Acts 2:14

But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spake forth unto them, saying, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear unto my words. For these are not drunken, as ye suppose; seeing it is but the third hour of the day; but this is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel.

Peter standing up with the eleven ... In Acts 1:26, Luke said that Matthias was "numbered with the eleven," meaning that Matthias was the twelfth man. In the same way, Peter's standing up "with the eleven," as here, means that Peter was the twelfth man. Thus the Twelve participated in the events of this day.

The sensational speeches made by all of the Twelve earlier were at this point concluded, and the Twelve came together, and Peter, speaking upon behalf of all of them, delivered the inspired sermon which is the feature of this chapter. All were the object of Peter's sermon, but he addressed, particularly and primarily, "men of Judaea." It is neither affirmed nor denied that they heard Peter in their native languages.

Peter's taking the lead here was within full harmony with the Lord's promise that he should have "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19); and, accordingly, Peter flung wide the gates of the kingdom, preaching the first sermon of the gospel age.

PETER'S SERMON ON PENTECOST

The classical judgment of any public address must take account of: (1) the occasion, (2) the speaker, (3) the subject matter, and (4) the results; and by any or all of these criteria, Peter's address recorded here must be hailed as the most wonderful ever given. It was the birthday of the New Institution, the official emergence of the kingdom of God among men. That occasion was the precise moment toward which all the prophecies for thousands of years had pointed. The "new creation" was wrought that day.

Regarding the speaker, the rugged fisherman of Galilee, the bold outdoorsman with the ready tongue and fiery disposition, the man who shortly before had denied the Christ whom he was then to proclaim, the natural leader of the Twelve, and the type of man who could command the respect of all, - that man was the speaker, and no more effective a person for such a task could be imagined.

The subject matter was human salvation and the procurement of it in Jesus Christ the risen Lord. Where was ever a nobler theme?

And the results: three thousand souls believed in the Lord, repented of their sins, and were baptized into Christ in a single day! Let men study this speech, and like those who first heard it, they will be amazed and marvel. Concerning this sermon, McGarvey said:

Never did mortal lips announce in so brief a space so many facts of import to the hearers. We might challenge the world to find a parallel to it in the speeches of her orators, or the songs of her poets. There is not such a thunderbolt in all the burdens of the prophets of Israel, or among the voices which thunder in the Apocalypse.[22]

The postulations of critics who would if they could, erode the authority of this sermon through allegations that Luke, rather than Peter, composed it, are completely frustrated by the evident marks of its genuineness that distinguish every line of it. Dummelow said:

The genuineness of this speech is vouched for by the simplicity of its theology, and by its resemblances to 1Peter (e.g. "foreknowledge," 1 Peter 1:2; "to call upon (God)," 1 Peter 1:17; "rejoicing," 1 Peter 1:6,8; 4:13; "the right hand of God," 1 Peter 3:22; "exalt," 1 Peter 5:6; "the house" (Israel), 1 Peter 2:5; 4:17 etc.[23]

These are not drunken ... This malicious comment by the mockers deserved little attention, and little it received from Peter. He merely pointed out that the time of day alone was grounds for rejecting such a slander. On a festival like Pentecost, no Jew ever ate or drank anything until after 9:00 A.M.

This is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel ... Not Joel, but God was the speaker in that prophet's writings.

This is that ... identifies the events initiated at Pentecost as fulfilling the prophecy about to be quoted from Joel.

[22] J. W. McGarvey, op. cit., p. 30.

[23] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 821.