20260308

Speaking In Tongues - Acts 2

A closer more logical look at the interaction of the crowd who witnessed the Day of Pentecost! COULD dozens of scholars have got it Wrong???
Speaking In Tongues - Acts 2

Published 20260308 -:- Revised 20260309P
Caution! possible spelling mistakes - Scriptures from Modern King James (MKJV) unless noted otherwise.


AIM
Lets look at where speaking in tongues originated? What does the bible say about it? What does the church generally say about it? And what exactly was it or is it? And is it in the past, a one off incident, or an ongoing gift from God?
 
It’s Origin
The first incident happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. Lets have a read…
 
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
Act 2:1 “And in the fulfilling of the day of Pentecost, they were all, (the 120 disciples) with one accord in one place. :2 And suddenly a sound came out of the heaven as borne along by the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. :3 And tongues as of fire appeared to them, being distributed; and it sat upon each of them. :4 And they were all filled of the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. :5 And dwelling at Jerusalem there were Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. :6 But this sound occurring, the multitude came together and were confounded, because they each heard them speaking in his own dialect. :7 And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Behold, are not these who speak all Galileans? :8 And how do we each hear in our own dialect in which we were born?” Then it continues with a list of some 17 different countries or regions, from which all these pilgrims had come from. So how many different dialects could there have been?
 
So What Was This Speaking In Tongues?
You can ask numerous church scholars and you will get a wide range of answers. Probably based on the particular doctrine they have been taught in their different seminary schools. My thought is that there are 3 basic options. So let's look at the different opinions or interpretations that I have heard of over many years. Also I have looked at All the commentaries I could find in eSword. These are the three Option that I have narrowed my study down to.
 
Option: 1. “It doesn’t matter what it was, it only happened on Pentecost, and it will never happen again!” So the idea is that the Holy Spirit only came into the world ONCE! I found only ONE commentary that sided with that option and I have shown it here below: -
 
Refer to eSword, [Great Texts on Acts 2:4 “Thus one of the popular ideas of Whitsun Day has been that it commemorates the gift of languages to the Apostles, by which, though uneducated men, they were qualified in a moment of time to preach the Gospel to every nation under heaven. But, indeed, this gift of tongues (even if it were what is here supposed) is but a small part of the matter. The gift of tongues concerned only one generation, at any rate, and a very few individuals.]
 
Option: 2. “They were speaking in known languages otherwise the crowd that had gathered around them would not have been able to understand what they were saying!” I have given you a collection of some of the well-known commentaries I have found through eSword, that believe this option. But my thought is that option really doesn’t hold water because the rest of Acts chapter 2 will show you why, when we get to ‘Option 3 Explained’, further down.
 
Option: 3. “They were speaking in a new Holy language, which was NOT a known language, but those that heard them, received it in their ears in their own language.” This really is the only option that fits and makes sense and I will show you why later.
 
Studying The Commentaries
I went to eSword in which I have 35 commentaries via eSword’s free to download. It is not often that all of them make some comment on the same verse!  But on this topic 33 of them added in their words of wisdom. One of them has sided with Option 1 as I have shown above, which leaves 32 commentaries. 24 commentaries sided with Option 2! And the other 8, I just couldn’t find anything constructive. What I did was a word search for the words, ‘tongue, language, speak etc.’ and from the set of 24, I found and copied a short note from each, and have listed them below in alphabetical order. Basically these commentaries listed below all think the disciples were speaking in one or many known languages!
  
NB: I am not saying that you have to read ALL or Any of them! But they are there for you to have a quick look at or go to eSword and verify the comments for yourself.
 
But let me first explain, years ago in 1985, I was involved with a team of intercessors for some 15 years, starting when I was 33 years of age. The next youngest member of the team was 25 years older than me, so the team simply faded away over the years because they all just got older! And during that time I saw, what I believe was the correct operation of Spiritual Gifts. Complete with the appropriate checks and balances. Example, ‘Two or three Witnesses’, or is the Word of prophecy that was spoken, supported by scripture? etc. So I found this study to be quite an eye opener to find that a lot of these scholars sided with Option 2?
 
If you prefer you can skip down to Option 3 Explained below. Where I will cut to the chase and give you my opinion. Then may I suggest you go back to this list of “24 Commentaries”, have a look at the underlined issues, and hopefully you will see what I think, in my humble opinion, are glaring mistakes with their commentaries.
 
The Commentaries
1/ Adam Clarck on Acts 2:4 “To speak with other tongues - At the building of Babel the language of the people was confounded; and, in consequence of this, they became scattered over the face of the earth: at this foundation of the Christian Church, the gift of various languages was given to the apostles, that the scattered nations might be gathered; and united under one shepherd and superintendent (επισκοπος) of all souls.”
 
2/ Albert Barnes on Acts 2:4 “Began to speak with other tongues - In other languages than their native tongue. The languages which they spoke are specified in Act_2:9-11…. As the Spirit gave them utterance - As the Holy Spirit gave them power to speak. This language implies plainly that they were now endued with a faculty of speaking languages which they had not before learned.”
 
3/ Alexander MacLaren on Acts 2:1-13 “the speaking with other tongues, but the communication of the Holy Spirit. The sign and result of that was the gift of utterance in various languages, not their own, nor learned by ordinary ways. No twisting of the narrative can weaken the plain meaning of it, that these unlearned Galileans spake in tongues which their users recognised to be their own.”
 
4/ B.W. Johnson on Acts 2:4 “With other tongues. In the languages of all the different countries from which Jews had come up to Pentecost. Many would be unable to understand the Hebrew dialect of Judea in that period, and hence, they must be preached to in the tongue of their own country if they understood.”
 
5/ Biblical Illustrator on Acts 2:1-4 “II. With other tongues. 1. This is a power inherent in all men. Men speak with new tongues every year. Some can converse in many languages. Here the Spirit quickened this power.”
 
6/ Cambridge Bible on Acts 2:4 “they began to speak with other tongues] Spoken of as new tongues (Mar_16:17). It means languages which they had not known before, and from the history it would appear that some of the company spake in one and some in another language, for the crowd of foreigners, when they come together, all find somebody among the speakers whom they are able to understand.”
 
7/ Chuch Smith on Acts 2:1-47 “So, they were praising God, or they were glorifying God. They were declaring the wonderful works of God in the various languages and, of course, this amazed the people.”
 
8/ David Guzik on Acts 2:1-47 “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 this as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
 
9/ Expositor’s Bible on Acts 2:1-13 “Some have viewed it as a miracle of hearing, not of speaking, and maintained that the Apostles did not speak different languages at all, but that they all spake the one Hebrew tongue, while the Jews of the various nationalities then assembled miraculously heard the gospel in their own language.” (This is close! If he didn’t say, ‘the one Hebrew tongue, but had said a Holy unknown tongue’, it would be the same as Option 3)
 
10/ F. B. Meyer on Acts 2:1-13 “and the hearers heard in their own tongue, the wonderful works of God. The Holy Spirit used the telepathy of mind and heart, so that involuntarily the speaker clothed his thoughts in language borrowed from his hearer’s vocabulary. This was the sign of Babel’s undoing.”
 
11/ Geneva on Acts 2:4 (d) By this we understand that the apostles were not speaking one language and then another by chance at random, or as eccentric men used to do, but that they kept in mind the languages of their hearers: and to be short, that they only spoke as the Holy Spirit directed them to speak.”
 
12/ George Haydock on Acts 2:4 “Began to speak divers tongues. Perhaps the apostles spoke only their own tongue, and the miracle consisted in each one’s understanding it as if they spoke it in his language. (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, orat. xliv.)”
 
13/ Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 2:4 “they ... began to speak with ... tongues, etc. — real, living languages, as is plain from what follows. The thing uttered, probably the same by all, was “the wonderful works of God,” perhaps in the inspired words of the Old Testament evangelical hymns; though it is next to certain that the speakers themselves understood nothing of what they uttered (see on 1Co_14:1-25).”
 
14/ John Gill on Acts 2:4 “And began to speak with other tongues; besides, and different from that in which they were born and brought up, and usually spake; they spake divers languages, one spoke one language, and another, another; and the same person spoke with various tongues, sometimes one language, and sometimes another. These are the new tongues,”
 
15/ John Darby on Acts 2:1-47 “This marvel attracts the multitude; and the reality of this divine work is proved by the fact that persons from numerous countries hear these poor Galileans proclaim to them the wonderful works of God, each one in the language of the country whence he came up to Jerusalem. The Jews, who did not understand these languages, mock;”
 
16/ John Wesley on Acts 2:4 “And this family praising God together, with the tongues of all the world, was an earnest that the whole world should in due time praise God in their various tongues.”
 
17/ Joseph Benson on Acts 2:4 “And began to speak with other tongues — To speak languages of which they had before been entirely ignorant. For this miracle was not in the ears of the hearers, as some have unaccountably supposed, but in the mouths of the speakers.”
 
18/ King Comments on Acts 2:2-4 “Another accompanying and perceptible phenomenon is that they “speak with other tongues” or better: “speak in other languages”. The different languages are a consequence of sin and lead to division. The languages spoken by the Spirit remove the effects of sin. The believers thereby understand each other and they result in unity.” (This is close; but I couldn’t find any other part of that commentary to suggest a unified Holy language?)
 
19/ Paul Kretzmann on Acts 2:1-4 “For they now began to speak, in connected discourse, in other, strange tongues, in languages and dialects of which, for the most part, they had probably never heard. The Holy Ghost not merely taught them the various languages for their own understanding, but actually gave them the ability to express themselves correctly in these tongues.”
 
20/ Preacher’s Homeletical on Act_2:4. Other tongues.—In this case foreign languages, not previously learnt by the speakers, which required no interpreter (Act_2:8), but were understood by the hearers. Act_2:13 shows that they resembled the “tongues” of the later Corinthian church by being accompanied in their possessors with an ecstatic condition of consciousness. (See Homily on Act_2:1-4.)
 
21/ Pulput on Acts 2:1-47 “What these tongues were on this occasion we are explicitly informed in Mar_16:6, Mar_16:8, and Mar_16:11. They were the tongues of the various nationalities present at the feast—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Phrygians, Arabians, etc.”
 
22/ Robertson’s Word Pictures on Acts 2:4 “With other tongues (heterais glōssais). Other than their native tongues. Each one began to speak in a language that he had not acquired and yet it was a real language and understood by those from various lands familiar with them. It was not jargon, but intelligible language.”
 
23/ Matthew Henry on Acts 2:1-4 “It is probable that it was not only one that was enabled to speak one language, and another another (as it was with the several families that were dispersed from Babel), but that every one was enabled to speak divers languages, as he should have occasion to use them.”
 
24/ Vincent’s Word Studies on Acts 2:4 “It would seem that each apostle was speaking to a group, or to individuals. The general address to the multitude followed from the lips of Peter.”
 
Option 3 Explained
Option: 3. “They were speaking in a new Holy language, which was NOT a known language, but those that heard them, received it in their ears in their own language.” This really is the only option that fits and makes sense with the rest of scripture, and I will show you why now.” Why does this Option make more sense? Well let’s first look at why Option 2 falls apart.
 
In Acts 1 verses 13 to 15 we find that the disciples, “went up into an upper room.. where Peter and the other ten disciples abode…These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women…and there were 120 of them” Then in chapter 2 “sound of rushing wind…the crowd arrives…speaking in tongues…and the crowd are amazed!!
 
The Crowd
How many were in the crowd? Well Act 2:13 says, “But others mocking said, These men are full of sweet wine.” Then go to Acts 2:41 which says, “those who gladly received Peter's word were baptized. And the same day there were added about three thousand souls.” So the crowd consisted of 3000 saved, plus some who mocked them, plus who knows how many were undecided?  Maybe a crowd of say 3500?
 
First let's say the disciples were speaking in known languages? And you are in the back row of the crowd of 3500, and for you to hear one of the disciples speaking in YOUR language; he or she would have to be YELLING OUT like a regimental sergeant major! And if ALL the disciples were Yelling Out to be heard, in DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! Then NOBODY except the front row in the crowd would hear anything!! Think of an example you are familiar with. You are in a large shopping Plaza, and you are in the Food Court with some 300 to 400 plus people. And the ambient noise is quite loud. You order a coffee. And you are waiting until your name is called to collect your coffee. If you walk too far away from the servery you just won't hear your name called!! So, the idea that the disciples were speaking in known languages just falls apart!
 
Next thought let's look at Act 2:13 “But others mocking said, These men are full of sweet wine.” Now I was in the Army Reserve for 25 years. I often attended our annual Regimental Beersheba dinner. And of cause some poor souls over indulged in the abundant supply of PORT! I being a ‘teetotaller’ often had to help those that were under the weather. And they would invariably try to make themselves understood. But when they talked, their mouth is moving, sound is coming out, but it is nothing intelligible, they are just speaking as we called it, “Left-Handed Scribble”! ‘These men are full of sweet wine’. So, if the disciples were speaking known languages; are we to assume that those mocking the disciples were unable to understand at least ONE of those, known languages? I find it very hard to believe that anyone could read this account of Acts 2:13 and interpret it that way. Or completely miss on seeing how God has given us this verse to help us understand that the disciples were NOT speaking in a known language!
 
Remember Paul says in 1Co 13:1 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels” What is Paul talking about? Don’t angels speak in known languages? Well yes, they can, but obviously as Paul says the angels seem to have their own language, which Paul was able to speak. Let's say it is the Holy language of the Spirit. So, if anyone who was a mocking type, heard Paul speaking in the tongue of angels, they would probably say he was speaking “Left-Handed Scribble”! Paul tells us that same thing in 1Corinthians 14:23 (KJV) "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?" 
 
So, let's go back to Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled of the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Many other translations say 'speaking in tongues')!! If the disciples were speaking a Holy language, and there were 3000 people in the crowd that were ready to be saved, don’t you think the Holy Spirit would be fully capable of translating the gospel message into the ears of each individual, in their own language? And those who mocked them, who were NOT ready to receive the gospel, simply heard the disciples speaking “Left-Handed Scribble”? That is, they were Speaking In Tongues! That is not too difficult to accept. There are plenty of other examples, like at Jesus baptism. Some heard a voice from heaven; others just thought it was thunder!!
 
Now you can go back and look at the 24 commentaries and read them carefully and I am sure you will see the downfalls in the logic of each of them.

Example Story 
Here is a story for you I hear decades ago, and you be the judge as to whether it is true or false? In the Pacific war when Japan was moving through and slaughtering thousands. There was a Christian group in a small church, who were pleading to the Lord for help. The church doors burst open and a Japanese officer and his men barged in. At that moment a petrified small child stood in front of the officer babbling and screaming! The officer claims he heard her say in clear Japanese, “These are My children and if you harm them, you will NEVER see your children again!” Stunned, the officer ordered his men to STOP! Ultimately the officer was reprimanded, demoted and sent home in disgrace. His home was in Nagasaki, a major military city. On reaching Japan because he was in disgrace, he had to move his whole family to another city. What happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Was the child overwhelmed with fear, “Not knowing what to pray as she ought but The Holy Spirit gave her utterance”? Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

I Believe
I believe that ‘Speaking In Tongues’ is best explained as a Holy language that God will freely give to those who ask, so that your spirit can commune directly with the Holy Spirit, without stumbling over, “how, why, if, please etc.” It is not hard, as Jesus said in Luke 11:13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”   
 
I don’t wish to go into the gifts of the Spirit; I bow to the expert, the apostle Paul. He has written plenty to explain all about it to various churches in the early years. But I hope that has helped to clear up what, Speaking In Tongues is all about, as per the day of Pentecost.
 
Hope you enjoyed that, it is not one of my usual subjects, and if you have any comments, please drop me a line.

Here are some of my other talks that you might find interesting: -

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