should be "endued with power from on high".  The same writer, Luke, when he

summarizes his own words in Acts 1: 4, 5, refers to this promise of the Father when he

speaks of their being "baptized with pneuma hagion (holy spirit) not many days hence".

On the day of Pentecost, the Giver, the Holy Spirit, endued the apostles with power from

on high, pneuma hagion, "holy spirit", which consisted of the gifts of the Spirit. It will

be very necessary, therefore, to distinguish between the Giver and His gifts. The Holy

Spirit Himself is seen in Acts 1: 16:--

One or two references will sufficiently illustrate the difference intended in these two

There is however need for caution here, lest it be surmised that it is possible, by rule

of thumb, thus to classify all occurrences under the two heads and so settle every reading.

It is not so possible, because the article, "the", must sometimes be used by reason of

what is "second mention", which is an indication that the reference concerned looks back

to a previous one. The application of a rule of thumb method to determine the point at

issue would thus be futile. What can safely said is that pneuma hagion without the

article is never used of the Holy Spirit Himself, and that, apart from grammatical

necessity, the article is not used when the reference is to the gift. Most readers know that

Dr. E. W. Bullinger has given an illuminating amount of material in his book "The Giver

and His gifts". The contents of this work is given in Appendix 101 of the Companion

Bible, and should be consulted by every interested reader.

The power from on high with which the apostles were endued, took the form of

"tongues", and was immediately made manifest by the fact that they actually spoke in the

peculiar dialects that belonged to the assembled multitude "out of every nation under

heaven". This was a "gift of tongues" indeed, and not one of the apostles who received

such a gift would have any hesitation regarding his future sphere of witness. It is

important also to notice that the power of the word is here given before every other

manifestation of power. Behind all the miracles that were subsequently wrought by the

apostles was the mighty word. Peter spoke to the lame man words of power when he

said: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (Acts 3: 6).

The close association between the inspiration of David (Acts 1: 16) and the inspiration

of the apostles (Acts 2: 4) forced into prominence by the structure, is further emphasized

by Peter himself when he wrote his second epistle, the "rushing" wind of Acts 2: 2

finding its echo in II Pet. 1: 21, where he says:--