There are seven things that should prove instructive.
First, read
Joel 2:28-32 and compare with
Acts 2:1-22.
Second, read
Psalms 16 and compare with
Acts 2:23-33
Third, read
Psalms 110 and compare with
Acts 2:34-37
So, the question the multitudes asked in
Acts 2:37, "... what shall we do?" was not, "... what shall we do [to be saved]?", as so many like to add to the verse. Rather, it was more in line with, "... what shall we do [now]?" From scripture they already knew what to do to be 'saved'. From living by faith (
Habakkuk 2:4) to the circumcision of the heart (
Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6).
The feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) is the anniversary day (6th of Sivan) when God addressed the entire nation of Israel and gave them the 'Law'. It was also this same day that God choose to shed abroad His Holy Spirit with the advent period of Christ.
However, the disciples had their names written in the book of life (written in heaven) prior to the death of Jesus (
Luke 10:20), and a number of the disciples also received the holy Spirit prior to the day of Pentecost (
John 20:19-24), which, from the evidence of Pentecost, those disciple being in attendance received the 'authority' of the Spirit directly from Jesus, but not yet the ability to exercise the 'power' of the Spirit on their own. Compare the universal authority demonstrated in (
Acts 3:6) and the 'conditional' authority demonstrated in
Luke 9:1-6 and
Luke 10:1-17)
Another common doctrine that gets hit, is that on the day of Pentecost the disciple spoke in 'unknown' tongues. Taken by many to include speaking in a prayer language or in some heavenly language. Not so. All recorded languages in
Acts 2 were of known languages. While the speakers may not have 'known' (understood) the languages they spoke, others did. The terms 'unknown tongues' and 'unknown language' do not exist in the original biblical texts. Actually, the Greek word for 'unknown' is not even used in the New Testament texts.
When religious traditions takes presence over scripture, we are free to make of scripture whatever we desire. Well, we are free to do what we desire until we have to face God and explain, by what authority we rewrote His word and set our own doctrines above His. And, to think that we often judge harshly the traditions of the Pharisees and Scribes. /sigh/
