At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples in the upper room, right? Everyone knows that!

Let’s look at it again. Acts 2:1: ‘They were all together in one place.’ No mention of an upper room. Verse 2: ‘and filled the whole house where they were sitting. No mention of a prayer meeting either. Anyway, they would usually stand (sometimes kneel) to pray. Then they spoke in tongues, and a crowd gathered, amazed. In the upper room? Then Peter stood and preached. Surely they were downstairs, not upstairs. In those days, most large houses had integral courtyards, so maybe they were even in a courtyard, which makes more sense as a place for the (huge) crowds to gather.

So where do we get the upper room idea? Go back to Acts 1:13, after the disciples returned from witnessing the ascension of Jesus.  When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. So there were just 11 staying in the upper room. It was their dormitory!

Later, these 11 met with the women and Jesus’ brothers for prayer. It doesn’t say they met in their bedroom. According to Acts 3:1 they would have met in the temple, where they always prayed.

Then we read in Acts 1:15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty). The upper room is getting bigger and bigger. Surely not! This verse is the introduction to a committee meeting. It may have been the same house as in Acts 2:2, but needn’t have been.

Either way, it makes no sense that Acts 2 happened in the upper room. It was in a house, and probably in a courtyard where the crowds could gather.

Why am I writing these blogs? To encourage us to study Scripture carefully and not take every message as gospel. Be like the Bereans. Who were they? Check them out in Acts 17:11.