3:6a

This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly: In Greek the sentence continues here using a pronoun that refers to the Holy Spirit. In some languages it may be natural to make this reference explicit and begin a new sentence here, as does the Berean Standard Bible. More examples:

God poured out the Spirit generously
-or-
God caused this Holy Spirit to descend upon us in abundance/fullness/richness

He poured out: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as poured out is a figure of speech that describes the way God gave the Holy Spirit to his people. This same figure of speech is used in Acts 2:17–18, 33. To “pour out” something is to let it flow or come down. This figure of speech indicates that God caused the Holy Spirit to come down, descend, upon his people.

abundantly: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as abundantly means “richly, in full measure.” In this context it indicates that God gave the Holy Spirit to believers without holding back, that is, fully or completely. Here are some other ways to translate this:

in God’s great generosity
-or-
generously
-or-
completely

3:6b

through Jesus Christ our Savior: This “pouring out” of the Holy Spirit (3:6a) was done through Jesus Christ our Savior. Commentators understand this in two ways:

(1) The life and death of Jesus saved us and made it possible for God to pour out the Holy Spirit. For example:

He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did. (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))

(2) God sent Jesus to give us his Spirit. For example:

God sent Jesus Christ to give us his Spirit. (Contemporary English Version)

Both of these statements are true. Paul may have had either or both in mind. If you must choose between them, it is recommended that you choose interpretation (1), since Paul referred to Jesus Christ as our Savior.

General Comment on 3:6a-b

In some languages it may be necessary to reorder these parts. For example:

^6bBecause Jesus Christ died to become our Savior, ^6aGod has caused the Holy Spirit to come down upon us in full/generous measure.

© 2000 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.