"I Will Pour Out My Spirit on You"

So, what verse is this, and what does it mean? One might immediately think of Joel 2:28-29 or Acts 2:17-18. And those would be really good guesses, but this verse varies just slightly from those. Those four verses refer to the Day of Pentecost and the miracles that occurred that day (and following). Joel 2:28a reads: "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh…." Joel 2:29b speaks similarly: "I will pour out My Spirit in those days," which Acts 2:18 repeats. But none of the four verses says He will pour out His Spirit "on you."

However, there is a verse that does do so. What is it? Before answering that, it should be pointed out that all four of the verses cited above involve the miraculous. God poured out His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and the apostles "were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). This event was so amazing that people became confused and marveled to hear the apostles were speaking in the languages of all those gathered together. How was this able to happen? God had poured out His Spirit on them. This was an event that could not be denied or explained by any other means than it was a miracle. After the Day of Pentecost, at various times and places, Christians possessed the gift of speaking in tongues—especially in Corinth (1 Cor. 12-14).

Well, then, surely if this or a similar phrase like the one in the title of this article were used, it would also refer to the miraculous. One might think so, but such is not the case. Most of the time in the Scriptures, if identical or similar words or expressions are used, they mean the same thing in every passage. The phrase, for the remission of sins, is found four times, and it means the same thing in each passage: Matthew 26:28; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Acts 2:38. The context shows that the meaning is the same in each verse. [It is also found in Romans 3:25, but in the Greek it is a different word that is translated "remission."] But texts involving the Holy Spirit may use the same word to refer to something miraculous—or it may not. The Greek word dorea frequently refers to salvation, but it can also refer to a spiritual gift, depending on the context.

So, while we might think the phrase, pouring out the spirit, would always be miraculous, it is not necessarily the case. Proverbs 1:23 follows a plea to heed wisdom in place of foolishness: "Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you: I will make my words known to you." [Note: pour out is from a different Hebrew word (5042 and 8210), but both have the same meaning.] Solomon used numerous parallelisms in his writing. Here, pouring out wisdom's spirit is the equivalent to understanding wisdom's words. Could it not be the case, then, that being filled with the Spirit in the New Testament may sometimes refer to being under the influence of the Word?