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Acts 2:1. ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι, lit[114], “when the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled” (filled up). R.V. renders “was now come,” and a question arises as to whether the words mean this, or that the day was only being filled up, and not fully come. Blass interprets the expression to mean a short time before the day of Pentecost, not the day itself. Weiss and others suppose that the expression refers to the completing of the interval of time between the Paschal Feast and Pentecost. Vulgate (cf. Syriac) reads “cum complerentur dies Pentecostes,” and so all English versions have “days” except A. and R.V. The verb is only used by St. Luke in the N.T., twice in his Gospel, Luke 8:23, and in the same sense as here, Luke 9:51, and once more in the passage before us. We have the noun συμπλήρωσις in the same sense in LXX 2 Chronicles 36:21, Dan. (Theod.) Acts 9:2, 1Es 1:58; see Friedrich, ubi supra, p. 44. The mode of expression is Hebraistic, as we see also from Exodus 7:25, Jeremiah 36:10 (LXX). St. Luke may be using the expression of a day which had begun, according to Jewish reckoning, at the previous sunset, and which thus in the early morning could not be said to be either fulfilled or past, but which was in the process of being fulfilled (Hilgenfeld, Zeitschrift für wissenschaft. Theol., p. 90, 1895; Knabenbauer, in loco). The parallel passage in Luke 9:51 cannot be quoted to support the view that the reference here is to a period preceding the day of Pentecost, since in that passage we have ἡμέρας, not ἡμέραν as here, and, although the interpretation of the word as referring to the approach of the Feast is possible, yet the circumstances and the view evidently taken by the narrator point decisively to the very day of the Feast (see Schmid, Biblische Theol., p. 283). On the construction ἐν τῷ with the infinitive, see Blass, Grammatik des N. G., pp. 232, 234, and Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, p. 27. It is quite in the style of St. Luke, who frequently employs it; cf. the Hebrew use of בְּ, Friedrich, p. 13, ubi supra, Lekebusch, Apostelgeschichte, p. 75). On Spitta’s forced interpretation of the word, see p. 100.—τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς: no occasion to add ἡμέρα, as the word was used as a proper name (although as an adjective ἡμέρα would of course be understood with it); cf. 2Ma 12:32 (Tob 2:1), μετὰ δὲ τὴν λεγομ. Πεντηκοστήν.—ἅπαντες, i.e., the hundred-and-twenty as well as the Apostles (Chrysostom, Jerome), and the expression may also have included other disciples who were present in Jerusalem at the Feast (so Hilgenfeld, Wendt, Holtzmann). This interpretation appears to be more in accordance with the wide range of the prophecy, Acts 2:16-21.—ὁμοθυμαδὸν, see above on Acts 2:14. ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό may simply = “together,” so that of the two expressions ὁμοῦ, R.V., and this phrase “alterum abundat” (Blass, Weiss); but the reference may be to the room in which they were previously assembled; cf. Acts 1:15.

[114] literal, literally.

Acts 2:2. ἄφνω: only in Acts, here, and in Acts 16:26, Acts 28:6; Klostermann’s Vindiciæ Lucanæ, p. 55; several times in LXX, but also in classical Greek in Thuc., Dem., Eur.—ἦχος ὥσπερ φερομ. πν. βιαίας, lit[115], “a sound as if a violent gust were being borne along”. St. Chrysostom rightly emphasises the ὡς, so that the sound is not that of wind, but as of the rushing of a mighty wind (so too the tongues are not of fire, but as of fire). The words describe not a natural but a supernatural phenomenon, as Wendt pointedly admits. Wind was often used as a symbol of the divine Presence, 2 Samuel 5:24, Psalm 104:3, 1 Kings 19:11, Ezekiel 43:2, etc.; cf. Josephus, Ant., iii., 5, 2; vii., 4; here it is used of the mighty power of the Spirit which nothing could resist. St. Luke alone of the N.T. writers uses ἦχος—Hebrews 12:19 being a quotation, and it is perhaps worth noting that the word is employed in medical writers, and by one of them, Aretæus, of the noise of the sea (cf. ἤχους θαλάσσης, Luke 21:25).—ὅλον τὸν οἶκον. If the Temple were meant, as Holtzmann and Zöckler think, it would have been specified, Acts 3:2; Acts 3:11, Acts 5:21.

[115] literal, literally.

Acts 2:3. διαμεριζόμ. γλῶσσαι: the audible σημεῖον is followed by a visible: γλῶσσαι the organs of speech by which the wonderful works of God were to be proclaimed, so that the expression cannot be explained from Isaiah 5:24, where the tongue of fire is represented as an organ of destruction (Wendt, note, in loco). ὡσεὶ πυρός in their appearance and brightness. The words themselves therefore forbid reference to a natural phenomenon, to say nothing of the fact of the spiritual transformation of the Apostles which followed. Fire like wind was symbolic of the divine Presence, Exodus 3:2, and of the Spirit who purifies and sanctifies, Ezekiel 1:13, Malachi 3:2-3 (see Wetstein for classical instances of fire symbolical of the presence of the deity; cf., e.g., Homer, Iliad, xviii., 214; Virgil, Æn., ii., 683). διαμεριζ., lit[116], dividing or parting themselves off. R.V. “tongues parting asunder,” so that originally they were one, as one mighty flame of fire. This rendering is strictly in accordance with the meaning of the verb. Vulgate dispertitæ (the word used by Blass). διαμερίζω is used once again in Acts 2:45 in the active voice, and once only by St. Matthew and St. Mark (once by St. John as a quotation) in the middle voice, but six times by St. Luke in his Gospel; frequently in the LXX.—ἐκάθισε (not -αν), sc., γλῶσσα (not πῦρ or πνεῦμα ἅγιον), although the latter is advocated by Chrysostom, Theophylact, Bengel: “it sat,” R.V. The singular best expresses the result of the tongues parting asunder, and of the distribution to each and all. So too ἐφʼ ἕνα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν, “upon each one of them,” R.V., cf. Acts 2:6 εἷς ἕκαστος (and Acts 2:8). The resting of a flame of fire upon the head as a token of the favour of Heaven may be illustrated from classical sources (see above and instances in Wetstein), but the thought here is not so much of fire as the token of divine favour, as of the tongue (as of fire) conferring a divine power to utter in speech divine things.

[116] literal, literally.

Acts 2:4. ἀποφθέγγεσθαι—a word peculiar to Acts, cf. Acts 5:14 and Acts 26:25; in the LXX used not of ordinary conversation, but of the utterances of prophets; cf. Ezekiel 13:9, Micah 5:12, 1 Chronicles 25:1, so fitly here: (cf. ἀποφθέγματα, used by the Greeks of the sayings of the wise and philosophers, and see also references in Wendt).—ἐτέραις γλώσσαις, see additional note.

Acts 2:5. κατοικοῦντες, probably used not merely of temporary dwellers for the Feast, but of the devout Jews of the Diaspora, who for the purpose of being near the Temple had taken up their residence in Jerusalem, perhaps for the study of the Law, perhaps to live and to die within the city walls (see St. Chrysostom’s comment on the word). They were not proselytes as is indicated by Ἰουδαῖοι, but probably devout men like Symeon, Luke 2:25, who is described by the same word εὐλαβής, waiting for the consolation of Israel. The expression, as Zöckler points out, is not quite synonymous with that in Acts 2:14 (or with Luke 13:4), and he explains it as above. There is certainly no need to consider the word, with Spitta and Hilgenfeld, as an epithet added by a later editor, or to omit Ἰουδαῖοι, as Blass strongly urges (while Hilgenfeld desires to retain this word). The word may fairly be regarded as contrasted with Γαλιλαῖοι (Acts 2:7). The same view of it as applied here to foreign Jews who had their stated residence in Jerusalem is maintained by Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. ii., p. 291 (note) E.T.—κατοικεῖν is used generally of taking up a permanent abode as in contrast to παροικεῖν used of temporary sojourn, and on the frequent use of the word in St. Luke, Friedrich, ubi supra, p. 39. But here it is followed most probably by εἰς not ἐν, constructio prægnans, cf. Wendt and Weiss as against W.H[117] (T.R. ἐν and so Blass in [118]). Weiss, Apostelgeschichte, p. 36, regards this frequent use of εἰς as characteristic of the style of Acts, cf. Acts 9:21, Acts 14:25, and considers it quite inconceivable that ἐν would be changed into εἰς, although the reverse is likely enough to have happened (Wendt).—εὐλαβεῖς, see Acts 8:2.—ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους: “from every nation,” so R.V.; “out of,” A.V., but this would represent ἐκ rather than ἀπό, and would imply that they belonged to these different nations, not that they were born Jews residing among them and coming from them (Humphry, Commentary on R.V.).—τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν, sc. ἐθνῶν. The phrase is used frequently in LXX, cf. Deuteronomy 2:25, and in classical literature by Plato and Dem. If κατοικοῦντες includes the Jews who had come up to the Feast as well as those who had settled in Jerusalem from other countries, this expression is strikingly illustrated by the words of Philo, De Monarchia, ii. 1, p. 223. The Pentecost would be more largely attended even than the Passover, as it was a more favourable season for travelling than the early spring (see Wetstein, in loco), and cf. Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. ii., pp. 291, 307, E.T.

[117] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.

[118] R(omana), in Blass, a first rough copy of St. Luke.

Acts 2:6. φωνῆς ταύτης: “when this sound was heard,” R.V. “Hic idem quod ἦχος comm[119] 2,” so Wetstein, who compares for φωνή in this sense Matthew 24:31, 1 Corinthians 14:7-8 (2 Chronicles 5:13), and so most recent commentators (cf. John 3:8); if human voices were meant, the plural might have been expected. But the word in singular might refer to the divine voice, the voice of the Spirit, cf. Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5. The A.V., so too Grotius, following Erasmus, Calvin, render the word as if φήμη, but the two passages quoted from LXX to justify this rendering are no real examples, cf., e.g., Genesis 45:16, Jer. 27:46.—τὸ πλῆθος: a characteristic word of St. Luke, occurring eight times in his Gospel, seventeen in Acts, and only seven times in rest of the N.T.; on the frequency with which St. Luke uses expressions indicative of fulness, see Friedrich, Das Lucasevangelium, pp. 40, 102. In inscriptions the word seems to have been used not only of political but of religious communities, see Deissmann, Neue Bibel-studien, pp. 59, 60 (1897), and see below on Acts 15:30.—συνεχύθη—from συνχύνω (συνχέω) only found in Acts, where it occurs five times (cf. also σύγχυσις, Acts 19:29), see Moulton and Geden, sub v. For its meaning here cf. Genesis 11:7; Genesis 11:9, 1Ma 4:27, 2Ma 13:23; 2Ma 14:28; Vulg., mente confusa est.—διαλέκτῳ: only in the Acts in N.T. The question has been raised as to whether it meant a dialect or a language. Meyer argued in favour of the former, but the latter rendering more probably expresses the author’s meaning, cf. Acts 1:19, and also Acts 21:40, Acts 22:2, Acts 26:14. The word is apparently used as the equivalent of γλῶσσα, Acts 2:11, A. and R.V. “language”. As the historian in his list, Acts 2:9-10, apparently is following distinctions of language (see Rendall, Acts, p. 177, and Appendix, p. 359), this would help to fix the meaning of the word διάλεκτος here. Wendt in revising Meyer’s rendering contends that the word is purposely introduced because γλῶσσα, Acts 2:3-4, had just been employed not in the sense of language but tongue, and so might have been misunderstood if repeated here with λαλεῖν. On the other hand it may be urged that some of the distinctions in the list are those of dialect, and that St. Luke intentionally used a word meaning both language and dialect.

[119]omm. commentary, commentator.

Acts 2:7. ἐξίσταντο: frequent in St. Luke, three times in his Gospel, eight in the Acts, elsewhere once in St. Paul, once in St. Matthew, four times in St. Mark. The word is often found in the LXX in various senses; cf. for its meaning here Genesis 43:33, Jdt 13:17; Jdt 15:1, 1Ma 15:32; 1Ma 16:22. πάντες—Γαλιλαῖοι: there is no need to suppose with Schöttgen (so Grotius, Olshausen) that the term implies any reference to the want of culture among the Galileans, as if in this way to emphasise the surprise of the questioners, or to explain the introduction of the term because the Galileans were “magis ad arma quam ad litteras et linguas idonei” (Corn. à Lapide). But if there is a reference to the peculiar dialect of the Galileans this might help to explain the introduction of Ἰουδαίαν in Acts 2:9 (Wetstein followed by Weiss, but see below). Weiss sees here, it is true, the hand of a reviser who thinks only of the Apostles and not of the hundred-and-twenty who could not be supposed to come under the term Γαλιλαῖοι. But whilst no doubt Γαλ. might be considered a fitting description of the Apostolic band (except Judas), Hilgenfeld well asks why the hundred-and-twenty should not have been also Galileans, if they had followed Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem.

Acts 2:8. τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλ … ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθημεν—used distributively as Acts 2:11 ταῖς ἡμετ. γλώσσαις shows—and hence cannot be taken to mean that only one language common to all, viz., Aramaic, was spoken on the outpouring of the Spirit.