Bible Strands
Acts 11:15
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter recounts to the Jerusalem church the precise moment the Holy Spirit descended on the Gentile believers at Cornelius’s house. He delivers this account to the Jerusalem church to explain the sudden inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles into the early church.
The words — ἐπέπεσεν (epepesen) = fell, denoting the Spirit’s sudden, unbidden descent, and ἄρξασθαί (arxasthai) = beginning, marking the event as the initial outpouring.
The thread — The text links this descent to the inaugural Pentecost event (Acts 2:2) and echoes the Spirit’s later arrival on disciples in Ephesus (Acts 19:6). Peter also connects it to Jesus’ prior promise that believers would be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:16).
Why it lands — The text states the Spirit arrived independently of human initiation, requiring the reader to acknowledge divine sovereignty in salvation. It demands a reader to accept God’s inclusion of any group without requiring prior ritual preparation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
Cross-references
- Acts 19:6 And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
- Acts 2:2 Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
- Acts 10:34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,
- Acts 4:31 After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.