Acts 2:13-17
14-21. Peter, standing up with the eleven—in advance, perhaps, of the rest.
15. these are not drunken—meaning, not the Eleven, but the body of the disciples.
but the third hour—nine A.M. (see Ec 10:16; Isa 5:11; 1Th 5:17).14-21. Peter, standing up with the eleven—in advance, perhaps, of the rest.
17. in the last days—meaning, the days of the Messiah (Isa 2:2); as closing all preparatory arrangements, and constituting the final dispensation of God's kingdom on earth.
pour out of my Spirit—in contrast with the mere drops of all preceding time. upon all flesh—hitherto confined to the seed of Abraham. sons . . . daughters . . . young men . . . old men . . . servants . . . handmaidens—without distinction of sex, age, or rank. see visions . . . dream dreams—This is a mere accommodation to the ways in which the Spirit operated under the ancient economy, when the prediction was delivered; for in the New Testament, visions and dreams are rather the exception than the rule. Ephesians 5:18
18. excess—worthless, ruinous, reckless prodigality.
wherein—not in the wine itself when used aright (1Ti 5:23), but in the "excess" as to it. but be filled with the Spirit—The effect in inspiration was that the person was "filled" with an ecstatic exhilaration, like that caused by wine; hence the two are here connected (compare Ac 2:13-18). Hence arose the abstinence from wine of many of the prophets, for example, John the Baptist, namely, in order to keep distinct before the world the ecstasy caused by the Spirit, from that caused by wine. So also in ordinary Christians the Spirit dwells not in the mind that seeks the disturbing influences of excitement, but in the well-balanced prayerful mind. Such a one expresses his joy, not in drunken or worldly songs, but in Christian hymns of thankfulness.
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