Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 2:4

"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." — Acts 2:4 (ASV)

In OT times prophetic utterances were regularly associated with the Spirit’s coming upon particular persons for special purposes (cf. Numbers 11:26–29; 1 Samuel 10:6–12; et al.). In Judaism, however, the belief arose that with the passing of the last of the writing prophets in the early postexilic period, the spirit of prophecy had ceased in Israel, and God now spoke to his people only through the Torah as interpreted by the teachers. But Judaism also expected that with the coming of the Messianic Age there would be a special outpouring of God’s Spirit, in fulfillment of Eze 37, and that prophecy would once again flourish. This is exactly what Luke portrays as having taken place at Pentecost among the followers of Jesus. The “tongues” (GK 1185) here are often identified with ecstatic utterances of the sort Paul discusses in 1Colossians 12–14. This identification is made largely (1) because in both instances the expression “other tongues” is used, and (2) because the verb translated “enabled” (or “gave utterance”; GK 1443 & 710) is frequently used in the OT and other Greek literature in connection with ecstatics (cf. Micah 5:12; Zechariah 10:2).

But the words spoken at Pentecost under the Spirit’s direction were immediately recognized by those who heard them as being languages then current, while at Corinth no one could understand what was said until someone present received a gift of interpretation. And the above-mentioned verb appears in contexts that stress clarity of speech and understanding (26:25). Therefore, the tongues in 2:4 are best understood as “languages” (see NIV note). The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was of utmost significance both theologically and practically for the early church. Was Pentecost the birthday of the Christian church? A great deal depends upon what one means by the term “church” (GK 1711) in the NT. One meaning is “the body of Christ” as the redeemed of all ages. For this meaning, it can hardly be said that the church had its beginning only at Pentecost. What Luke seems to be stressing is (1) that the relationship of the Spirit to the members of the body of Christ became much more intimate and personal at Pentecost, in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that the Spirit who “lives with you... will be in you” , and (2) that at Pentecost a new model of divine redemption was established as characteristic for life in the new covenant—one that, while incorporating both individual and corporate redemption, begins with the former in order to include the latter. A second meaning of “church” is “an instrument of service” (distinguishable from the nation Israel) used by God for his redemptive purposes. It has been called by God to take up the mission formerly entrusted to Israel. In this sense, Luke is certainly presenting the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost as the church’s birthday.

Neither Jesus’ ministry nor the mission of the early church would have been possible apart from the Spirit’s empowering. So Luke emphasizes Jesus’ explicit command to the disciples to stay in Jerusalem till they were empowered from on high by the Spirit (Acts 1:4–5, 8).