There are two interpretations of the passage; one is that the promise of this verse is the promise of salvation; the other is that the promise of this verse is the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit (or the baptism with the Holy Spirit; a comparison of Scripture passages will show that the two expressions are synonymous). Which is the correct interpretation? There are two laws of interpretation universally recognized among Bible scholars. These two laws are the law of usage and the law of context. Many a verse in the Bible standing alone might admit of two or three or even more interpretations, but when these two laws of interpretation are applied, it is settled to a certainty that only one of the various possible interpretations is the true interpretation.

The law of usage is this, that when you find a word or phrase in any passage of Scripture and you wish to know what it means, do not go to a dictionary but go to the Bible itself, look up the various passages in which the word is used and especially how the particular writer being studied uses it, and especially how it is used in that particular book in which the passage is found. Thus you can determine what the precise meaning of the word or phrase is in the passage in question.

The law of context is this; that when you study a passage, you should not take it out of its connection but should look at what goes before it and what comes after it; for while it might mean various things if it stood alone, it can only mean one thing in the connection in which it is found. Now let us apply these two laws to the passage in question.

First of all, let us apply the law of usage. We are trying to discover what the expression the promise means in Acts 2:39. Turning back to Acts 1:4,5 R. V., we read, He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye heard from Me: for John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. It is evident then, that here the promise of the Father means the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Turn now to the second chapter and the thirty-third verse, R. V., Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear. In this passage we are told in so many words that the promise is the promise of the Holy Spirit. If this peculiar expression means the baptism with the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:4,5, and the same thing in Acts 2:33, by what same law of interpretation can it possibly mean something entirely different six verses farther down in Acts 2:39? So the law of usage establishes it that the promise of Acts 2:39 is the promise of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Now let us apply the law of context, and we shall find that, if possible, this is even more decisive. Turn back to the thirty-eighth verse, And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the promise is unto you, etc. So it is evident here that the promise is the promise of the gift or baptism with the Holy Spirit.

It is settled then by both laws that the promise of Acts 2:39, is that of the gift of the Holy Spirit, or baptism with the Holy Spirit. Let us then read the verse in that way, substituting this synonymous expression for the expression the promise, For the baptism with the Spirit is unto you, and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.It is unto you, says Peter, that is to the crowd assembled before him. There is nothing in that for us. We were not there, and that crowd were all Jews and we are not Jews; but Peter did not stop there, he goes further and says, And to your children, that is to the next generation of Jews, or all future generations of Jews. Still there is nothing in it for us, for we are not Jews; but Peter did not stop even there, he went further and said, And to all them that are afar off. That does take us in. We are the Gentiles who were once afar off, but now made nigh by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13,17). But lest there be any mistake about it whatever, Peter adds even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him.