Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 2:13
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
13. Others mocking, &c.] Better, But others mocking said; They are full of new wine. There is no Greek for the words these men, as is shewn by the italics of the A. V.
The sight presented to the bystanders on this occasion was certainly unusual. We cannot but believe that the disciples would be in a fervour of excitement and enthusiasm, and the people who composed the several groups were likely to be no less moved by the account to which they listened in their various languages, coming from the lips of men whom some in the throng recognized for Galilans, and whose garb and manner would be like that of the ordinary natives of Jerusalem. The excitement exhibited on both sides will account for the remark of the mockers.
new wine ] Lit. sweet wine, defined as made of the drippings from the clusters before the grapes were trodden.
In the above description of the events of the day of Pentecost, the meaning which St Luke intends to convey is very plain in every respect, except that we cannot with certainty gather from it whether the disciples, as well as speaking new languages, also understood what they uttered. It would seem most reasonable to conclude that the Holy Spirit with the one power also bestowed the other, and this may have been so in the case of the disciples at Pentecost, even though it was not so at other times and under other circumstances. The only Scripture which bears upon the question is St Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians (1Co 12:10 to 1Co 14:30). There among the gifts of the Spirit the Apostle enumerates “ divers kinds of tongues ” (1Co 12:10; 1Co 12:31), and as what might be a separate gift not included in the first, “ the interpretation of tongues,” (1Co 12:10). He mentions in the next chapter the tongues of angels as well as of men (1Co 13:1), but not in such an enumeration as to connect the words with our enquiry. It should be borne in mind that all which the Apostle says in the Epistle is addressed to the Corinthians, not as missionary labourers but as members of a settled Christian Church, and he is instructing them what the best gifts are after which they should seek. Now their labours and utterances were to be among their own people and mostly among those already professing Christianity. St Paul repeatedly dwells on “the church” as the scene of their labours, which expression without necessarily always implying an edifice (which however here seems to be its meaning, see 1Co 14:23; 1Co 14:27) indicates a Christian community. The Apostle tells them that gifts of tongues are not for these. Tongues are for a sign not to them that believe but to the unbelieving. To speak with tongues was therefore not the best gift to be desired for the Church at Corinth. Yet we can fancy that some members longed for such a power, and it is to such as these that the Apostle’s remarks are directed. In such a congregation as theirs, he tells them, “he that speaketh in a tongue, speaketh not unto men, but unto God” (1Co 14:2), meaning to teach them that if a man had this gift he would yet profit his neighbours nothing, for they would not be men of a foreign speech like the crowd at Pentecost, or like those in foreign lands which the Christian missionaries must visit. Next he adds “he that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself” (1Co 14:4), for he feels the power and tells of the great works of God. The Apostle could wish “they all spake with tongues,” if, that is, there were an advantage to the Church therein, but under their circumstances he rather wishes the gift of prophecy, i.e. power of exposition of the Scriptures and preaching, for them. We next come to those sentences which bear directly upon our enquiry (1Co 14:13), “Let him that speaketh in a tongue pray that he may interpret.” There were then in the Corinthian Church examples of that division of these closely connected gifts which in the enumeration of spiritual gifts the Apostle seems to imply, some spake with tongues who could not interpret, and others could interpret who did not speak with tongues. And the next words confirm this view, “If I pray in a tongue my spirit prayeth,” (and in this way I edify myself,) “but my understanding is unfruitful.” Therefore the Apostle desires that form of power for himself which in a congregation shall exercise both spirit and understanding. He himself bad this gift in great fulness, but in the Church it is not that which he would desire to use, lest the unlearned should not be able to say Amen to his giving of thanks. For in the ordinary church-assembly if the gift of tongues were exercised, it would seem madness to those Corinthian unbelievers who came in, when they heard a speaker uttering a foreign language to a congregation who were all Greeks, and their minister a Greek likewise. St Paul therefore ordains that if any man speak in a tongue in the Church, he must have an interpreter or else must keep silence. From which ordinance also it appears that there were those who, though endowed with the gift of speaking with tongues, were yet not able to interpret to the congregation the words which they were empowered to speak.
In these passages we have all the references to this gift of the Holy Ghost which seem to help us to appreciate in some degree what its character was. Whatever may have been the case at Pentecost, certainly in the Corinthian Church the power of speaking seems not always to have had with it the power of interpretation, though in some cases it had, and all were to pray for the one to be given with the other. Yet in this whole account it is to be borne in mind that we have no indication that such gifts were frequent in Corinth, but only that the members of the Church longed to possess them. From this wish the Apostle dissuades them, because their duty was to minister to believers rather than to unbelievers, whereas on those occasions where the gift was most markedly bestowed, as related by the author of the Acts, viz. at the house of Cornelius, and in the heathen and multilingual maritime city of Ephesus, as well as at the outpouring on Pentecost, there was the probability of having an audience on whom such a display of God’s gifts would be likely to produce the same kind of effect which had been produced in Jerusalem on the first manifestation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Others, mocking, said – The word rendered mocking means to cavil, to deride. It occurs in the New Testament in only one other place: Act 17:32, And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. This was an effect that was not confined to the day of Pentecost. There has seldom been a revival of religion, a remarkable manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, that has not given occasion for profane mockery and merriment. One characteristic of wicked people is to deride those things which are done to promote their own welfare. Hence, the Saviour himself was mocked; and the efforts of Christians to save others have been the subject of derision. Derision, and mockery, and a jeer, have been far more effectual in deterring people from becoming Christians than any attempts at sober argument. God will treat people as they treat him, Psa 18:26. And hence, he says to the wicked, Because I have called and ye refused …but ye have set at naught my counsel; I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh, Pro 1:24-26.
These men are full of new wine – These men are drunk. In times of a revival of religion men will have some way of accounting for the effects of the gospel, and the way is commonly about as wise and rational as the one adopted on this occasion. To escape the absurdity of acknowledging their own ignorance, they adopted the theory that strong drink can teach languages (Dr. McLelland). In modern times it has been usual to denominate such scenes fanaticism, or wildfire, or enthusiasm. When people fail in argument, it is common to attempt to confute a doctrine or bring reproach upon a transaction by giving it an ill name. Hence, the names Puritan, Quaker, Methodist, etc., were at first given in derision, to account for some remarkable effect of religion on the world. Compare Mat 11:19; Joh 7:20; Joh 8:48. And thus people endeavor to trace revivals to ungoverned and heated passions, and they are regarded as the mere offspring of fanaticism. The friends of revivals should not be discouraged by this; but they should remember that the very first revival of religion was by many supposed to be the effect of a drunken frolic.
New wine – gleukous. This word properly means the juice of the grape which distils before a pressure is applied, and called must. It was sweet wine, and hence, the word in Greek meaning sweet was given to it. The ancients, it is said, had the art of preserving their new wine with the special flavor before fermentation for a considerable time, and were in the habit of drinking it in the morning. See Horace, Sat., b. 2:iv. One of the methods in use among the Greeks and Romans of doing this was the following: An amphora or jar was taken and coated with pitch within and without, and was then filled with the juice which flowed from the grapes before they had been fully trodden, and was then corked so as to be air-tight. It was then immersed in a tank of cold water or buried in the sand, and allowed to remain six weeks or two months. The contents after this process were found to remain unchanged for a year, and hence, the name aei gleukos – always sweet. The process was not much unlike what is so common now of preserving fruits and vegetables. Sweet wine, which was probably the same as that mentioned here, is also mentioned in the Old Testament, Isa 49:26; Amo 9:13.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. These men are full of new wine.] Rather sweet wine, for , cannot mean the mustum, or new wine, as there could be none in Judea so early as pentecost. The , gleucus, seems to have been a peculiar kind of wine, and is thus described by Hesychius and Suidas: , , . Gleucus is that which distils from the grape before it is pressed. This must be at once both the strongest and sweetest wine. Calmet observes that the ancients had the secret of preserving wine sweet through the whole year, and were fond of taking morning draughts of it: to this Horace appears to refer, Sat. l. ii. s. iv. ver. 24.
Aufidius forti miscebat mella Falerno.
Mendose: quoniam vacuis committere venis
Nil nisi lene decet: leni praecordia mulso
Prolueris melius._____
Aufidius first, most injudicious, quaffed
Strong wine and honey for his morning draught.
With lenient bev’rage fill your empty veins,
For lenient must will better cleanse the reins.
FRANCIS.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Others; viz. the scribes and Pharisees, and also the inhabitants of Jewry and Jerusalem; who not understanding the languages of other nations, might think the apostles did but babble, and talk idly or rudely, when they spake with other tongues.
New wine, or sweet wine; which done, may inebriate; and might be had at that time, though the full vintage was not yet.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Others mocking, said,…. These were the native inhabitants of Jerusalem, the common people; and it may be also the Scribes and Pharisees, who did not understand the languages in which the apostles spake, and therefore derided them both by words and gestures:
these men are full of new wine; the Syriac, version adds, “and are drunk”; a very foolish and impertinent cavil this; there was, at this time of the year, no new wine, just pressed, or in the fat; and if there had been any, and they were full of it, it could never have furnished them with a faculty of speaking with many tongues; men generally lose their tongues by intemperance. They were indeed filled with wine, but not with wine, the juice of the grape, either new or old; but with spiritual wine, with the gifts of the Spirit of God, by which they spake with divers tongues. They might hope this insinuation, that they were drunk with wine, would take and be received, since it was a feasting time, the feast of Pentecost; though, as Peter afterwards observes; it was too early in the day to imagine this to be their case.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Mocking (). Old verb, but only here in the N.T., though the simple verb (without ) in 17:32. means a joke.
With new wine (). Sweet wine, but intoxicating. Sweet wine kept a year was very intoxicating. Genitive case here after (periphrastic perfect passive indicative), old verb , only here in the N.T. Tanked up with new wine, state of fulness.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Others [] . Of a different class. The first who commented on the wonder did so curiously, but with no prejudice. Those who now spoke did so in a hostile spirit. See on ver. 4.
Mocking (diacleuazontev; so the best texts). From cleuh, a joke. Only here in New Testament.
New wine [] . Lit., “sweet wine.” Of course intoxicating.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Others mocking said,” (heteroi de diachleauzontes elegon) “But others of a different attitude and disposition said, mocking or jeering repeatedly,” responded, had something to say, in derision and scoffing cynicism against those who witnessed and the august Jews, who under conviction were declaring that the testimony of the Messiah-Christ heard in every person’s native country language, had to be nothing less than by the mighty power and works of God.
2) “These men are full of new wine,” (hoti gleukous memestomenoi eisin) “That they were filled (tanked up with) new or sweet wine,” that is they were inebriated or drunk. This group of Jews reflected unbelief, cynicism, derision, and total rejection of the gospel message that was being carried by the Holy Spirit empowered disciples and the church. Later some of these believed and were baptized that very day.
Three responses often found toward the gospel are:
1. Acceptance thru faith, Act 17:34.
2. Mocking, scoffing, and derision, Act 17:32; Pro 1:21; Pro 1:31.
3. Procrastination, a deference to a later time, Act 17:32; Act 24:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(13) These men are full of new wine.Literally, of sweet drinkthe word wine not being usedstronger and more intoxicating than the lighter and thinner wines that were ordinarily drunk. The Greek word was sometimes used, like the Latin mustum, for the unfermented grape-juice. Here, however, the context shows that wine, in the strict sense of the word, was intended, and the use of the same word in the LXX. of Job. 32:19 confirms this meaning. The word for new wine in Mat. 9:17, Mar. 2:22, is different, but there also (see Notes) fermentation is implied. The words, as has been said above (Note on Act. 2:4), point to a certain appearance of excitement in tone, manner, and words.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Others mocking Those who asked What meaneth this? spoke in solemn sympathy with, as well as amazement at, the scene. But there was another quite different set, who have had their like in all generations, of worldly, irreligious mockers. The former class are said to be all; that is, all the devout foreign residers in Jerusalem; while these others are more likely to be Palestinian Jews, either profane in character or bigoted Judaists, and so hostile to Christianity. Out of sympathy, they were perhaps unsusceptible of receiving the supernatural impression.
New wine The must, or unfermented juice of the grape, which was a very luscious wine and not intoxicating, but only exhilarating. It is true that the grapes of the year had not been gathered, so that real new wine could not yet have been made. But there were processes by which the fermentation could be prevented, and the must be preserved through the year. One method was to boil it, (see note on Joh 2:3😉 another was to put it into a perfectly tight cask and submerge the cask entirely in water for forty days. The fact that the must was only exhilarating seems to indicate that even these mockers did not see enough in the one hundred and twenty such ecstasies as to suggest a charge of complete drunkenness. Kuinoel quotes a Greek line which describes a minstrel as “exhilarated with must singing the sports of the Muses.” Though the Pentecostal brethren were exulting with joyous rapture, yet was every thing done “decently and in order.”
After the mockers had fully exhibited their folly, the miraculous tongues became silent; and, from the mass of the hundred and twenty, Peter stood forth as vindicator and spokesman for the whole.
With the eleven Who, heretofore undistinguished in the body of believers, now stood forth as witnesses, (Act 2:32,) to sustain the testimony of their orator.
Lifted up his voice Lifted, because the audience he addressed was vast, and, however silent, needed a fulness of voice to be reached. After a graceful defensive exordium, Peter proceeds to answer their question, (Act 2:12,) What meaneth this?
Act 2:13. These men are full of new wine. Though there was no must or new wine at Pentecost, yet if they preserved the wine cool, it kept sweet a long time, and tasted like must. So Plutarch; “Must, if a vessel be kept in a cool place, will continue sweet, , for a long time.” Such wines were remarkably intoxicating. See Isa 49:26. Sweet wine, such as the prophet there speaks of, was used in royal palaces for its gratefulness; was capable of being kept to a great age, and consequently was very inebriating. A few generations ago, sweet wines were those most esteemed in England.
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
Ver. 13. Others mocking, said, These men, &c. ] , contumeliously cavilling, as those epicures at Athens did, Act 17:32 . And that mocker, Doctor Morgan, who being set to examine Mr Philpot, martyr, asked him, How know you that you have the Spirit of God? Philpot answered, By the faith of Christ which is in me. Ah, by faith, do you so? (quoth Morgan). I think it is the spirit of the buttery, which your fellows have had that have been burned before you, who were drunk before they went to their death, and I think went drunk unto it. Philpot replied: It appeareth by your communication that you are better acquainted with the spirit of buttery than with the Spirit of God. Thou hast the spirit of illusion and sophistry, which is not able to countervail the Spirit of truth. And God, I tell thee, shall rain fire and brimstone upon such scorners of his word and blasphemers of his people as thou art, &c.
13. ] Probably native Jews, who did not understand the foreign languages. Meyer supposes, persons previously hostile to Jesus and his disciples, and thus judging as in Luk 7:34 they judged of Himself.
] , see ref. Job.
Sweet wine , not necessarily new wine (nor is the “spiritual sense of the passage” any reason why a meaning should be given to the word which it need not bear. That sense in fact remains without the meaning in question): perhaps made of a remarkably sweet small grape, which is understood by the Jewish expositors to be meant by or , Gen 49:11 ; Isa 5:2 ; Jer 2:21 , and still found in Syria and Arabia (Winer, Realw.). Suidas interprets it, .
Act 2:13 . : although the word is , not , it is doubtful how far it indicates a distinct class from those mentioned as speaking in Act 2:7-12 . At the same time not only , Act 2:12 , but also the behaviour of the , seems to separate them from the in Act 2:5 . : but stronger with the intensifying than the simple verb in Act 17:32 ; used in classical Greek, Dem., Plato, and in Polybius here only in N.T., not found in LXX, although the simple verb is used (see below). : if the rendering R.V. “new wine” is adopted, the ridicule was indeed ill-timed, as at the Pentecost there was no new wine strictly speaking, the earliest vintage being in August ( cf. Chrysostom and Oecumenius, who see in such a charge the excessive folly and the excessive malignity of the scoffers). Neither the context nor the use of the word elsewhere obliges us to suppose that it is used here of unfermented wine. Its use in Lucian, Ep., Sat. , xxii. (to which reference is made by Wendt and Page), and also in LXX, Job 32:19 , , points to a wine still fermenting, intoxicating, while the definition of Hesychius, , refers its lusciousness to the quality of its make (from the purest juice of the grape), and not of necessity to the brevity of its age, see B.D. “Wine”. It would therefore be best to render “sweet wine,” made perhaps of a specially sweet small grape, cf. Gen 49:11 . “The extraordinary candour of Christ’s biographers must not be forgotten. Notice also such sentences as ‘but some doubted,’ and in the account of Pentecost, ‘these men are full of new wine’. Such observations are wonderfully true to human nature, but no less wonderfully opposed to any ‘accretion’ theory”: Romanes, Thoughts on Religion , p. 156.
mocking. Greek. chleuazo. Only here and Act 17:32. The texts read diachleuazo.
These men = They.
are full = have been filled. Greek. mestoo. Only here.
new wine. Greek. gleukos. Only here. This word and mestoo are frequent in medical works.
13. ] Probably native Jews, who did not understand the foreign languages. Meyer supposes,-persons previously hostile to Jesus and his disciples, and thus judging as in Luk 7:34 they judged of Himself.
] , see ref. Job.
Sweet wine, not necessarily new wine (nor is the spiritual sense of the passage any reason why a meaning should be given to the word which it need not bear. That sense in fact remains without the meaning in question): perhaps made of a remarkably sweet small grape, which is understood by the Jewish expositors to be meant by or , Gen 49:11; Isa 5:2; Jer 2:21,-and still found in Syria and Arabia (Winer, Realw.). Suidas interprets it, .
Act 2:13. , mocking) The world begins with ridicule; then afterwards it proceeds to questioning, ch. Act 4:7; to threats, Act 2:17; to imprisoning, ch. Act 5:18; to inflicting stripes, Act 2:40; to murder, ch. Act 7:58.-) filled with must or sweet wine, of the past or present year, or with any other strong drink.-, filled) Natural men are wont to attribute supernatural effects to natural causes, betraying thereby their ignorance and shamelessness. Comp. ch. Act 26:24, Festus to Paul, Thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
These: Act 2:15, 1Sa 1:14, Job 32:19, Son 7:9, Isa 25:6, Zec 9:15, Zec 9:17, Zec 10:7, Eph 5:18
Reciprocal: 1Sa 1:13 – she had 2Sa 6:16 – despised 1Ch 15:29 – she despised 2Ch 36:16 – mocked Mat 22:5 – they Luk 7:33 – He Act 17:32 – some 1Co 14:23 – will
3
Mocking means to sneer or make fun, which was done by a different part of the people than the ones who were honestly and respectfully perplexed. New wine is from the one Greek word GLEUKOS, and Thayer defines it, “sweet wine,” and he explains the definition to mean, “The sweet juice pressed from the grape.” I have consulted seven other lexicons, and they all agree with Thayer on the meaning of the word. If that be true, then the question would arise, how could the apostles be drunk on such an article? They could not, but it was an indirect and cowardly way these scoffers took of accusing the apostles of being drunk. And Peter took it to mean that, for in his reply he did not deny the accusation on the ground that new wine would not make anyone drunk; he knew they were insincere in the foolish charge.
13. We have in this last sentence an instance of the peculiar use of the term all in the New Testament, to signify a great mass; for after saying that “all were amazed,” etc. Luke immediately adds, (13) “But others, mocking, said, These men are full of sweet wine.” The wine was not new, as rendered in the common version; for new wine was not intoxicating; but it was old, and very intoxicating, though by a peculiar process it had been kept sweet.
In order that we may discriminate accurately concerning the effects of this phenomenon, we must observe that the only effects thus far produced upon the multitude, are perplexity and amazement among the greater part, and merriment among the few. It was impossible that any of them, without an explanation, could understand the phenomenon; and without being understood, it could have no moral or religious effect upon them. It was, indeed, quite natural, that some of the audience, to whom most of the languages spoken at first sounded like mere gibberish, and who were of too trivial a disposition to inquire further into the matter, should exclaim that the apostles were drunk. This being true of the phenomenon while unexplained, it is evident that all the moral power which it is to exert upon the multitude must reach their minds and hearts through the words in which the explanation is given. To this explanation our attention is now directed.
ALL DRUNKEN
13. The E. V. says, of new wine. A mistake. Oinos, new wine, the simple grape juice, an innocent, reviving, nutritious drink, does not here occur: but glencos, fermented wine, which was a slow intoxicant. Satan had not yet invented alcoholic wine, the intoxicant of the present day. That oinos, new, wine, was what Paul recommended to Timothy for his health, as a valuable sanitary drink. The alcoholic wine of the present day would have made them drunk by nine oclock, which was too early for their fermented wine to take effect, whereas the oinos, the simple expressed juice of the grape, was not an intoxicant.
2:13 Others {g} mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
(g) The word which he uses here signifies a kind of mocking which is reproachful and insolent: and by this reproachful mocking we see that no matter how great and excellent the miracle, the wickedness of man still dares to speak evil against it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes