Cyril
of Jerusalem
Lecture 17, Part B
“For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom….” — 1 Corinthians 12:8
Summary: Now it becomes virtually impossible to summarize St. Cyril’s speech as he races through Acts compactly showing how the Spirit baptizes in the inside as well on the outside. We may only add that the book, Acts of the Apostles, is inappropriately named: for it should have been called, Acts of the Spirit, through Apostles, Deacons, and the whole Christian Church on earth. This part begins with Pentecost (circa 33) and ends with Paul on his way to Spain.[i]
Preview: 14. “But He came down to clothe the Apostles with power, and to baptize them; for the Lord says, you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.[ii] This grace was not in part, but His power was in full perfection … so were they also baptized completely by the Holy Ghost. … [not] the outside only, but the Spirit baptizes also the soul within, and that completely. … why wonder that the Holy Ghost enters into the very inmost recesses of the soul? 15. “Lest men should be ignorant of the greatness of the mighty gift coming down to them, there sounded as it were a heavenly trumpet, For suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind,[iii] signifying the presence of Him who was to grant power unto men … that both their eyes might see the fiery tongues, and their ears hear the sound. And it filled all the house where they were sitting;[iv] … Thus they were … invested soul and body with a divine garment of salvation. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.[v] They partook … of saving fire; of fire which consumes the thorns of sins, but gives luster to the soul.[vi] This is now coming upon you also, and that to strip away and consume your sins which are like thorns, and to brighten yet more that precious possession of your souls, and to give you grace; for He gave it then to the Apostles….” 16. “And they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.[vii] … What teacher can be found so great as to teach men all at once things which they have not learned? So many years are they in learning…. But the Holy Spirit taught them many languages at once, languages which in all their life they never knew. This is in truth vast wisdom, this is power divine. What a contrast of their long ignorance in time past to their sudden, complete and varied and unaccustomed exercise of these languages![viii] 17. “The multitude of the hearers was confounded … [as] at Babylon.[ix] … there … division … here minds were restored and united, because the object of interest was godly.… Wherefore they marveled, saying, How hear we them speaking?[x] No marvel if you be ignorant; for even Nicodemus was ignorant of the coming of the Spirit, and to him it was said, The Spirit breathes where it lists, and you hear the voice thereof, but cannot tell whence it comes, and whither it goes;[xi] but if, even though I hear His voice, I know not whence He comes, how can I explain, what He is Himself in substance?” 18. “But others mocking said, They are full of new wine,[xii] and they spoke truly though in mockery…. For though His grace had come before to the Fathers also, yet here it came exuberantly; for formerly men only partook of the Holy Ghost, but now they were baptized completely.” 19. “But Peter who had the Holy Ghost, and who knew what he possessed, says, Men of Israel … these men are not drunken as you suppose.[xiii] Drunken they are … according to that which is written, They shall be drunken with the fatness of your house; and you shall make them drink of the torrents of your pleasure.[xiv] They are drunken, with a sober drunkenness, deadly to sin and life-giving to the heart, a drunkenness contrary to that of the body … that bestows the knowledge even of what was not known. They are drunken, for they have drunk the wine of the spiritual vine, which says, I am the vine and you are the branches.”[xv] “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass after this, says God, I will pour forth of My Spirit….[xvi] … I will pour forth, implied a rich gift; for God gives not the Spirit by measure, for the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand;[xvii] … I will pour forth of My Spirit unto all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; and afterwards, Yea, and on My servants and on My handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit, and they shall prophesy.[xviii] … let each prepare himself for reception of the Heavenly gift.” 20. “We have said much today … yet more still remains. … there were need of a third lecture … But … the Holy Festival of Easter is now at hand [yet] we have this day … many passages are still to come from the Acts … from the Catholic Epistles, and the fourteen Epistles of Paul; out of all which we will now endeavor to gather a few, like flowers from a large meadow, merely by way of remembrance.” 21. “For in the power of the Holy Ghost, by the will of Father and Son, Peter stood … lifting up his voice, (… Lift up your voice with strength, you that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem),[xix] captured in the spiritual net … about three thousand souls. So great was the grace … this great number believed, and were baptized in the Name of Christ, and continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and in the prayers.[xx] And again in the same power of the Holy Ghost, Peter and John went up into the Temple at the hour of prayer, which was the ninth hour[xxi], and in the Name of Jesus healed the man at the Beautiful gate, who had been lame from his mother’s womb for forty years;[xxii] that it might be fulfilled which was spoken, Then shall the lame man leap as an hart.[xxiii] And thus, as they captured in the spiritual net … five thousand believers at once[xxiv], so they confuted the misguided rulers … not through their own wisdom, for they were unlearned and ignorant men,[xxv] but through the mighty power of the Holy Ghost; for it is written, Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said to them.[xxvi] So great also was the grace of the Holy Ghost, which wrought … in them who believed, that they were of one heart and of one soul,[xxvii] and their enjoyment of their goods was common, the possessors piously offering the prices of their possessions, and no one among them wanting anything; while Ananias and Sapphira, who attempted to lie to the Holy Ghost, underwent their befitting punishment.[xxviii]” 22. “And by the hands of the Apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people.[xxix] And so great was the spiritual grace shed around the Apostles, that … they were the objects of dread; for of the rest dared no man join himself to them;[xxx] but the people magnified them; and multitudes were added of those who believed on the Lord, both of men and women; and the streets were filled with the sick on their beds and couches, that as Peter passed by, at least his shadow might overshadow some of them. And the multitude also of the cities round about came unto this holy Jerusalem, bringing sick folk, and them that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed every one in this power of the Holy Ghost.”[xxxi] 23. “After the Twelve Apostles had been cast into prison[xxxii] … and had been marvelously delivered from it at night by an Angel, and were brought before them in the judgment hall from the Temple, they fearlessly rebuked them in their discourse to them concerning Christ, and added this, that God has also given His Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.[xxxiii] And when they had been scourged, they went their way rejoicing, and ceased not to teach and preach Jesus as the Christ.[xxxiv] 24. “The grace of the Holy Spirit wrought, also in … the seven Deacons; for these also were chosen, as it is written, being full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom.[xxxv] Of whom Stephen, rightly so named, the first fruits of the Martyrs, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, wrought great wonders and miracles among the people, and vanquished those who disputed with him; for they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.[xxxvi] But when he was maliciously accused and brought to the judgment hall, he was radiant with angelic brightness; for all they who sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face, as it had been the face of an Angel.[xxxvii] And having by his wise defense confuted the Jews, those stiff necked men, uncircumcised in heart and ears, ever resisting the Holy Ghost,[xxxviii] he beheld the heavens opened, and saw the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. He saw Him, not by his own power, but, as the Divine Scripture says, being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.”[xxxix] 25. “In this power of the Holy Ghost, Philip also … drove away the unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice; and healed the palsied and the lame, and brought to Christ great multitudes of them that believe.[xl] To whom Peter and John came down, and with prayer, and the laying on of hands, imparted the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, from which Simon Magus alone was declared an alien, and that justly.[xli] And at another time Philip was called by the Angel of the Lord[xlii] in the way, for the sake of that most godly Ethiopian, the Eunuch, and heard distinctly the Spirit Himself saying, Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.[xliii] He instructed the Eunuch, and baptized him, and so having sent into Ethiopia a herald of Christ, according as it is written, Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hand unto God,[xliv] he was caught away by the Angel, and preached the Gospel in the [other] cities in succession.” 26. Concerning Paul, Ananias also said, “The Lord, even Jesus who appeared to you in the way which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.[xlv] And straightway the Spirit’s mighty working changed the blindness of Paul’s eyes into newness of sight; and having vouchsafed His seal unto his soul, made him a chosen vessel to bear the Name of the Lord who had appeared to him, before kings and the children of Israel, [xlvi] and rendered the former persecutor an ambassador and good servant — one, who from Jerusalem, and even unto Illyricum, fully preached the Gospel,[xlvii] and instructed even imperial Rome … as far as Spain….”
[i]
And to think I once met a person who claimed that no doctrine could come from
the book of Acts.
[ii]
We note that this promised baptism has nothing to do with water; either by immersion,
pouring, or sprinkling: it is exclusively about the Spirit. Acts 1:5
[v]
Acts 2:3-4
[vi]
In Exodus, except of Moses, Joshua, and seventy or so others, this fire spelled
certain death; so, even its reflection in the face of Moses was unbearable to
see. Exodus 19:12-13; 34:29-35; 2
Corinthians 3:13; Hebrews 12:20
[vii]
Acts 2:4
[viii]
Note that there is no reference here to speaking anything other than another human
language or dialect.
[ix]
Genesis 11:9
[xi]
John 3:8
[xiii]
Acts 2:14-15
[xiv]
Psalms 36:8
[xxi]
Possibly around 3 PM; yet, certainty is not possible, since we do not know if
Hebrew, Greek, or Roman time concepts were in view; most likely this was Roman
time though: at the hour of Jesus death, which was the ninth hour.
[xxii]
Acts 3:1-26; 4:22
[xxiv]
Acts 4:4
[xxvi]
Acts 4:8
[xxvii]
Acts 4:32
[xxviii]
We remember Acts 3:22-23. However, their
deaths cast a pall over any attempt or thought of easy believism: clamping down
hard on the number of conversions.
[xxxi]
Acts 5:13-16
[xxxii]
Acts 5:18
[xxxiii]
Acts 5:32
[xxxiv]
Acts 5:42
[xxxv]
Acts 6:3
[xxxvi]
Acts 6:8-10
[xxxvii]
Acts 6:15
[xxxviii]
Acts 7:51-54
[xxxix]
Acts 7:55-60
[xl]
Not preaching the word; rather preaching the Word, Who is Christ: for by parallelism
verse 4 parallels verse 5. Acts 8:4-8
[xli]
Acts 8:9-25
[xlii]
Another name for the Holy Spirit, so powerfully presented that we should reconsider
the idea that Angel
of the Lord in the Old Testament is the pre-incarnate Christ: but, possibly the
Spirit of Christ. Acts 8:26 paralleled with
Acts 8:29
[xliii]
Acts 8:26-39
[xliv]
Psalms 68:31
[xlvii]
Romans 15:19
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