John Calvin Commentary Acts 2

And when. To be fulfilled is understood here to mean to come. For Luke testifies again to their perseverance when he says that they all remained in one place until the time appointed for them. The adverb with one accord supports this. Furthermore, we have previously explained why the Lord deferred sending His Spirit for a whole month and a half.

But the question is why He sent Him primarily on that day. I will not refute Augustine's profound and subtle interpretation: that just as the Law was given to the people of old fifty days after Easter, written on tablets of stone by the hand of God, so the Spirit, whose office it is to write the Law in our hearts, fulfilled what was prefigured in the giving of the Law an equal number of days after the resurrection of Christ, who is the true Passover.

However, while Augustine urges this subtle interpretation of his as necessary in his book Questions on Exodus and in his Second Epistle to Januarius, I would wish him to be more restrained and modest in this matter. Nevertheless, let him keep his own interpretation to himself. Meanwhile, I will embrace what is more sound.

This miracle was performed on the feast day, when a great multitude customarily gathered in Jerusalem, so that it might be more widely known. And truly, as a result, news of it was spread abroad, even to the farthest parts of the earth.

For the same reason, Christ often went up to Jerusalem on the holy days (John 2; John 5; John 7; John 10; John 12) so that the miracles He performed might become known to many, and that among the larger gathering of people His teaching might bear greater fruit.

Similarly, Luke will later declare that Paul hurried to reach Jerusalem before the day of Pentecost, not for the sake of religious observance, but because of the larger assembly, so that he might achieve more (Acts 20:16).

Therefore, in choosing the day, the benefit of the miracle was considered: first, so that it might be more highly praised in Jerusalem, because the Jews were then more inclined to consider the works of God; and secondly, so that it might be proclaimed abroad, even in distant lands.

They called it the fiftieth day, counting from the offering of the first-fruits.

And there was made It was required that the gift should be visible, so that the physical senses might more effectively stir up the disciples. For such is our sluggishness to consider the gifts of God, that unless He awakens all our senses, His power will pass away unknown. This was, therefore, a preparation so that they might better know that the Spirit whom Christ had promised had now come.

Although it was not so much for their sake as for ours—just as when the divided and fiery tongues appeared, it was rather for our benefit, and that of the entire Church, than for theirs. For God was able to furnish them with the necessary ability to preach the gospel, even if He used no sign.

They themselves might have known that it happened neither by chance, nor yet through their own effort, that they were so suddenly changed; but those signs which are recorded here would be profitable for all ages, as we perceive today that they profit us.

And we must briefly note the significance of the signs. The violence of the wind served to make them afraid, for we are never rightly prepared to receive the grace of God unless the confidence (and boldness) of the flesh is tamed. For as we have access to Him by faith, so humility and fear set open the gate, that He may come in to us. He has nothing to do with proud and careless people.

It is a common thing for the Spirit to be signified by wind (or a blast) (John 20:22). For Christ Himself, when He was about to give the Spirit to His apostles, breathed upon them; and in Ezekiel’s vision there was a whirlwind and wind (Ezekiel 1:4). Indeed, the word "Spirit" itself is a borrowed term. For, since that hypostasis, or person of the Divine essence, which is called the Spirit, is in itself incomprehensible, Scripture borrows the word from the wind or blast. This is because it represents the power of God, which God pours into all creatures as if by breathing.

The shape of tongues is specific to the present circumstance. For just as the figure and shape of a dove that came down upon Christ (John 1:32) had a meaning appropriate to the office and nature of Christ, so God now chose a sign which would be appropriate to the thing signified—namely, that it might show the kind of effect and working of the Holy Spirit in the apostles that followed afterward.

The existing diversity of tongues in the world hindered the gospel from being spread any further; so that, if the preachers of the gospel had spoken only one language, everyone would have thought that Christ was confined to the small corner of Judea. But God invented a way by which the gospel might break out, when He divided the tongues of the apostles, so that they might spread abroad among all people what was delivered to them.

In this appears the manifold goodness of God, because a plague and punishment for human pride was turned into a source of blessing. For from where did the diversity of tongues come, except that the wicked and ungodly plans of humans might be brought to nothing? (Genesis 11:7). But God now furnishes the apostles with the diversity of tongues so that He may bring and call home, into a blessed unity, people who wander here and there.

These divided tongues made all people speak the language of Canaan, as Isaiah foretold (Isaiah 19:18). For whatever language they speak, they still call upon one Father, who is in heaven, with one mouth and one spirit (Romans 15:6).

I said that this was done for our sake, not only because the fruit came to us, but also because we know that the gospel came to us not by chance, but by the appointment of God. He, for this purpose, gave the apostles divided tongues, so that no nation would lack the doctrine committed to them.

By this, the calling of the Gentiles is proved. Secondly, their doctrine thereby gains credibility, as we know it was not invented by humans, since we hear that the Spirit dwelt in their tongues.

Now, it remains for us to declare what the fire means. Without any doubt, it was a token of the (force and) efficacy that would be exercised in the voice of the apostles. Otherwise, even if their sound had gone out into the uttermost parts of the world, they would only have beaten the air, without doing any good at all.

Therefore, the Lord shows that their voice will be fiery, so that it may inflame the hearts of people; so that, by burning and consuming the vanity of the world, it may purge and renew all things. Otherwise, they would never have dared to take upon themselves such a difficult task, unless the Lord had assured them of the power of their preaching.

Thus it happened that the doctrine of the gospel not only sounded in the air, but pierced into the minds of people and filled them with a heavenly heat (and burning). Nor was this power shown only in the mouths of the apostles, but it appears daily.

And therefore, we must beware lest, when the fire burns, we are like stubble. Furthermore, the Lord once gave the Holy Spirit in a visible shape, so that we may be assured that His invisible and hidden grace will never be lacking to the Church.

And it sat. Because the number is suddenly changed, it is doubtful whether he speaks of the fire. He said that there appeared tongues as if of fire. It soon follows, and it sat upon them.

Nevertheless, I refer it to the Spirit. For the Hebrews commonly express the subject of the verb in the second clause, which they omitted in the former.

Therefore, we have an example in this place: It sat upon them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And we know that although Luke wrote in Greek, he is still full of those phrases which the Hebrews use.

Now, when he calls the tongues the Holy Spirit, it is according to the custom of Scripture. For John calls the dove by the same name (John 1:32), because the Lord wished to testify and declare the presence of His Spirit by such a sign.

If it were an empty sign, it would be an absurd naming (to call the sign by the name of the thing signified); but where the thing itself is joined to it, the name of the thing is appropriately given to the sign which presents it to our senses to be perceived.

The fullness of the Spirit, with which he says everyone was filled, does not express an equal measure of gifts in everyone, but rather that excellence which would be appropriate for such a calling.

They began to speak. He shows that the effect appeared immediately, and also for what purpose their tongues were to be formed and used. But because Luke records shortly after that foreigners from various countries marveled, because each of them heard the apostles speaking in their own tongue, some think that they did not speak in various tongues, but that they all understood what was spoken in one tongue, just as if they were hearing their native language.

Therefore, they think that one and the same sound of the voice was variously distributed among the hearers. They have another conjecture: because Peter delivered one sermon to an audience of many gathered from various countries, who could not understand his speech (and language) unless a different voice reached their ears than the one that proceeded from his mouth.

But we must first note that the disciples indeed spoke in foreign tongues; otherwise, the miracle would not have been worked in them, but in the hearers. Thus, the comparison he mentioned before would have been false, nor would the Spirit have been given to them as much as to others.

Again, we hear how Paul gives thanks to God that he speaks in various tongues (1 Corinthians 14:18). Truly, he claims for himself both the understanding and also the use of them. Nor did he attain this skill by his own study and effort, but he had it by the gift of the Spirit.

In the same place, he affirms that it is a special gift, with which not all people are endowed. I suppose it is thereby clearly evident that the apostles were given the variety and understanding of tongues so that they could speak to the Greeks in Greek, to the Italians in Italian, and so that they might have true communication (and discussion) with their hearers.

Nevertheless, I leave it as a matter of indifference whether or not any second miracle was performed, such that the Egyptians and Elamites understood Peter speaking in the Chaldean tongue as if he uttered various voices. For there are some conjectures that persuade me to think this, and yet they are not so firm that they cannot be refuted.

For it may be that they spoke in various tongues as they encountered one person or another, as the occasion arose, and as their languages were different. Therefore, it was an obvious miracle when they saw them prepared to speak various languages.

Regarding Peter’s sermon, it might have been understood by the greater part of the people, wherever they were born, for it is to be supposed that many of those who came to Jerusalem were skilled in the Chaldean tongue. Again, it will be entirely plausible if we say that he also spoke in other tongues.

Although I will not insist much on this matter, provided that this is beyond doubt: that the apostles changed their speech.

Concerning the phrase And Peter, standing: by the word standing, it was signified that a solemn sermon was delivered in the assembly, for they rose when they spoke to the people so that they might be better heard. The sum of this sermon is this: Peter concludes that Christ was already revealed and given by the gift of the Holy Spirit, which they saw. Yet, first, he refutes their false opinion that the disciples were drunk. This refutation is based on a probable argument, because men are not usually drunk early in the morning. For, as Paul says,

Those which are drunk are drunk in the night, (1 Thessalonians 5:7).

For they flee the light out of shame. And surely, so great is the filthiness of this vice that for good reason it hates the light. Yet this argument would not always be good, for Isaiah inveighs in his time against those who rose early to pursue drunkenness. And today there are many who, like hogs, as soon as they awake, run to heavy drinking.

But because this is a common custom among men, Peter says that it is not a likely thing. Those who have even a little knowledge of antiquity know that the civil day, from sunrise until sunset, was divided into twelve hours, so that the hours were longer in summer and shorter in winter.

Therefore, what would now be the ninth hour before noon in winter (and the eighth in summer) was the third hour among ancient people. Therefore, while Peter only lightly dismisses the idea of drunkenness, he does so for this reason: because it would have been superfluous to dwell on any lengthy excuse.

Therefore, as in a matter that was certain and beyond doubt, he pacifies those who mocked rather than laboring to teach them. And he does not refute them so much by the circumstance of time as by the testimony of Joel. For when he says that what was foretold has now come to pass, he briefly touches on their unthankfulness, because they do not acknowledge such an excellent benefit promised to them in times past, which they now see with their own eyes. And while he rebukes all for the fault of a few, he does not do it for the purpose of making them all guilty of the same fault; but because their mocking offered a suitable occasion to teach them all together, he does not delay in seizing it.

It shall be in the last days. By this effect, he proves that the Messiah is already revealed. Joel, indeed, does not express “the last days” (Joel 2:29); but since he treats of the perfect restoring of the Church, there is no doubt that that prophecy belongs to the last age alone.

Therefore, what Peter brings forward does not in any way dissent from Joel’s meaning; he only adds this word for the sake of exposition, so that the Jews might know that the Church, which had then decayed, could be restored by no other means than by being renewed by the Spirit of God.

Again, because the repairing of the Church would be like a new world, Peter therefore says that it shall be in the last days. And surely this was a common and familiar thing among the Jews: that all those great promises concerning the blessed and well-ordered state of the Church would not be fulfilled until Christ, by His coming, should restore all things.

For this reason, it was beyond all doubt among them that what is cited from Joel pertains to the last time. Now, by “the last days,” or “fullness of time,” is meant the stable and firm condition of the Church in the manifestation or revealing of Christ.

I will pour out my Spirit. He intends to prove (as we have already said) that the Church can be repaired by no other means, except only by the giving of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, since they all hoped that the restoring was drawing near, he accuses them of sluggishness, because they do not even consider the way and means of it.

And when the prophet says, “I will pour out,” it is without any question that he meant by this word to indicate the great abundance of the Spirit. And we must take I will pour out of my Spirit in the same sense, as if he had said simply, I will pour out my Spirit.

For these latter words are the words of the prophet. But Peter followed the Greeks, who translate the Hebrew word ח (cheth), as apo. Therefore, some men in vain philosophize with excessive subtlety, because however the words may be changed, we must still retain and keep the prophet’s meaning.

Nevertheless, when God is said to pour out His Spirit, I confess it must be understood in this way: that He causes a manifold variety and change of gifts to flow to men from His Spirit, as if from the only fountain—the fountain which can never be drawn dry. For, as Paul testifies, there are diverse gifts, and yet but one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4). And from this we gather a profitable doctrine: that we can have no more excellent thing given to us by God than the grace of the Spirit; indeed, that all other things are worth nothing if this is lacking.

For, when God will briefly promise salvation to His people, He affirms that He will give them His Spirit. From this it follows that we can obtain no good things until the Spirit is given to us. And truly it is, so to speak, the key which opens the door for us, so that we may enter into all the treasures of spiritual good things, and also that we may have entrance into the kingdom of God.

Upon all flesh. It appears, by what follows, what the force of this generality is. For, first, it is set down generally, all flesh; after that, the distinction is added, by which the prophet signifies that there shall be no difference of age or kind, but that God admits all, one with another, to the partaking of His grace.

It is said, therefore, all flesh, because both young and old, men and women, are signified by it. Yet here a question may be raised: why does God promise that to His people as some new and unusual good thing, which He was accustomed to do for them from the beginning throughout all ages? For there was no age void of the grace of the Spirit.

The answer to this question is set down in these two phrases: “I will pour out,” and, “Upon all flesh;” for we must here note a double contrast between the time of the Old and New Testament. The “pouring out” (as I have said) signifies great plenty, whereas there was under the Law a scarcer distribution; for which reason John also says that the Holy Spirit was not given until Christ ascended into heaven.

All flesh signifies an infinite multitude, whereas God in times past was pleased to bestow such plenty of His Spirit only upon a few.

Furthermore, in both comparisons we do not deny that the fathers under the Law were partakers of the very same grace of which we are partakers; but the Lord shows that we are above them, as we are indeed. I say that all godly men since the beginning of the world were endowed with the same spirit of understanding, of righteousness, and sanctification, with which the Lord at this day illuminates and regenerates us; but there were only a few who had the light of knowledge given them then, if they are compared with the great multitude of the faithful whom Christ suddenly gathered together by His coming.

Again, their knowledge was only obscure and slender, and, so to speak, covered with a veil, if it is compared with that which we have today from the gospel, where Christ, the Sun of righteousness, shines with perfect brightness, as it were at noonday. Nor does that in any way hurt or hinder that a few had such an excellent faith that perhaps they have no equal today.

For their understanding nevertheless savored of the instruction and schoolmastership of the Law. For that is always true, that godly kings and prophets have not seen nor heard those things which Christ has revealed by His coming. Therefore, so that the prophet Joel might commend the excellency of the New Testament, he affirms and foretells that the grace of the Spirit shall be more plentiful in its time; and, again, that it shall come to more men (Matthew 13:17; Luke 10:24).

And your sons shall prophesy. By the word prophesy he meant to indicate the rare and singular gift of understanding. And to the same purpose tends that distinction which follows afterwards, “your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams”; for we gather from Numbers chapter 12 that these were the two ordinary ways by which God revealed Himself to the prophets. For in that place, when the Lord exempts Moses from the common sort of prophets, He says,

“I appear unto my servants by a vision, or by a dream;
but I speak unto Moses face to face” (Numbers 12:6).

Therefore, we see that two kinds are placed after the general word for confirmation; yet this is the sum: that they shall all be prophets as soon as the Holy Spirit shall be poured out from heaven. But here it is objected that there was no such thing, even in the apostles themselves, nor even in the whole multitude of the faithful.

I answer that the prophets commonly used to foreshadow the kingdom of Christ under figures of speech most fitting for their time. When they speak of the worship of God, they name the altar, the sacrifices, the offering of gold, silver, and frankincense. Nevertheless, we know that the altars cease, the sacrifices are abolished (which had some use in the time of the Law), and that the Lord requires something higher from us than earthly riches.

That is true, indeed. But the prophets, while they adapt their style to the capacity of their time, comprehend under figures (with which the people were then well acquainted) those things which we see otherwise revealed and shown now. Just as when He promises elsewhere that He will make priests of Levites, and Levites of the common sort of men (Isaiah 66:21), His meaning is that under the kingdom of Christ every lowly person shall be exalted to an honorable estate.

Therefore, if we desire to have the true and natural meaning of this passage, we must not insist on the literal words taken from the old order of the Law. Instead, we must only seek the truth without figures. And this is it: that the apostles, through the sudden inspiration of the Spirit, treated of the heavenly mysteries prophetically—that is to say, divinely, and above the common order.

Therefore, this word prophesy signifies nothing else except only the rare and excellent gift of understanding, as if Joel should say: Under the kingdom of Christ there shall not be a few prophets only, to whom God may reveal His secrets; but all men shall be endowed with spiritual wisdom, even to prophetical excellency. As it is also in Jeremiah,

“Every man shall no longer teach his neighbor;
because they shall all know me, from the least unto the greatest” (Jeremiah 31:34).

And in these words Peter invites the Jews, to whom he speaks, to be partakers of the same grace. As if he should say, the Lord is ready to pour out that Spirit far and wide which He has poured upon us. Therefore, unless you yourselves are the cause of hindrance, you shall receive with us of this fullness.

And as for us, let us know that the same is spoken to us today which was then spoken to the Jews. For although those visible graces of the Spirit have ceased, yet God has not withdrawn His Spirit from His Church. Therefore He offers Him daily to us all by this same promise, without making any distinction.

Therefore we are poor and needy only through our own sluggishness. And it also appears manifestly that those are wicked and sacrilegious enemies of the Spirit who keep back the common Christian people from the knowledge of God, since He Himself does not only admit, but also calls by name to Himself, women and men, young and old.