Interview with Dr. Daniel Segraves about The Holy Spirit: A Commentary
Comments by Dr. Daniel Segraves
When I started work on my new book, The Holy Spirit: A Commentary, I planned to discuss every verse in the Holy Bible that mentioned the Spirit. I began in Genesis 1 and followed that plan all the way through the Old Testament. But when I got to the four gospels, I realized it would not be necessary to treat every parallel text that didn’t offer additional insight.
But with the Book of Acts, I returned to the approach of dealing with each reference to the Holy Spirit, and I followed this to the end of the New Testament.
Therefore, as you might expect, all mentions of the Spirit in Acts are discussed. Here is an example from Peter’s visit to the home of Cornelius:
As if to confirm the duplication of this event with the Day of Pentecost, Peter said, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:47–48). The phrase “just as we have” cements the identical nature of this event with Pentecost. The Day of Pentecost was primarily a Jewish event, and this was a Gentile event, confirming the normativity of baptism with the Holy Spirit for all people and, also, water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ as an essential experience for those who believe on Jesus.
The King James Version has Peter baptizing these new believers “in the name of the Lord.” My book includes a footnote here, explaining that “most English translations follow earlier Greek manuscripts which read ‘in the name of Jesus Christ.’” This reading, which dates closer to the original manuscripts, linguistically connects this event even more fully to Acts 2:38.
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