Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 2:39

"For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him." — Acts 2:39 (ASV)

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 Saint 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 (1 Peter 1:1–2), and the Gentile nations among whom they lived. The use of the phrase in Ephesians 2:13; Ephesians 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.