Book of the Prophet Amos
Jonah - Book of the Prophet Jonah
Micah - Book of the Prophet Micah
Nahum - Book of the Prophet Nahum
Habak - Book of the Prophet Habakkuk
Hagg - Book of the Prophet Haggai
Zech - Book of the Prophet Zechariah
Mal - Book of the prophet Malachi

NEW TESTAMENT (NT)

Matthew - Gospel according to Matthew (Holy gospel from Matthew)
Mark - Gospel according to Mark (Holy gospel from Mark)
Luke - Gospel according to Luke (Holy gospel from Luke)
John - Gospel according to John (Holy gospel from John)
Acts - Acts of the Apostles
Rome - Epistle to the Romans
1 Cor - First Epistle to the Corinthians
2 Cor - Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Gal - Epistle to the Galatians
Eph - Epistle to the Ephesians
Philippians - Epistle to the Philippians
Col - Epistle to the Colossians
1 Thess - First Epistle to the Thessalonians
2 Thess - Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
1 Tim - First Timothy
2 Tim - Second Timothy
Titus - Epistle to Titus
Hebrews - Epistle to the Hebrews
James - Epistle of James
1 Peter - First Epistle of Peter
2 Peter - Second Epistle of Peter
1 John - First Epistle of John
Revelation - Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse)

OTHER ABBREVIATIONS

ap. - apostle
aram. - Aramaic
V. (centuries) - century (centuries)
g - gram
year(s) - year(s)
Ch. - head
Greek - Greek language)
other - ancient
euro - Hebrew (language)
km - kilometer
l - liter
m - meter
note - note
R.H. - Nativity
Rome. - Roman
Syn. lane - Synodal translation
cm - centimeter
see - look
Art. - poem
Wed - compare
those. - that is
so-called - so-called
h. - hour