Acts 2- A Few Questions Answered

Today in Sunday School we had a little review of Acts 2. Afterwards, several people asked me some questions about this passage. Since they had these questions, maybe you did to. Here they are, including the answers that I gave.

1. Were the tongues a miracle of speaking or a miracle of hearing?

IE, was it possible that a particular person spoke, proclaiming the wonderful works of God, and the hearers each heard the SAME speech in THEIR tongue. Sort of a like a universal translator in which one person speaks and everyone hears it translated into his own tongue. This is a common question and one commentator, Abraham Kuyper says that the apostles spoke one pure language that someday we all will speak in heaven, and the others heard them speaking in their respective native languages. This however, is not correct. This was not a gift of hearing, nor was it a gift of pure speech. It was clearly a gift of SPEAKING in various languages. Acts 2:4 "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." A better translation ends this verse with "as the Spirit gave them utterance." It's clear then, that the gift of tongues was not of hearing but of speech, speaking other languages.

2. Who spoke in tongues?

There are two main views on who spoke in tongues in Acts 2. One view says that it was the 12 apostles, plus the 120 believers that were there waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. Acts 1:15 mentions this group of 120 believers or "brothers" as the marginal note says. So were they all speaking in tongues, all 132 of them? The second view says that it was just the apostles that spoke in tongues. There are several reasons for this view. 1) The closest antecedent of the pronoun "they" used in Acts 2:1 is the apostles mentioned in the last verse of chapter 1. 2) Christ gave the promise of the Spirit directly to the apostles as recorded in Acts 1. Notice what is said in vs 4 to the apostles: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." And further in vs 8- "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." These verses specifically refer to the apostles receiving the spirit and power, so it seems they would be the ones speaking in tongues. 3) In Acts 2:7, the witnesses of the tongues remark "Are not all these men speaking Galileans?" We know that in Acts 1 vs 11 the angel calls the apostles "Men of Galilee" as they watched Jesus ascend into heaven. Based upon these three reasons, it seems that those speaking in tongues were just the apostles.

3. Did they all speak at once? Did they speak in turn?

One commentator described the situation in Acts 2 where all the apostles were speaking at the same time, each in a different language. As the crowd heard them, each would gather around a speaker speaking the language of his homeland. Other commentators say that the apostles probably spoke one at a time in an orderly manner. We simply don't know the answer to this one.

4. Was Peter speaking in tongues when he gave his sermon? What language was he speaking?

There is no indication whatsoever that Peter was speaking in tongues during his sermon. IE, he doesn't indicate he is speaking anything but his normal language nor do the hearers respond as if he is speaking a tongue. Since they all seem to hear and understand him, it must have been a common language that all understood. There are three choices- Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic. Hebrew is the written and spoken language of Judea and the Old Testament is mainly written in this language. Archaeological evidence in burial sites shows that Hebrew was an active language of the time. Because the Greeks had conquered Judea about 200 years prior to Jesus' birth, Greek was the trade language of the region. The New Testament is written in Koine Greek, and is a good indication that there were two languages active in that time frame in that region. In addition, Aramaic was the native tongue of Galilee and also a common tongue. Jesus' use of Aramaic is quoted a number of times in the gospels. So which was it? I throw out Aramaic, as not all there would have understood it. That leaves either Hebrew or Greek. I chose Hebrew, because Peter was preaching a sermon to devout Jews, convincing them of Jesus from the Old Testament scriptures and quoting from them. Undoubtedly, he would have used the native Jewish language- Hebrew.

5. Tell me again about the quotation from Joel?

Joel is one of the earliest of the OT prophets and his message to Judah is one that contains two elements: Judgment and Blessing. This is what the devout Jews would have thought when they heard Peter quote from Joel- "Oh boy, he's quoting from Joel which describes a terrible time of judgment upon our people. An army from the North will arrive and destroy the city and scatter everyone. And that's just what happened to our people when the Babylonians came. God judged us for our unbelief! But then God promises blessing! He'll pour out His Spirit on all people, which will be followed by wonders in the heavens. Then Mount Zion and Jerusalem will be a place of salvation. That hasn't happened yet- it was promised long ago that the Messiah would return to Mt Zion. But somehow, Peter is saying that what we see here today is what Joel was talking about." Judgment and blessing. As the book of Acts unfolds, we see that the message of the risen Messiah is brought to the Jews again and again. Some believe but in general, they persecute the new Christians. Peter speaks in Acts 3:19-20 and says "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you- even Jesus." The common message to the Jews is to repent from their sins and unbelief. Listen carefully- it seems that IF the vast majority of Jewish people had repented at that time...then Jesus would have returned THEN. It's almost as if Jesus is in heaven at that point, poised to come back. Why even Stephen when he is stoned sees Jesus STANDING at God's right hand, as if ready to return! But no...the Jews by and large will have none of it. Until finally, both Peter and Paul turn from the Jews and concentrate on the Gentiles. Then judgment falls on the Jews in AD 70 when Titus and the Roman army destroy Jerusalem. Jesus is then described as SITTING at God's right hand. So when Peter quoted Joel, we see the beginning of the blessing- the Spirit poured out, but the conclusion is postponed until later. When the Lord returns, THEN the rest of Joel will be fulfilled- the wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below.

Hope that helps!

Eric

Background for Tongues

This past Sunday we spend looking at the Old Testament usage of tongues/languages to get some background for our study in I Cor 14. New Testament tongues are first used on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and the witnesses were Jewish people. With their rich OT background, what came into the mind of the Jews when tongues were spoken in Acts 2? We looked at 4 OT texts.

Genesis 11 The Tower of Babel



In this account, the people of that day decided to make a name for themselves by building a tower right into heaven. God looked down upon them and said "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do is impossible." So God went down and confused their language and scattered them. A Jew thinking back on this would conclude "God judged the people by confusing the language." God struck the very thing which binds men together- a common language. The result of this judgement? Various languages, the people are scattered, and they can no longer reach their potential.



Deut 28 Blessings and Cursings

Around 1500BC, near the end of Moses life, he gave a series of discourses captured in the book of Deuteronomy. The 3rd discourse is called "Blessings and Cursings" and is found in chapters 27 and 28. Chapter 28 in particular provides a series of blessings for Israel if they obey the Lord their God:

1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

Later, come the curses for disobedience:

15 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.
18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

The curses go on for the remainder of the chapter in quite some detail. God describes how He will use foreign nation to punish Israel for it's disobedience:

49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. 52 They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you.

When this punishing nation attacked and overran Israel, they would know it by their foreign language. It was a clear sign of God's judgement on their unbelief.

Isaiah 28 Woe To Judah

In this passage, we have the prophet Isaiah describing Ephraim, the northern 10 tribes, and their captivity by Assyria around 700BC. Ephraim's leaders are described as drunken men, with their faces in their own vomit. The leaders respond to this condemnation by mocking the prophet, saying that Isaiah is speaking as if to children. The response?

11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, 12 to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"— but they would not listen.

In the remainder of the chapter and in the next, God describes how He will do His work, His strange work, of punishing the people by sending an army from a foreign nation. Because of their unbelief, He will punish them- they will know it by the "foreign lips and strange tongues" of the besieging army- that is how God will speak to them. Again, tongues are associated with judgement for unbelief.

Jeremiah 5 Spiritual Adultery

The prophet preaches against the rampant idolatry of the day in 600BC- the people have run after and served other gods and again and again committed spiritual adultery. God says in vs 9 "Should I not punish them for this?" Once again, the method of punishment is for God to send a foreign nation to inflict the punishment.

15 O house of Israel," declares the LORD, "I am bringing a distant nation against you— an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand. 16 Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.

Now for the fourth time, we have God's judgement on unbelief connected with foreign languages.

Acts 2 The Day of Pentecost


Now go ahead to Acts 2 where the Holy Spirit comes down to form the church. Notice the details:


1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
13Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."

A couple of things to point out.

1. Jews from every nation witnessed the speaking in tongues- they heard them speak in the language of their home.


2. Some reacted with amazement and asked "What does this mean?"


3. Others reacted with unbelief and made fun.

Peter then stands up and explains the situation. The Jews have murdered their Messiah- due to their unbelief, they have crucified God's own Son and His blood is upon their hands. After many words, the Jews are convinced of their guilt and cry "what shall we do?" Peter replies that they must repent, believe in Jesus, and save themselves from this generation. Why the latter? Because it was going to be JUDGED by God...just a few short years and Titus would come through and grind Jerusalem to dust. What was the sign of the judgement upon them? Tongues- other languages.

That's why Paul quotes Isaiah 28 in I Cor 14:22 and says "Tongues are for a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers." When those with unbelieving hearts hear tongues...they know the judgement of God is upon them.

Finally, one more comment about Acts 2. The breaking of the language barrier is a sign that the Church of the Living God can do all things! All things are now possible for the church, the Body of Christ! All barriers now fall!

Eric