Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 2:33

"Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear." — Acts 2:33 (ASV)

Therefore being by the right hand of God.—The Greek has the dative case without a preposition. The English version understands it, likely correctly, as the dative of the instrument. The image that underlies the phrase is that the Eternal King stretches out His hand to raise Him who was in form His Servant to a place beside Him on His right hand. On the whole, this seems the best rendering. Not a few scholars, however, render the words “exalted to the right hand of God.”

Having received of the Father.—The words of St. Peter, obviously independent as they are of the Gospel of St. John, present a striking agreement with our Lord’s language as recorded by him (John 14:26; John 15:26). The promise directs us back to these chapters, and also to Acts 1:4.

Hath shed forth this.—Better, has poured out. The verb had not been used in the Gospels concerning the promise of the Spirit, but is identical with what was found in the Greek version of Joel’s prophecy, as cited in Acts 2:17, I will pour out of My Spirit.