A Study of Acts: Many Languages!

Acts 2:5-13 - God gives us many gifts through the Holy Spirit.

Photo of the crowd at a modern-day Shavuot (Pentecost) in Jerusalem. Photo Credit: Unknown (found on a website explaining this festival)

“Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.””

‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭13‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

The noise that was heard when the Holy Spirit came to the group of disciples got the attention of many Jews who were gathered there in Jerusalem for the festival. It says that they were hearing their own languages being spoken by the Galileans; the speakers were telling of the mighty deeds of God. The reactions of the crowd ranged from amazement to mockery (sounds familiar). Here is what Enduring Word says about this event:

And began to speak with other tongues: In response to the filling of the Holy Spirit, those present (not only the twelve apostles) began to speak with other tongues. These were languages that they were never taught, and they spoke these languages, speaking as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Devout men, from every nation under heaven: The multitude from many nations gathered in Jerusalem because of the Feast of Pentecost. Many of these were the same people who gathered in Jerusalem at the last feast, Passover, when an angry mob demanded the execution of Jesus.

And when this sound occurred: A crowd quickly gathered, being attracted by this sound, which was either the sound of the rushing mighty wind or the sound of speaking in other tongues. When the crowd came, they heard the Christians speaking in their own foreign languages. Apparently, the Christians could be heard from the windows of the upper room, or they went out onto some kind of balcony or into the temple courts.

• Not many homes of that day could hold 120 people. It is far more likely that this upper room was part of the temple courts, which was a huge structure, with porches and colonnades and rooms. The crowd came from people milling about the temple courts.

We hear them speaking in our tongues the wonderful works of God: This is what the crowd heard the Christians speak. From this remarkable event, all were amazed and perplexed, but some used it as a means of honest inquiry and asked, “Whatever could this mean?” Others used it as an excuse to dismiss the work of God and said, “They are full of new wine.”

• Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? People from Galilee (Galileans) were known to be uncultured and poor speakers. This was all the more reason to be impressed with their ability to speak eloquently in other languages. “Galileans had difficulty pronouncing gutturals and had the habit of swallowing syllables when speaking; so they were looked down upon by the people of Jerusalem as being provincial.” (Richard Longenecker)

• They all spoke in different tongues, yet there was a unity among the believers. “Ever since the early church fathers, commentators have seen the blessing of Pentecost as a deliberate and dramatic reversal of the curse of Babel.” (John Stott)

Guzik calls the gathered group of disciples Christians, which seems a bit premature (this appellation wasn’t really used to describe believers until much later in Acts). But it is an easy way in this commentary to distinguish the group of disciples from the others that are gathered. They were not speaking gibberish, but were clearly speaking many known languages without flaw. This commentary also says that the Jews gathered there were also speaking in other languages (I’m not sure that I see that occurring as the gathered pilgrims talk about the Galileans speaking other languages).

I found this map below that identifies the diaspora (dispersed groups) of Jews who came to Jerusalem for the Shavuot (Pentecost) festival, in order by the list that is given in this passage. This was found on a search of the internet and it was part of a slide show explaining the diverse populations that come together now in evangelical churches. This was essentially the “known world” at the time of this event, although there were probably Jews living at lease as far away as Spain and Macedonia. Interestingly, it does not identify any Hellenic Jews (Greek-speakers) in the languages, because Peter preaches to the entire crowd in Greek in the following passages in Acts.

Speaking in tongues is one of those controversial Biblical subjects, like end-time eschatology, that reveals the severe limitations of my amateur understanding (and I’m not alone, as professional commentators were also all over the map on this special gift from God and its usages).

When I was growing up in a mainstream Lutheran church, speaking in tongues was looked upon as an ancient artifact of the time of the early church (so was healing, for the most part). It seems that no one would dare speak in tongues in a worship gathering held under the auspices of the somber, “frozen chosen” Lutheran catechism in this day and age. In fact, a friend of ours who is a devout and determined Lutheran (determined that her denomination is the one true faith) is of the mistaken notion that many non-denominational faiths (and some other denominations, like Baptists) believe that speaking in tongues is required as evidence of indwelling by the Holy Spirit. That may be true for some charismatic groups, but not of the churches that I have attended since leaving Lutheranism.

I think Enduring Word has some excellent (if lengthy) commentary on this gift:

Whatever could this mean? What are we to make of the phenomenon of speaking in tongues? Speaking in tongues has been the focal point for significant controversy in the church. People still ask the same question these bystanders asked on the day of Pentecost.

• There is no controversy that God, at least at one time, gave the church the gift of tongues. But much of the controversy centers on the question, “what is God’s purpose for the gift of tongues?”

• Some think that the gift of tongues was given primarily as a sign to unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:21-22) and as a means to miraculously communicate the gospel in diverse languages. They believe there is no longer the need for this sign, so they regard tongues as a gift no longer present in the church today.

• Others argue that the gift of tongues, while a sign to unbelievers as stated by 1 Corinthians 14:21-22, are primarily a gift of communication between the believer and God (1 Corinthians 14:2, 13-15), and is a gift still given by God today.

• Many mistakenly interpret this incident in Acts 2, assuming that the disciples used tongues to preach to the gathered crowd. But a careful look shows this idea is wrong. Notice what the people heard the disciples say: Speaking… the wonderful works of God. The disciples declared the praises of God, thanking Him with all their might in unknown tongues. The gathered crowd merely overheard what the disciples exuberantly declared to God.

• The idea that these disciples communicated to the diverse crowd in tongues is plainly wrong. The crowd had a common language (Greek), and Peter preached a sermon to them in that language! (Acts 2:14-40)

We hear them speaking in our tongues the wonderful works of God: The gift of tongues is a personal language of prayer given by God, whereby the believer communicates with God beyond the limits of knowledge and understanding (1 Corinthians 14:14-15).

• The Gift of Tongues has an important place in the devotional life of the believer, but a small place in the corporate life of the church (1 Corinthians 14:18-19), especially in public meetings (1 Corinthians 14:23).

• When tongues is practiced in the corporate life of the church, it must be carefully controlled, and never without an interpretation given by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:27-28).

• The ability to pray in an unknown tongue is not a gift given to every believer (1 Corinthians 12:30).

• The ability to pray in an unknown tongue is not the primary or singularly true evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit. This emphasis leads many to seek the gift of tongues (and to counterfeit it) merely to prove to themselves and others that they really are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance: Was this speaking in tongues in Acts 2 the same gift of tongues described in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14?

• Some say we are dealing with two separate gifts. They argue that the 1 Corinthians gift must be regulated and restricted, while the Acts 2 gift can be used any time without regulation. Those who believe they are two separate gifts emphasize that the speech of Acts 2 was immediately recognized by foreign visitors to Jerusalem, while the speech of 1 Corinthians was unintelligible to those present except with a divinely granted gift of interpretation.

• However, this doesn’t take into account that the differences have more to do with the circumstances in which the gifts were exercised than with the gifts themselves.

• In Jerusalem, the group spoken to was uniquely multi-national and multi-lingual; at feast time (Pentecost), Jews of the dispersion from all over the world were in the city. Therefore, the likelihood that foreign ears would hear a tongue spoken in their language was much greater. On the other hand, in Corinth (though a rather cosmopolitan city itself), the gift was exercised in a local church, with members all sharing a common language (Greek). If one had the same diversity of foreigners visiting the Corinthian church when all were speaking in tongues, it is likely that many would hear members of the Corinthian church speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

• As well, it should never be assumed that each person among the 120 who spoke in tongues on the Day of Pentecost spoke in a language immediately intelligible to human ears present that day. We read they all…began to speak with other tongues; therefore there were some 120 individuals speaking in tongues. Since the nations spoken of in Acts 2:9-11 number only fifteen (with perhaps others present but not mentioned), it is likely that many (if not most) of the 120 spoke praises to God in a language that was not understood by someone immediately present. The text simply does not indicate that someone present could understand each person speaking in tongues.

• However, we should not assume those who were not immediately understood by human ears spoke “gibberish,” as the modern gift of tongues is sometimes called with derision. They may have praised God in a language completely unknown, yet completely human. After all, what would the language of the Aztecs sound like to Roman ears? Or some may have spoke in a completely unique language given by God and understood by Him and Him alone. After all, communication with God, not man, is the purpose of the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 14:2). The repetition of simple phrases, unintelligible and perhaps nonsensical to human bystanders, does not mean someone speaks “gibberish.” Praise to God may be simple and repetitive, and part of the whole dynamic of tongues is that it bypasses the understanding of the speaker (1 Corinthians 14:14), being understood by God and God alone.

• All in all, we should regard the gift of Acts 2 and the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians as the same, simply because the same term is used for both in the original language (heterais glossais). Also, the verb translated gave them utterance in Acts 2:4 is frequently used in Greek literature in connection with spiritually prompted (ecstatic) speech, not mere translation into other languages.

That’s probably the most elegant explanation that you can find about this phenomenon. It is something between a believer and God and is not primary evidence of indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For all we know, there were other mysterious languages being spoken that day, including Chinese, Urdu, African tribal languages, and indigenous tribal languages from continents not yet “discovered” by Europeans. It could be a language that only God can understand. It is truly amazing!

Photo by Daria Strategy on Unsplash

We had one experience of a person speaking in tongues at the church we attended for the last five years (we just left that church, for other reasons that are just between us and the leadership of that church and not because of this event). We were at a service in February 2023 when a woman in the congregation stood up and began shaking a finger at the gathering and speaking loudly in a strange language. This happened to occur during the time of the Asbury College Revival in Kentucky; our leadership was also eager for revival. Another couple received interpretation from the Holy Spirit through their prayers and this was apparently a warning to the congregation about being fair-weather Christians. A unique and curious event!

As is the norm in an event like this, the mockers and the skeptics come out of the woodwork. Christianity has been and always will be the primary target of the enemy, who works through innuendo, lies, mocking, and accusations. The disciples were accused of being drunk on sweet wine that would be served in clay vessels like the ones shown in my last photo (above). My next devotional examines the beginning of a powerful sermon that Peter preaches to the crowd, as found in Acts 2:14-16; these next verses are a rebuttal to the accusations of drunkenness and first part of a recitation of prophetic verses from Joel.

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Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:

Dear Lord - Thank you for the gifts that you have given your believers through the power of the Holy Spirit. Although we may not speak in tongues or perform other miraculous acts, we know that the power is there to serve us in our weaknesses. Amen.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org.

Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.