The significance of Pentecost Sunday

If there was ever a day to be celebrated as the Church's birthday, it would have to be Pentecost Sunday. The Church was birthed on what has now become known as the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1). This was the day celebrated in the Old Testament with the Feast of Firstfruits (Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:16-17). When this feast was celebrated the priest was required to take two loaves of leavened bread (which spoke of Gentiles being accepted into the Household and People of God) and wave these loaves together (which spoke of the day when God would unite people with no divisions or barriers between them into one new people (Ephesians 2:14).

When the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost the doors to God's Household that previously only welcomed Jews were now welcoming Jew, Gentile, and whosoever would come into the family of God (Romans 10:12; Ephesians 2:11-13).

Pentecost marked the "Promise of the Lord" being fulfilled (Luke 24:49). It was the day that the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus referred to as the Comforter (John 14:16), came and baptised the believers in Himself (refer to Matthew 3:11; Acts 1:5). Jesus described this experience with the Holy Spirit as an encounter with power (Acts 1:8). John the Baptist described the experience as an encounter with fire (Matthew 3:11).

The Day of Pentecost is now a memorial celebration to what has been termed the second act of grace. Salvation is the first act of grace, but Jesus said that there was more. He told the disciples, who were already saved, that they they should wait for a further experience of grace- this time with the Holy Spirit. Some have argued that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is concurrent with salvation. They reason that the original disciples experience was unique because although they were saved, Christ had not yet ascended to Heaven from where He was to send the Holy Spirit to earth. Since the time of Christ's ascension all those who are saved are simultaneously baptised in the Holy Spirit, they argue. But there are some difficulties with this interpretation.

Firstly, why would Christ wait until the Day of Pentecost to send the Holy Spirit, which was some fifty days after His death? Surely the Day of Pentecost stands as a model for the administration of God's grace, that is, salvation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit are clearly different expressions of God's grace. Secondly, the New Testament narrative confirms that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was not only regarded as, but experienced as, a second act of God's grace, and therefore subsequent to salvation, not concurrent to it. For example, Saul of Tarsus was saved on the road to Damascus, but was baptised in the Holy Spirit several days later. (In this way, he experienced a personal Easter, and then a personal Day of Pentecost.) When Peter preached to the House of Cornelius in Acts 10, they received Christ as Saviour, then subsequent to that, they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Peter described their experience as "the same" as what the original disciples in the Upper Room had experienced. This alone would contradict the argument that the original disciples received a unique experience because they were waiting for Christ to ascend! But the New Testament narrative also describes the experience of the Ephesians in Acts 19 as also being like the Day of Pentecost (salvation, followed by the Baptism in the Holy Spirit).

The Day of Pentecost thus commemorates the intention of Christ for the Church that it be baptised in the Holy Spirit to have the power to carry out the mission that He has assigned to us.

© 2002, Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania, Australia