John Kilgallen, «‘With many other words’ (Acts 2,40): Theological Assumptions in Peter’s Pentecost Speech», Vol. 83 (2002) 71-87

The complete effectiveness of Peter’s Pentecost speech implies that the Lucan audience, if not that of Peter, knows at least three assumptions that are needed to make the speech as logically convincing as possible. These three assumptions are: (1) that Jesus is physically Son of David; (2) that the kyrios of Ps 110,1 is the Messiah; (3) that only the titles ‘Son’ and ‘Father’ should be used when describing that it is Jesus who poured out the Spirit. As for Peter’s audience, the fact that Peter supported his speech with ‘many other words (arguments)’ might argue that his audience were introduced to these three assumptions. As for Luke’s audience, Luke 1,35 and its context play a major role in justifying the logic of this Pentecost speech.

time to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved (v. 21), Jesus is that Lord and it is his name upon which one must call for salvation. All the explanation of the crowd’s experience as the fulfillment of the Joel prophecy is meant to lead one to realize that now is the moment to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation; and all the rest of the discourse, about Jesus, is meant to establish this crucial element of the speech: that Jesus is the Lord upon whom one is to call for salvation.

        The correct manner of arguing that Jesus is Lord is, as far as the Jewish Peter is concerned before his Jewish audience, to find the text which fits properly with the text of Joel; that is, Peter should bring together the text of Joel regarding Lord and another text, using the title Lord, a text which clearly can be associated with Jesus of Nazareth. Peter uses here what is elsewhere a known Rabbinic practice of interpreting one of God’s Words (that of Joel) by another text of God’s Word¹².

        To argue successfully that Jesus is Lord and thus to be called on for salvation, Peter draws upon the authoritative Old Testament Ps 110: ‘The Lord [YHWH] said to my Lord...’¹³. If it can be shown that Jesus is the second-mentioned Lord, the Lord of the psalmist (David), then, Peter contends, it is clear that the Joel citation speaks of Jesus when it asks everyone to call upon the name of Lord for salvation: Jesus is the Lord of Israel, and thus the Lord (pointed to by Joel) on whom one should call for salvation. It is to the argument of Peter, that Jesus is Lord¹⁴, that I direct my attention, and in particular to make three observations about that argument.