Baptized in the Holy Spirit: epochal theology in Luke-Acts

A LITTLE OVER TWO DECADES AGO Luke-Acts was identified as A Storm Center in Contemporary Scholarship by W. C. van Unnik. Though publications since the late 1960s have continued to feed this storm center, they have also parted the clouds to let patches of light break in as scholars have approached the eye of the storm. A calm has come upon Luke-Acts studies with recent emphases upon Luke as a significant theologian and upon the narrative unity of Luke-Acts. Therefore, it seems appropriate to stir the waters once again concerning Luke\u27s theological development of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Though the subject of this paper is expansive and well-worn, its objective is restrained, yet provocative. This paper seeks to demonstrate that Luke\u27s theological narrative expresses a coherent and consistent theology concerning the Spirit. Through his accounts of John the Baptist and Jesus, Luke\u27s Gospel narrative shapes the metaphor baptized in the Holy Spirit so that the reader expects an eschatological event of epochal proportions. Luke\u27s theological coherence and consistency in Acts restricts the metaphor baptized in the Holy Spirit to describe the risen Messiah\u27s two-phased (Pentecost and Caesarea) outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a company of people-Jewish and Gentile believers alike. Luke shows that Christ bestowed the charismatic Spirit equally to demonstrate that from the beginning God intended that all people who believe in Messiah-Jew and Gentile alike-share without distinction in the salvation, and this apart from submission to the Mosaic Law. For Luke, the dual episodes of Pentecost and Caesarea are epoch-making extensions of the redemptive acts of the now risen and ascended Christ. Three methodological assumptions govern this paper: (1) Luke-Acts has at once a historical and a theological interest; (2) Luke-Acts reflects both literary and theological continuity, and (3) Luke-Acts has its own theological categories-Paul\u27s epistolary categories most not be imposed upon Luke\u27s narrative framework. The presentation follows three natural progressions in Luke\u27s narrative: (1) Predictive anticipation of baptized in the Holy Spirit ; (2) Fulfillment description of baptized in the Holy Spirit ; and (3) Narrative interpretation of baptized in the Holy Spirit