Acts 1:8

But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.

This promise, addressed directly to the apostles, has been grossly misinterpreted. For example, Bruner said:

To be baptized in the Spirit is to become Christ's. The baptism of the Holy Spirit joins men to Christ so that they become Christians ... This promise is inclusive and not selective, which is another way of saying that it is gracious and not conditional. There are no conditions in Acts 1:8.[12]

It is impossible, however, for such a view to be reconciled with Galatians 4:6, which states that "Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, etc." God's Spirit was never given to any man to make him a son, but it may be received only by them that are sons and in consequence of their being so.

As for the affirmation that there are no conditions in this verse, there is no way for this to be true. The apostles had already complied with the requirement to be baptized (see under Acts 1:5); and since Luke quoted Jesus as saying that those who refused John's baptism had "rejected the counsel of God against themselves" (Luke 7:30), it must be allowed that if any of the apostles had done such a thing, they never could have received the promised Spirit. This same teaching is even more clearly evident under Acts 2:38, which see. Since the apostles had already complied (through their baptism) with one of the principal prerequisites of receiving the Holy Spirit, Jesus naturally omitted reference to any conditions here, except, of course, that of their remaining in Jerusalem until the Spirit came.

To make the sending of God's Spirit unconditional, while at the same time understanding it as that which makes a man a Christian, is to remove all responsibility from men regarding their salvation. The Scriptures do not teach this.

Jerusalem ... all Judaea and Samaria ... and the uttermost parts of the earth ... As Harrison noted, "This verse is a table of contents of the Book of Acts."[13] This is, in part, the outline used in this commentary. Jerusalem (Acts 1:1-8:4), Judaea and Samaria (8:5-11:18), and the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 11:19 to the end of Acts).

There were the most excellent reasons underlying Jesus' command that the gospel should first be proclaimed in Jerusalem. First, there was the prophecy already noted (Isaiah 2:1-3). Again, as Root noted:

There was good reason for selecting the Holy City for the birthplace of the church, also for choosing the date of one of the great Jewish festivals for the time. On such occasions, myriads of Jews flocked there as they made their holy pilgrimages to worship God. The gospel could then be proclaimed to a waiting multitude of the faithful, who in turn would carry the glad tidings back to their respective homelands.[14]

The amazing love of Christ is also seen as another reason. Not even his bitterest enemies who made up the ruling class in Jerusalem were to be denied their right to hear the gospel, either receiving it or rejecting it. Only the Lord Jesus had such love as this.

[12] Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1971), pp. 160,161.

[13] Everett F. Harrison, op. cit., p. 385.

[14] Orin Root, Acts (Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1966), p. 2.