Acts 4:8

πλησθεὶς πνεύ. ἁγ.: the whole phrase is characteristic of St. Luke, who employs it in the Gospel three times and in Acts five (Friedrich, Lekebusch, Zeller). Acts has sometimes been called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, and the number of times St. Luke uses the title “Holy Spirit” justifies the name, see above also p. 63. All three expressions, πνεῦμα ἅγιον, τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα, and τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον are found in the Gospel and Acts, though much more frequently in the latter, the first expression (in the text) occurring quite double the number of times in Acts as compared with the Gospel, cf. in the LXX, Psalms 50 (51):11, Isaiah 63:10-11, Wis 1:5; Wis 9:17; and with 1 Corinthians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 2:12, cf. Wis 9:17, and Isaiah 63:10-11. On the omission of the article see Simcox, Language of N. T. Greek, p. 49. πλησθεὶς the verb πίμπλημι common both in Gospel and in Acts, only found twice elsewhere in N.T., as against thirteen times in Gospel and nine times in Acts (Friedrich, Lekebusch). The word was also very frequent in LXX, cf. Sir 48:12, A. The phrase πλησθῆναι πνεύμ. ἁγ. is peculiar to St. Luke, in Gospel three times, Luke 1:15; Luke 1:41; Luke 1:67, and Acts 2:4; Acts 4:31; Acts 9:17; Acts 13:9, cf. Luke 12:12; Luke 21:14; see also Matthew 10:20; Mark 13:11. St. Peter's courage in thus openly proclaiming the Crucified for the first time before the rulers of his people might well be significantly emphasised, as in Acts 4:13. St. Chrysostom comments (Hom., x.) on the Christian wisdom of St. Peter on this occasion, how full of confidence he is, and yet how he utters not a word of insult, but speaks with all respect.