Notes on Inspired Speech

In Acts 2:4 it says "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." KJV The key there being "the Spirit gave them utterance." When I look it up in Strong's I get "pneuma:G4151 didomi:G1325 . apophtheggomai:G669", which I take to mean the words were the inspiration of God.

Then in Acts 2:17, it says "And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy". KJV. So from this I take that prophecy is to be expected, prophesy coming frompropheteuo, G 4395 meaning to tell divine knowledge, the future, or to speak under the inspiration and authority of God. Therefore, I see this as another support for divine inspiration for the inspired speech.

I wrote the above in an email discussion group. Fortunately Robert A. Bayer was kind enough to help me understand it further.

I agree with you that Peter spoke as he was inspired by the holy spirit. However, he also quoted the Scriptures as he was inspired to do so. I suppose it is possible that the scripture quotations were given to him by direct revelation but I think it is more likely that he knew the scriptures he quoted and the Holy Spirit inspired him quote them from his memory. Robert A. Bayer in the Bible Study List email discussion group 4/23/01

Acts Chapter 2 - Full Text

References in Scripture

Acts 2:7


Acts 2:7

7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?


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To Understand my faith better I have decided to construct these pages. They are strictly educational, non-commercial and to foster scholarly discussion. All Bible quotes are from the King James Version unless otherwise stated. I use the KJV because while not a perfect translation it is literal and out of Copyright. All mistakes are my own and if you differ from my thoughts I welcome your comments. J. Barry O'Connell Jr.