Acts 2

19. This verse should be included in a parenthesis, and thus considered as conveying not the words of Peter but of the historian: which effectually answers the objection from the fact having happened but a few days before the speech was delivered. This also accounts for his calling the Syriac, which was spoken by the Jews at that time, their language. D.

24. Lord. This word, equivalent to the JEHOVAH of the Old Testament, and correspondent to it in the Septuagint version, is constantly applied to CHRIST in the Acts, where it is found nearly a hundred times, and is like a sacred key-note of the whole ever sounding forth his divine Lordship in the ear of the world. It is “the LORD JESUS” who is said by Peter to have come in and gone out among them. It is he who chooses Matthias; he who sends the Holy Ghost; he who adds believers daily to the Church; he who works miracles by the hands of his apostles. To the Lord Jesus, Stephen, the first martyr, looks up and prays at the hour of death. It is he who calls to the persecuting Saul from heaven; he sends Ananias to baptize; he sends Peter to Cornelius. He (says Peter) is Lord of all. Thus the mind is elevated from earth to heaven, and from the acts of envoys to the majesty and glory of the universal Lord and King, sitting on his heavenly throne. W.—It is not said, “Show whom thou wilt choose,” but “whom thou hast chosen.” There exists no more decisive proof of the absolute recognition of the divinity of our blessed Lord than this first prayer of his Church. That the prayer is made to him is undeniable. The very word in which he says (John 6 : 70), “Have not I chosen you twelve?” is also used here: if he chose the twelve, his it was to choose the new apostle. And, the prayer being thus made to him, there is in it attributed to him knowledge of the hearts of all men, and that divine foreknowledge which, before all secondary agents, determines the destiny of men. A.—25. The style of the gospel is admirable in a thousand different views; and in this, among others, that we meet there with no invectives on the part of the historians against Judas or Pilate, nor against any of the enemies, or the very murderers of their Lord. Pascal.—To his own place. In the eternal world every man has his place, and it is his own. No other can make it, and no other can occupy it, for him. Whatever may be in it outwardly, its essence lies in his own soul and in the condition to which he has brought it. Here in the last issue consists his misery or joy, for only through his soul can his share be measured in the universe of God and in God himself. And God has made the man’s own soul witness and judge over itself. This difference only shall exist between the present and the future, that then—confronted with the eternal laws of truth and justice—the witness shall have no power of false testimony, and the judge be unable to use favor or sophistry. Men shall take their own place in the spiritual universe as bodies take their place in the natural—by the power of gravitation which is in them—nearer God or farther from him, as they have impressed the character upon themselves, and in nearness will lie life and peace—in distance, death and misery. Ker.

1. AND when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one 2 place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and 3 it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven 4 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. 5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under

6 heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were con- 7 founded, 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 8 Galilæans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, and 10 Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of 11 Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Jesus has ascended to his Father, but this other paraclete is to come and dwell in his people for ever. His office work is threefold: First, with reference to Christ’s immediate disciples, he was the revealer— Jesus had instructed and opened truth to their minds; but their minds were weak, their memories treach- erous. This Holy Spirit comes to bring to mind his words, to strengthen memory, to fill them with the truth thus spoken in all its vividness and power, and open the true meaning of what was obscure and dark. Nor is this all. There were many things Jesus had for them, which they could not bear, were not able to receive, before his departure. These the Spirit should make known to them; these things to come he should unfold to them. This promise is the foundation on which the whole New Testament rests as the inspired truth of God. They spake, they wrote the things pertaining to Christ and his kingdom, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The second office is that of the convictor and regenerator. He is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgment; and as he convinces and convicts he is to renew and lead them to Jesus. On the day of Pentecost he first demonstrated this divine power; thou- sands were pricked in their hearts; thousands believed in Jesus. Ever since that time his presence has been revealed in conviction and conversion. Religion advances; Jesus is received; the gospel is victo- rious only as he brings the truth home to dead hearts of men. The third office is that of quickener, guide, and comforter. To the soul once penitent and believing, this blessed Spirit comes and quickens it to see and feel the fullness, and richness, and power of the truth as it is in Jesus; stimulates it to sacrifice and labor, excites to prayer, strengthens against temptation, supports and comforts amid trial, sorrow, and death. Jesus sends this divine Spirit to work in his Church and through its members. This is his great promise, and this completes the cycle of redemption. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each in their office ministering life and salvation to the world. S. W. F.

1. The day of Pentecost. Pentecost is a (Greek) New Testament term, meaning fiftieth, indi- cating the celebration of this feast on the fiftieth day from that of the Passover. This is called in the Old Testament the Feast of Harvest; and also the Feast of Weeks, because it was seven weeks, or “a week of weeks,” from the Passover. The Jews also called it “The Feast of the joy of the Law,” as occurring, according to their tradition, on the very day when the Law was given from Mount Sinai, the fiftieth of the Exodus, from the night of the first Passover. And so this Feast of Pentecost associates the old covenant of the Law with the new covenant of the Gospel, the organization of the Old Testament Church under Moses with a partial ministry of the Spirit, with its reorganization under the apostles with the fullness of the Holy Ghost. In this we see the vital connection of the new covenant with the old. B.—At the Feast of the Passover the lamb was slain—at the Feast of Pentecost the Law was given. Coincident with the slaying of the lamb was the death of Christ; coincident with the giving of the Law was the descent of the Spirit. On the first

Pentecost the Law was written on tables of stone; on the last came the Spirit to write the Law on the living tables of the heart. Arnot.

In the old dispensation there were three great annual festivals at which the sons of Abraham went up to Jerusalem—that of the Passover, which com- memorated and renewed their gladness over their deliverance from the Egyptian house of bondage; that of the first fruits, when the earliest ripe sheaves gave joyous foretoken of the coming harvest; and that of Tabernacles, when for a season their tent- life was renewed, and they blessed God for their settled enjoyment of the promised land. But what was temporary and occasional in the former econ- omy, is permanent under the gospel; and the glad- ness of all these three festivals is united in the Christian life. The Pascal joy of deliverance—the Pentecostal gladness of first fruits in the possession of the earnest of the Spirit—and the Tabernacle re- joicing in the contemplation, from out the frail booth of the flesh, of “the city which hath founda- tions whose builder and maker is God”—these all combine to make the experience of the believer a continuous feast, which is not the less real because it is internal and spiritual. W. M. T.

All in one place. It is not of the apostles only that the whole history is related. Throughout the latter part of chapter 1 we are in presence of the assembled believers, the hundred and twenty names of verse 15. In verse 23, it is “they” who “appoint two”; in verse 24, “they” who pray; in verse 26, “they” who give forth their lots; in chapter 2: 1, “they” who are “all with one accord in one place”; in verse 3, it is upon “each of them” that the fiery tongues rest. There is no change of subject throughout. And with this agree the words and acts of the twelve. A.

Our Saviour Christ, who is Lord of the Sabbath, fulfilling the work of our redemption by his resurrection upon the first day of the week, and by his mission of the Holy Ghost miraculously the first day of the week, and by the secret message of his Spirit to the apostles and the primitive Church, hath translated the observation of the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week, which is our Christian Sabbath; that as our Christian baptism succeeds the sacrament of circumcision, and as our Christian pascha, in the sacrament of the eucharist, succeeded the Jewish passover, so our Christian Sabbath, the first day of the week, succeeds the Sabbath of the seventh day of the week; and that morality which was, by Almighty God, under that covenant, confined to the seventh day, is, by the example of Christ and his apostles to us Gentiles, transferred to the first day of the week. Hale.

2, 3. Suddenly came the fulfillment for which the disciples now, and the devout of their preceding generations, had waited. And in this his Pentecostal gift we find further evidence that Christ came to fulfill the long promise of the prophets. Two signs preceded, and one followed the immediate advent of the Holy Ghost: First, a sound, as of a rushing mighty wind, without a breath of movement in the air, a sound sweeping down through the still sky from the upper heaven, a sound, heard in its downward course by many in the immediate vicinity, taking the direction and entering into the very chamber where the disciples were sitting, and there ceasing. This was an expressive intimation to those who understood the symbolic use of the term wind, or breath, or spirit, as applied to the divine Spirit; it was an advance sign from heaven of his coming. Next, in addition to the sound appealing to the ear, instantly followed a light, as of flame, appealing to the eye. An appearance it was, of a body of flame, disparted and distributed in the form of tongues, one resting upon the head of each disciple. A brightness as of fire or flame, but like the bush at Horeb there was no burning. This miraculous light, with its peculiar form, also bore an expressive intimation, which we can as readily interpret. Spiritual light and spiritual energy, coming from the Holy Ghost into the heart, were the experience signified by the seeming flame. “The form of tongues signified that the tongue, the word, or speech, controlled by the Holy Spirit, should communicate all that is heavenly. That such a tongue of light and fire descended upon each individual present, was an emblem of that fullness of the Spirit imparted to each individual as a permanent gift.” Thus these signs, audible and visible, impressively indicated the power and the mode of working of the Holy Spirit. More than this, they were specific pledges of the conquering might of the divine Spirit that should attend the preaching of Christ crucified and risen. B.

Tell it wherever there are ears to hear, tell it to the ends of the earth, God hath spoken; man has not been forgotten; there is a gospel, a “speech of God”; questions affecting salvation are settled; and our way to holy living and happy dying traced by the Hand which rules both worlds. In strict keeping with the spiritual stamp of Christianity was the symbol which, once for all, announced to the Church the advent of her conquering power. The symbol is a TONGUE, the only instrument of the grandest war ever waged: a tongue—man’s speech to his fellow man; a message in human words to human faculties, from the understanding to the understanding, from the heart to the heart. A tongue of fire—man’s voice, God’s truth; man’s speech, the Holy Spirit’s inspiration; a human organ, a superhuman power. Arthur.—The truth revealed is the condition and the instrument of the Spirit’s working. Hence, only when the revelation of God is complete by the message of his Son, his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, was the full permanent gift of the Spirit possible, not to make new revelations, but to unfold all that lay in the Word spoken once for all, in whom the whole name of God is contained. A. M.

4. Immediately succeeding these miraculous manifestations is the advent of the Holy Ghost. Of this the simple sublime record is, They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. As of old “God was not in” this seeming of the “wind and the fire,” but entered invisibly and inaudibly into the hearts of the disciples to breathe into them the fullness of spiritual life and light, to speak thereafter to them in “the still small voice,” and to abide in them and with them for ever. Fullness and permanence characterize the influence and communication of the Holy Spirit from henceforth. Eitherto prophets and apostles, and all believers, had only received in lesser measure partial and limited foretastes of the divine working. B.—As the Son was working in the world long before his incarnation, so did the Holy Ghost also act upon mankind long before his effusion; as it was at the incarnation of the Son that the fullness of his life first manifested itself, so it was not until the effusion which took place on the day of Pentecost that the Spirit poured forth all his power. Ols.

The normal guidance of the apostles by their Lord was not occasional, but habitual, not through separate interventions, but through the Holy Ghost dwelling in them. So the promise ran that it should be; and so in fact it was. The Day of Pentecost is the opening of the second period of the New Testament dispensation. It stands alone, as does the day which now we call Christmas: the one the birthday of the Lord, the other the birthday of his Church; the one proclaimed by praises sung by hosts in heaven, the other by praises uttered in the various tongues of earth. That change is significant: for now the Spirit conveys the true knowledge of the wonderful works of God into the recesses of the human heart. A dispensation is begun, in which the mind of God has entered into mysterious combination with the mind of man, and henceforth the revealing light shines, not from without, but from within. God at that time not only stirred, but taught, the hearts of his faithful people, and sent to them not only the warmth but the light of his Holy Spirit. T. D. B.

5. In Christ’s time one might have spoken with truth of the omnipresent Jew. “The Jews had made themselves homes in every country, from the Tiber to the Euphrates, from the pines of the Caucasus to the spice-groves of happy Arabia.” A mere catalogue of the cities where they had settled at that time—in the far East, in Egypt, in Syria, in Greece and her islands—is astonishing. With but few exceptions, they seem to have been everywhere a wealthy and, in general, an influential class. The decrees issued from time to time by the Roman Senate, favoring or honoring the Jews in the different cities of the empire, were very numerous, and throw much light upon their numbers, character, prosperity, and their civil and social relations and standing. Merrill.

6-11. Many of the more devout among these foreign Jews, under the then prevalent belief that the Messiah was about to appear, had fixed their abode at Jerusalem, permanently or for a time. These, with others who came up to this feast, were providentially prepared as witnesses of this great miracle. Subsequently, as the subjects of the renewing power and grace of the Holy Spirit, they were as providentially made bearers of the glad tidings to the nations among whom they dwelt, whose languages they had acquired from birth. Many of them were now gathered in the vicinity of the temple, and heard the strange sound that had fallen from the sky. Among this multitude came the disciples from the upper room, and, under the prompting and guidance of this new divine inspiration, one and another attaches himself to some group of foreigners, and accosts them in their own language with the wondrous message of the Holy Ghost concerning the crucified and risen Jesus. No wonder that “they were all amazed, and marveled” that Galilean peasants should “speak in their tongues the wonderful works of God”! Here were representatives of all nations: eastward, “the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia,” from the heart of Asia; northward, strangers from “Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, and Pamphylia,” and the rest of Asia Minor; southward, from “Egypt, Libya, and Arabia”; and westward, “Cretes and Romans.” B.

Proselytes. After the captivity, the proselytes were for the most part willing adherents to the Jewish faith. With the conquests of Alexander, the wars between Egypt and Syria, the struggle under the Maccabees, the expansion of the Roman Empire, the Jews became more widely known, and their power to proselytize increased. The influence was sometimes obtained well, and exercised for good. In most of the great cities of the empire there were men who had been rescued from idolatry and its attendant debasements, and brought under the power of a higher moral law. The converts who were thus attracted joined, with varying strictness, in the worship of the Jews. They were present in their synagogues; they came up as pilgrims to the great feasts at Jerusalem. S.—These were the seed-vessels, now charged with precious seed, and then thrown back upon the countries whence they had come. Thus Christ was preached in many distant countries very soon after his own ministry was closed. A great harvest sprang in many lands from the seed that these worshipers found at Jerusalem—a great flame of spiritual life was kindled far and wide by these fiery tongues of the Pentecost revival. Arnot.

11. The miracle of tongues, what is it but a significant intimation of the appointment of Christianity to be the religion of the world? The gospel must speak all languages, and can and shall do so one day, because its deepest marrow and essence, really divine, is also human; not from man, nor according to man, but still for man, for all men without exception, adapted to the deepest, the unvarying cravings of humanity, and alone fitted fully to satisfy them. Van O.

THE signs, and that which followed them—the speaking with tongues—were but indications of the deeper and greater event itself, the being filled with the Holy Ghost. The rushing wind and the tongues of flame passed away in a few minutes, the speaking

12. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth 13 this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men 15 of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my 16 words: for these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. 17 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last 18 days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters 19 shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream 20 dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my 21 Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in 22 the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, 23 and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it 24 shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye 25 men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by 26 miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves 27 also know: him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 28 God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised 29 up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden 30 of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for 31 he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and 32 my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: because thou wilt not leave 33 my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made 34 known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men 35 and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and 36 buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing 37 that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the 38 flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the 39 resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 40 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right 41 hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he 42 hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the 43 heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until 44 I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that 45 God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

FROM the moment when the apostles saw their Lord ascend, they were in full possession of all the external facts of which they were appointed to bear witness. But they were not in possession of the spiritual meaning, relations, and consequences of those facts, and therefore the hour of their testimony was not come, and the interval was passed not in preaching but in prayer. As soon as the promise is fulfilled, they lift up their voice and speak. Never were men so changed. Who does not note the accession of boldness, faithfulness, and fervor! Their clear, firm testimony rises in a moment before the world, never hesitating or wavering, never to sink or change again, only manifesting more fully, as time advances, the largeness of its compass and the definiteness of its announcements. Ever after they speak as men would do who were conscious of a ground of certainty which could not be questioned, who could say that things “seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them”; that their word was “not the word of man but the word of God”; that it was “the Spirit that bore witness”; that they “preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven”; that they “had the mind of Christ.” It is enough. The three testimonies concur—the testimony of him who gave the Spirit, the testimony of those who received it, and the testimony of the facts which ensued on its reception. Are we then at a loss to know what was the nature of the gift which the Holy Spirit brought for the purposes of the apostolic work? Certainly it was vast and various—“a sevenfold gift”; but its most essential part lay not in tongues and powers which witnessed to the gospel, not in the fervor and boldness which preached it, rather it was the Gospel itself. T. D. B.

The First Preaching of Christ.—Peter’s address is bold and aggressive, not defensive, but his boldness is tempered with the “meekness of wisdom.” And, alike in his courage, his gentleness, and his wisdom, we discern the clearest, surest proofs of the power of the Holy Ghost. Nothing less than divine energy could have enabled these timid fugitives of six weeks before to face a multitude of the very men from whom they had fled—nay, more, intrepidly to confess the Master whom they had deserted.

For Peter, the change is marvelous indeed! Not merely in the extreme of daring so soon succeeding to cowardice, nor in the confession of Christ again after his craven denial, but in the subjection of that rough, impetuous, indiscreet temper to the quietness of spirit and admirable judgment manifest in this whole discourse. He is still foremost, indeed—he would not be natural otherwise—but he is not forward. He refutes the rude charge of drunkenness at the outset, but with what mildness of manner and modesty of argument! And nothing can be wiser, no form of argument can be conceived as combining a more excellent judgment and temper, than the whole course of this introductory preaching of a completed redemption.

There is here no direct assault upon Judaism, no reference to its lapse from spiritual truth and life into the barrenness of superstitious form. On the contrary, the Jewish Scriptures furnish his starting-point, his constant resting-place and reference. There is a clear implication running through this sermon (and through all other discourses of the Acts) that the old dispensation was the foundation of the new, the Jewish of the Christian; that the teachings, ceremonies, and events of the Jewish Church all bore with an intense significance upon the development of Christianity. And now, under the express inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Peter traces (and after him Stephen and Paul) these events which had wrought their wonder to the previous prophecies, and then conclusively shows that Christ himself is the Messiah of these Scriptures. But in the midst and at the close of his reasoning he tells them, with perfect quietness and simplicity of utterance, that they have delivered up and crucified this Jesus.

12,13. A large number were simply astonished at these marvels, and in utter perplexity that they could not account for them. Another class scoffed and sneeringly said, These men are frenzied with strong drink. (Sweet wine is referred to, not new, made by soaking dried grapes in old wine and pressing them a second time.) We see here, what was so often seen in Christ’s own history, of how little avail are miracles in affecting a hardened will and an unbelieving heart.

14,15. Peter affirms, for his companions and himself, that they are not drunken; and only refers to the improbability of any one being intoxicated at so early an hour (before nine o’clock). For all knew it was a universal rule among the Jews, bad and good, not to eat or drink before morning prayer, which was at this hour.

16–18. He has said, This is not intoxication; now he asserts that it is inspiration. What you see and hear is nothing else than the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel; and then he cites the prophet’s words. One well remarks here, “Even the illumination of the Spirit can never render the written word superfluous. The apostle, when filled with the Spirit, seeks a firm foundation in the word of prophecy” (2 Pet. 1 : 19). “The last days,” referred to here, include the whole period of the Spirit’s working—the entire Christian dispensation now far advanced. In this new dispensation, the prophecy notes as one point of advance that there shall be perfect equality in spiritual privileges. Not only shall the Spirit be poured out, far more largely and abundantly imparted, but in this outpouring of the Spirit all classes shall equally partake, without distinction of sex, of age, of condition, or of race. There shall be no longer a Court of the Women, or of the Gentiles, or even of the Priests, but all partition walls shall be broken down, and the very Holy of Holies opened for evermore to “Jew and Greek,” to “bond and free,” to “male and female,” since henceforth, inhabited by the same Spirit, “all are one in Christ Jesus.” These predictions may have manifold applications throughout these “last days.” Primarily, they refer to the near destruction of the Jewish state and nation. But they also apply to other nations, that serve not Christ and that hinder the progress of his gospel. And the symbols have in all cases the same meaning. The wonders and signs, of darkness and blood and fire and smoke, are portents of calamities that are familiar in the history of the past, and will be repeated yet more signally until the “great and notable day of the Lord shall come.”

But while the predictions of judgment are general and spoken of the mass, the promise of salvation is individual and personal, and, like all the promises of the Old Testament and New, it is without limitation or exception. One condition only, calling on the Lord, implying a conviction of fearful personal peril, a belief that the Lord can and will save, a simple trust in him, and reliance upon his faithfulness to his own voluntary promise. With this condition as a permanent inward experience, Christians of this day, and of the very latest days, like those who were saved (every one) from the awful slaughter in Jerusalem, shall be surely delivered, and rejoice in the salvation of God.

22,23. Peter has accounted for the miraculous sound and gift of tongues. Now he turns to the main point of his discourse, that Jesus of Nazareth, the man they had known and crucified, now risen and exalted into heaven, had “shed forth this which” they had seen and heard (verse 33), and that the same Jesus is Lord and Messiah (verse 36). In introducing this central theme of the gospel, the apostle elevates correspondingly the style of his address. Including all foreign and native Jews, under their highest title, Israel, he respectfully solicits their attention, and lends dignity to the charge he lays plainly upon them. “Ye yourselves know,” he said, “that Jesus was sufficiently accredited to you by the miracles he did, and the wonderful events that attended him.” Precisely this had Christ himself said to them again and again, when claiming perfect unity with the Father in the power of working miracles. Then in the simplest but most explicit words, forbearing all irritating epithet, he declares that they, knowing these things, had apprehended and crucified him by heathen hands. They had done it, but God had determined the result, as Christ himself had affirmed, “The Son of man goeth as it was determined.” So we learn, signally, how man is guiltily free, because without compulsion save of his own evil passions, and yet God is holily sovereign. For we see in Christ’s death, on the one hand, the free acting of voluntary human guilt, and on the other, a fulfilled decree of God for human redemption. But neither divine decree in the interest of mercy, nor Christ’s willingness to suffer, changed their relation to their own murderous act, or relieved their consciences from the burdening guilt. B.—The act is declared to be wicked, yet it is equally declared to be by the “determinate counsel of God”; therefore, acts which are evil may be included in the plan of Providence. J. W. A.

24-28. Affirming of his own knowledge that God had raised this Jesus of Nazareth from death, he first assigns the essential reason, that the Lord of life could not be holden of death. So the predictions of the Old Testament assured them. And in proof he cites from the 16th Psalm, and expounds the words cited. David is speaking, not of himself—for in no sense could the words be fulfilled in his experience—but of Christ. B.—It may be conceived that in David the dread of corruption and of the dark valley of death awakened the longing desire of victory over it; and this the prophetic Spirit led him to see realized in the person of the Messiah. Now, in Psalm 16, death is contemplated, first, in relation to the body, and secondly, to the soul. The body is represented as guarded against the last effect of death, viz., corruption, and the soul is described as beholding indeed the dark place of shades (“hell,” or better, hades), but as speedily delivered from it and restored to the kingdom of light. The exactness with which these points were realized in the development of Christ’s life makes the prediction one of the most remarkable in holy writ. Hackett.

29-31. To insure their conviction that David is here predicting the Messiah’s resurrection, the apostle reasons further, simply but conclusively from the death and burial of David, and from his faith in the covenant God had made concerning Christ. Thus the threefold conclusion is reached, the glorious substance of this first proclamation of the gospel: This Jesus hath God raised up; having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye see and hear; therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this Jesus whom ye

One of the blessed fruits of the day of Pentecost was that the Holy Spirit, who had spoken of old by the prophets and in the Psalms, now interprets their words by the apostles. On that day he founded in the Church a school of Scriptural hermeneutics. He declared on his own divine authority that certain Scriptures which he expounded by the mouth of Peter, inspired by the divine Teacher the Comforter, refer to Christ. He teaches us how they apply to Christ, and has given us a key for unlocking other prophecies of like import. W.—Here, too, we may see how the Old Testament, or Judaism in its purity, underlies Christianity, furnishing its foundation facts and proofs. Both are equally from God, and, of course, in harmony with each other. Each interprets the other. The new or Christian dispensation is the natural expansion of the old or Jewish. The principle of membership, faith, and the spirit of service and worship, are alike in both. The only difference is in the forms of obedience and devotion, and the extent of knowledge. B.

32. Witnesses. They knew that which they affirm. At first, in their anticipations of a visible kingdom, they would not believe that Christ would die. But they were compelled to believe the fact when it transpired. They did not believe that he would rise again; they even doubted the first report of it; they yielded at last to the direct, positive, visible fact, and, when thus convinced, they believed fully. Then it was they became witnesses of what their eyes had seen and their hands had handled; and assured of its truth, as a living confirmation of the divine gospel, they devoted themselves to the proclamation of this truth among the nations. S. W. F.

33. The great gift of the Spirit at this eventful hour came before the universe as the Father’s endorsement of the scheme of salvation to which the Son was fully committed. It testified that henceforth the whole Deity—every perfection and power of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit—are at one in working for this sublime consummation, the redemption of the world to Christ. H. C.

THIS view of the operation of the Spirit, as the medium through which the Lord Jesus wrought and taught, is carried through the whole course of the history which follows. As in the promise, so in the history, “The Comforter will come unto you”—“I will come unto you”—are but two sides of one and the same fact. On critical occasions and at each onward step the hand of the Master is made distinctly visible. The first martyr dies for a testimony, which is felt to be an advance on what had been given before, being understood to imply that “this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and change the customs which Moses delivered us”; and his words are sealed by the vision of his Lord in glory. The consignment of the gospel to the Ethiopian proselyte was another step in advance, and for this “the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip.” The preaching of the Word to Gentiles, and their admission into the Church, was a greater step; and for this the Lord intervenes by the mission of an angel to Cornelius, by a vision and a voice of the Spirit to Peter, and by a kind of second Pentecost to the converts themselves. But when the greatest step of all is to be taken in the onward course of the gospel, then most visibly does the great Head of the Church make manifest his personal administration. A new apostle appears, not like him who was added before Pentecost, completing the number of the original college, and losing his individuality in its ranks, but one standing apart and in advance, under whose hand both the doctrines and the destinies of the gospel receive a development so extensive and so distinct that it seemed almost another gospel to many who witnessed it, and to some who study it seems so still. Thus does he, who at the commencement of the history was seen to pass into the heavens, continue to appear in person on the scene. His apostles act, not only on his past commission, but under his present direction. He is not wholly concealed by the cloud which had received him out of their sight. Now his voice is heard, now his hand put forth, and now through a sudden rift the brightness of his presence shines. And these appearances, voices, and visions are not merely incidental favors; they are, as we have seen, apportioned to the moments when they are wanted, moments which determine the course which the gospel takes, and in which a manifestation of divine guidance proves the divine guidance of the whole. T. D. B.

37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and 38 to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall 40 call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from

41 this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking 43 of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs 44 were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things com- 45 mon; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had 46 need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from 47 house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

THE Christian faith is shown to us, in the Acts of the Apostles, working out its first simple developments in human society. In that plain picture, we see how this new force, this divine idea, acted on the world of living men and women; how it took possession of them, and organized them into a peculiar institution, which has lived on ever since—the Church. Christ’s visible presence is withdrawn out of the world at his resurrection; but thenceforth he appears to mankind in the living body of his Church, which, holding in its heart and its hand his Spirit and his Word, takes the place of his physical form. F. D. H.

Doubtless the form in which spiritual life now appears, differs in many respects from what it was at first; but in essence and principle it is the same, and all who are now gathered into the Church of the redeemed are really akin to the first confessors of the gospel. It is a church consisting of such as shall be saved; it is the spiritual body of Christ born of the Holy Ghost. It is wholly our own fault if we are not members of it; it is wholly the grace of the Lord if we are in truth brought into it. Van O.—Daily, ever since men were multiplied on the earth, have the saved streamed through the strait gate into life, and now a multitude whom no man can number inhabit the mansions of the Father’s house. He added the saved to the Church: added them in the act of saving, saved in the act of adding. He does not add a withered branch to the vine; but in the act of inserting it, makes the withered branch live. “Daily” some are added: every day some; but only while it is day this process goes on. The night cometh wherein no man can work—not even the Son of man, Son of God. He is now about his Father’s business: he is finishing the work given him to do. “To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,” for the day is wearing away, the day of grace. The night cometh, cometh—how stealthily it is creeping on!—the night wherein not even this Great Worker can work any more. Annot.

37. Effect of the First Preaching of Christ crucified, with the Power of the Holy Ghost.—Peter has proved to them, according to the clear statements of their own Scriptures, that Jesus was their long-looked-for Messiah; that they had rejected and slain him; but that he had risen, ascended, and from the throne of heaven had sent forth the Holy Ghost to teach, to convince, and to quicken. And the proof of the Spirit’s convincing power we behold in this his first work upon multitudes of the guiltiest among the then living—of those to whom pertained the guilt of crucifying their own Messiah. Pierced in the heart, their understandings convinced, their feelings deeply stirred, and their wills mightily influenced by the combined force of the truth and the Spirit, they ask the one question of conscious guilt, What shall we do? Utterly self-condemned, their consciences demanding relief from the tremendous pressure of such guilt, they turn to these very Galileans whom they had despised, and with an awakened gentleness of penitence, answer back the address of Peter, Men, brethren! tell us, what shall we do to be saved? B.

The divine Spirit may, and, for aught that appears to the contrary, must use the instrument of Truth in this, his first act, as well as in any and in every further operation. And when he speaks, he makes the deaf to hear, as well as the hearing to understand. “When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart,” was the experience of the three thousand to whom Peter preached the gospel on the day of Pentecost, and whose hard hearts the Spirit pierced by what they heard. J. S. S.

38. The One Counsel and Promise of the Gospel to those convinced of Unbelief and Guilt.—The counsel is twofold: Repent and be baptized: likewise the promise, the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Christ, on the eve of his ascension, had instructed them to preach repentance and remission of sins in his name, and Peter now uses, so far, his very words. The word “repentance” means simply “change of mind,” the reversal of a man’s controlling thoughts, feelings, and aims of life. Sorrow forms no part of the meaning, but sorrow is involved in and precedes it. More than this, “godly sorrow,” sorrow toward God, “worketh repentance,” leads to a radical change of sentiment, feeling, and purpose, with respect to man’s relation and duty toward God. Repentance, then, is the turning of the whole soul from self to God, and involves the breaking off from a selfish, sinful course of life, and the entrance upon a life of obedience, trust, and supreme devotion to God. And this repentance, while it is man’s own act, is not simply of his own unaided and spontaneous doing, and so meritorious; but it is performed under the prompting and with the help of God himself. And so in this, as in all else, salvation is wholly of grace. The cases before us admirably illustrate and impress this meaning of the familiar gospel term.

The additional outward requirement of baptism was designed as an expression of their faith in Jesus as Messiah and Saviour, and of their open consecration to his service. On God’s part, it is his seal of acceptance and of his fulfillment of all the promises included in the covenant of grace. As Christ had commanded, baptism was administered in the name of the Three Divine Persons. Hence the expression here, in the name of Jesus Christ, signifies the recognition of his authority and the acceptance of his doctrine, his mediatorship, and his service.

Of the twofold promise, enforcing the counsel or exhortation, the remission or forgiveness of sins stands foremost. So it stands first in David’s enunciation of mercies in that life-psalm of the grateful heart, the one hundred and third. It is first, not merely as it ministers quiet to conscience and heart, but as it changes the standing of the pardoned soul with reference to the law of God, and makes the further gifts of God consistent and meet. The gift of the Holy Ghost, next promised, refers not to any miraculous tokens such as they had heard that day, but to that indwelling and inworking of the divine Spirit which is given to every penitent believer in Jesus.

39. “The promise” is that of which he has been speaking (verses 17, 21), the quickening power of the Holy Ghost, and the “being saved” by Christ. To you and to your children this promise is given. To you, though you have crucified your Saviour. To your children, meaning, in the passage from Joel, and in similar passages in Isaiah and elsewhere, to your descendants or posterity. But the implication is clear, that children as children are also included. For from the first day of the covenant with Abraham, the children of every covenanting parent were distinctly recognized, and the recognition sealed by divine ordinance, as members of the Church and people of God. B.—We are expressly told that under Christ, in the New Testament, the same covenant is renewed, only expanded and deepened. Throughout, the law of descent is carefully respected. The hereditary tie is recognized. Offspring, at birth, are supposed to be bound up in the same bond of Christian privileges and helps which encircles their believing progenitors. F. D. H.—And to all afar off, is the simple widening of the hope and promise of the gospel to include Gentile with Jew. It is the plain intimation that the divine forgiveness and indwelling are in purpose designed, and in measure adequate, for the race of guilty men.

40. The Discourse prolonged but not reported, save in its Substance and Conclusion.—In keeping with the great essential truths already stated, he continued to testify and exhort. The order of these words, especially the dependence of exhortation upon testimony or instruction, is worthy of note. It intimates that what is called “exhortation” is Scriptural and useful, when it follows and is strictly based upon Scripture truth. Peter’s concluding exhortation is brief and to the point—“Save yourselves,” or be saved, by separating yourselves from this perverse and gainsaying generation, and so escaping its doom.

41. The Result of that Day’s Ministry of the Gospel with the Holy Spirit.—“Greater works than mine shall ye do,” said Christ, “because I go to the Father, and send upon you the Spirit.” And now, at the very outset, closely following his ascension to the Father, three thousand souls gladly receive the glad tidings, are baptized, and enrolled as members of the infant Church of Christ. An amazing fulfillment, too, of the word of Christ to the fisherman Peter, “From henceforth thou shalt catch men.”

42. Four Essential Elements in the Christian Life of these First Believers.—First, as most important, they received needed instruction from the twelve, and perhaps from others. This was as the Master had directed. After making disciples, and baptizing, then teaching more fully all things I have commanded—so ran the commission. And this is still the only wise, true method. After receiving and enrolling disciples, then instruct fully. Steadfast heed to instruction in God’s Word was and is needed, not only for personal growth in the Christian life, but for the great life-duty of every believer, of bearing witness concerning Christ. How well these early believers learned the spirit of Christ, we see from their continuance in fellowship. This means communication, not communion, and refers particularly to that self-sacrificing spirit of love to our neighbor and fellow which prompts to deeds of helpfulness, the actual communication of good in supply of his need. The idea is actualized in the facts stated in verses 44 and 45. The third particular, the breaking of bread, refers to the Lord’s Supper, which was naturally a divine means of deep and tender impression, as well as of confirming other instruction. Such is still its purpose, and may be, if rightly partaken, its increasingly happy effect. The last element of Christian life in the practice of which these first believers continued steadfast, was prayer. All other means and evidences of life or growth are vain where prayer, fervent, continuous, and expectant, is wanting. “Behold, he prayeth!” was the offered and accepted proof of Saul’s conversion. And it is the surest, safest test of continued Christian life.

43. The Impression made upon the Multitude of Unbelievers.**—“Fear came upon every soul!” This shows how broad and deep was the impression wrought by the miracles and the preaching of those wonderful days. The great body of the people were subdued and awed. No voice of mocking was heard, no thought of persecution was cherished among them. Not till the instigators and leading actors in the Crucifixion, the chief priests and rulers, were aroused by hearing of these wonderful effects, did persecution begin. B.

44. All things common.** There was a special reason for this at Jerusalem, where converts to Christianity would be regarded by the Jews as renegades, and be cut off from domestic intercourse and from former means of subsistence. The need to be met was instant and special, and such as did not exist afterward among the churches formed among the heathen. K.

45. The Mutual Abounding Helpfulness of these First Christians.**—In this sharing and distribution of goods there was no surrender of personal rights of property, as Peter’s words to Ananias clearly show. There was no “community of goods,” as each proprietor himself sold and distributed such portion as he pleased. But as each one having possessions saw the needs of others, and felt the call and obligation to aid, he sold so much as his judgment prescribed, and “parted,” distributed to them relief. That is, a conscientious judgment was exercised in connection with charitable feeling. There was no compulsion of apostolic commandment, nor any improper self-impoverishment. What heart conscience and judgment together dictated, they gave, according to the gospel principle of stewardship and trust (so thoroughly taught to and by the apostles). Alike in their worship, their helpfulness, their active ministry for Christ and for men, and in receiving their daily food, gladness and singleness of heart prompted them to blend, with all, the praises of God. How beautiful, yet natural, this conclusion of the briefly told story! And how natural, too, the recorded result of this harmonious, praying, self-denying, praising, happy fellowship! The accordant daily prayers and praises are heard and accepted. The single-hearted love to God and man, evinced in faithful word and helpful deed, deepens grateful devotion to the Lord of all grace. And as the blessed effect of answered prayer, accepted praise, and helpful word and deed, Christ, the Lord, adds to their number daily of the saved! And ever since, through the same instrumentality of human prayer and praise, of faithful, self-denying word and deed, the saved have been daily added to the blessed family of which Christ is the head! B.

46. In the temple.** The apostles and primitive disciples would not separate themselves from the Temple, but resorted habitually to it, that it might not be supposed that the gospel which they preached was at variance with the law of Moses, and that they might give a practical confirmation to their argument that Christ has been foretold by Moses and the Prophets, whose office it was to prepare the way for him. W.

THE first representatives of the Christian Church on earth were the disciples, of varied name and pursuit—men and women who first adhered to Christ with intelligent faith in him, as the Saviour of the world. The first local and particular church was that formed in Jerusalem. But there was in fact little of “forming” in the matter. It formed itself, as it were. It was a collection of believing men and women, who were baptized in testimony of their Christian belief. All the organization there was about it appears to have been as exigencies arose, necessities required, and proprieties prompted. What Christ enjoined was, that every creature should believe on him as the personal Redeemer; that all who believe on him should observe his ordinances, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Nothing beyond this do we find in the record. Our Lord always individualizes men. Faith in the heart of the particular man is the essential thing. All those who believed on him after this manner, gravitating toward a common center, naturally and voluntarily associated together, and so particular churches were formed and organized, by the election of their own officials and the administration of their own rules. So simply lies the whole matter in the New Testament. W. A.