Pentecost... what does it mean to you?

I have written before that we Protestants, for no good reason, almost never mention Mary the mother of God (lest we appear too Catholic?) This even though she gave the indisputably Best. Advice. Ever. ¹

I have also written, as an admitted Stephen fanboi, that we tend to ignore Stephen, thinking of him only as one of the first deacons ² and the first martyr. But in truth, based on his sermon before his stoning, a truly amazing oration which we tend to overlook to our detriment, he was probably the first person to understand that the nascent Christian church was not a progression of Judaism, but something all together different.

I would argue there is another event that doesn't get the attention it deserves, at least in reformed churches that follow covenant theology, be it vanilla (Presbyterian) or chocolate (Baptist). ³ And that would be Pentecost. The over-emphasis on continuity ⁴ in covenant theology, especially Presbyterian, tends to cause blindness about the huge significance of Pentecost. It gets viewed something like a fantastic gift, a super-extra measure of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us. It was that, but it was much more. It was the start of the Church. The small 'c' catholic church.

The church was not unforeseen by the prophets, as dispensationalists claim, and it did not exist in the Old Testament, as some Covenant theologians argue. Jesus does not say the he will strengthen the church, or update it, or change its direction, or give it a "new form". No, he said the he will build his church (Matt. 16:18). Also, consider when Jesus promises Pentecost, he associates it with a baptism:

[F]or John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5) 

This verse is significant. For to make Pentecost something less than a major event in redemptive history, many try to equate baptism of the Holy Spirit with regeneration of individual believers ⁵, but Jesus was speaking to regenerate people when he promised a new baptism, better than John's. It's something different.

I believe Spirit Baptism was the baptism of the church if you will, and that Pentecost was the establishment of the New Testament church, a church that was predicted by the prophets (Ez. 36:26-27) and did not exist in the Old Testament.

Some (not many, but some) Covenantal Theologians agree. Consider Richard Gaffin Jr. in his book Perspectives on Pentecost. In there he writes (p.21):

Pentecost is nothing less than the establishment of the church as the new covenant people of God, as the body of Christ.

Yes. That.

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¹ In John 2:5 Mary, speaking to the servants, regarding Jesus, said: "Whatever [Jesus] says to you, do it." Point, game, set, match.

² If he was a deacon (the Greek never uses the noun, just the verb form) then he was not your garden variety deacon. For we are told he did great wonders and signs. That implies a bit more than attending to the widows.

³ I really should know better that to use food analogies for this distinction. We once hosted a Christmas party where I made two batches of egg-nog, one labelled "Presbyterian" and the other "Baptist." The parents understood; they knew which one contained alcohol. Unfortunately I did not think of the kids--they didn't grasp the joke. Oops. My Bad. Hoisted with my own petard.

⁴ I say this as a supporter of Covenant Theology, well at least at the 95% level. But all-out Covenant Theology (as I have claimed on numerous occasions) makes the same category error as dispensationalism. The latter emphasize discontinuity to the point where the church becomes an unforeseen parenthetical intrusion. The former (Covenant Theology) emphasizes continuity to the point where the church is not only the New Testament Israel (defensible) but Israel was the Old Testament Church (not defensible). Covenant Theology, for all it gets right, flattens redemptive history too much, and misses the paradigm shift of the New Covenant.

⁵ Again, where some go (way) too far regarding Spirit Baptism (i.e. the radical Charismatic movement), Covenant theology doesn't go far enough and has no coherent doctrine on Sprit Baptism.