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Acts 2:38 – What is the Gift of the Holy Spirit?
What is the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38?
1. The key is noticing how Peter quotes Joel 2 in Acts 2, ending with a partial quote of Joel 2:32 in Acts 2:21.
2. Then Peter preaches on their responsibility in killing the Christ and God resurrecting Jesus.
3. And finishing with an allusion back to Joel 2:32 in Acts 2:38-39 when answering the question of what they must do (Acts 2:37) to call on the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21) to be saved.
Notice how all of Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:38-39 fit seamlessly together:
Joel 2:32a) Then everyone who calls ON THE NAME OF THE LORD will be SAVED
• Acts 2:38a) Repent and let each of you be baptized IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST for the FORGIVENESS OF SINS
Joel 2:32b) for there will be an ESCAPE for those on Mount Zion and in JERUSALEM,
• Acts 2:38b) and you will RECEIVE the gift of the Holy Spirit
• Where are these people being preached to? In Jerusalem.
• 2:37 shows the people asking, “What must we do?” They are asking for an escape from punishment for killing the Christ. They receive a reprieve or escape – salvation – from lex talionis (punishment fits the crime, like unto like, eye for eye, etc.).
Joel 2:32c) as the LORD PROMISED, among the survivors the LORD CALLS.
• Acts 2:39) “For the PROMISE (Acts 2:38) is for you and your children and for all who are far away, as many as the LORD our God will CALL to Himself.”
The gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of a spiritual and bodily resurrected life that comes from escaping and surviving the judgment of God for killing the Son of God. As the Son escaped death via resurrection, so now will those who call on the Son via the Holy Spirit will escape and be saved.
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