CHAPTER II. _The day of pentecost being arrived, and the disciples assembled,_ _the Holy Spirit descended as a mighty rushing wind, and in the_ _likeness of fiery tongues sat upon them; in consequence of_ _which, they were all enabled to speak different languages,_ _which they had never learned... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:2. _A SOUND FROM HEAVEN_] Probably thunder is meant, which is the harbinger of the Divine presence. _RUSHING MIGHTY WIND_] The passage of a large portion of electrical fluid over that place would not only occasion the _sound_, or thunder, but also _the rushing mighty wind_; as the air... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:3. _CLOVEN TONGUES LIKE AS OF FIRE_] The tongues were the emblem of the _languages_ they were to speak. The _cloven tongues_ pointed out the _diversity_ of those languages; and the _fire_ seemed to intimate that the whole would be a _spiritual_ gift, and be the means of bringing _light_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:4. _TO SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES_] At the building of _Babel_ the _language_ of the people was _confounded_; and, in consequence of this, they became scattered over the face of the earth: at this _foundation_ of the _Christian Church_, the gift of various languages was given to the apost... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:5. _DEVOUT MEN, OUT OF EVERY NATION_] Either by these we are simply to understand _Jews_ who were born in different countries, and had now come up to Jerusalem to be present at the passover, and for purposes of traffic, or _proselytes_ to Judaism, who had come up for the same purpose: f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:6. _WHEN THIS WAS NOISED ABROAD_] If we suppose that there was a considerable peal of thunder, which followed the escape of a vast quantity of _electric fluid_, and produced the _mighty rushing_ _wind_ already noticed on Acts 2:2, then the whole city must have been alarmed; and, as vari... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:7. _ARE NOT ALL THESE - GALILEANS?_] Persons who know no other dialect, save that of their own country. Persons wholly uneducated, and, consequently, naturally ignorant of those languages which they now speak so fluently.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:8. _HOW HEAR WE EVERY MAN IN OUR OWN TONGUE_] Some have supposed from this that the miracle was not so much wrought on the _disciples_ as on their _hearers_: imagining that, although the disciples spoke their _own tongue_, yet every man so understood what was spoken as if it had been s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:9. _PARTHIANS_] Parthia anciently included the northern part of modern _Persia_: it was situated between the _Caspian Sea_ and _Persian Gulf_, rather to the eastward of both. _MEDES_] Media was a country lying in the vicinity of the _Caspian_ _Sea_; having _Parthia_ on the east, _Assyr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:10. _PHRYGIA_] A country in Asia Minor, southward of _Pontus_. _PAMPHYLIA_] The ancient name of the country of _Natolia_, now called _Caramania_, between _Lycia_ and _Cilicia_, near the _Mediterranean Sea_. _EGYPT_] A very extensive country of African bounded by the _Mediterranean_ on... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:11. _CRETES_] Natives of _Crete_, a large and noted island in the Levant, or eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, now called _Candia_. _ARABIANS_] Natives of _Arabia_, a well known country of Asia, having the _Red Sea_ on the _west_; the _Persian Gulf_ on the _east;_ _Judea_ on the _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:13. _THESE MEN ARE FULL OF NEW WINE._] Rather _sweet wine_, for γλευκους, cannot mean the _mustum_, or _new wine_, as there could be none in Judea so early as pentecost. The γλευκος, _gleucus_, seems to have been a peculiar kind of wine, and is thus described by Hesychius and Suidas: Γλ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:14. _PETER, STANDING UP WITH THE ELEVEN_] They probably spoke by turns, not altogether; but Peter began the discourse. _ALL YE THAT DWELL AT JERUSALEM_] οι κατοικουντες would be better translated by the word _sojourn_, because these were not _inhabitants_ of Judea, but the _strangers_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:15. But _THE THIRD HOUR OF THE DAY_] That is, about _nine_ o'clock in the morning, previously to which the Jews scarcely ever ate or drank, for that hour was the hour of prayer. This custom appears to have been so common that even the most intemperate among the Jews were not known to tr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:16. _SPOKEN BY THE PROPHET JOEL_] The prophecy which he delivered so long ago is just now fulfilled; and this is another proof that Jesus whom ye have crucified is the _Messiah_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:17. _IN THE LAST DAYS_] The time of the Messiah; and so the phrase was understood among the Jews. _I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT UPON ALL FLESH_] Rabbi _Tanchum_ says, "When Moses laid his hands upon Joshua, the holy blessed God said, In the time of the old text, each individual prophet... [ Continue Reading ]
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, nei... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:19. _I WILL SHOW WONDERS_] It is likely that both the prophet and the apostle refer to the calamities that fell upon the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the fearful signs and portents that preceded those calamities. See the notes on Matthew 24:5, where these are distinctly rel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:20. _THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON_ _INTO BLOOD_] These are figurative representations of _eclipses_, intended most probably to point out the fall of the _civil_ and _ecclesiastical_ state in Judea: Matthew 24:29. That the SUN is _darkened_ when a total eclipse tak... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:21. _WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE_ _SAVED._] The predicted ruin is now impending; and only such as receive the Gospel of the Son of God shall be saved. And that none but the _Christians_ did escape, when God poured out these judgments, is well known; and that AL... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:22. _A MAN APPROVED OF GOD_] αποδεδειγμενον, _celebrated,_ _famous_. The sense of the verse seems to be this: _Jesus of_ _Nazareth, a man_ sent _of God, and celebrated among you by miracles,_ _wonders, and signs_; and all these done in such profusion as had never been done by the best o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:23. _HIM, BEING DELIVERED BY THE DETERMINATE COUNSEL_] Bp. Pearce paraphrases the words thus: _Him having been given forth_; i.e. sent into the world, and manifested by being _made flesh, and_ _dwelling among you_, as it is said in John 1:14; see also Acts 4:28. _Kypke_ contends that ε... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:24. _WHOM GOD HATH RAISED UP_] For, as God alone gave him up to death, so God alone raised him up from death. _HAVING LOOSED THE PAINS OF DEATH_] It is generally supposed that this expression means, the dissolving of those _bonds_ or _obligations_ by which those who enter into the reg... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:25. _FOR DAVID SPEAKETH CONCERNING HIM_] The quotation here is made from Psalms 16:8, which contains a most remarkable prophecy concerning Christ, every word of which applies to him, and to him _exclusively_. See the notes there.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:26. _AND MY TONGUE WAS GLAD_] In the Hebrew it is ויגל כבודי _vaiyagel kebodi_, "And my glory was glad:" but the evangelist follows the _Septuagint_, in reading και ηγαλλιασατο ἡ γλωσσα μου, what all the other Greek interpreters in the Hexapla translate δοξα μον, _my glory_. And what i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:27. _THOU WILT NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HELL_] εις αιδου, _in_ _hades_, that is, the state of _separate spirits_, or the state of the _dead_. Hades was a general term among the Greek writers, by which they expressed this state; and this HADES was _Tartarus_ to the _wicked_, and _Elysium_ to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:28. _THOU HAST MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE_] That is, the way from the region of death, or state of the dead and separate spirits; so that I shall resume the same body, and live the same kind of life, as I had before I gave up my life for the sin of the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _LET ME SPEAK FREELY - OF THE PATRIARCH DAVID_] In _Midris_ _Tillin_, it is said, in a paraphrase on the words, _my flesh shall_ _rest in hope_, "Neither worm nor insect had power over David." It is possible that this opinion prevailed in the time of St. Peter, and, if so, his words are t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, HE WOULD RAISE UP CHRIST_] This whole clause is wanting in ACD, one of the _Syriac_, the _Coptic,_ _AEthiopic, Armenian_, and _Vulgate_; and is variously entered in others. _Griesbach_ rejects it from the text, and Professor _White_ says of the words, "_certissime_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _THAT HIS SOUL WAS NOT LEFT IN HELL_] The words η ψυχη αυτου, _his soul_, are omitted by ABCD, _Syriac, Coptic, AEthiopic_, and _Vulgate_. Griesbach has left them out of the text, and Professor White says again, _certissime delenda_. The passage may be thus read: "He spake of the resurrect... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _WHEREOF WE ALL ARE WITNESSES._] That is, the whole 120 saw him after he rose from the dead, and were all ready, in the face of persecution and death, to attest this great truth.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _BY THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD EXALTED_] Raised by _omnipotence_ to the highest dignity in the realms of glory, to sit at the right hand of God, and administer the laws of both worlds. _THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY GHOST_] This was the promise that he had made to them a little before he suffered, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _DAVID IS NOT ASCENDED_] Consequently, he has not sent forth this extraordinary gift, but it comes from his Lord, of whom he said, _The Lord said unto my Lord_, c. Matthew 22:44, Matthew 22:44.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _UNTIL I MAKE THY FOES THY FOOTSTOOL._] It was usual with conquerors to put their feet on the necks of vanquished leaders, as emblematical of the state of subjection to which they were reduced, and the total extinction of their power. By quoting these words, Peter shows the Jews, who conti... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _BOTH LORD AND CHRIST._] Not only the Messiah, but the supreme Governor of all things and all persons, Jews and Gentiles, angels and men. In the preceding discourse, Peter assumes a fact which none would attempt to deny, viz. that Jesus had been lately crucified by them. He then, 1. Prove... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _WHEN THEY HEARD_ THIS, _THEY WERE PRICKED IN THEIR_ _HEART_] This powerful, intelligent, consecutive, and interesting discourse, supported every where by _prophecies_ and corresponding _facts_, left them without reply and without excuse; and they plainly saw there was no hope for them, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 38. _PETER SAID UNTO THEM, REPENT_] μετανοησατε; Humble yourselves before God, and deeply deplore the sins you have committed; pray earnestly for mercy, and deprecate the displeasure of incensed justice. For a definition of repentance, Matthew 3:2. _AND BE BAPTIZED EVERY ONE OF YOU_] Take on... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _FOR THE PROMISE IS UNTO YOU_] Jews of the land of Judea: not only the fulfilment of the _promise_ which he had lately recited from the prophecy of _Joel_ was made to them, but in this promise was also included the purification from sin, with every gift and grace of the Holy Spirit. _TO A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. _SAVE YOURSELVES FROM THIS UNTOWARD GENERATION._] Separate yourselves from them: _be ye saved_, σωθητε: the power is present with you; make a proper use of it, and ye shall be delivered from their obstinate unbelief, and the punishment that awaits it in the destruction of them and their ci... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 41. _THEY THAT GLADLY RECEIVED HIS WORD_] The word ασμενως, which signifies _joyfully, readily, willingly_, implies that they approved of the doctrine delivered; that they were glad to hear of this way of salvation; and that they began immediately to act according to its dictates. This last se... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 42. _THEY CONTINUED STEADFASTLY IN THE APOSTLES' DOCTRINE_] They _received_ it, _retained_ it, and _acted_ on its principles. _AND FELLOWSHIP_] κοινωνια, _community_; meaning _association_ for religious and spiritual purposes, The _community of goods_ cannot be meant; for this is mentioned Ac... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 43. _AND FEAR CAME UPON EVERY SOUL_] Different MSS. and versions read this clause thus, _And GREAT fear and TREMBLING came_ _upon every soul in JERUSALEM_. For several weeks past they had a series of the most astonishing miracles wrought before their eyes; they were puzzled and confounded at... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 44. _AND, ALL THAT BELIEVED_] οι πιστευοντες, _The believers_, i.e. those who conscientiously credited the doctrine concerning the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, and had, in consequence, received redemption in his blood. _WERE TOGETHER_] επι το αυτο. ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:46. _THEY, CONTINUING DAILY WITH ONE ACCORD IN THE TEMPLE_] They were present at all the times of public worship, and joined together in _prayers_ and _praises_ to God; for it in not to be supposed that _they_ continued to offer any of the _sacrifices_ prescribed by the law. _BREAKING... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 2:27. _PRAISING GOD_] As the fountain whence they had derived all their spiritual and temporal blessings; seeing him in all things, and magnifying the work of his mercy. _HAVING FAVOUR WITH ALL THE PEOPLE._] Every _honest, upright_ Jew would naturally esteem these for the simplicity, pur... [ Continue Reading ]