Act 11:15-16 | NET2full | STEP | Then as I began to speak , the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he did on us at the beginning .

‏ Acts 11:15-16

15 Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on ^{▼▼tn Or “came down on.”} them just as he did ^{▼▼tn The words “he did” are not in the Greek text but are implied. They form an ellipsis which must be supplied for the modern English reader. Some modern translations supply “it” rather than “he” because the gender of πνεῦμα (pneuma) in Greek is neuter, but there are sufficient NT contexts that use masculine pronouns to refer to the Spirit to justify the use of a masculine pronoun here in the translation.} on us at the beginning. ^{▼▼sn At the beginning is an allusion to Acts 2 and Pentecost. The beginning is a way to refer to the start of the period of the realization of Jesus’ promise in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8. Peter was arguing that God gave Gentiles the same benefits he gave the Jews at the start of their mission.} 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, ^{▼▼sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rhēma tou kuriou; here and in Luke 22:61, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logos tou kuriou; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8; 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.} as he used to say, ^{▼▼tn The imperfect verb ἔλεγεν (elegen) is taken as a customary imperfect.} ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ^{▼▼sn John…Spirit. This remark repeats Acts 1:5.}