of usage. We are trying to discover
what the expression "the promise" means in Acts ii. 39. Turning back to
Acts i. 4, 5, R. V., we read, "He charged them not to depart from
Jerusalem, but to wait for _the promise of the Father_, which, said He, ye
heard from Me: for John indeed baptized with water, but ye _shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence_." It is evident then,
that here the promise of the Father means the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. Turn now to the second chapter and the thirty-third verse, R. V.,
"Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received _of
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost_, He hath poured forth this,
which ye see and hear." In this passage we are told in so many words that
the promise is the promise of the Holy Spirit. If this peculiar expression
means the baptism with the Holy Spirit in Acts i. 4, 5, and the same thing
in Acts ii. 33, by what same law of interpretation can it possibly mean
something entirely different six verses farther down in Acts ii. 39? So
the law of usage establishes it that the promise of Acts ii. 39 is the
promise of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Now let us apply the law of
context, and we shall find that, if possible, this is even more decisive.
Turn back to the thirty-eighth verse, "And Peter said unto them, Repent
ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the
remission of your sins; and _ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost;
for the promise_ is unto you, etc." So it is evident here that the promise
is the promise of the gift or baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is settled
then by both laws that the promise of Acts ii. 39 is that of the gift of
the Holy Spirit, or baptism with the Holy Spirit. Let us then read the
verse in that way, substituting this synonymous expression for the
expression "the promise," "For the baptism with the Spirit is unto you,
and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the
Lord our God shall call." "_It is unto you_," says Peter, that is to the
crowd assembled before him. There is nothing in that for us. We were not
there, and that crowd were all Jews and we are not Jews; but Peter did not
stop there, he goes further and says, "And _to your children_," that is to
the next generation of Jews, or all future generations of Jews. Still
there is nothing in it for us, for we are not Jews; but Peter did not stop
even there, he went further and said,