Acts 11:17

¹⁵ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning.

¹⁶ Then I remembered the word of the Lord, as He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?”

¹⁸ When they heard this, their objections were put to rest, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

¹⁹ Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?”
KJV: Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
WEB: If then God gave to them the same gift as us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?”
ASV: If then God gave unto them the like gift as [he did] also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?
DARBY: If then God has given them the same gift as also to us when we had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who indeed was *I* to be able to forbid God?
BLB: If, then, God gave to them the same gift as also to us having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, how was I able to forbid God?”

ÅB: Gav nå altså Gud dem den samme gave som han gav oss, da de var kommet til troen på den Herre Jesus Kristus, hvem var da vel jeg, at jeg skulle være i stand til å hindre Gud?
OTB: Så hvis Gud ga dem den samme gaven som Han ga oss som trodde på Herren Jesus Kristus, hvem var jeg da til å tro at jeg kunne motsette meg Gud?”
B1930: Gav nu altså Gud dem den samme gave som han gav oss, da de var kommet til troen på den Herre Jesus Kristus, hvem var da vel jeg, at jeg skulde være i stand til å hindre Gud?

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Acts 10:47
“Can anyone withhold the water to baptize these people? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have!”
Read in context
Romans 9:20–26
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
Read in context
Romans 11:34–36
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
Read in context
Job 33:13
Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
Read in context
Acts 15:8–9
And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.
Read in context
Daniel 4:35
All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
Read in context
Romans 9:15–16
For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
Read in context
Job 9:12–14
If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
Read in context