The Meaning of Acts 2:15 Explained

Acts 2:15

KJV: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

YLT: for these are not drunken, as ye take it up, for it is the third hour of the day.

Darby: for these are not full of wine, as ye suppose, for it is the third hour of the day;

ASV: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose; seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  these  are  not  drunken,  as  ye  suppose,  seeing  it is  [but] the third  hour  of the day. 

What does Acts 2:15 Mean?

Context Summary

Acts 2:14-24 - The Outpoured Spirit
The exulting joy of these Spirit-anointed people was accounted for by some through charging them with drunkenness. Peter dismissed the charge as absurd, seeing that the day was yet young. With a readiness that the Spirit had inspired, he declared it to be a partial fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. This is that, Acts 2:16. Alas, we cannot say as much! This might be that; this shall be that-these are all that we can affirm. Shall we ever be able to say, This is that?
In the pre-Christian times the Spirit was given to mountain-top saints, but from Pentecost onward, sons and daughters, old and young, servants and hand-maidens, were to participate in His gracious influences. It is for the democracy of the Church, for the whosoevers who call on the name of the Lord, for the valleys as well as the hills.
Notice that God's determinate counsel and pre-arrangement did not take away the guilt that lay upon the murderers of the Christ. The hands that slew Him were wicked ones, Acts 2:23. But God vindicated Jesus by the Resurrection, which reversed the judgment of men and proved Him the Son of God with power, Romans 1:4. [source]

Chapter Summary: Acts 2

1  The apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, and speaking various languages,
12  are admired by some, and derided by others;
14  whom Peter disproves;
37  he baptizes a great number who were converted;
41  who afterwards devoutly and charitably converse together;
43  the apostles working many miracles,
46  and God daily increasing his church

Greek Commentary for Acts 2:15

As ye suppose [ως υμεις υπολαμβανετε]
Note use of υμεις — humeis (ye) for decided emphasis. [source]
The third hour [ωρα τριτη]
Three o‘clock in the day Jewish time, nine Roman. Drunkenness belongs to the night (1 Thessalonians 5:7). It was a quick, common sense reply, and complete answer to their suspicion. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Acts 2:15

Mark 13:24 The sun shall be darkened [ο ελιος σκοτιστησεται]
Future passive indicative. These figures come from the prophets (Isaiah 13:9.; Ezekiel 32:7.; Joel 2:1., Joel 2:10.; Amos 8:9; Zephaniah 1:14-16; Zechariah 12:12). One should not forget that prophetic imagery was not always meant to be taken literally, especially apocalyptic symbols. Peter in Acts 2:15-21 applies the prophecy of Joel about the sun and moon to the events on the day of Pentecost. See Matthew 24:29-31 for details of Mark 13:24-27. [source]
Luke 7:43 I suppose [υπολαμβανω]
Old verb, originally to take up from under, to bear away as on high, to take up in speech (Luke 10:30), to take up in mind or to assume as here and Acts 2:15. Here with an air of supercilious indifference (Plummer). [source]
Acts 2:2 Were sitting []
Awaiting the hour of prayer. See Acts 2:15. [source]
1 Corinthians 12:10 Divers kinds of tongues [γένη γλωσσῶν]
I. Passages Relating to the Gift of Tongues. Mark 16:17; Acts href="/desk/?q=ac+10:46&sr=1">Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Corinthians 13:1; 14. Possibly Ephesians 5:18; 1 Peter 4:11. II. Terms Employed. New tongues (Mark 16:17): other or different tongues ( ἕτεραι , Acts 2:4): kinds ( γένη ) of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10): simply tongues or tongue ( γλῶσσαι γλῶσσα , Acts href="/desk/?q=ac+2:4&sr=1">Acts 2:4; Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6; 1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:13, 1 Corinthians 14:14, 1 Corinthians 14:19, 1 Corinthians 14:27): to pray in a tongue ( προσεύχεσθαι γλώσσῃ , 1 Corinthians 14:14, 1 Corinthians 14:15), equivalent to praying in the spirit as distinguished from praying with the understanding: tongues of men and angels (1 Corinthians 13:1). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
III. Recorded Facts in the New Testament. (1.) The first recorded bestowment of the gift was at Pentecost (Acts href="/desk/?q=ac+10:44-46&sr=1">Acts 10:44-46. (3.) Certain disciples at Ephesus, who received the Holy Spirit in the laying on of Paul's hands, spake with tongues and prophesied, Acts 19:6. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
IV. Meaning of the Term “Tongue.” The various explanations are: the tongue alone, inarticulately: rare, provincial, poetic, or archaic words: language or dialect. The last is the correct definition. It does not necessarily mean any of the known languages of men, but may mean the speaker's own tongue, shaped in a peculiar manner by the Spirit's influence; or an entirely new spiritual language. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
V. Nature of the Gift in the Corinthian Church. (1.) The gift itself was identical with that at Pentecost, at Caesarea, and at Ephesus, but differed in its manifestations, in that it required an interpreter. 1 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthians 12:30; 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:13, 1 Corinthians 14:26, 1 Corinthians 14:27. (2.) It was closely connected with prophesying: 1 Corinthians 14:1-6, 1 Corinthians 14:22, 1 Corinthians 14:25; Acts 2:16-18; Acts 19:6. Compare 1 Thessalonians 5:19, 1 Thessalonians 5:20. It was distinguished from prophesying as an inferior gift, 1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:5; and as consisting in expressions of praise or devotion rather than of exhortation, warning, or prediction, 1 Corinthians 14:14-16. (3.) It was an ecstatic utterance, unintelligible to the hearers, and requiring interpretation, or a corresponding ecstatic condition on the part of the hearer in order to understand it. It was not for the edification of the hearer but of the speaker, and even the speaker did not always understand it, 1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:19. It therefore impressed unchristian bystanders as a barbarous utterance, the effect of madness or drunkenness, Acts 2:13, Acts 2:15; 1 Corinthians 14:11, 1 Corinthians 14:23. Hence it is distinguished from the utterance of the understanding, 1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:14-16, 1 Corinthians 14:19, 1 Corinthians 14:27. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
VI. Paul's Estimate of the Gift. He himself was a master of the gift (1 Corinthians 14:18), but he assigned it an inferior position (1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:5), and distinctly gave prophesying and speaking with the understanding the preference (1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:3, 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:19, 1 Corinthians 14:22). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
VII. Results and Permanence. Being recognized distinctly as a gift of the Spirit, it must be inferred that it contributed in some way to the edification of the Church; but it led to occasional disorderly outbreaks (1 Corinthians 14:9, 1 Corinthians 14:11, 1 Corinthians 14:17, 1 Corinthians 14:20-23, 1 Corinthians 14:26-28, 1 Corinthians 14:33, 1 Corinthians 14:40). As a fact it soon passed away from the Church. It is not mentioned in the Catholic or Pastoral Epistles. A few allusions to it occur in the writings of the fathers of the second century. Ecstatic conditions and manifestations marked the Montanists at the close of the second century, and an account of such a case, in which a woman was the subject, is given by Tertullian. Similar phenomena have emerged at intervals in various sects, at times of great religious excitement, as among the Camisards in France, the early Quakers and Methodists, and especially the Irvingites. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

1 Corinthians 11:21 This one is hungry [ος δε πειναι]
Demonstrative ος — hos Nothing is left for him at the love-feast. Another is drunken (ος δε μετυει — hos de methuei). Such disgusting conduct was considered shameful in heathen club suppers. “Hungry poor meeting intoxicated rich, at what was supposed to be a supper of the Lord” (Robertson and Plummer). On μετυω — methuō to be drunk, see Matthew 24:49; Acts 2:15. [source]
1 Corinthians 11:21 Another is drunken [ος δε μετυει]
Such disgusting conduct was considered shameful in heathen club suppers. “Hungry poor meeting intoxicated rich, at what was supposed to be a supper of the Lord” (Robertson and Plummer). On μετυω — methuō to be drunk, see Matthew 24:49; Acts 2:15. [source]
3 John 1:8 To receive [ἀπολαμβάνειν]
The best texts read ὑπολαμβάνειν tosupport; i.e., to welcome with the provision of hospitality. Rev., welcome. The verb means, originally, to take underneath in order to raise. Hence, to support. Figuratively, to take upon the mind, to suppose, as Luke 7:43; Acts 2:15: to take up or follow in speech; hence to answer, as Luke 10:30. [source]
3 John 1:8 To welcome [υπολαμβανειν]
Present active infinitive (habit of welcoming) of υπολαμβανω — hupolambanō old word, to take up under, to carry off (Acts 1:9), to reply (Luke 10:30), to suppose (Acts 2:15), only here in N.T. in this sense of receiving hospitably or to take under one‘s protection like υποδεχομαι — hupodechomai (Luke 10:38).Such (τους τοιουτους — tous toioutous). “The such” according to the Greek idiom (1 Corinthians 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:18).That we may be Purpose clause with ινα — hina and the present middle subjunctive of γινομαι — ginomai “that we may keep on becoming.”Fellow-workers (συνεργοι — sunergoi). Old compound (συν εργον — sunτηι αλητειαι — ergon).With the truth So associative instrumental case with συνεργοι — sun in συνεργεω — sunergoi but it is not certain that this is the idea, though εργοις — sunergeō is so used with Συνεργος — ergois in James 2:22. τεου συνεργοι — Sunergos itself occurs with the genitive of the person as in της χαρας — theou sunergoi (1 Corinthians 3:9) or with genitive of the thing tēs charās (1 Corinthians 3:9). So then here the meaning may be either “co-workers with such brethren for the truth” (dative of advantage) or “co-workers with the truth” (associative instrumental case). [source]

What do the individual words in Acts 2:15 mean?

Not for as you suppose these are drunkards it is [the] hour third of the day
οὐ γὰρ ὡς ὑμεῖς ὑπολαμβάνετε οὗτοι μεθύουσιν ἔστιν ὥρα τρίτη τῆς ἡμέρας

ὑπολαμβάνετε  suppose 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: ὑπολαμβάνω  
Sense: to take up in order to raise, to bear on high.
οὗτοι  these 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
μεθύουσιν  are  drunkards 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: μεθύω  
Sense: to be drunken.
ἔστιν  it  is 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: εἰμί  
Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present.
ὥρα  [the]  hour 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ὥρα  
Sense: a certain definite time or season fixed by natural law and returning with the revolving year.
τρίτη  third 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: τρίτον 
Sense: the third.
τῆς  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἡμέρας  day 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: ἡμέρα  
Sense: the day, used of the natural day, or the interval between sunrise and sunset, as distinguished from and contrasted with the night.

What are the major concepts related to Acts 2:15?

Loading Information...