Calculating the Time Since Acts 2:17 According to Prophecy
Understanding Acts 2:17 and Calculating the Time Since Its Fulfillment
Acts 2:17 quotes Joel 2:28, saying, "It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams" [1]. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost declared that Joel's prophecy was being fulfilled, signaling the arrival of "the last days" [5].
The phrase "last days" is understood differently across various traditions. According to Adam Clarke, a Methodist/Wesleyan commentator, "the last days" refers to the time of the Messiah, a period understood by the Jews to be the final dispensation of God's kingdom on earth [3]. Similarly, Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, in their Presbyterian commentary, interpret "the last days" as the days of the Messiah, citing Isaiah 2:2 [8].
The pouring out of the Spirit "upon all flesh" signifies a departure from the previous dispensation where the Spirit was primarily upon specific individuals. John Chrysostom, an Eastern Orthodox father, notes the universality of the Spirit's outpouring, emphasizing that it includes sons, daughters, young men, and old men, without distinction of age or sex [6].
To calculate the time since Acts 2:17, one must understand the biblical concept of timekeeping. The Bible computes time in various units, including years, months, weeks, days, and hours, with different eras having different methods of reckoning [2]. However, the specific timing of the "last days" is not directly calculable from Acts 2:17.
The Reformed tradition, as represented by John Calvin, views the "last days" as beginning with Christ's ascension and continuing until his return. Calvin's commentary on Acts 2:17-21 emphasizes that Peter declared Joel's prophecy was being fulfilled, indicating the commencement of the last days [7].
The duration of the "last days" is seen as uncertain by many commentators. Augustine, as quoted by Aquinas, compares the uncertainty of the length of the last age of humanity to the variability in the length of old age in an individual's life [4]. This perspective underscores the difficulty in calculating the exact time since Acts 2:17.
Sources
- Acts “‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. -- Acts 2:17”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Time — The duration of the world -- Job 22:16; Re 10:6. The measure of the continuance of anything -- Jdj 18:31. An appointed season -- Ne 2:6; Ec 3:1,17. Computed by Years. -- Ge 15:13; 2Sa 21:1; Da 9:2. Months. -- Nu 10:10; 1Ch 27:1; Job 3:6. Weeks. -- Da 10:2; Lu 18:12. Days. -- Ge 8:3; Job 1:4; Lu 11:3. Hours, after the captivity. -- Da 5:5; Joh 11:9. Moments -- Ex 33:5; Lu 4:5; 1Co 15:52. The heavenly bodies, appointed as a means for computing -- Ge 1:14. The sun-dial early invented for pointing out -- 2Ki 20:9-11. Eras from which, computed Nativity of the patri”
- Acts (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Acts 2:17: In the last days - The time of the Messiah; and so the phrase was understood among the Jews. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh - Rabbi Tanchum says, "When Moses laid his hands upon Joshua, the holy blessed God said, In the time of the old text, each individual prophet prophesied; but, in the times of the Messiah, all the Israelites shall be prophets." And this they build on the prophecy quoted in this place by Peter. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy - The word prophesy is not to be understood here as implying the knowledge and discovery of future ”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Supplement (Supplementum), Of the Time and Manner of the Resurrection, Art. 2: Article: Whether the time of our resurrection is hidden? I answer that, As Augustine says (Qq. lxxxiii, qu. 58) "as to the last age of the human race, which begins from our Lord's coming and lasts until the end of the world, it is uncertain of how many generations it will consist: even so old age, which is man's last age, has no fixed time according to the measure of the other ages, since sometimes alone it lasts as long a time as all the others." The reason of this is because the exact le”
- Acts (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Acts 2:17: 2:17-21 This passage quotes Joel 2:28-32. The prophet Joel predicted a wider exercise of the gifts of prophecy, including visions and dreams by both young and old, both men and women in the last days (Joel 2:28-29). In Acts, on the day of Pentecost, Peter declared that Joel’s prophecy was being fulfilled, signaling that “the last days” had arrived.”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Acts & Romans: 73:6 73:22 73:25 76:7 77:33 78:34 78:50 82:6 82:6 90:1 90:10 94:10 95:2 95:7-8 97:3 99:6 103:11 103:12 103:13 103:14 103:15 104:12 104:14 104:15 104:17 104:18 104:20 104:27 104:29 104:32 116:7 116:15 143:2 Proverbs 5:8 9:10 9:12 10:9 11:25 11:25 12:10 13:8 16:1 16:5 18:3 18:17 18:19 19:14 22:1 23:29-30 27:6 28:1 Ecclesiastes 7:2 7:24 11:5 12:14 Song of Solomon 2:15 4 5 Isaiah 1 1:2 1:2 1:9 1:11 1:12 1:17-18 1:18 1:19-20 3:7 3:15 5:4 5:22 6:11 9:6 10:14 10:22 10:22 10:23 11:1 11:10 11:10 14:14 19:1 22:4 28:16 29:10 29:10 29:13 30:10 30:10 30:33 32:6 3”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 109: 15:5 15:6 15:10 15:16 15:16 15:16 15:19 16:2 16:7 16:7 16:12 16:12 16:13 16:13 16:20 16:26 17:3 17:3 17:3 17:3 17:5 17:5 17:6 17:9 17:12 17:12 17:15 17:19 17:19 17:19 17:19 18:36 18:37 19:33 19:34 19:36 20 20:5 20:17 20:17 20:19 20:22 20:22 20:22 20:23 20:23 20:23 20:23 20:28 20:31 21:15 21:15 21:18 Acts 1 1:10 1:11 1:23 2:4 2:21 2:23 2:23 2:24 2:24 2:33 2:37 2:37-38 2:38 2:39 2:41 2:42 2:42 3:6 3:6 3:15 3:21 3:25 4:12 4:12 4:18 4:28 4:28 4:32 5:29 5:31 5:41 6:2 6:3 6:3 6:6 6:10 7:21 7:30 7:44 7:48 7:48 7:55 7:56 7:59 8:13-18 8:14”
- Acts (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Acts 2:17: in the last days--meaning, the days of the Messiah (Isa 2:2); as closing all preparatory arrangements, and constituting the final dispensation of God's kingdom on earth. pour out of my Spirit--in contrast with the mere drops of all preceding time. upon all flesh--hitherto confined to the seed of Abraham. sons . . . daughters . . . young men . . . old men . . . servants . . . handmaidens--without distinction of sex, age, or rank. see visions . . . dream dreams--This is a mere accommodation to the ways in which the Spirit operated under the ancient”