Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 19:2

εἶπον omitted with אABDE. Vulg. has ‘dixerunt.’

2. εἰ πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐλαβετε πιστεύσαντες; did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed? On the use of εἰ as simply the mark of an interrogation cf. Acts 1:6.

The position of these disciples is difficult to understand. St Paul addresses them as believers. But this perhaps is only because they presented themselves among the real Christian disciples, and his recent arrival made it impossible for him to know the history of all who appeared among the members of the congregation. He presumes they are believers from the company in which he finds them.

ἀλλ' οὐδὲ εἰ πνεῦμα ἅγιόν ἐστιν ἠκούσαμεν, nay, we did not so muck as hear whether the Holy Ghost was given. This is the sense of the verse, and not that given by the A.V. Of the existence of the Holy Ghost no disciples of John could (as might be conceived from the A.V.) be ignorant. In his preaching John had proclaimed that the baptism of Him who was to come after him should be with the Holy Ghost and with fire. But in the Greek where, as in this verse, the expression ‘Spirit’ or ‘Holy Spirit’ is found without an article (although in English we are forced to put ‘the’ before it) it signifies not the personal Comforter, but an operation or gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus in John 7:39, the A.V. rightly renders οὔπω γὰρ ἦν πνεῦμα ἅγιον ‘for the Holy Ghost was not yet given,’ although there is no verb for ‘given,’ because the noun is without an article in the Greek, and so signifies ‘a spiritual outpouring.’ These disciples at Ephesus, then, imply by their answer not that the name ‘Holy Ghost’ was strange, but that they were unacquainted (as was the Baptist himself) with any special bestowal of the gifts of the Spirit.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 19:2

Old Testament

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