Austin Bible Church
A quotation does not always interpret. A quotation sometimes illustrates as in Acts 2:17.
“'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, 'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;” (Acts 2:17, NASB)
Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2:16-21. This is not the fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32, but is an illustration to refute the accusation of drunkenness. These believers were actually using the gift of tongues under power of the Holy Spirit and could no more be charged with drunkenness than the believers in the Joel passage.
“"It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. "Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. "I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke. "The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. "And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the LORD has said, Even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.” (Joel 2:28-32, NASB)
These people were familiar with the Book of Joel. They knew that activities of Joel 2 reflected the future spirituality in the Millennium. The Joel 2 passage by interpretation is the Millennium. The phenomenon which they observed was in the first 38 years of the Church Age.
Peter did not say that the Joel passage was fulfilled. He was merely establishing a parallel between the phenomenon which is described in Joel 2 and the phenomenon which was occurring at that moment.
The Joel passage could not be fulfilled at this point because of the doctrine of the Mystery. Eph. 3:1-6; Col. 1:25-26; Rom. 16:25-26. See category on The Church. See category on the Mystery.
“For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,” (Ephesians 3:1-6, NASB)
“Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,” (Colossians 1:25-26, NASB)
“Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;” (Romans 16:25-26, NASB)
The book of Joel is in the Old Testament and no Church Age doctrine is given in the Old Testament. Therefore, Joel is not talking about the Church Age. The Joel passage refers to the Spirit-filled believer in the Millennium only. Therefore, what is being said here is that the Joel passage merely illustrates, but does not fulfill.
The charge of drunkenness was going to be refuted by Peter by saying that what they saw was not drunkenness, but a spiritual phenomenon. They were no more drunken than the Millennial saints as depicted in Joel 2:28-32.
In Acts 2:15-16, “this is what” means this is the same kind of thing as that. The Day of Pentecost occurrence parallels the Millennium.
“"For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:” (Acts 2:15-16, NASB)