ACTS 5:32

Q. Acts 5:32 “"And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."”

Acts 5:32 is often used as a proof text for the teaching that God gives the Holy Spirit to all obedient Christians. My question is, does the grammar permit such an interpretation from this verse?

Answer

“And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey [obeying] him ” (Acts 5:32).

DEFINITIONS.

First, we look at the construction of the verse.

In grammar, a “clause” is a group of words that contain a subject and predicate and forms a part or whole of a sentence.ⁱ Our text is what is called a "compound" sentence which means that there are two independent clauses or sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction “and.”ⁱⁱ An English illustration is, “The man is married and he has two children.” If we separate the clauses, we have two sentences. “The man is married.” “He has two children.”

The first clause in our text is, “And we are witnesses of these things.”   The “second” clause is “and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.”  This clause happens to be what is called a complex sentence because it contains a dependent clause.  Its independent clause, “so is also the Holy Ghost,” is accompanied by a dependent clause that also contains a dependent clause.

The Dependent Clause.

The dependent clause “whom God hath given to them that obey Him” cannot stand alone as a sentence but must depend on the independent clause “so is also the Holy Ghost” to make complete sense. The words which we are interested in, i.e., “that obey Him”, is a subject-predicate dependent clauseⁱⁱⁱ that is in apposition “to them.” They are grammatically parallel, both are in the dative case, and they have the same referent. Some illustrations of expressions in apposition: “my friend Sue”; “the first US president, George Washington.”

OBEY

We are concerned about the verb “obey” ^iv of the clause “that obey him.” According to the English-Greek/Hebrew Interlinear, the verb is present participle - Active - Dative, Masculine,  Plural.

Dative Case

Dative case indicates that this clause shows “to or for” whom (or what) the action of the verb takes place. The dative in English is an indirect object, and usually expresses the object of the preposition “to” or “for.”^v In this passage it is “to them that obey...” “Obey” is in the dative case to agree with the phrase “to them.”  This makes the word "gave" the main verb for the phrase "that obey Him."

The Rule for Greek “Present Participle”  

The present participle is normally contemporaneous in time to the action of the main verb.^vi

What is the main verb under consideration in Acts 5 for the participle obey (πειθαρχοῦσιν)?

MAIN VERB : GAVE

Peter said that the Holy Spirit is witness just as the apostles were. He identifies how he can make this assertion:“[the Holy Spirit] whom God hath given to them that obey^vii him.” This verb is “εδωκεν^G1325” and is in Greek aorist [tense].

The aorist tense, unique to Greek, is repeatedly referred to in grammar texts as merely a simple occurrence, with no emphasis on the action's progress. "The aorist is said to be 'simple occurrence' or 'summary occurrence', without regard for the amount of time taken to accomplish the action. This tense is often referred to as the 'punctiliar' tense. 'Punctiliar' in this sense means 'viewed as a single, collective whole,' a "one-point-in-time" action, although it may actually take place over a period of time. In the indicative mood the aorist tense denotes action that occurred in the past time, often translated like the English simple past tense."^viii

As I understand the Greek aorist tense, this would make the verb a “one time deal” and not a continuous one. That is, in this passage Peter is speaking of a single occurrence of God giving His Spirit to be witness.

The Apostolic Bible Polygot “word-for-word” Greek-English translation accurately has “God gave to the ones yielding obedience to him.”

Robertson admits, “It is not strictly true that here ['obey' in Acts 5:32] the present participle means future or subsequent time.”^ix

Peter is surely speaking of the day of Pentecost; the baptism of the Holy Spirit covering the apostles is referenced. The apostles were obeying Jesus by waiting for the promise of the Father that is given through Jesus. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to be sent to guide them into all truth (John 16:13; Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit witnessed through the apostles.

To this agrees the Pulpit Commentary. “The direct reference is to the command recorded in Acts 1:8, which they felt imperatively bound to obey. So is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost bare witness to the gospel preached by the apostles by the powers which he gave them to heal and work miracles, and by the conversion of many who heard the word: 'the gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven' (1 Peter 1:12). Mark the solemnity and authority which Peter claimed for the gospel by thus asserting that the Holy Ghost was the witness with the apostles to the truth of their testimony concerning Jesus Christ.”

CONTEXT

Peter and the apostles are brought before the council. Peter says that the apostles must obey God's command rather than the negative command of the council (Acts 5:29). God's rule was that the apostles were to publish their eyewitness account of the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus in forgiving sins.

(1) The Holy Spirit witnessed by guiding their words: “And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say” (Luke 12:11,12).   (2) The Spirit gave witness with signs of healing and miraculous tongues. “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people” (Acts 5:12).

The event in our passage confirms the fulfilment of Jesus' promise to the apostles in John 15:26: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of me.”

We know that we are to study the Scriptures (the writings of the Spirit inspired teachers)-- 2 Peter 2:15; 2 Timothy 3:16,17. The promise of the Spirit of Truth to the apostles obviously has nothing therefore to do with the giving of the Holy Spirit to every Christian in this context. This is confirmed in the next chapter of John when Jesus prays for His apostles. He prays, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:20, 21). Integrity demands that we not use it as such.

APPRECIATION: Gratitude to William Terry Tribble, teacher and evangelist in Auburndale, Florida, for his urging to have a revisit to this passage in the original Greek and in the context.

- Gaylon West

Throw Out the Lifeline