The Pentecostal revival begun in 1901, preparatory with Charles Parham asked

the Topeka Bible School Students to study the scriptures to determine was there any
scripture to support the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Parham and his school
had first theorized that glossolalia as evidence that believers were baptized in the Holy
Spirit, a doctrine that became the distinguishable theology of Pentecostalism.
Pentecostalism is a major event in the Restoration Movement history.
William Seymour as a black man endured much humiliation studied at Topeka
under Jim Crow laws, in order to learn this new theology of Pentecostalism.1 Later
Seymour began to preach this Pentecostal doctrine in a broken down stable on Azusa
Street in downtown Los Angeles, and he quickly attracted a passionate multiracial
congregation. The Azusa Street revival, the first structured Pentecostal worship was
drawing inquisitive Christians from around the world. Many worshippers saw this racial
integration worship as a sign of Gods presence.2 Their main teaching was based on Acts
chapter two, when the upper room believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and they
were speaking in tongues. They concluded that speaking in tongues is the evident that a
believer has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Pentecostalism linked the spiritual gifts
such as speaking in tongues, prophesying, and healing as described in the book of Acts as
the restoration of the Spirits power to the present day church, a new era of restoration
before the Second Coming.3
Some had argued that Pentecostals have no developed hermeneutics, they
generally disregard for scientific exegesis, and Pentecostals only developed a kind of
pragmatic hermeneutics.4 However history shows that the hermeneutics of early
Pentecostals are following closely with the holiness hermeneutics method.5 The holiness
1

Burgess, The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids,
Zondervan, 2002) p 1055
2
Fahlbusch, The encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 4, (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2005) p 138
3

Blumhofer, Restoring the Faith, The Assemblies of God, Pentecostalism, and American Culture,
University of Illinois Press (Champaign, 1993) p 4-5, 84, 116
4
5

Fee, Gospel and Spirit (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1991), 85-86.

Burgess, Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1996) p378

movement recognizes the importance of exegesis and the historical-grammatical method

for interpreting Scripture; nevertheless they argue that believers need the Spirit of God to
hear the voice of God. Holiness held that the Holy Spirit not only inspired the biblical
writers but He continually inspires and guides all believers in the interpretation through
the spiritual cultural context of the community. Their hermeneutic allows for multiple
meanings from the same biblical passage but guide by the rule of faith. The main
function of the early Pentecostals hermeneutics is to formation of theology to defend their
teaching in glossolalia as evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.6 Following the
Holiness, the Pentecostals also argue that the Holy Spirit allows the believers to
understand the meaning of the Scripture, communicating in the Divine revelation,
producing prophetic messages from the Scripture.7 Yet modern Pentecostal and neoPentecostal (Charismatic) recognize the necessity of both historical-grammatical
exegetical methods and total reliance on the Holy Spirits ability to illuminate and guide
into spiritual cultural context of the community. The community, the Scripture, and the Holy
Spirit are interdependent dialogical partners participating in discussion for theological
meaning. This hermeneutic is changing the Enlightenment emphasis on the scientific method to
the postmodern emphasis on the experimental method. Some theologians assert the doctrines of

this community become mostly experimental. However, the community experimental method
does not imply that the Scripture can be interpreted to whatever meaning that the community
desire. In the internet age, individual of the community can easily access to free Bible software
with commentaries, Greek and Hebrew directories, background information, even the early
Church Fathers writing to determinate the meaning of a biblical passage. The individual of the
community can also access many theological discussion blogs and writings to confirm the
community interpretation of a passage. While Pentecostals readily endorses the community
experimental method, they often resist placing experience on the front end of the hermeneutical
process.8

There is much criticism against the Pentecostals preference using the book of Acts
as a biblical authority for its distinctive doctrines of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and
spiritual gifts. Many pastors and classicist scholars such as Meyer, Blailock, and Bruce
view the book of Acts is only a historical document of the Early Church era. Some
6

Ibid, p 379
Ibid, p 382
8
Ibid, p 384
7

scholars argue that Christians cannot draw doctrine out from the book of Acts; Christian
doctrines should draw from the Pauls writings.
Thus Narrative in and itself is an insufficient form theological discourse as
compared to Epistle 9
Pinnock & Osborne denied that Luke had any theological intent in writing the
book of Acts and there is no normative on the doctrine of speaking in tongues.10 The
dispensational theologians also reject that Joels prophecy in Acts chapter two apply to
the current church era. Yet, dispensationalism is facing its own theological challenges
with the progressive dispensationalism, the Kingdom is here but not yet concept.
Dispensationalism is changing, reformulating their dispensationalist theology. The progressive
dispensationalists reject the distinctive dispensational hermeneutic, they reduce the number of
kingdoms referred to in the Bible.11 Moreover, the Today theological doctrine arises

from the book of Hebrews also becomes problematic to the dispensationalists. In

Hebrews 3:13, the author exhorts the believers to encourage each other every day while
there is the Today; this part of the verse is in the present indicative tense (a continuous
action into the present), again in chapter 4:7 God appoints a certain day called "Today,"
saying through David, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Both
words appoints and saying in verse 7 are in present indicative tense, God is

appointing a certain one day, it means during the time or this period, thus this is time of
Christ, unlike another other period, it is not temporary time, nor this is a dispensational
period, this Today is the same yesterday, today and forever age (Heb 13:8), this one
day is the Church Era, Today is the Holy Spirit speaking directly to His children (Heb
3:7), it is the DAY we hear His voice (Heb 3:15).12 It is the DAY of the Spirit of
prophecy. There is no dispensation in the Era of the Church, the time of Christ is one
day, the Today.

Grenz, Theology for the Community of God (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1994) p 421
Pinnock & Osborne, A Truce Proposal for the Tongues Controversy, Christianity Today Oct. 1971, p 1
11
Mouw, Christianity Today, "What the Old Dispensationalists Taught Me," March 6, 1995, p. 34
12
Long, Hebrews, Belief a Theological Commentary on the Bible
10

Many of dispensationalists rely on Warfields conclusion to tie the end of

prophecy to the completion of the canon (with or without the help of 1 Cor. 13:810)
without personal research on the second century document evidences but to assume that
the evidence will support Warfields theory. The documental evidences come from every
quarter of the second century, from the widest geographical distribution (Gaul, Rome,
Asia Minor, Africa, Syria), and from the majority of the writers, the documental
evidences had shown that the dispensationalists cannot depend on such document
evidences to support, nor can they rely on the church fathers to agree with the proposal
that prophecy and canon cannot coexist. The spiritual gift and the Spirit Of prophecy
did not suddenly cease at the end of the apostolic era. The documental evidences have
shown that they continue in the churches throughout the following century and into the
next. During that period the Church enjoyed all the components of the emerging Christian
canon and fresh specific guidance from the Spirit.13 The Didache is a Church manual of
the late first or early second century, a manual of moral instruction and church order. The
Didache addresses the issue of local and itinerant prophets; it gives directives for
discerning the true from the false prophets. For centuries Christians enjoy reading the
Shepherd of Hermas, which is written in Rome (90150 AD), possibly in stages. Hermes
own experiences tended toward visions, angelic visitations, and voices from heaven.
Polycarp, a younger contemporary of Ignatius, is martyred around the middle of the
second century. The account of his death is drawn up almost immediately. It included a
vision and a reference to other predictions. The Epistle of Barnabas (early- to mid-second
century?) regards the gift of prophecy as a sign of Gods presence in the congregation.
Throughout the Church history, we will discover that after the Apostle Era and the
completion of the Cannon (about 400 AD), there are still many well documented physical
healings and operations of spiritual gifts in the Church, Augustine (354-430 AD)
provides cases of over seventy miracles in and around his church such as a woman is
healed of her breast cancer when she made the sign of Christ on her sore; an old
comedian of Curubis is healed of paralysis and hernia at baptism. 14 Gregory the
Wonderworker (213-270 AD) bishop of Neo-Caesarea, he becomes a Christian under the
13

Gary Shogren, Christian Prophecy and Canon in the Second Century: A response to B.B.Warfied,
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Vol.40, No.4 (1997), p 609-626
14
Augustine, The City of God, Book XXII. Chapter 8

influence of Origen. He preaches the gospel on the streets, and he heals a crowd of sick
people, soon after he builds a church in that city. Theodore of Sykeon (759-826 AD) is
well-known for his miracles of healing, expelling demons, and for inducing repentance of
sin. St. Catherine of Siena (1380 AD) is prominent by extraterrestrial visions,
consolations, healing power, and bring the dead back to life. J.C. Blumhardt, his healing
ministry is from 1829 to 1880, the famous Swiss theologian Barth calls Blumhardt his
mentors. People are often healed spontaneously, while listening to his sermons, with no
special acts or instructions on Blumhardts part at all. Sometimes people receive healings
while Blumhardt is praying for them after they had come to confess sinning and seeking
God for forgiveness. Blumhardt usually find out the healings well after they had
happened, and often surprise takes him.15 Brother Andre (1845-1937) a humble Quebec
priest who suffer poor physical health, but over 435 people are cured through his
intercession as reported by Lafreniere in 1916, Arthur Saint Pierre even offers medical
certification for some of the cures. 16 According to some surveys, currently 70 to 80
percent of U.S. respondents believe God heals people in answer to prayer, and that in
many Latin American, Asian and African countries where Pentecostal growth is
occurring most rapidly, as many as 80 percent of first generation Christians attribute their
conversions primarily to having received divine healing for themselves or a family
member.17
Most of the modern-day Evangelical scholars such as Stanley Toussaint, Menzies,
Gary McGee and Max Turner even though they hold the opinion that the book of Acts is
history but they also argue that the book of Acts is intensely theological. Luke is teaching
eternal doctrines to the Christians through story telling, his teaching apply to the first
century Christians as well as the present day Christians. The Book of Acts is the doctrines
of God reveal through history,
--- on the contrary, our focus as interpreters must be on the biblical witness.
Gods word is in history but not of it. The ultimate purpose of Scripture is to draw us into
15

Ronald A.N.Kydd, Healing through the Centuries Models for Understanding, (Hendrickson Publishers,
Peabody, 1998) p.34-44
16

Ibid. 94
Indiana Professor Awarded $150,000 Grant to Study Divine Healing, ASSIST News Service, online:
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2009/s09040059.htm (April 9, 2009)
17

the drama of redemption, into the life and action of the triune God, so that we can be
faithful yet creative actors who glorify God in all that we say and do. 18
Turner, Dunne, Menzies and Stronstad all had emphasized in different ways that
throughout the book of Acts an emphasis on the spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit is a gift
by its nature prophetic, empowering and experiential, dynamic experience of God.
Of all the evangelists, Luke alone records this consciousness in Jesus and the
disciples that they have received the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of prophecy. Lukes record
of this appeal to the prophets demonstrates that in the experience of the early church and
the theology of Luke the last days have now dawned in the successive ministries of Jesus
and the disciples.19
The first two chapters of Luke, there are nine references to the Holy Spirit (1:15,
17, 35, 41, 67, 80; 2:25, 26, 27), and within the first two chapters of Acts, there again
nine verses refer to the Spirit (1:2, 5, 8, 16; 2:4, 17, 18, 33, 38). Luke divulges one of his
intentions is to emphasis the Spirit of Prophecy, the Lord is speaking to His Church
through the Spirit (Acts 2:17). A look at the 21 st century, the continuing growth of the
world wide Pentecostal/neo Pentecostal Christians will excess 500 millions;20 the
doctrine of the Holy Spirit is at the center stage of Christian discussions.
Corroborating with the Today teaching in the book of Hebrews, Luke in his
writing again emphasis the Holy Sprit is continue speaking to His Church Today, in
Act 2:17 Luke quoted Joels prophecy by adding, God is saying ( ) into it,
saying is in the present continuous or progressive kind of action tense. Luke is teaching
the readers a theological concept of progressive revelation that God is pouring out His
Spirit to all believers continuously thorough out the last days. In Joel's wording the
outpouring of the Spirit is to take place in the indefinite "hereafter," but the quotation in
Acts 2:17 replaces "hereafter" by the more definite "in the last days." The coming of the
Spirit, that is to say, is the token that the "last days"--the days for "establishing all that
18

Kevin Vanhoozer, Lost in Interpretation? Truth, Scripture, and Hermeneutics, ETS Vol.48, No.1 p.104,
113
19

Stronstrad, The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke (Peabody, Hendrickson, 1984) p 75, 76

20

Vinson Synan, The Century of the Holy Spirit, (Nelson, Nashville, 2001) p.372

God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old" (Acts 3:21)--have been
inaugurated by the ministry, death, and exaltation of Jesus. This eschatological note is not
so prominent in Luke's writings as it is in some of the other NT documents, but the whole
record of Acts presupposes that the "last days" stretch from the exaltation of Jesus to his
coming as judge (Acts 10:42; 17:31), and the presence and activity of the Spirit provide
unmistakable testimony to the fact that the last days are here.21
For Luke, the Spirit is God revealing himself-accosting us, surprise us, giving us
dreams and revelations, leading us in unexpected directions, manifesting himself in
unexpected ways and places, making Christ almost palpably present to us, grasping us
with profound and transformational understanding, bringing joy and praise to our lips and
hearts, giving special wisdom in testing circumstances, on occasion filling us with
special prophetic words, and more generally empowering that us to share the good news
of our God and of his wondrous deeds accomplished in Christ. That is what Luke means
when he talks of Jesus pouring out Joels promised eschatological gift of the Spirit of
prophecy in Act 2. And he does not think of this gift merely as one for the golden age of
the churchs beginnings. For him, as indeed Joel promised, the gift of the Spirit is
essentially the Spirit of prophecy and it is for all Gods people. And so, as the childrens
children of the first post-Pentecost believers, and those also called by the Lord, it is
implicitly for the present-day readers too (cf. Acts 2:38-39). ----- there is little doubt that
he walks shoulder to shoulder with his canonical companions, Paul and John. 22 Peter
affirmed the promise is the promise of the Father" in Acts 1:4, it is "the promise of the
Holy Spirit" in Acts 2:33 because the Spirit is the substance of the promise; he is, as Paul
wrote, "the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph 1:13).
Some Bible translations footnoted that the most reliable earliest manuscripts and ancient witnesses
do not have these verses. However, these

last 12 verses in Mark are cited (at least in part) by

many ancient witnesses, such as Justin (165 AD), Tertullian (220 AD), Hippolytus (235

21

Bruce, LUKE'S PRESENTATION OF THE SPIRIT IN ACTS, Criswell Theological Review 5.1 (1990)
p. 15-29
22
Max Turner, Luke and the Spirit, Renewing Theological Interpretation of Biblical Pneumatology,
Reading Luke (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2005) p.289

AD), Ambrose (397 AD) and Augustine (430 AD).23 Dr. Cyrus Scofield comments in
the Scofield Bible that these verses are quoted by Irenaeus and Hippolytus in the second
or third century.24 The 3rd century Church Fathers have quoted the entire verse of Mark 16.17 in their
ancient writing (Ante-Nicene

Fathers, Vol. VII , Book VIII, Sec. I. On the Diversity of

Spiritual Gifts).
It is correct to say that there are two ancient manuscript copies do not include
Mark 16.9-20 (Vatican Codex and Sinaitic Codex), however there is no evidence to
support these two manuscript copies are more reliable than other 24,000 partial and
complete manuscript copies of the New Testament. We can find about 150,000 variants
among all the manuscript copies; nevertheless, 99% of the variants hold virtually no
significance. Dr. Steven Cox points out the facts that the last 12 verses of Mark are very
possible found in the older manuscripts of Vaticanus Codex and Sinaiticus Codex.
Vaticanus was copied from an ancestor (i.e. older than Vaticanus) which must
have contained 9-20, since space is left for 9-20 to be filled in, and then started to write
Luke on the reverse side of the page. This is the only blank column in the whole NT of
Vaticanus. Normally books start on the same page, so Mark starts immediately under
Matthew, Luke immediately under Mark, and so on. Sinaiticus, was also copied from an
ancestor (i.e. older than Sinaiticus) which must have contained 9-20, since the sheet for
Mark 14:54 to Luke 1:56 has been replaced with a new copy written on new sheet (a
bifolium, a sheet folded in the middle creating four pages). The handwriting of the new
page is different from the scribe who wrote the pages either side. This replacement sheet
for Mark 14:54 to Luke 1:56 is spaced with larger letters than the surrounding pages, and
includes an ornamental arabesque to fill the extra space.25

23

24
25

John William Burgon, The Revision Revised, (Conservative Classics, Paradise, PA, 1883), p. 422-423
Cyrus Scofield, Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition), Mark 16.9
Steven Cox, Is Mark 16: 9-20 Original? http://bibleq.info/answer/629/ (Oct.30, 2009)

Part of Mark Chapter 13

Part of Mark Chapter 16

26

We can observe by the above images of the Sinaitic Codex, the handwriting in Mark 16 is
of a different person. Thus the reliability of the Mark 14:54 to Luke 1:56 in this Sinaitic
Codex become very questionable. Under the rule of law, these verses written on a new page
inserted into the original codex, with the handwriting of a different person from the scribe who
wrote the pages either side is regard as unauthentic document, as a result this inserted page is not
admissible as genuine document in a court of law.27

Beside the Vatican Codex and Sinaitic Codex, there is still another valuable 5th century
Greek manuscript of the Old and New Testaments, Codex Alexandrinus (the Britannica

26
27

Codex Sinaiticus, Mark 16, Luke 2, http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/ (Nov. 2, 2009)

Federal Evidence Rule 902

encyclopedia recognizes it as an importance manuscript which is now preserved in the

British Library).28
Mark 16. 9-20 is found in this manuscript copy, and these last 12 verses in Mark also can
be found in most other complete manuscript copies Greek uncials (A, C, D, K, X, D, Q,
and P) dated among the fifth and ninth centuries, these last 12 verses also contained in
later dated Greek minuscule (137, 138, 1110, 1210, 1215, 1216, 1217, 1221, and 1582)
and in the majority of Old Latin texts as well as the Coptic versions and other early
translations.29
There is no evidence to support those verses 9-20 of chapter 16 of Mark are not in
the original manuscript; on the contrary, the evidences support that these last 12 verses of
Mark have cited by many early Church Fathers. The 3rd century Church Fathers have quoted
Mark 16.17 directly, we can find these verses in many reliable manuscript copies of the
New Testament. Throughout Church history, the Church has accepted Mark 16. 9-20 as
part of the Canon. For the reasons cited above these 12 verses are part of the Scripture which
cannot be deleted or ignore by the present day Christians.

Consequently, the promises made by our Lord Jesus to the believers in Mark 16.17 and 18 that the
miracles will

accompany those who believe, such as in His name Christians can cast out

demons, Christians can lay their hands on the sick, the sick will recover, and Christians
can speak in new tongues, these promises absolutely apply to the present day Christians.
Evidently from the very beginning Christians have believed in the miraculous and the
power of the Christian faith to work miracles is one factor in the conversion of the

28

Codex Alexandrinus, Britannica online encyclopedia, online:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/123927/Codex-Alexandrinus (Oct.29, 2009)
29

John William Burgon, The Revision Revised, (Conservative Classics, Paradise, PA, 1883), p. 422-423.
Dr. Steven Cox also has provided extensive information on the evidences to support that Mark 16.9-20 is in
the original text in the bible Q bible questions answered website, http://bibleq.info/answer/629/ (Oct.30,
2009)

Roman Empire. In the years after 500 AD miracles loom more prominently in the
writings of educated leaders of the church in the West.30
.

By His promises, we can connect to our charismatic, supernatural and powerful

God; we must engage in the Divine Power moves us out of the limitation of the absolute
three-dimension natural realm, to witness the deliverance power of God in action. After
all we are commanded to be witnesses for our risen Lord (Acts 1.8), our Lord is alive,
and His redemption model has not been changed, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and
forever (Heb 13.8).

30

Kenneth Latourette, A History of Christianity, (Harper & Row, Publishers, San Francisco, 1953) Vol.1,
p.369