Acts 2:39

Act_2:39

For the promise is unto you, and to your children.

Why Christianity has failed

1. One of the earliest and most vital errors into which the Church fell was the conception that the Churchs power is proportionate to her wealth.

2. The second great error of the Church was made when it began to depend upon political power as a means of effecting spiritual ends.

3. The third great error which has delayed the realisation of the blessings of Pentecost by the Universal Church has been the conception that education and culture could do the work of the Holy Spirit. Let us consider briefly what were the different features foreshadowed in this promise.

I. First and foremost, undoubtedly, was what we may term evangelistic power, the power of leading men to Christ, of so influencing them that they should abandon their sins and put their trust in a crucified Redeemer.

2. Closely allied with this element in the promise, and yet distinct from it, is the power of conquest which it involves. It is a remarkable fact--in many respects an incomprehensible fact--that Judaism, with all its great revelations of the truth, with all its wonderful striving after righteousness and its profound reverence for the unity of the Godhead, nevertheless, was by no means an aggressive religious force, and its converts at no time in its history were an important factor in its life. Mohammedanism spread by the power of the sword, and owed its victory to material, rather than to spiritual causes. Christianity, on the other hand, has ever spread, and will continue to spread, in virtue of a special power bestowed upon its apostles in answer to behoving prayer.

3. The next element in the promise is the element of boldness.

4. It only remains, in concluding our consideration of this subject, to point out with all emphasis that this promise was not limited to the apostles and their proximate or remote successors. (H. S. Lunn.)

The three covenants

I. The National covenant, to you.

II. The Family covenant, to your children.

III. The Universal covenant, to as many, etc. How wide was the outlook of the gospel upon the day of Pentecost. (M. C. Hazard.)

The promise of the Holy Ghost

Every dispensation has its present duties and privileges: it has also its peculiar promise; and according as men have apprehended the promise and the privileges, has been the ardour of their devotion.

1. In the patriarchal dispensation men had the privilege of presenting to God an accepted service, and living under His guidance and protection. But their promise was that the seed of Jacob should inherit the land of Canaan.

2. After the chosen people had been brought into their possession they were blessed with the privileges of the Mosaic code, and God gave them the promise of the Messiah. It was the privilege of the Israelite to take part in the worship of God with the feeling of holy anticipation that He would come whom their rites symbolised.

3. When Christ came He said that the privileges of His disciples were greater than those of the greatest man of the former dispensation, and gave them the promise of the Holy Ghost. This is the last promise characteristic of the last times; beyond this dispensation there will be no other, and its promise will be succeeded by no other. Notice--

I. Its nature. It implies that the Holy Ghost should be given.

1. For the official qualification of the preacher. The words suggest the exclusive power and right of Divine selection. I will pour out … of My Spirit. The selection includes teachers of different grades in society and of both sexes. And for their qualification the Spirit is absolutely necessary. It is universally recognised that whatever else a man may possess, talent, power, wealth, or learning, he must possess the Spirit. This was taught by Christ when He said, Tarry ye at Jerusalem, etc.

(1) The Spirit was to give them correct views of truth, He will guide you into all truth. These right views are necessary to preserve men from heresy. All revivals in the history of the Church have been connected with the revival of spiritual truth. Witness Pentecost, Luther, the Puritans, Wesley, etc. The Word of God comes out with clearness and power, and error recedes before it.

(2) Something more, however, is needed than to be saved from heresy. The teacher must have spiritual views in relation to the Word of God such as those suggested by the expressions, lively word, the lively oracles, the unction of the Holy One. A man must not speak merely in a way free from inaccuracy; but his words must be clothed with energy breathed by the Holy Ghost, so that wherever they come they may communicate that power.

(3) The affections must be touched. There must be a yearning for souls which will not let the preacher rest unless they are brought to God.

(4) The Holy Ghost is necessary for the resistance of unworthy motives such as would lead men to court popularity and indulge spiritual pride.

(5) He only again is an effectual preservative against bigotry.

2. To dispose the heart of the hearer to derive full advantage from spiritual teaching. He

(1) convinces of sin.

(2) Inspires living faith.

(3) Regenerates.

(4) Bears witness to the believers adoption into Gods family.

(5) Preserves from sinning.

(6) Sanctifies.

(7) Consoles.

(8) Guides.

II. Its extent.

1. To you. All piety is out of place if it be not first of all practised at home. Your own salvation is of more importance to you than that of any one else. To save others and after all be lost yourself would greatly aggravate your misery.

2. To your children. These, next to yourself, should claim your most earnest attention. The man who devotes himself to others and n neglects his own family inverts the order of things. It is a monstrous evil to be engaged from early Sunday morning to late at night in a constant succession of services, and to have not a single half-hour to spare for ones own children.

3. To them that are afar off.

(1) Morally.

(2) Geographically.

(3) Chronologically. (S. D. Waddy, D. D.)

Christianity a religion of promise

I. The promise spoken of.

1. The promise of Christ which includes--

(1) The remission of sins through His atonement and merit.

(2) Full justification.

(3) Peace with God and our own conscience, Christ is our peace.

(4) Adoption into the family of God.

(5) Eternal life.

Think of these and other like blessings, and their connected hopes and consolations, and behold them all centred in Christ, Himself the great promise of the Old Testament, and then rejoice to receive Him for yourselves, and to recommend Him to others as the promise of revelation, the desire of all nations, and the consolation of Israel.

2. As Christ was preeminently the promise of the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is pre-eminently the promise of the New. We are not to look for that miraculous agency which was given in apostolic days. This was not even then intended to supersede that ordinary gracious influence, which the Scripture declares to be essential to every one for the state of salvation. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His--Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, etc. Our Lord speaks of sending the Spirit as the promise of the Father. No promise can be more plainly expressed than this, Ask, and ye shall have; and it is in reference to the Holy Spirit that this promise is given. Christianity is the very dispensation of the Spirit; its whole life, energy, and beauty depend on the communication of spiritual influence. The promise of the Spirit, like that of the Saviour, includes many other promises.

(1) Repentance.

(2) Faith.

(3) A new heart and a right spirit.

(4) Strength in every season of weakness.

(5) Comfort in every trial.

(6) Joy amidst sorrow.

(7) Patience under tribulation.

(8) Perseverance amidst difficulty.

Christianity is throughout a religion of promise. It began with the first promise to fallen man; its promises expanded, like the stream of holy waters in the vision of Ezekiel, till, when the fulness of time was come, they formed that river of life which is rolling its salubrious tide throughout a thirsty world.

II. For whom is the promise meant?

1. The Jews; for St. Peters auditory consisted entirely of Jews. Our Lord confined His personal ministry to the Jews. I am not sent, He said, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Sending forth His apostles at first, He said, Go not in the way of the Gentiles, etc. After His resurrection, when He enlarged their commission, so that its extent was to be the world, yet they were still to begin at Jerusalem; and in every city were first to address Jews, and then to turn to the Gentiles. And is there not encourage-anent for us, from the circumstance, that the Jews were to have the first offers of the promises of the gospel? There is this; the history of the Jews is a history of a most perverse, ungrateful, and rebellious people, who at length consummated their guilt by crucifying the Lord of life; yet to them first was the promise sent. Now surely that fact speaks volumes as to the freeness of the promise, as to the mercy of our God, as to the efficacy of the Redeemers merits.

2. The promise is unto you. If these brought joy home to the hearts of the Jews who heard the apostle, then surely His next words, And to your children, must have touched another like chord, or rather, the same chord over again; for hard must be that parents heart that does not rejoice quite as much in benefit to his children as in benefit to himself. Christianity most fully recognises that principle of natural affection, which the God of nature implanted in breasts of parents. The God of nature and the God of grace is one and the same. No sooner do parents discover the promise sent to themselves, than it says to them, I am sent unto you and to your children, introduce me to them, and them to me. I come to tell them that their fathers God is willing to be their God also. It is remarkable how the Scriptures throughout encourage the promotion of the training up of children in the knowledge and belief of the promises of God. For this Abraham was so commended, For I know him, that he will command his children, etc. This was the determination of Joshua. Let others choose as they may, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. This was the lamentation of David. Although this mine house be not so with God. This was the pious study of the ancient Lois, and the maternal anxiety of Eunice, to train young Timothy in the knowledge of the Scriptures, which were able to make him wise unto salvation. This again was the care of Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened to attend to the things spoken by Paul, immediately after to have them addressed to her household also. The same was the effect on the jailer. Thus these examples from the Old and New Testament show that God encourages efforts to make known His promises to the young. What, then, can we think of parents who are anxious enough that their children should be well off for this world, should be accomplished, or learned, or rich--should form good connections, shine and sparkle in society, be admired and venerated in this world, but who have no care for their safety and happiness in the next?

3. To all that are afar off, this means the Gentiles. St. Paul, writing to Ephesians, gives the very best comment on these words of St. Peter, Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, etc. Thus the Gentries afar off from God, from peace, from hope, and from salvation: but Christ hath broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. The same God over all, is rich unto all that call upon Him. The same promise which sounded in the ears of the three thousand Jews on the day of Pentecost is now gone forth to the ends of the world. It is the voice of the good Shepherd seeking after His lost sheep; and is the promise of Himself and His Spirit to give us a full salvation. This promise is to be addressed to all; it has a message to every human being; and yet, though the outward call is thus general and universal, our text adds,

4. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Hence it is necessary well to understand, that beside the general call to be addressed to all, there must be the gracious and effectual calling of God. What the minister speaks to the ear, God speaks to the heart. The general call is so large, so rich, and so free, as to leave all without excuse who rest in the mere hearing of it with the ear, and do not seek to enter into it with their souls. The general call should stir us up to pray much for the gracious call. (J. Hambleton, M. A.)

The children may be converted

There was in my ancestral line an incident so strangely impressive that it seems more like romance than reality. It has sometimes been so inaccurately put forth that I now give you the true incident. My grandfather and grandmother, living at Somerville, New Jersey, went to Baskingridge to witness a revival, under the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Finney. They came home so impressed with what they had seen that they resolved on the salvation of their children. The young people of the house were to go off for an evening party, and my grandmother said, Now, when you are all ready for the party come to my room, for I have something very important to tell you. All ready for departure, they came to her room, and she said to them, Now, I want you to remember, while you are away this evening, that I am all the time in this room praying for your salvation, and I shall not cease praying until you get back. The young people went to the party, but amid the loudest hilarities of the night they could not forget that their mother was praying for them. The evening passed, and the night passed. The next day my grandparents heard an outcry in an adjoining room, and they went in and found their daughter imploring the salvation of the gospel. The daughter told them that her brothers were at the barn and at the waggon-house under powerful conviction for sin. They went to the barn. They found my uncle Jehiah, who afterwards became a minister of the gospel, crying to God for mercy. They went to the waggon-house. They found their son David, who afterwards became my father, imploring Gods pardon and mercy. Before a great while the whole family were saved; and David went and told the story to a young woman to whom he was affianced, who, as a result of the story, became a Christian, and from her own lips--my mother--I have received the incidents. The story of that converted household ran through all the neighbourhood, from family to family, until tim whole region was whelmed with religious awakening, and at the next communion in the village church at Somerville over two hundred souls stood up to profess the faith of the gospel. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

As many as the Lord our God shall call.--

Effectual calling

From whence observe--

I. That all men till called by God are afar off from Him.

1. In regard of the knowledge of God in a true and saving way. They are as little children, no more apprehensive in a right manner of God than the children in the dark are perceiving of the things of reason. Even Christians by birth are also far off from God till they have this spiritual eye-salve; and therefore in two respects men may be said to be far off from God.

(1) First, both in respect of inward grace and the outward means of salvation; and thus all the heathenish part of the world is afar off God.

(2) Or secondly, in respect of the inward grace only. When men do enjoy the outward means of salvation, and in this sense of their duties are said to draw nigh to God, but in respect of any saving work of grace are as far off as heathens and pagans; and this is the condition, as is to be feared, of many thousands. They are nigh God in respect of the Christian faith they profess in respect of the duties and ordinancies they exercise themselves in, but in respect of their affections and heart, so they are at as great distance from God and His holy ways as heathen and publicans. This distinction must be attended unto, that we do not vainly deceive ourselves as the Jews did with The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.

2. In respect of Gods special and gracious love to justify their persons to pardon their sins. Do not thou please thyself with the thought that thou hast free access to the presence and into the favour of great ones on earth; for if thou art far off from God, if He regard thee not, if His displeasure be towards thee, thou art in the state of gall and wormwood.

3. We are by nature afar off from Christ the Mediator between God and man. And this indeed is the foundation of all calamity; for as in Christ we are blessed with all heavenly blessings, so without Him we are cursed with all spiritual and temporal curses.

4. Such as are afar off have no hope. They are a hopeless people; which way soever they look everything curseth and condemneth them; and no marvel, for, if without the promise, they have not the ground of hope, and if without Christ, the object of hope.

5. Such are afar off in respect of God and an universal constant obedience to His holy will. As God loveth not them, so neither do they love God. As God is not gracious in His promises to them, so neither are they obedient to His precepts.

II. That not all of mankind, but some only, doth God call with a loving call. The apostle plainly makes a difference of these that are afar off, and this only to come from God; some are so afar off that they never hear the voice of God in the Word calling them to repent and believe in Christ. Others again have salvation brought unto their house; and if thou ask why God calls such and not others, do not curiously pry in this mystery; Gods ways are just, even when they are hidden to us. Too much gazing on this Sun may quickly blind us.

1. That there is a general and common invitation even of all in the world by God; and there is a special gracious one. The former invitation is by the creatures, by the works of God.

(1) This invitation and call by the creatures doth not nor cannot reveal anything of Christ, the only cause of salvation.

(2) The call by the creatures is not saving, because it discovers not the way of salvation no more than the cause--viz., faith.

(3) This call could not be saving, for the farthest and utmost effect it had upon men was only outwardly to reform their lives. But you may say, To what purpose is this call of God by the creatures and the work of His providence, if it be not to salvation? Yes, it is much every way.

(a) Hereby even all men are made inexcusable.

(b) Gods purpose in these calls is to restrain sin and to draw men on further than they do. There is no man that hath no more than this remote and confused call that doth what be may do and can do. He doth not improve, no, not that natural strength that is in him. I do not say to spiritual good things; for so he hath no natural strength, but to such objects as by nature he might. He wilfully runneth himself in the commit-ing of sins against his conscience and knowledge. Now God calleth by these natural ways to restrain him to put a bound to these waves. For if there were not these general convictions, no societies, no commonwealth could consist.

2. Take notice of a twofold saving calling. The one is only external and saving in respect of the ability and sufficiency; the other is saving effectually and in respect of the event.

3. That God doth not call all men with this saving, gracious call will evidently de facto appear if you consider the ways of God ever since there was a Church till now.

4. It is no injustice in God, though He does not give this universal call of grace to all men.

(1) If we could not satisfy the reason and disputes of men in this Divine dispensation, yet if the Scripture be clear in this point we must all stop our mouths and not gainsay. Doth not the apostle (Rom_9:1-33.) expressly bring these carnal reasonings? Who hath resisted His will? and why then doth He find fault? But see how he rebukes this unruliness in man, Who art thou, O man, that disputest against God? If then Scripture and experience saith thus much, we must conclude Gods ways are just, though hidden to us.

(2) Even reason enforced out of Scripture may satisfy us in many things; for it is no injustice in God if He had not called any man in the world with a gracious call; for seeing man by his fall had broken the covenant with God, all things became forfeited into His hand; He was not bound to set up man with a new stock after his first breaking.

(3) There can be no injustice where all that is done is done wholly out of grace and mere favour. The devil he thinks God is gracious too much and calls too many; he is tormented with malice because so many escape out of his jaws.

(4) Although God doth not call every man with this immediate call of grace, yet no man is damned merely because he wants this. The apostle saith, That those that are without the law [viz., written and revealed to them], shall be judged without the law. And thus those that are without the gospel, that have not the means of grace they shall not be judged because they did not believe in Christ, because they did not submit to Him, but because they did not walk in the practice of those things they did know.

(5) God is not unjust, no, not to those that are afar off, because none among them have done what they might do in a natural and moral way; for although no man hath power in a gracious manner to any spiritual good thing, yet they may restrain from the outward actings of many gross sins.

(6) Though God do not call all men, and thereby they are wholly impotent and unable to any good; yet they do not sin so much because they want power as because they have a willing delight in it; and this indeed doth mainly remove all objections; for it is not a mans impotency so much as his wilful consent to sin that damneth him. (A. Burgess.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 2:39. Ὑμῖν, unto you) This denotes more than if he had said, “The promise is yours.” Comp. Luk 2:11, “Unto you is born, etc., a Saviour.”—ἔστιν, is) stands forth fulfilled: ch. Act 3:25-26, Act 13:32-33.—ἡ ἐπαγγελία, the promise) of this gift.—πᾶσι, to all) and therefore not to the apostles alone.—τοῖς εἰς μακρὰν, who are afar off) The LXX. Isa 57:19, εἰρήνην ἐπʼ εἰρήνῃ τοῖς μακρὰν καὶ τοῖς ἐγγὺς οὖσι. The apostles sometimes touched slightly upon mysteries, the fuller declaration of which was afterwards about to go forth to the world through themselves: and in the meanwhile touched upon them in such words as marvellously corresponded both to the language of the Old Testament and to their own present feeling or sense, which was a true sense, but not as yet the full one, and to the Divine intention, which was about to declare itself further through them. In this passage the Holy Spirit spake through Peter such things as to the admission of the Gentiles speedily, in a large number, and without circumcision (with which comp. Eph 2:13), as Peter himself afterwards in ch. 10 did not at once perceive (apprehend): and yet his words were in accordance with Isaiah; and even these words here are suited to that sense which he afterwards understood. All the words of Scripture are most skilfully chosen. As to the fact signified, weigh well the word first in ch. Act 3:26, “Unto you, in the first instance, God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him.” Rom 2:10, “Of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile:” Act 15:10, “Rejoice ye Gentiles with His people:” Eph 2:19, “You who were afar off are fellow-citizens with the saints” (the Jew-Christians), Act 3:6, “That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs.” At the same time there is a Euphemism in the fact, that the name, Gentiles (so offensive to Jewish ears), is not introduced.—ὅσους ἂν, κ.τ.λ., whomsoever, etc.) The LXX. have εὐαγγελιζόμενοι οὓς ὁ Κύριος προσκέκληται in Joel, ch. quoted in Act 2:17 [Joe 2:32].—προσκαλέσηται) shall call to Himself. This is the force of the verb in the middle.—Κύριος) יהוה the Lord.—ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, our God) the God of us all.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_2:39. Proof of the preceding λήψεσθε κ.τ.λ.: for to you belongs the promise (concerned); yours it is, i.e. you are they in whom the promise (of the communication of the Spirit) is to be realized.

τοῖς εἰς μακράν] to those who are at a distance, that is, to all the members of the Jewish nation, who are neither dwellers here at Jerusalem, nor are now present as pilgrims to the feast, both Jews and Hellenists. Comp. also Baumgarten. Others, with Theophylact, Oecumenius, Erasmus, Calvin, Piscator, Grotius, Wolf, Bengel, Heinrichs, de Wette, Lange, Hackett, also Weiss, Petr. Lehrbegr. p. 148, and bibl. Theol. p. 149, explain it of the Gentiles. Comp. Eph_2:13. But, although Peter might certainly conceive of the conversion of the Gentiles, according to Isa_2:2; Isa_49:1, al., in the way of their coming to and passing through Judaism, yet the mention of the Gentiles here (observe the emphatically preceding ὑμῖν) would be quite alien from the destination of the words, which were intended to prove the λήψεσθε κ.τ.λ. of Act_2:38. The conversion of the Gentiles does not here belong to the matter in hand. Beza, whom Casaubon follows, understood it of time (2Sa_7:19, comp. the classical οὐκ ἐς μακράν): longe post futuros, but this is excluded by the very conception of the nearness of the Parousia.

As to the expression of direction, εἰς μακρ., comp. on Act_22:5.

ὅσους ἂν προσκαλ. κ.τ.λ.] contains the definition of πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς μακράν: as many as God shall have called to Himself, namely, by the preaching of the gospel, by the reception of which they, as members of the true theocracy, will enter into Christian fellowship with God, and will receive the Spirit.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 2:39 . ὑμῖν γὰρ : the promise was made to the very men who had invoked upon themselves and upon their children, St. Mat 27:25 , the blood of the Crucified. See Psalms of Solomon , Act 8:39 (Ryle and James’ edition, p. 88). πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς μακράν : no occasion with Wendt and others to limit the words to the Jews of the Diaspora. It must not be forgotten that the Apostles were not surprised that the Gentiles should be admitted to the Christian Church, but only that they should be admitted without conforming to the rite of circumcision. If we compare Act 3:26 , and Eph 2:13 ; Act 2:17 ( cf. Rom 10:13 ), it would seem that no restriction of race was placed upon the declaration of the Gospel message, provided that it was made to the Jew first (as was always Paul’s custom). Hilgenfeld interprets the words as referring beyond all doubt to the Gentiles, since ὑμῖν … ὑμῶν had already expressed the Diaspora Jews. But he contends that as Act 2:26 plainly intimates that the address was delivered only to Israelites, the words in question are added by “the author to Theophilus”. He therefore places them in brackets. Jüngst in the same way thinks it well to refer them to the Redactor, and Feine refers them to Luke himself as Reviser. Weiss sees in the words an allusion to an O.T. passage which could only have been applied at first to the calling of the Gentiles, but which (in the connection in which it is here placed by the narrator) must be referred to the Jews of the Diaspora. It may well have been that (as in Holtzmann’s view) St. Peter’s audience only thought of the Jews of the Diaspora, but we can see in his words a wider and a deeper meaning, cf. Isa 5:26 , and cf. also Isa 2:2 , Zec 6:15 . Among the older commentators Oecumenius and Theophylact referred the words to the Gentiles. ὅσους ἂν προσκαλέσηται Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν . Wendt presses the to favour his view that St. Peter thinks only of the Jews and not of the Gentiles, since he speaks of “our God,” but Blass catches the meaning much better in his comment: “ ἡμῶν Israelitarum, qui idem gentes ad se vocat”. This gives the true force of προσκαλ ., “shall call unto him” (so R.V.). Oecumenius also comments on the words as revealing the true penitence and charity of Peter, ψυχὴ γὰρ ὅταν ἑαυτὴν καταδικάσῃ , οὐκ ἔτι φθονεῖν δύναται .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The word that is used here, giveth us to understand that it was a free gift.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

For the promise--of the Holy Ghost, through the risen Saviour, as the grand blessing of the new covenant.

all afar off--the Gentiles, as in Eph 2:17), but "to the Jew first."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 39. For the promise is unto you] Jews of the land of Judea: not only the fulfilment of the promise which he had lately recited from the prophecy of Joel was made to them, but in this promise was also included the purification from sin, with every gift and grace of the Holy Spirit.

To all that are afar off] To the Jews wherever dispersed, and to all the Gentile nations; for, though St. Peter had not as yet a formal knowledge of the calling of the Gentiles, yet, the Spirit of God, by which he spoke, had undoubtedly this in view; and therefore the words are added, even as many as the Lord our God shall call, i.e. all to whom, in the course of his providence and grace, he shall send the preaching of Christ crucified.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

39. For the promise appertaineth unto you. It was requisite that this should be expressly added, that the Jews might certainly think and persuade themselves that the grace of Christ did belong as well to them as to the apostles. And Peter proveth it thus, because the promise of God was made unto them. For we must always look unto this, because [that] we cannot otherwise know the will of God save only by his word. But it is not sufficient to have the general word, unless we know that the same is appointed for us. Therefore Peter saith, that those benefits which they see in him and his fellows in office were in times past promised to the Jews; because this is required necessarily for the certainty of faith, that every one be fully persuaded of this, that he is comprehended in the number of those unto whom God speaketh. Finally, this is the rule of a true faith, when I am thus persuaded that salvation is mine, because that promise appertaineth unto me which offereth the same. And hereby we have also a greater confirmation, when as the promise is extended unto those who were before afar off. For God had made the covenant with the Jews, (Exodus 4:22.) If the force and fruit thereof come also unto the Gentiles, there is no cause why the Jews should doubt of themselves, but that they shall find the promise of God firm and stable.

And we must note these three degrees, that the promise was first made to the Jews, and then to their children, and last of all, that it is also to be imparted to the Gentiles. We know the reason why the Jews are preferred before other people; for they are, as it were, the first begotten in God’s family, yea, they were then separated from other people by a singular privilege. Therefore Peter observeth a good order, when he giveth the Jews the pre-eminence. Whereas he adjoineth their children unto them, it dependeth upon the words of the promise: I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee, (Genesis 17:7,) where God doth reckon the children with the fathers in the grace of adoption.

This place, therefore, doth abundantly refute the manifest error of the Anabaptists, which will not have infants, which are the children of the faithful, to be baptized, as if they were not members of the Church. They espy a starting hole in the allegorical sense, and they expound it thus, that by children are meant those which are spiritually begotten. But this gross impudency doth nothing help them. It is plain and evident that Peter spoke thus because God did adopt one nation peculiarly. And circumcision did declare that the right of adoption was common even unto infants. Therefore, even as God made his covenant with Isaac, being as yet unborn, because he was the seed of Abraham, so Peter teacheth, that all the children of the Jews are contained in the same covenant, because this promise is always in force, I will be the God of your seed.

And to those which are afar off. The Gentiles are named in the last place, which were before strangers. For those which refer it unto those Jews which were exiled afar off, (and driven) into far countries, they are greatly deceived. For he speaketh not in this place of the distance of place; but he noteth a difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, that they were first joined to God by reason of the covenant, and so, consequently, became of his family or household; but the Gentiles were banished from his kingdom. Paul useth the same speech in the second chapter to Ephesians, (Ephesians 2:11,) that the Gentiles, which were strangers from the promises, are now drawn near, through Jesus Christ, unto God. Because that Christ (the wall of separation being taken away) hath reconciled both (the Jews and Gentiles) unto the Father, and coming, he hath preached peace unto those which were nigh at hand, and which were afar off. Now we understand Peter’s meaning. For to the end he may amplify the grace of Christ, he doth so offer the same unto the Jews, that he saith the Gentiles are also partakers thereof. And therefore he useth this word call, as if he should say: Like as God hath gathered you together into one peculiar people heretofore by his voice, so the same voice shall sound everywhere, that those which are afar off may come and join themselves unto you, when as they shall be called by a new proclamation.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(39) The promise is unto you, and to your children.—The tendency of sects has always been to claim spiritual gifts and powers as an exclusive privilege limited to a few. It is the essence of St. Peter’s appeal that all to whom he speaks can claim the promise as fully as himself. The phrase “those that are afar off,” was probably wide enough to cover both the Jews of the Dispersion, to whom the Apostle afterwards wrote (1Pe_1:1-2), and the heathen nations among whom they lived. The use of the phrase in Eph_2:13; Eph_2:17, inclines rather to the latter meaning.

Even as many as the Lord our God shall call.—There seems, at first sight, a limitation on the universality of the previous words. And in some sense there is; but it is not more than is involved in the fact that spiritual knowledge and culture are not bestowed on all nations and ages alike. Wherever there is a difference, some possessing a higher knowledge and greater power than others, the Apostle could only see, not chance, or evolution, but the working of a divine purpose, calling some to special privileges, and yet dealing equitably with all.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

39. the promise is unto you, and to your children] Just as “to Abraham and his seed were the promises made” (Gal_3:16), so is it to be under the new covenant.

all that are afar off] Peter knew from the first, we see, that the Gentiles were to be admitted to the same privileges as Israel. But Christ’s commission said they were to preach first in Jerusalem and in Judæa. Peter needed the vision of the great sheet let down from heaven to tell him when God’s time was come for the extension of the work; and though in his dream the natural prejudice of his race was asserted, yet when he awoke he went “without gainsaying as soon as he was sent for” (Act_10:29), as he says to Cornelius. For Christ’s words had been “Go, teach all nations.”

shall call] Better, shall call unto him. The verb is a compound, not the simple verb.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And with many other words did he testify and exhort,.... For Luke does not give the sermons of the apostles at length, but a compendium, or specimen of them, and some of the more remarkable things in them; and which, it seems, lay partly in testifying concerning Christ, his person, office, grace, righteousness, and salvation; and against sins and errors, and false doctrine; and in "exhorting" to the exercise of grace, and the discharge of duty; or in comforting distressed minds: for the word used signifies to comfort as well as to exhort; though it seems to have the latter sense here, since it follows:

saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation: meaning, the chief priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, and elders of the people, chiefly, who were a perverse generation of men; and upon whom, for their impenitence and unbelief, for their rejection of the Messiah, and their evil treatment of him, wrath and ruin would come upon them, to the uttermost, very quickly; wherefore the apostle exhorts to separate from them, and not partake of their sins, lest they should also of their plagues; but come out from among them, and so, in a temporal sense, save themselves from the destruction that would quickly come on their nation, city, and temple; and so the Arabic version renders it, "escape from this rough generation".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

39 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 call.

Ver. 39. Even as many] The devil sweeps all (of maturity) that are not called, as out of the covenant.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the promise - That is, the promise respecting the particular thing of which he was speaking - the influences of the Holy Spirit. This promise he had adduced in the beginning of his discourse Act 2:17, and he now applies it to them. As the Spirit was promised to descend on Jews and their sons and daughters, it was applicable to them in the circumstances in which they then were. The only hope of lost sinners is in the promises of God, and the only thing that can give comfort to a soul that is convicted of sin is the hope that God will pardon and save.

Unto you - To you Jews, even though you have crucified the Messiah. The promise had special reference to the Jewish people.

To your children - In Joel, to their sons and daughters, who would, nevertheless, be old enough to prophesy. Similar promises occur in Isa 44:3, “I will pour my Spirit on thy seed, and my blessing on thine offspring”; and in Isa 59:21, “My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever.” In these and similar places their descendants or posterity are denoted. It does not refer merely to children as children, and should not be adduced as applicable exclusively to infants. It is a promise I to parents that the blessings of salvation shall not be confined to parents, but shall be extended also to their posterity. Under this promise parents may be encouraged to train up their children for God; they are authorized to devote them to him in the ordinance of Christian baptism, and they may trust in his gracious purpose thus to perpetuate the blessings of salvation from age to age.

To all - To the whole race; not limited to Jews.

Afar off - To those in other lands. It is probable that Peter here referred to the Jews who were scattered in other nations; for he does not seem yet to have understood that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles. See Acts 10: Yet the promise was equally applicable to the Gentiles as the Jews, and the apostles were afterward brought so to understand it, Acts 10; Rom 10:12, Rom 10:14-20; 11. The Gentiles are sometimes clearly indicated by the expression “afar off Eph 2:13, Eph 2:17; and they are represented as having been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. The phrase is equally applicable to those who have been far off from God by their sins and their evil affections. To them also the promise is extended if they will return.

Even as many ... - The promise is not to those who do not hear the gospel, nor to those who do not obey it; but it is to those to whom God in his gracious providence shall send it. He has the power and right to pardon. The meaning of Peter is, that the promise is ample, full, free; that it is suited to all, and may be applied to all; that there is no defect or lack in the provisions or promises, but that God may extend it to whomsoever he pleases. We see here how ample and full are the offers of mercy. God is hot limited in the provisions of his grace; but the plan is applicable to all mankind. It is also the purpose of God to send it to all people, and he has given a solemn charge to his church to do it. We cannot reflect but with deep pain on the fact that, although these provisions have been made - fully made; that they are adapted to all people; but that yet they have been extended by his people to so small a portion of the human family. If the promise of life is to all, it is the duty of the church to send to all the message of mercy.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The promise is to you. The good tidings of salvation were first announced to the Jew, then to the Gentile; first to the domestics, then to the strangers, who are far off. It is rather singular, that St. Peter, after here so clearly shewing that the Gentiles are called to the faith, should afterwards have made such objections to go to baptize Cornelius, because he was a Gentile. This can only be reconciled, by supposing, he did not know distinctly the time nor the manner of their vocation. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For the promise is unto you; lest they should doubt of pardon and grace, their sin having been so great. St. Peter gives them a ground of hope, they being the descendants from Abraham, unto whom especially this was promised, Jer 31:34.

And to all that are afar off; that is, to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews, who were said to be a people near unto God, as the Gentiles were said to be afar off, Isa 57:19; Eph 2:13.

Even as many as the Lord our God shall call; vocation, whether external by the word only, or internal by the Spirit also, depends on the pleasure of God; but the same promises of pardon and acceptance upon repentance made unto the Jews, are as effectually to be trusted unto by any of the Gentiles, as by any formerly amongst the Jews.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

39. The promise—The promise, of Act_2:21, that in the new age of Christ the Lord, all that call on him shall be saved; and hence the save yourselves of Act_2:40.

Unto you—Even, emphatically, unto you, who (Act_2:36) have crucified this Lord. And, more abundantly, it dies not with you, but extends to your children, your offspring. Nor geographically is it limited to your lineage, but extends afar off; for that promise of salvation to all that call upon the Lord (Act_2:21) shall extend even to all that the Lord by his Gospel shall call. To ask whether this means Jews or Gentiles is an empty question; for the apostle has not race in view, and is thinking only of the extension of the Gospel invitation in its blessed but indefinite vastness. Good proof this that the apostles and their followers expected the conversion (and not the immediate destruction) of the world.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To you is the promise for the promise is unto you, A.V.; shall call unto him for shall call. To you is the promise. (see Act_1:4 Act_2:33) There is also a reference to the prophecy in Joel, quoted in vers. 17, 21. To all that are afar off; i.e. the Gentiles, as appears clearly from Eph_2:17, where the same phrase is applied to the Ephesian Christians, and the Jewish Christians are spoken of as "those that were nigh." The fulfilment to the Gentiles is specially recorded. (Act_10:45 Act_11:15, Act_11:18, etc.) Shall call unto him (comp. Rom_1:6 Rom_8:28, Rom_8:30; 1Co_1:2; Gal_1:6 etc.) which confirm the application of the "afar off" to the Gentiles.

God"s promise of the Spirit.

"For to you is the promise," etc.

I Consider it as the NEED of man, and the fulfillment of that whole dispensation of mercy under which man was placed when he fell.

1. Trace it through the bestowments of the Old Testament, and show that while God was ever bestowing his Spirit, both in special manifestations as in the inspiration of his messengers, and in individual life, yet the requirement of man was that in connection with a larger communication of truth and redeeming love there should be the lifting up of humanity itself, of the spirits of men by Divine gifts.

2. Show that such is God"s method always. With gifts from without he sends gifts within. The gifts of science and discovery accompany an elevation of the mind and life of the world. Moreover, it is a Divine gift to be able to speak for Christ.

II Consider the EXTENT AND APPLICATION of the promise.

1. Apart from all restrictions of human merit. To the crucifiers of Jesus for God is merciful; to the Jew, notwithstanding his abuse of special privileges; to the Gentile, notwithstanding ignorance and degradation.

2. Apart from all restrictions of age. To the children as well as to the adults; to the families as well as the heads of households: for though the word "children" does not necessarily denote infants, it does not exclude them, and in such ways as by the analogy of Scripture we can interpret the "promise to the children," the word applies to the youngest. The Jew might well understand it as a covenant, which, like that of circumcision, was applied in its signs to the infant.

3. Wider than the utmost limits of human knowledge and belief. It is not for us, as it was not for the Apostle Peter, to say "whom the Lord our God should call." He has no respect of persons. He calls those whom we should not call. Peter himself was soon taught that God"s purposes cannot be judged by man. The universality of the Spirit is the basis of all missionary efforts the bond of the true Church. R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

FOR ALL AGES AND NATIONS

39. “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to you who are afar off, so many as the Lord our God may call.” This verse is positive, unequivocal and unmistakable, confirmatory of the great New Testament truth that the promise of the personal incarnated Holy Ghost appertains to every human being on the globe whom the Lord may call by His Word, Spirit and Providence to come and participate in the glorious gospel feast, now ready and free to every fallen son or daughter of Adam’s ruined race. While the concession of God’s pardoning mercy, extended to all, is generally conceded, ecclesiastical autocrats and theological heretics pertinaciously repudiate the second great work of grace, i. e., the reception of the personal Holy Ghost as an indwelling Sanctifier and Comforter. Not only is this verse clear and unequivocal, but Peter at the house of Cornelius and in his testimony before the apostles at Jerusalem most unequivocally certifies that the Gentiles received the same identical spiritual enduement which the apostles received on the day of Pentecost. While these Scriptures are so positive, clear and conclusive as to preclude the possibility of misapprehension and leave no conceivable apology for cavil; yet it is a significant fact that bold heretics this day from Dan to Beersheba are persistently and indefatigably laboring to convince the people that no one but the apostles ever did receive the Holy Ghost, whereas a hundred and eight of the original disciples who received Him on the first morning of Pentecost were not apostles, and a number of them were women. Why do these bold heretics labor so hard and so persistently to flatly and positively contradict and refute the plain and unmistakable Word of God? Brother Godbey, what is heresy? And who is a heretic? The original meaning of heresy is to separate; thence a heretic is one who separates himself from God and takes issue with God; while heresy is doctrine dissimilar to God’s Word and out of harmony with it. The martyrs were all stigmatized heretics and burnt for heresy, because they separated from the corrupt clergy and the fallen church. If you will retain in your mind the definition of heresy, i. e., separation from something, the analysis is plain and easy. When a church becomes corrupt and heretical because it is separated from God, it invariably falls into the hands of carnal ecclesiastical autocrats and despots who are ready to persecute all who dare to separate from them. You must not forget that Satan is the great counterfeiter and counterfeits all truth. He calls evil good and good evil; hell, heaven, and heaven, hell; and calls himself God, and he is the god of this poor fallen world (2Co 4:4). His intelligence so far transcends that of every human being as to enable him to cunningly manipulate the greatest intellectualists and the most profound scholars. He has but one available competitor, and that is God.

So infinite is the devil’s intellectual perspicacity above that of all human beings that he has no trouble to radically and completely deceive all classes from the simpleton to the philosopher, from the barbarian to the most scholarly theologian on the globe. Hence the only possible availability against his devices is to receive the light, wisdom, word and personal incarnation of the Holy Ghost. So long as He dwells in you, though you be an illiterate Hottentot, you will prove more than a match for an army of devils. If you let God conquer you, capture and move into you, you can then conquer “the world, the flesh and the devil.” If you do not let God conquer you, you can be conquered by most insignificant things, e. g., a filthy old cigar, the sickening quid or the nauseating old pipe, or almost any other silly and senseless device of the devil. As an independency, man never has stood and never will. The devil puffs him up with egotism and inflates him with the silly delusion of personal independency, merely that he may gouge his eyes out, wrap him around his black fingers, toss him for a foot-ball, the sport of demoniacal millions to kick around the black walls of hell through all eternity. Since the Fall, Satan has been “the god of this world,” and so few people have been acquainted with God that the leaders of church and state, blinded by the fogs of hell and led away by the sophistries of the pit, have literally developed a general tergiversation of the maxims and dogmata of all ages and nations, political and ecclesiastical.

The devil takes the very phraseology of the Bible, radically perverting and cunningly manipulating it to the damnation of the superstitious votaries of religion. Consequently the devil’s deluded ecclesiastical tyrants in all ages have hounded, persecuted and martyred the children of God under the vociferous and odious imputation of heresy. As heresy means separation, and the saints of God could not be true to Him without separating from the wicked rulers of fallen ecclesiasticisms, of course they were heretics from their standpoint but not in the sight of God and the light of His Word. With the above exposition of Satan’s counterfeit applications and interpretations of heresy and heretics, you are prepared to put your eye on Jesus and His Word and receive the true interpretation of heresy and see who the actual heretic is. God alone is true and right. Hence all spiritual leaders who separate from Him are heretics in the divine estimation and in the light of all Christian intelligence. Since the Bible is the only book of truth in all the world, other books only being true so far as they harmonize with it, therefore all departure from God’s revealed Word is heresy. During the first three centuries, while martyrdom was the order of the day, the expectation of every Christian and the glory of the church, there never was a schism. When the Emperor Constantine professed the Christian religion and suddenly elevated the despised, down-trodden, persecuted church from the lion’s mouth and the burning stake to the palace of the Caesars, they immediately assembled in the council at Nice, Bythinia, the Emperor Constantine presiding over the council, sitting in a golden chair. They proceeded to make a human creed, thus formulating the celebrated Nicene Creed, the prolific mother of all the creeds of Christendom, which have multiplied upon the face of the earth like the Grecian warriors springing up from the dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus. The martyrs were burnt for disharmony with the creed interpreted by the sinister policy of a corrupt clergy. When the holiness people go into creed-making the shroud of the grand movement is ready for her interment. Every deflection from the plain Word of God is heresy. The Old Testament abounds in beautiful and instructive symbolisms, all of which are literalized in the New. Hence the New Testament, in whose dispensation we live and which really contains all the truth of the Old, focalized, literalized, verified and elucidated, is the creed of Christendom. It is plainer and more easily understood than any of the human creeds. Hence there is no apology for their existence. If your creed is in harmony with the Bible you can well afford to drop it and use the Bible. If it is out of harmony with the Bible, throw it away quickly or the devil will get you. A sectarian is the devotee of a human creed, whether written or unwritten. He is a poor, deluded idolater, worshipping a silly, pusillanimous human dogma, hatched in the bottomless pit and propagated on earth for the delusion and damnation of souls. Any man will die for his god, whether he be a Christian martyr, worshipping the true God in heaven and earth, or a bloodthirsty Mussulman, worshipping the false prophet, or the Pagan devotee of Brahma, Buddha, Grand Llama or Foh. The present age is awfully cursed with human heresies. Our Savior describes them, “compassing sea and land to make one proselyte, simultaneously making him two-fold more the child of hell!” Well said, because they have no power to take away his old sins: all they can do is to administer to him the rites and ceremonies of theirs, persuading him that he is a Christian when he is not, thus making him a hypocrite as well as a sinner, and doubling the mess for devils to devour in the barbecues of hell. We would all do well to emulate the zeal and perseverance of the devil. Oh how his preachers run to the ends of the earth, undergo hardships and surmount difficulties to propagate their heresies and make proselytes. Now, reader, I hope henceforth you will know no authority but God’s Word, taking it as it is, zealous least any one explain it away. Paul calls it a two-edged sword. If you give it a chance it will cut the heads off your idols till not one survive, and thus you will have nothing left but God and His sweet precious Word. Why do preachers with fine collegiate educations hold on weeks together preaching themselves hoarse to convince the people that they can not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, thus flatly contradicting God’s plain and unmistakable Word? There is but one possible solution, and that is, that these are verifying Paul

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder: for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no surprise if indeed his ministers are transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.” (2Co 11:13-14)

The world is thronged with the devil’s preachers, as the Holy Ghost through Paul so faithfully warns us. They tell you, you can not receive the Holy Ghost, and that no one has received him since the apostles. Why? Because they are personally ignorant of the Holy Ghost in His regenerating and sanctifying power as a personal indwelling Illuminator and Comforter; they judge all others by themselves. They are like the African king who said that all the people in the world were black, from the simple fact that he had never seen a white man. Now, reader, will you be stupid enough to follow Satan’s ignorance instead of the blessed Savior and God’s infallible Word, which, as you see here, positively certifies this promise of God to bestow upon His children the gift of the Holy Ghost, — “is to you and to your children, and to you who are afar off, so many as the Lord our God may call”? If you are puzzled amid the clamor of contradictory sectarian shibboleths, just get on your knees and ask the blessed Holy Spirit, while you open your Bible and read it, to reveal it to you. If you are truly honest, your creeds and idols all dead, and yourself dead to everything but God and His Word, you will have no trouble, but always receive the needed light. The reason why the masses of religious people are so easily manipulated by the devil’s preachers is because they know so little about God’s Word. The blessed Holy Spirit will invariably shed the light on His precious Word, necessary to guide the honest, humble soul in the way of all truth and righteousness. If you are truly walking with God in the light of His Spirit shining on His Word you can detect heretics at once, because they bend the Bible to their creed, thus incurring the awful woe pronounced on the man who “handles the Word of God deceitfully.” It is awfully wicked to tinker with God’s Word and bend it to your creed, whether written or unwritten. The Bible, like God, bends to nothing, while everything in all the world is to bend to it. How blessedly consolatory that the way to heaven is so plain, “that wayfaring men though fools may not err therein.”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

39. Peter does not limit the promise of the Holy Spirit to his present audience; but adds, (39) " For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. " That we are right in referring the word promise, in this sentence, to the promise of the Holy Spirit just made by Peter, is evident from the fact that this is the only promise made in the immediate context.

Some pedobaptist commentators have affected to find in the words, "The promise is to you and your children, " a show of authority for infant membership in the Church of Christ. But Mr. Barnes, though of that school himself, has the candor to say of this expression, "It does not refer to children as children, and should not be adduced to establish the propriety of infant baptism, or as applicable particularly to infants. It is a promise, indeed, to parents, that the blessings of salvation shall not be confined to parents, but shall be extended also to their posterity." That this is the true conception of the apostle's meaning is demonstrated by the fact that the promise in question is based upon the conditions of repentance and immersion, with which infants could not possibly comply.

The extension of this promise "to all who are afar off," is not to be limited to all the Jews who were afar off; but it is properly qualified by the additional words, "even as many as the Lord our God shall call." It included, therefore, every individual who should, at any future time, be a subject of the gospel call, and guarantees to us, of the present generation, the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the same terms on which it was offered to Peter's hearers on the day of Pentecost.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

39. For the promise. Of pardon, and the gift of the Spirit. Unto you. Even unto those who rejected the Lord. To your children. Your children after you. To all that are afar off. To the Gentiles. That he refers to the Gentiles is shown in the next clause, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Peter spake as the Spirit gave him utterance, and perhaps did not fully comprehend his own words.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

39. ἐπαγγελία must be taken to embrace the same gifts which it included in Act 1:4 and Act 2:33.

καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις. As under the old covenant the promises were made (Gal 3:16) ‘to Abraham and his seed,’ so is it to be under the new dispensation.

τοῖς εἰς μακράν. Peter knew from the first, we see, that the Gentiles were to be admitted to the same privileges as Israel. But Christ’s commission said they were to preach first in Jerusalem and in Judæa. Peter needed the vision of the great sheet let down from heaven to tell him when God’s time was come for the extension of the work; and though in his dream the natural prejudice of his race was asserted, yet when he awoke he went ‘without gainsaying as soon as he was sent for’ (Act 10:29), as he says to Cornelius. For Christ’s words had been ‘Go, teach all nations.’

The expression οἱ εἰς μακράν means those persons, whom to reach you have to go out into the distance.

προσκαλέσηται. Render, shall call unto Him. Thus the force of the preposition will be given, which disappears in A.V.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

39.] τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμ., viz. as included in the prophecy cited ver. 17, your little ones: not, as in ch. 13:32, ‘your descendants,’ which would be understood by any Jew to be necessarily implied. [Thus we have a providential recognition of Infant Baptism at the very founding of the Christian Church.]

πᾶσιν τοῖς εἰς μακράν, the Gentiles; see Eph 2:13. There is no difficulty whatever in this interpretation. The Apostles always expected the conversion of the Gentiles, as did every pious Jew who believed in the Scriptures. It was their conversion as Gentiles, which was yet to be revealed to Peter. It is surprising to see such Commentators as Dr. Burton and Meyer finding a difficulty where all is so plain. The very expression, ὅσους ἂν προσκαλέσηται ὁ θεὸς ἡμ., shews in what sense Peter understood τοῖς εἰς μακρ.; not all, but as many as the Lord our God προσκαλ., shall summon to approach to Him,—bring near,—which, in his present understanding of the words, must import—by becoming one of the chosen people, and conforming to their legal observances.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Afar off [εις μακραν] . Lit., unto a long way. Referring probably to the Gentiles, who are described by this phrase both in the Old and New Testaments. See Zec 6:15; Eph 2:11 - 13. Peter knew the fact that the Gentiles were to be received into the Church, but not the mode. He expected they would become Christians through the medium of the Jewish religion. It was already revealed in the Old Testament that they should be received, and Christ himself had commanded the apostles to preach to all nations.

Shall call [προσκαλεσηται] . Rev. gives the force of prov, to : "shall call unto him."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.