Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Acts 8:15 - 8:15

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Acts 8:15 - 8:15


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

15. καταβάντες, when they were come down. Used often of leaving Jerusalem, the centre of all religious life, to go into other parts. So the contrary verb ἀναβαίνειν is employed (Luk 2:42) to describe the journey to the Holy City.

ὅπως λάβωσι, that they might receive. The subjunctive mood comes after ὅπως even when preceded by a past tense, as here, when the result intended is regarded as something which will surely come to pass. Cf. Act 25:26, προήγαγον αὐτὸν ἐφ' ὑμῶν … ὄπως σχῶ τί γράψω.

πνεῦμα ἅγιον, the Holy Ghost, or rather (as the word has no article) ‘a gift of the Holy Ghost.’ It is clear from the whole history that special gifts of the Holy Ghost, bestowed at this period on the Christian converts in various places, were not given except through the Apostles. The case of Ananias, sent by God’s special command to Saul, differs from all others. Peter could promise it (Act 2:38) to those who should repent and be baptized, but the Samaritan converts whom Philip had made received no share of such powers till the arrival of Peter and John. But the Apostles make it manifest by their prayer that the gift was not theirs either to impart or withhold, but was ‘of God,’ as Peter calls it (Act 8:20).