June 4

The Tongues of Pentecost: A Miracle of Clarity, Not Confusion

And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
~ Acts 2:6-13

The event described in Acts 2:6–13 was a supernatural act of God, not confusion or emotional frenzy. When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples at Pentecost, they began to speak in “other tongues,” but these were not random or meaningless sounds. The crowd that gathered was made up of Jews from many regions, speaking many different languages, and the miracle was that each one heard them speak in his own language. That’s what the text plainly says.

This wasn’t some private ecstatic babble, it was clear, understandable speech that communicated the truth of God. The people were amazed and astonished not because the disciples were acting strangely, but because Galileans, who would not normally speak these various foreign languages, were suddenly speaking fluently in the native tongues of those listening. They said, “We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” That’s the miracle. God enabled the disciples to speak real, known languages they had never learned, so that His Word could go forth to all nations represented there.

This aligns with what Jesus said in Acts 1:8, that His followers would be witnesses to the ends of the earth. God was reversing the confusion of Babel (Genesis 11) by making His truth known to people of every language. The purpose of tongues here was to glorify God and to communicate His mighty works in a way people could understand, not to produce chaos, unintelligible noise or gibberish.

Some mocked and said, “They are filled with new wine,” but Peter stood up and explained what was happening, pointing to the prophecy from Joel that God would pour out His Spirit. The miracle of Pentecost was not about emotional experiences, but about proclaiming the truth of God in languages people could understand. The tongues spoken in Acts 2 were known human languages, used by the Holy Spirit to draw people to the truth of the gospel. That’s what Scripture says, plainly and in context.

Read / Listen

2 Samuel 22:1-23:23
Acts 2:1-47
Psalm 122:1-9
Proverbs 16:19-20

New Testament: Acts 2:1-47

Summary:

The Coming of the Holy Spirit
Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost
The Fellowship of the Believers

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
~ Acts 2:4-12

with other tongues. Known languages (see notes on Acts 2:6; 1 Corinthians 14:1-25), not ecstatic utterances. These languages given by the Spirit were a sign of judgment to unbelieving Israel (see notes on 1 Corinthians 14:21-22). They also showed that from then on God’s people would come from all nations, and marked the transition from Israel to the church. Tongues-speaking occurs only twice more in Acts (Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6).

As the believers were speaking, each pilgrim in the crowd recognized the language or dialect from his own country.

Inhabitants of the mostly rural area of northern Israel around the Sea of Galilee. Galilean Jews spoke with a distinct regional accent and were considered to be unsophisticated and uneducated by the southern Judean Jews. When Galileans were seen to be speaking so many different languages, the Judean Jews were astonished. ~ MacArthur Bible Commentary

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ~ Acts 2:37-40

Acts 2:40 refers to the perverted generation of Pharisees and chief priests at the time. They would soon face God’s wrath. New believers in Jesus Christ were told by the apostles to keep away from them and the sins they are committing. The only way we can save ourselves from wrath and destruction is to not condone their sin and not to be among them with approval of their sin. This applies to us as well, as our current generation is rapidly heading in the wrong direction. ~ David Campbell

But all of this has caused me to realize that we can’t be smug and we can’t just go on playing church, we can’t have our little parlor games and our little conversations and our little programs without really realizing that this is a war. And if we’re going to make any kind of a dent in our society, number one, we’re going to have to keep our own ranks pure and number two, we’re going to have to get a little bit confrontive about this whole thing. We’re going to have to come out from our closet and we’re going to have to begin to say things that are true and need to be said. ~ John MacArthur

Listen to: Judgment on a Reprobate Society