Expert: Dr Don Howe - 10/5/2008

Question
Have you ever heard that the 3000 that were added to the church that day were not necessarily lost?  This is something I've toyed with for a while, but recently I believe God gave me liberty to really look at it.  I'm having a real hard time finding holes in this interpretation.  I look far and wide on the internet and it took months but I finally found somebody who taught that.  I'm looking at every angle and even have a blog to generate discussion, but nobody seems to want to discuss it.

Have you ever heard anything on this?  It's an amazing study.  I'm writing a term paper on it.  I'm just wondering if you know of anybody that has written on it, or has systematically taught something similar?

Answer
   Rick thanks for your question. You ask “Have you ever heard that the 3000 that were added to the church that day were not necessarily lost?” We need to take a look at what God’s Word says about the 3000 that was brought into the Church by Apostle’s Peter preaching just after Pentecost. First we need to look at Acts Chapter One first.
    In Acts 1:4 that Jesus’ “being assembled together with [them]” and the “them” is the disciples and Jesus commanded them not to leave Jerusalem and wait on the promises of the Father. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells them that these disciples would receive power and the Holy Ghost would come upon them and that they “ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” The shall be is esomai which is in the indicative tense which means you will be. Jesus was telling them you will be my witness when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. Jesus had some work for them to do and a purpose.
   So these “them” and “they” mentioned in Acts 1:4 to Acts 1:13 are identified as disciples of Jesus and Acts 1:13 stated they “abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James [the son] of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas [the brother] of James.” Acts 1:14 states “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” The word accord is very important in that is homothymadon in the Greek means with one mind, so the disciples, Andrew, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Martholmew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon Zelotes, Judas (brother of James), and the women (probably their wives), and Mary, mother of Jesus are present in one accord and are like minded in the witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. David Guzik states “Peter still had the history of denying the Lord; Matthew was still a tax collector; Simon was still a zealot. Their differences were still there, but the resurrected Jesus in their hearts was greater than any difference.” They were one in accord.
  But there were more than just the ones mentioned in Acts 1:13-14, because Acts 1:15 states “And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,).” This 120 had to be saved or they would not have been in the Upper Room, but these 120 probably saw the ascension of the Lord also. This same 120 could have been the part of the 500 that Paul mentions in 1 Cor. 15:6 states “After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” This 120 could be part of the 500 that the angel told the women to tell the disciples He would met them in Galilee in Matthew 28:7 which states “And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.” In Matthew 28:10, Jesus appeared to the women while they were on the way to tell his disciples of His resurrection as instructed by the angel, and Jesus says “Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.” Brethren is used her by Jesus instead of disciples and brethren is adelphos in the Greek which can be plural also, and I feel like this was what Jesus was using because the angel already included the disciples. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words states about the word brethren “in the plural, "a community based on identity of origin or life." So Jesus could have been asking the women to include more people than just the 11 disciples. Thousands of people saw the miracles of Jesus and could have believed while he was alive and before being crucified.
  Rick, Matthew 28:16-17 states “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.” What does this “doubted” really mean. Could some of the “disciples,” or “brethren” as Matthew called them have “doubted” meaning they were not saved yet? Nelson Study Bible states about the Matthew 28:16-17 verses “When the eleven disciples went away into Galilee they were probably accompanied by many more people. This may be the appearance to more than five hundred people mentioned by Paul In 1 Cor. 15:6. This may explain why some doubted (my emphasis); after all the Eleven were confirmed believers in the resurrected Christ by the this time (See John 20:19-20).” Does doubted mean they were still “lost?” No it does not. The word doubt in Greek is distazō which according to Vines Expository Dictionary means “always used in the Middle Voice, lit. means "to be without a way" (a, negative, poros, "a way, transit"), "to be without resources, embarrassed, in doubt, perplexity, at a loss," as was Herod regarding John the Baptist, Mar 6:20 (RV, following the most authentic mss., "was much perplexed"); as the disciples were, regarding the Lord's betrayal, Jhn 13:22, "doubting;" and regarding the absence of His body from the tomb, Luk 24:4, "were perplexed;" as was Festus, about the nature of the accusations brought against Paul, Act 25:20, AV "doubted," RV, "being perplexed;" as Paul was, in his experiences of trial, 2Cr 4:8, "perplexed," and, as to the attitude of the believers of the churches in Galatia towards Judaistic errors, Gal 4:20, AV, "I stand in doubt," RV, "I am perplexed." Perplexity is the main idea” (Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words). Strong also states doubt means “to be without resources, to be in straits, to be left wanting, to be embarrassed, to be in doubt, not to know which way to turn.” Rick, doubted does not mean the brethren did not believe but were perplexed, confused, without resources, and embarrassed. But does not mean that they did not believe in Jesus resurrection, but that they were perplexed about  his appearance and were at a loss what to do next. It does not say they were lost.
  The Walvoord and Zuck New Testament Commentary sheds more light on the this doubt. “Since Jesus had appeared to them earlier and verified Himself to them, they were not doubting the Resurrection. There was probably simply a brief question among some of them as to whether this was truly Jesus appearing to them. There was no indication that any miraculous element was involved in His being there and since unusual circumstances had occurred with previous visits, perhaps they wondered.” Their having wondered fits the meaning of doubt in the Greek as being perplexed and at a loss, and not totally disbelief as unsaved person would believe.
  Rick, so what does this long exposition of the word “doubt” mean is that if the 120 that were in Acts 1:15 and were in the Upper Room could have been part of the 500 as mentioned by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:6. But they could also part of the same 500 who could been at the appearing of Jesus in Galilee as mentioned in Matthew 28:16-17 and some doubted, but they (120) doubted no more after seeing His ascension in Acts 1:9.
   How do we know that the 120 were saved and not lost? Acts 1:14-15 tells us “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,” The 120 (Acts 1:15) were in the Upper Room with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren and they were all in “one accord.” The word accord in Greek is homothymadon which means with one mind, with one accord, or with one passion. So the 120 were all believers at this time and were of the same passion and mind or “on the same page.” Nelson Study Bible sums this up nicely “with one accord: This phrase which is found eleven times in the Book of Acts is made up of two words that mean “same” and “mind.” The phrase speaks of people sharing the same mind or thinking like-mindedly. It does not refer to people who all think and feel the same way about everything, but to people who set aside personal feelings and commit themselves to one task-in this case witnessing to others about the Lord Jesus.” So the 120 in the Upper Room in Jerusalem were believers in one accord. They still had different occupations and different personalities but were in one accord in the resurrection.
   Acts 2 tells about the coming of the Holy Spirit as a mighty rushing wind. The 12 apostles and/or the rest of the 108 men and women (were speaking in known languages of men of their own tongue “wherein we were born?” (Acts 2:8). These 120 filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in languages were speaking to “Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.” So they were speaking to 3000 devout men in Jerusalem who some were Jews and Gentiles from the Mediterranean but they were LOST and not believers. David Guzik states something interesting about these “devout men” as “The multitude from many nations gathered in Jerusalem because of the Feast of Pentecost. Many of these were the same people who gathered in Jerusalem at the last feast, Passover, when an angry mob demanded the execution of Jesus.” So again, Rick, you are right they were LOST.
  I think Acts 2:6 is an awesome verse states “Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.” The term “noised abroad” means phōnē which means sound, language, or tongue. So the language was sounded abroad to the multitude and they were confounded which is sygcheō meaning confused, being in an uproar, or to disturb the mind of one. So we know that the 3000 were devout Jews in Jerusalem, and Gentiles for the Feast of Passover, but the text does not say that the 3000 all heard the roaring of the mighty Holy Spirit, but they were not saved because the were confused, bewildered, and sygcheō.
  What happens when we are confused, bewildered about something we doubt and the 3000 did also. Acts 2:12-13 states “And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.” Nelson Study Bible makes a surprising comment about verse 12 and 13 by stating this represent two different kind people, which still made up of the 3000. Nelson states “A contrast is made between two groups of people, the Hellenists and the Hebraists (6:1). Both groups heard the apostles speaking in tongues. Verse 12 speaks of the reaction of the Hellenists, who were from various parts of the world. They understood the dialects in which the apostles spoke and consequently viewed the event as miraculous. On the other hand, those mentioned in verse 13 were Judeans and did not understand the foreign languages the apostles were speaking. They concluded the apostles were drunk and speaking gibberish.” Walvoord and Zuck state “they (3000 men) were bilingual, speaking both Greek and their native languages. They were dumbfounded to hear Jews from Galilee speaking the languages of peoples surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.”
  Walvoord and Zuck states “it is a question whether only the Twelve spoke in tongues or all 120. Several factors support the idea of only the Twelve being involved in this phenomenon: (1) They are referred to as Galileans (Acts 2:7; cf 1:11-13). (2) Peter stood up with the “the Eleven” (2:14). (3) The nearest antecedent of “they” in verse 1 is the “apostles” in 1:26. However, a problem with this view is that the number of languages listed in 2:9-11 is more than 12. But one apostle could have spoken more than one language, in sequence. Still it is possible that all 120 spoke in tongues. Since the majority of them were from Galilee they could have been called Galileans. The reference to the Twelve would have indicated they were the leaders of the 120.” Interesting. I feel all 120 were speaking in languages. Rick, note that some of these 3000 people were Greeks and were from the Mediterranean Sea area, i.e. they understood their native languages. So the 3,000 people were again LOST, not believers. But some of the Jews that were the same Jews who saw Jesus speaking and doing miracles, and the same ones who killed him were present at the Feast of Passover. They were lost and did not believe either.
   Acts 2:14-40, Peter is preaching to the 3000 and many were pricked in their heart (2:37) and they “gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41). So if they repented and were baptized after Peter’s preaching, then that is when they became saved not before. They were LOST until this time in that they had not fully accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and repented of their sins, but it does not mean that some did not believe some teachings that they heard from the eleven or could have been the entire 120, who were speaking in their own languages. Some were perplexed and confused about what they heard.
   Rick, you also ask some of the 3000 that was added unto the church “that day were not necessarily lost.” The Scriptures does not distinctly say that any of the 3000 were not lost before hearing the preaching of Peter, but there were two groups of people. Remember there were two groups of people the Bible describes that heard the 11 or could have been the 120 who were speaking in their native languages. But they doubted and the other group accused of the disciples of being drunk with wine. Again review Acts 2:12 states “And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?” Verse 12 is the Hellenists as noted by Nelson Study Bible which states  “Verse 12 speaks of the reaction of the Hellenists, who were from various parts of the world i.e. Mediterranean Sea area. They understood the dialects in which the apostles spoke and consequently viewed the event as miraculous.” We have done an exegesis of the word “doubt” as the Hellenists were in doubt which means to be entirely at loss or to be in perplexity. Again the Bible does not say the Hellenists were lost but definitely were not saved but only doubted. They had to believe a certain extent to what the eleven or 120 were saying in their own native language or they would not have said “what does this mean.” You have to accept to a certain extent what a person says in order to doubt what they say. You have to process what the person says and come to a conclusion whether you are going to believe what they say so you can make a statement of doubt. If you say “I do not believe what they are saying” this is a different issue of denial and you refuse to process what they are saying.
  Acts 2:13 states “Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine” represent the second group who were Hebraists. Remember Nelson Study Bible stated “those mentioned in verse 13 were Judeans (Hebraists) and did not understand the foreign languages the apostles were speaking. They concluded the apostles were drunk and speaking gibberish.” When we do not want to believe something or do not understand something,  we mock or make fun of it as a defense mechanism called rationalization. This was what the Hebraists were doing in Verse 13.
  Rick, I hope this info helps. Your question is valid based on the info given by Nelson Study Bible.
Blessings to you.
Dr. Don Howe, RN, PhD, ThD.