In all the expressions and statements concerning the baptism of
Pentecost, there is a prominence given to the manner of it which can not
be casual, nor devoid of special significance. The attendant phenomena
are described as “a sound _from heaven_, as of a rushing mighty wind,”
which “filled all the place where they were sitting.” “Cloven tongues,
like as of fire, sat upon each of them.” “And they were all _filled_
with the Holy Ghost.” The facts are by Peter described as a fulfillment
of the prophecy,—“I will _pour out_ of my Spirit _upon_ all flesh.”—vs.
17. He further tells the assembly, that Jesus “_shed forth_ this which
ye now see and hear.”—vs. 33. Of the similar scene in the house of
Cornelius, it is stated that “the Holy Ghost _fell on_ all them which
heard the word,” and that “_on_ the Gentiles was _poured out_ the gift
of the Holy Ghost.”—Acts x, 44, 45. Peter also, in giving account of
this scene to the church at Jerusalem, stated, with reference to these
facts, that as he began to speak, “the Holy Ghost _fell on them_, _as on
us_ at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how he
said, ... Ye shall be _baptized_ with the Holy Ghost.”—Acts xi, 15, 16.
After the same conception is the language of Paul.—“According to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost, which he _shed on us_ abundantly through Jesus Christ our
Savior.—Tit. iii, 5, 6. “Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of
God (_ekkechutai en_) _is poured_ out on our hearts (_dia_) _through_
the Holy Ghost given us.”—Rom. v, 5. In these places, the words, “shed,”
and, “poured,” which are interchangeably used in the translation,
represent one in the original.
The first point, here, is the manner in which the phenomena of the
occasion were introduced. “Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of
a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting.” That this was designed to be a significant sign, would seem
certain in the presence of all the other significant features of the
occasion. And its meaning is not obscure. From the Greek verb, _pneo_,
to blow, are derived two nouns, _pneuma_ and _pnoē_. These words are
nearly identical in meaning, except that _pneuma_ is by the sacred
writers appropriated to designate the Holy Spirit. It, and the Hebrew
_ruagh_, which is appropriated in a like manner, both mean, primarily,
the air, the wind; and hence, the breath, the soul of man, a spirit, the
Spirit of God. In all these significations, they are found, the one in
the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament, and the other in the Greek
of the Septuagint version. We have seen how largely the figure of water
is used as a symbol of the Spirit. Its chief propriety as thus employed
appears in its effects upon the earth and the creatures, penetrating and
fertilizing the soil, washing away defilement, and refreshing the
thirsty; while as rain from heaven, it traces the descent of the Spirit
from the throne of God. In wind, or air in motion, or the breath, we
have another symbol, familiar in the Scriptures, and equally interesting
and significant. Its peculiar fitness consists in its relation to its
source, as representing the Third Person as the _Spiritus_ or breath,
“which proceedeth from the Father;” and in its nature, as essential to
sustain life in the animate creation. Says the Psalmist, “By the Word of
the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath
(_tō pneumati_, by the Spirit) of his mouth.”—Ps. xxxiii, 6. The word,
_pnoē_, is that which designates the “rushing, mighty _wind_” of
Pentecost. It is used in the Septuagint in the sense of wind, stormy or
violent wind, the breath, the soul, the spirit. Its relation to _pneuma_
may be seen in such places as follow.—“He that giveth _breath_ (_pnoē_)
to the people upon it and _spirit_ (_pneuma_) to them that walk
therein.”—Isa. xlii, 5. “The _spirit_ (_pneuma_) should fail before me,
and the souls (_pnoēn_) which I have made.”—Ibid. lvii, 16. “At the
_blast_ (_pnoēs_) of the _breath_ (_pneumatos_) of His nostrils.”—2 Sam.
xxii, 16. “All the time my _breath_ (_pnoēs_) is in me, and the _Spirit_
(_pneuma_) of God is in my nostrils.”—Job xxvii, 3. “The _Spirit_
(_pneuma_) of God hath made me, and the _breath_ (_pnoē_) of the
Almighty hath given me life.”—Job. xxxiii, 4. In the New Testament, we
have the words of Jesus to Nicodemus,—“The _wind bloweth_ (_pneuma pnei,
the Spirit breatheth_), where it listeth.”—John iii, 8. And in this same
book of the Acts, is the testimony of Paul to the Athenians that—“He
giveth to all, life and _breath_ (_pnoēn_), and all things.”—Acts xvii,
25. Significant to the same purpose is the word, _theo-pneustos_ (_God
breathed_), which describes the Scriptures as the dictate of the Spirit
in the prophets. (2 Tim. iii, 16.) Turning now to another word,—says Dr.
Alexander, “The word (_pheromenē_) translated rushing, is a passive
participle, meaning _borne_, or _carried_, and is properly descriptive
of involuntary motion, caused by a superior power; an idea not suggested
by the active participles, _rushing_, _driving_, or the like; which seem
to make the wind itself the operative agent.”[84] Compare 1 Peter i,
13,—“The grace that is to _be brought_ (_pheromenēn_) unto you;” and 2
Peter i, 21.—“Holy men spake as they (_pheromenoi_) _were moved_ by the
Holy Ghost.” With these notes, let us compare that action of Jesus, in
which he _breathed_ on his disciples, and said to them, “Receive ye the
Holy Ghost.”—John xx, 22. This we must understand as designed by him for
an interpretation of Pentecost. It can mean nothing else. For not till
then was the Spirit to be given.
Footnote 84:
Alexander on the Acts, _in loco_.
The same figure is fully developed in the prophecy of Ezekiel (xxxvii,
1-14), of the valley of dry bones. “There were very many in the open
valley; and lo, they were very dry.” At the divine command, Ezekiel
prophesied to them,—“O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus
saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and ye shall live.... And as I prophesied, there was a
noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his
bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them,
and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then
said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind.... Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I
prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them and they
stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” The vision is
interpreted to the prophet. “These bones are the whole house of
Israel.... Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open
your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you
into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I
have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your
graves, and shall put my Spirit in you and ye shall live.” Ezek. xxxvii,
1-14. Throughout this passage, the words, “wind,” “breath” and “Spirit,”
are in the original the same (Hebrew, _ruāgh_, Greek, _pneuma_), and the
word, “breathe,”—“Come from the four winds, O breath, and _breathe_ upon
these slain,”—is the same that describes the action of the Lord Jesus,
just referred to. If now, in the light of these illustrations, we return
to the account of the Pentecostal scene, we read that “suddenly there
came a sound from heaven as of an outbreathed, mighty breath, and it
filled all the house where they were sitting.... And they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit.” Thus was signified the Spirit of Christ,
as the breath of His life, by Him breathed into His disciples. So
distinctly and profoundly was this idea impressed on the mind of the
primitive church, that it became the occasion of one of the unwarranted
forms which were at an early age added to the Scriptural rite of
baptism. After the interrogation and immediately before the baptism,
there was an exorcism, with an insufflation or breathing in the face of
the person baptized; which Augustine calls a most ancient tradition of
the church.[85] It was meant to signify the expelling of the evil
spirit, and the breathing in of the good Spirit of God.
Footnote 85:
Augustinus de Nupt. et Concup. II, 29.
In the outbreathing of Pentecost we have the only phenomenon of the day,
that was expressive of the actual performance of the baptism by the Lord
Jesus. It was the specific symbol of the manner of it. Comparing it with
the various other statements above quoted, it appears that of that
baptism, the element was the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus; the
administrator was Jesus seated on the throne of glory; the manner of it
was an outbreathing from him; its coming was by descent,—a shedding down
from the height of his throne to his disciples in Jerusalem; in its
reception, it was a falling upon them; and the result was that they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit, as the breath of their lives. For, in
the symbol as described, they were surrounded as it were with an
atmosphere of the Spirit. “It filled all the house where they were
sitting;” so that they could breathe no other breath.
In this account, the chief interest centers on the source of the
outpouring. And, in fact, the very purpose of the forms of expression
used and of the sensible phenomena which they describe was to direct the
attention of all, upward to that source. To the same effect, was the
whole argument of Peter’s discourse to the multitude. Each position in
it, has this as the end.—“Ye men of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth ye know,
for him ye crucified. Him God raised from the dead and exalted to his
own right hand, and gave the Spirit in all fullness to him. That Spirit
hath he shed down upon us, as ye now see and hear, and thus is shown his
exaltation and power. Therefore let all the house of Israel know,
assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified both
Lord and Christ,—both sovereign over all and that Anointed One who was
promised to David, and heralded by all the prophets, as he that should
sit on David’s conquering throne.”
We have seen how Paul labors to exalt our imaginations to some
proportionate conceptions of the unapproachable height of the throne of
Christ’s glory. And now, in our times, from the day of Pentecost unto
the end, it is signalized in the exercise by him of that highest
prerogative of God, the sending forth of the infinite Spirit. It is shed
down by him from yonder height to this low earth,—down to us worms in
the abyss where we lay, strown in the upas valley of death, to breathe
life into the dead and give salvation to the lost. And to signalize that
height of his exaltation, the depth of his condescension, and the
measureless immensity of his matchless love, the Baptism of Pentecost
was given, its miracles were wrought, and its myriad trophies of
salvation gathered. All these point upward and cry,—“Behold! on high!
Far above all powers and dominions, Jesus fills the throne! Thence he
breathes forth the Spirit of God! Thence he sheds down salvation!”