Commentary on Acts 2:1-4; Galatians 4:1-7

Two of the three previous readings in the lectionary have given some attention to the Spirit and how it functions in the Christian life. With this reading, the Spirit takes center stage. The story of the first Christian Pentecost tells about the meaning of the Spirit’s coming, and our other readings today recount the blessings and expectations that possessing the Spirit brings.

Acts 2 tells of the initial coming of the Spirit on believers in Christ. The resurrection of Christ was only 50 days earlier, and the disciples and others were waiting in Jerusalem as the Lukan Jesus had told them to (Luke 24:49). Pentecost was a major Jewish pilgrimage feast, so thousands of Jews from all over the world were in Jerusalem. Originally a harvest festival, Pentecost also commemorated the giving of the gift of the law to Moses. Now the gift of the message of the gospel will be given on this day. 

The initial manifestation of the Spirit’s arrival is a loud sound like wind and the appearance of cloven tongues of fire. Then people begin to proclaim the gospel in all kinds of languages. Notably, this is the only place in the New Testament where speaking in tongues enables people to speak a language they do not know, such that people who speak that other language understand. Elsewhere, speaking in tongues is a language that no one on earth knows, including the one who is speaking. But in Acts, this initial coming of the Spirit enables proclamation of the gospel.

Peter goes on to interpret the coming of the Spirit as a sign that the end times had begun. Its coming fulfills the prophetic promises about God coming to live in a more intimate way with all believers. In this new time, God’s direct presence will be with every person, no matter what ethnic, social, or economic class they belong to—and there is special attention to those who were seen to have less status and value. Peter’s sermon assures the hearers that if they confess faith in Christ and are baptized, they will receive this amazing presence of God in their lives. From its first sermon, the church declares that God’s Spirit comes to live in every Christian.

As the church lived this experience of God’s presence, its richness became more and more evident. In our Galatians texts Paul talks about some of the things the Spirit does for believers. This presence of the Spirit in the end time that is inaugurated with the resurrection of Christ brings assurance of salvation. It helps us know that through Christ, we are children of God who have been given such a close relationship with God that we can use the familial language of “Dad” to address God. While “Abba” did not mean “daddy,” it was a term that expressed a loving relationship with a father. The Spirit, then, allows us to shift our relationship with God from fear to love, from the necessary obedience of a slave to loving consent in the family. 

Even more, this relationship that the Spirit helps us experience also assures us of final salvation, which Paul refers to as the inheritance that comes to God’s heirs. This experience of acceptance and assurance comes with expectations. 

As is the case in any family, being a member of God’s family brings expectations about how we live in the family. When I misbehaved as a child, my parents would sometimes say, “Sumneys don’t act like that.” The same thing is true for being members of God’s family. There are expectations about how family members will act. In the case of God’s family, the Spirit not only helps us discern what those expectations are; it enables us to better conform our lives to them. 

Galatians 5:16–26 calls us to live lives that are guided by the Spirit, which means ridding ourselves of some ways of acting. Paul takes this expectation seriously enough as to say that those who do not strive to get rid of those things can cut themselves out of the will; they can give up the promised inheritance.

But the Spirit within is constantly bearing fruit—that is, constantly creating the will to direct our lives toward what God wants. It brings and enables lives characterized by the fruits of the Spirit. All the fruits of the Spirit mentioned are reflections of aspects of the character of God. The Spirit helps us love because that is a reflection of God’s love. The Spirit helps us have joy because joy is a reflection of God’s joy. And so it is with all the fruits. Having God’s Spirit within us enables us to reflect who God is more and more closely as we allow it to do the Spirit’s work and as we work to adopt that way of living.

This work of the Spirit can be accomplished only if we are willing to cooperate. In imagery that is arresting, Paul says we must crucify the flesh. “Flesh” here is not a reference to material existence, but to existence that is determined by the values of the social and cultural systems that do not conform to God’s will—and that includes all such systems and nations. The Spirit enables us to begin to see the false values those systems embody and so empowers us to begin to direct our lives by the values that the Spirit reveals and nurtures.

Importantly, the fruits of the Spirit are not detailed rules that address every situation. They are attitudes and perspectives that give a particular shape to our lives. They are the ways of living that help us reflect who God is in our lives. As the Spirit gives growth, we come to see more and more clearly how to reflect God’s character in our lives. Thus, the Spirit helps us manifest the will and the loving character of God in the church and to the rest of the world.