Acts 1:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He did not say, "I baptize you with the Holy Spirit," but, "you shall be baptized," teaching us humility.

That He Himself baptized was already evident from John's testimony, for John said, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Lk 3:16). Therefore Christ mentioned John alone.

Thus the Gospels narrate what Christ did and said, while Acts narrates what the other Comforter said and did.

Of course, the Holy Spirit had performed many things before, just as Christ acts now and acted before. But before He acted through the temple, while now He acts through the apostles.

Then He entered the virginal womb and formed a temple there. Now He enters the souls of the apostles.

Then He descended in the form of a dove, now in the form of fire. Why so?

There He showed meekness; here He shows severity, fittingly reminding us of judgment. When sins had to be forgiven, great meekness was needed.

But once we have received this gift, it is already the time of judgment and examination.

Why does Christ say, "you shall be baptized," when there was no water in the upper room? Because the chief thing in baptism is the Spirit, through whom the water also acts.

In the same way Christ Himself is said to have been anointed, although He was never anointed with oil, but received the Holy Spirit.

However, one may also find that they were baptized with water, and that this happened at different times.

With us both baptisms, by water and by the Spirit, take place together, but then they were separate.

At the beginning they were baptized by John, and this is not surprising. If harlots and tax collectors came to that baptism, much more would those come who afterward were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Then, lest they say, "All this is still only a promise," since He had spoken about it many times before, and lest they think it could not be fulfilled, He turns them from such a supposition by the words, "not many days from now."

He did not declare exactly when, so that they would always keep watch. He said that it would be soon, so that they would not grow faint.

Yet He did not add exactly when, so that they would always be vigilant.

He assures them not only by the shortness of the time, but also by the words, "which you have heard from Me" (Acts 1:4).

His words mean: I have not told you this only now. I promised it already before, and I will certainly fulfill it.

Why, then, do you wonder that He did not tell the day of the world's end, when He did not wish to reveal even this day, though it was so near?

He did this quite naturally, so that they would always keep watch, wait, and take care.

For from John's testimony it was already known that the Lord was the one who baptized: "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3:11). How then is it said, "You shall be baptized," when there was no water in the upper room? It is said because here baptism by the Spirit is properly meant, through which the water itself also becomes effective. In the same way it is said of the Lord Himself that He was anointed, though He was never anointed with oil, but received the Spirit. Yet one can show that the apostles were baptized not only by the Spirit, but also by water, only at different times. In our case both baptisms are accomplished at one time, but then they were also accomplished separately. The apostles were first baptized by John with water, and then by the Holy Spirit. Why did the Lord not announce when the Holy Spirit would descend, but only say, "not many days from now"? He says, "not many days from now," so that they would not fall into despondency. He did not say precisely when the Holy Spirit would descend, so that, awaiting Him, they would remain constantly watchful. What wonder is it, then, that He does not tell them about the end of the world? For the reason we have indicated, He did not wish to announce even this near hour. The expression "to be baptized" signifies the abundance and, as it were, the wealth of communion with the Holy Spirit. Likewise one baptized in water, being immersed with his whole body, sensibly feels this. But one who merely receives water is not wholly sprinkled, nor in every part of his body. Therefore what is now said does not contradict what is said in the divine Gospels. For it is clear that, although after Christ's Resurrection from the dead it was said to the apostles, "Receive the Holy Spirit," and they received Him, there it is said precisely that they received the Holy Spirit. Here the expression "to be baptized with the Spirit" signifies the outpouring and wealth of the grace to guide others, which the Lord granted them when He ascended to the Father. As, possessing faith, they came to Him and said, "Increase our faith," so here, to the communion with the Spirit which they already had, they received, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, an increase of stronger union with Him.

The words, "but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit," raise a question concerning the baptism of the divine apostles. See Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius on this passage.

Some, apparently thinking that the apostles were then baptized when the Holy Spirit descended upon them in the upper room where they were sitting, say that although there was no water in that upper room, the Holy Spirit was there.

They also say that Christ, though He was not anointed with sensible myrrh, is nevertheless the Anointed One.

In addition, they say that the apostles, having previously been baptized with water at different times in John's baptism, were later baptized on the day of Pentecost with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But from this it follows that until the day of Pentecost the apostles had not been baptized with the baptism of Jesus Christ. Consequently they had not been cleansed from the defilement of ancestral sin.

Why, then, first, did they not wish to be baptized with the baptism of Jesus Christ, seeing Him Himself baptized in the Jordan?

They also knew the force of His words spoken to Nicodemus: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" (Jn 3:5).

Second, how did they, being themselves unbaptized, baptize others, as the Evangelist John testifies: "Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples" (Jn 4:2)?

Third, how did the God-man say openly of them that they were clean, "and you are clean, but not all" (Jn 13:10), if they were still not cleansed from ancestral sin?

Should one not therefore prefer to all other opinions the account of Evodius, the first bishop of Antioch, a holy man and apostolic successor?

He relates the following: "Christ baptized only Peter with His own hands. Peter baptized Andrew and the sons of Zebedee.

Andrew and the children of Zebedee baptized the rest of the apostles. Peter and John the Theologian baptized those disciples who are counted as the seventy."

Accepting his opinion as correct, one must affirm that the words "you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" do not signify baptism in the strict sense.

They have a figurative meaning and show the abundance of the grace of the Holy Spirit which the Savior's disciples received on the day of Pentecost.

Indeed, even before this they had received various gifts of the Holy Spirit. These included "authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" (Lk 10:19).

They also received authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity (Mt 10:1). They also received the gift to bind and loose sins (Mt 18:18).

But on the day of Pentecost they received not one or two gifts, but the whole fullness and completion of the gifts of the most Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).

They were filled with wisdom, power, and every other divine gift. Therefore here the word "baptize" is used figuratively, to express the abundance and richness of the gifts of God.

For as water moistens the whole body of the one immersed in it, so then the Holy Spirit filled the whole mind, soul, and heart of the Savior's disciples.

The Lord did not appoint the day or hour of the descent of the Holy Spirit, so that the apostles, awaiting it with greater attentiveness and ardor, might become more worthy to receive Him.

Yet He told them that the Holy Spirit would descend upon them not many days later, to comfort them in their heartfelt sorrow caused by their separation from Him.

He also said this to strengthen their faith and hope. Having written these words spoken by Jesus Christ to His disciples during His converse with them after the Resurrection, the apostle then recounts the apostles' questions to Jesus Christ and His answers to them.

The translation "having gathered them," with αὐτούς already implied, is required by the substance of the matter and by the true meaning of the history of the Lord's Ascension.

The Slavonic translation, "eating with them," is supported by the reading συναλιζόμενος, found in many codices, meaning simul commoror. The Vulgate has convescens.

It is also supported by patristic interpretations, according to which the Lord's appearance described here is the same as that narrated by the Evangelist Luke at the end of his Gospel (Lk 24:36-51).

In the passage under consideration, συναλιζόμενος stands in an inseparable connection with Acts 1:3, not only grammatically but also logically.

It designates the most decisive of the "many infallible proofs" by which the Lord presented Himself alive after His Passion.

See Theophylact's interpretation of the indicated section of the Evangelist Luke, and Chrysostom on Acts.

This gathering was required not only by the importance of the Lord's Ascension itself, of which they were to be witnesses, but also by the importance of the command and promise which the Lord gave His disciples.

The command was this: do not depart from Jerusalem. Without this command of the Lord, the apostles would have dispersed to their native settlements.

For most of them, these were the cities and villages of Galilee. And could they themselves have wished to remain in Jerusalem?

So many painful memories were bound up with it. There was the chief seat of Jesus' enemies. There, as His followers, they could expect only mockery and insult.

Nevertheless: do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Holy Spirit promised by the Father.

Such is the will of God: that in Jerusalem, the center of true Old Testament worship, the foundation of the New Testament kingdom should be laid.

There first of all the saving grace of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit was to be manifested. It was precisely there that cruel malice and injustice had recently been expressed by the human race against the Savior of the world.

In the very city where Christ had been so dishonored, the Holy Spirit, through the apostles, was to bear witness to Him and glorify Him.

This great promise could not have been incomprehensible to the Lord's disciples. As the promise of the Father, it had to be known to them already from the Old Testament prophecies.

Those prophecies concerned the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh in the messianic time (Joel 2:28 and following; Is 44:3).

Moreover, Jesus Christ Himself had explained to them very clearly the teaching and promise concerning the Holy Spirit, especially shortly before His sufferings (Jn chs. 14-17).

He now reminds them of this. Finally, the baptism of John and his testimony concerning the baptism of men with the Holy Spirit, which the Messiah would perform, had to lead them to understand the true meaning of Christ's promise (Mt 3:11 and parallels).

Consequently the Lord also reminds them here of John's baptism. By comparison with it, He clarifies for the disciples the action of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which was soon to follow.

This baptism would cleanse, renew, and strengthen human nature.

It was also the fourth sacrament, the priesthood, the appointing of the apostles to their ministry and the communication of the gifts needed for it: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses" (Acts 1:8). The second and fourth sacraments are still performed without water. If baptism itself was performed the first time, on the day of Pentecost, without water, the reason is understandable. Who could have performed baptism with water then, when the apostles themselves had not yet been baptized? Or, by similar reasoning, who could have laid hands on them if no one among men had yet received the gracious Gift? The first instance does not occur as the second or later ones do, because of the exceptional circumstances and because it is precisely the first. That afterward the apostles used water in baptism, no one, of course, will dispute (see Acts 8:36).

"This is not a partial grace, but all-perfect power. As one who is immersed and baptized in the waters is surrounded by the waters on every side, so they were baptized wholly by the Spirit. Water washes the outside, but the Spirit, excluding nothing, baptizes everything to the inwardness of the soul itself. Why marvel? Take a sensible example, small and unimportant in itself, yet useful for simple people. If fire, entering into coarse iron, makes its whole substance fire, so that the cold is heated and the black begins to shine; and if fire, being material and penetrating the material of iron, acts so unhindered, why marvel if the Holy Spirit enters the inwardness of the soul itself?" (Cyril of Jerusalem; cf. Theophylact). "After a few days from this" is, of course, a deliberately indefinite expression. It does not indicate the exact day of the fulfillment of the great promise. It was meant to stir joyful desire and expectation, to sustain spiritual watchfulness, and thus to exercise and strengthen faith (cf. Chrysostom and Theophylact). This was fulfilled ten days after the Lord's Ascension, on the Jewish Pentecost of that year and the first Christian Pentecost (Acts 2:1).

He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Mt 3:11; cf. Jn 1:33). By calling the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles baptism, or literally from the Greek, immersion in the Spirit, the Lord, according to blessed Theophylact, points to the abundance and, as it were, the wealth of communion with the Holy Spirit. For one baptized in water, being immersed with his whole body, sensibly feels this. But one who merely receives water is not wholly sprinkled, nor in every part of his body. A kind of partial reception of the Holy Spirit was the apostles' earlier reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit to bind and loose (see Jn 20:21-23). Jesus Christ did not define the time of the coming of the Holy Spirit, so that the apostles would keep watch. Yet He said that it would be soon, so that they would not grow weak. What instructive care the Chief Shepherd shows for His chosen ones and messengers!

To assert that we were baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit but were not baptized with the Spirit would be an irreconcilable self-contradiction. "As many of you as were baptized into Christ," says the Apostle, "have put on Christ" (Gal 3:27). Without doubt, water cannot do this, but only the Spirit. If our baptism is more than baptism with water alone, then one must acknowledge that it is baptism with water and the Spirit. Or, according to the Lord's word, it is birth by water and the Spirit. In the Apostle's expression, it is "the washing of regeneration" (Tit 3:5). In a word, it is rebirth. Therefore in holy baptism we have truly been counted worthy of regeneration, "having been born," as the Apostle explains, "not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of the living God, which abides forever" (1 Pet 1:23), by the power of the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.