Acts 2:18

And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: AND ON MY SERVANTS AND ON MY HANDMAIDENS I WILL POUR OUT IN THOSE DAYS OF MY SPIRIT; AND THEY SHALL PROPHESY. This also appears to have been strikingly fulfilled in some of the gifted servants of the Church, both male and female....

18._Upon my servants. _In these words the promise is restrained unto the worshippers of God. For God doth not profane his Spirit; which he should do, if he should make the stone common to the unbelieving and despisers. It is certain that we are made the servants of God by the Spirit; and that, therefore, we are not, until such time as we have received the same; but, first, whom God hath adopted to be of his family, and whom he hath framed by his Spirit to obey him, those doth he furnish with new gifts afterward. Again, the prophet did not respect that order of thee, but his meaning was to make this grace proper to the Church alone. And forasmuch as the Church was only among the Jews, he calleth them honorably the servants and handmaids of God. But after that God did gather unto himself on every side a Church, the wall of separation being pulled down, so many as are received into the soci...

14-21 Peter's sermon shows that he was thoroughly recovered from his fall, and thoroughly restored to the Divine favour; for he who had denied Christ, now boldly confessed him. His account of the miraculous pouring forth of the Spirit, was designed to awaken the hearers to embrace the faith of Christ, and to join themselves to his church. It was the fulfilling the Scripture, and the fruit of Christ's resurrection and ascension, and proof of both. Though Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake with tongues as the Spirit gave him utterance, yet he did not think to set aside the Scriptures. Christ's scholars never learn above their Bible; and the Spirit is given, not to do away the Scriptures, but to enable us to understand, approve, and obey them. Assuredly none will escape the condemnation of the great day, except those who call upon the name of the Lord, in and through his Son Je...

Verse Acts 2:18. _ON MY SERVANTS AND ON MY HANDMAIDENS_] This properly means persons of the lowest condition, such as _male_ and _female_ _slaves_. As the Jews asserted that the spirit of prophecy never rested upon a _poor_ man, these words are quoted to show that, under the Gospel dispensation, neither _bond_ nor _free, male_ nor _female_, is excluded from sharing in the gifts and graces of the Divine Spirit....

AND ON MY SERVANTS - The Hebrew text in Joel is “upon the servants.” The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, however, render it “on my servants.” In Joel, the prophet would seem to be enumerating the different conditions and ranks of society. The influences of the Spirit would be confined to no class; they would descend on old and young, and even on servants and handmaids. So the Chaldee Paraphrase understood it. But the Septuagint and Peter evidently understood it in the sense of servants of God, as the worshippers of God are often called servants in the Scriptures. See Romans 1:1. It is possible, however, that Joel intended to refer to the servants of God. It is not “upon your servants,” etc., as in the former expression, “your sons,” etc.; but the form is changed, “upon servants and handmaids.” The language, therefore, will admit the construction of the Septuagint an

EXPOSITION ACTS 2:1 _Was now come _for _was fully come, _A.V.; _all together _for _with one accord, _A.V. and T.R. WHEN THE DAY OF PENTECOST WAS NOW COME; literally, _when the day of Pentecost_—_i.e._, of the fiftieth day—was in _the course of being completed. _The fiftieth day (reckoned from the end of the 16th of Nisan, on which Jesus was crucified) was actually come, but was not ended (comp. Luke 9:11). ALL TOGETHER; ὁμοῦ for ὁμοθυμαδόν_: _but ὁμοθυμαδόν—a favorite word in the Acts (Acts 4:24, note)—seems preferable to ὁμοῦ, which occurs only in St. John. IN ONE PLACE (see...

AND ON MY SERVANTS, AND ON MY HANDMAIDENS,.... In Joel it is only the servants and the handmaids; and which Kimchi interprets of strangers that should stand in the land of Israel, and serve the Israelites. But these phrases do not seem so much to describe the civil state and condition of those persons, as their religious character, being such as were brought, by the power of divine grace, to yield a cheerful obedience to the will of God; though it may also regard the former, and show, that with God there is no distinction and difference of bond or free, of rich or poor; contrary to a maxim of the Jews s, that the Shekinah does not dwell but upon a wise man, a mighty man, and a rich man. I WILL POUR OUT, IN THOSE DAYS, OF MY SPIRIT, AND THEY SHALL PROPHESY; see the note on the preceding verse, from whence this clause, "and they shall prophesy", is repeated; for it is not in the text in J...

Acts 2:1. _And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. «And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?_ These men, so far from being able to speak man...

ACTS 2:17-21 The quotation from Joel 2:28-32 (= LXX 3:1-5) is preserved in two forms, represented by codex Vaticanus and by codex Bezae. The former agrees almost exactly with the text of the Septuagint, whereas the latter embodies a series of changes from the Septuagint, most of which make the quotation more suitable for the occasion. This adaptation may be the work of the original author, and the agreement of the B-text with the Septuagint may have been produced by an editor. On the other hand, however, it is equally possible that the author copied exactly, or nearly so, from his Septuagint, and that the modifications were introduced by the Western reviser. In favor of the latter view is the fact that in other formal quotations the...

CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1)._ 2. The Immediate Effect of His Presence (Acts 2:5). 3. Peter's Address (Acts 2:14). 4. The Result of the Witness (Acts 2:37). 5. The Gathered Company in Fellowship (Acts 2:42). This is an important chapter. The Promise of the Father was fulfilled, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity came down to earth, to be the other Comforter. He came on that blessed day. Two things are at once apparent. He came upon the assembled believers individually, and also did a work i