Holy Spirit in 1 and 2 Thessalonians

The New Testament’s lack of reference to other specific Old Testament prophecies about the Holy Spirit should be of great concern for those seeking to explain the Spirit’s work without a reference to Joel 2. Essentially, they must create a doctrine about the Holy Spirit’s work from a collection of New Testament verses and do so in a way which does not refer back to Acts 2 or Joel 2. Interpreting Acts 3 – Acts 28 without connecting their references to Acts 2 is flawed hermeneutically and practically.

The key to understanding Peter’s words is found in allowing the Bible to define its own “ages.” There are various interpretive systems among Bible students today that describe the stages of the biblical story. The dispensational pre-millennialist has at least seven dispensations or ages in which God has and will work. Another common division of the Bible ages has three main ages: the Patriarchal Age, Mosaic Age, and Christian Age. The problem for both of these approaches is that the Bible never uses any such structure or labels to describe its own ages.

Acts 8 is the text that illustrates how the apostles went about carrying out the promise made in Acts 2. It is the passage to which we should appeal to explain the manner by which God ensured that “all flesh” in His kingdom would have the Holy Spirit “poured out” on them. It is the bridge that ties Acts 2 to the rest of the New Testament. Unfortunately, most teachings of the work of the Holy Spirit cannot cross it.

Understanding who the Judaizers were and their connection back to the Pharisees (Acts 15:5) is going to provide great insight into Paul’s use of the word “spirit” in Galatians, Romans, and the rest of his epistles.