Power to Be a Witness

This is what I have been chewing on all week.

Acts 1

3 To whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God:

 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, “You have heard from Me.”

 5 For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

 8 But you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost comes upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

I had the question, “Why did they need the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses?” I mean, they were already witnesses. They had walked with Jesus. They had seen His miracles and heard his teachings. They had seen the crucifixion and had seen Him after His resurrection. Many of them had even been sent out by Him before His death to preach the gospel, with the power to do miracles! What exactly was it that needed to change? So, I started digging.

In Greek the word for witness here is:

 μαρτύριον martýrion, mar-too'-ree-on; something evidential, i.e. (genitive case) evidence given or (specially), the Decalogue (in the sacred Tabernacle):—to be testified, testimony, witness.

 Hmmm, seems to me they already were this.

 So I go back to the Hebrew:

 There are several Hebrew words for witness. The first two I found were:

 H5707

עֵד ʻêd, ayd; concretely, a witness; abstractly, testimony; specifically, a recorder, i.e. prince:—witness.

Biblical usage

witness, testimony, evidence (of things)

witness (of people)

(make a) sound, tell, understand, whosoever (hears), witness.

In Gen. 31:43-55 – the heap is a witness of the covenant between Jacob and Laban

Deut. 5:20 Neither shall you bear false witness H5707 against your neighbor.

Deut. 17:7 The hands of the witnesses H5707 shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So, shall you put the evil away from among you.

Ruth 4:1-15 Elders at the gate are witnesses of the transfer of Ruth as wife to Boaz

This word, êd, is masculine. It has to do with legal proceedings and judgments among men.

H5713

עֵדָה ʻêdâh, ay-daw'; feminine of ayd H5707 in its techn. sense; testimony:—testimony, witness. Compare H5712.

Biblical usage

testimony, witness

But it's always plural and always of laws as divine testimonies

Joshua 24:25-27

And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness H5713 unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us: it shall be therefore a witness H5713 unto you, lest ye deny your God.

The thing I noticed here was that there are both feminine and masculine words. I got to thinking about the creation of Adam and Eve.

 Genesis

1: 26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female He created them.

3: 20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve (Life-Giver); because she was the mother of all living.

My thoughts: The feminine gives birth to life – Eve, Life Giver, Man was created in the image of God, then Eve was made out of him. Therefore the feminine has the aspect of God’s life-giving power.

Then consider:

Gen. 2:7  And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

In both Hebrew and Greek, the word used for the Holy Spirit means “breath” or moving wind. So, the Spirit has the aspect of God that is necessary to give life. 

Those that witnessed the ascension were already witnesses in the sense of ʻêd, but maybe they needed an additional layer to that in the feminine for the power to give life through their testimony as in êdâh.

Then I looked up the word power in Acts 1:8

Power in vs 8 is δύναμις dýnamis, doo'-nam-is; from G1410; force (literally or figuratively); especially miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself):—ability, abundance, meaning, might(-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle(-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work. And get this! According to Blue Letter Bible it is a “feminine” noun!

Yep, there it is!

The ʻêd is used in a court of law type of way. It is almost always something that comes with judgment. Whereas, the êdâh speaks of God and His ways which bring life. I am reminded of the righteousness of the law vs. the righteousness of grace by faith that Paul speaks about in Romans. Both are needed, but it is the Spirit that gives life. If this was something those witnessing the ascension needed, we do too! So, let’s look at how this baptism occurs.

In Acts, we see the believers experiencing the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in different ways.

In Acts 1, as we read before, Jesus told them to wait for it. 

Then when they were all praying in Acts 2:1-4, Holy Spirit swooped in and engulfed them.

In Acts 4:31, once again they are all praying and Holy Spirit fills them.

In Acts 8:14-27 Peter and John are laying hands on believers and they are being filled with the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 10:44-46 The gentiles at Cornelius’ house are filled with the Holy Spirit as Peter preaches.

In Acts 19:4-7 Paul lays hands on believers and they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

And in Ephesians 5:18-20 Paul tells us to be filled with the Holy Spirit by singing songs and giving thanks.

Have you experienced this baptism of the Holy Spirit? Please encourage us by telling us about that experience.

·      * The definitions of the Hebrew words are taken from the https://www.blueletterbible.org/

·     *  Numbers given for Hebrew words are from the Strong’s Concordance