When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 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.”
the day of Pentecost - "The fourth of the annual feasts of the Jews (after Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits), it came 50 days after First Fruits (a type of the resurrection of Christ, 1 Cor 15:23). Pentecost was the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks, so called because it fell seven (a week of) weeks after First Fruits. It celebrated the wheat harvest (Ex 23:16)." (Ryrie)
"The Greek word Pentecost means fiftieth, having reference to the fact that the feast then celebrated was kept on the fiftieth day after the offering of the barley sheaf on the day following the Passover Sabbath (Lev 23:15-16). The name was in common use among the Hellenistic Jews and is found in some of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament (Tobit; 2 Macc). The festival was the second of the three great annual Jewish feats, occurring between the Passover and the feast of Tabernacles. In the Old Testament it bears the names 'feast of weeks' (Exod 34:22; Deut 14:10), 'the feast of harvest' (Exod 23:16), and 'the day of the firstfruits' (Num 28:26).
"It marked the close of the what or grain harvest (Exod 34:22), not that the entire harvest of all the produce of the land which was commemorated later by the feast of Tabernacles or ingathering. It was regarded emphatically, therefore, as the 'feast of the firstfruits'. In order to emphasize this feature of it, the special offering appointed consisted, apart from the other sacrifices, of two wave loaves made from the newly gathered wheat 'for firstfruits unto the Lord' (Lev 23:17).
"Another characteristic of the feast was gratitude for deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Deut 16:12), while it was specially appointed also that no servile work was to be done (Lev 23:21). As time went on, the Jews came to associate with it a further commemoration, that of the giving of the Law at Sinai on the fiftieth day, as they reckoned, after the exodus from Egypt. In the days of the apostles it was the most numerously attended of all the Jewish feasts, since the dangers of travel, especially by sea, during the early spring and late autumn, prevented many from coming to either the Passover or the feast of Tabernacles. It occurred about the month of May.
"We should notice, also, the perfect agreement here of type with anti-type. Our Saviour, as the Lamb of God, died on the cross, and so fulfilled the meaning of the Paschal feast (Lev 23:5). On the morrow after the Paschal Sabbath, i.e., on Easter Sunday, He arose again, in exact conformity with the type, as the 'sheaf of the firstfruits' (Lev 23:10; 1 Cor 15:20). On the fiftieth day after the presentation of that resurrection sheaf the firstfruits of the harvest were gathered in upon the day of Pentecost (Lev 23:15-17)." (Walker)
"What took place on that memorable day and what was accomplished? First of all the promise of the Father as well as of the Son was accomplished. It is familiar to every reader of the New Testament that John the Baptist had witnessed concerning Him who was to baptize them with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3). The Lord also had spoken repeatedly to His disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 6 we read His words: 'If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?' This promise related to the future. In John 7:37-39 we read: 'In the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.' The promised Spirit could therefore not come, the promise could not be fulfilled till the great work of redemption on the cross had been accomplished and the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and taken His place in Glory. In the subsequent promises in this Gospel, the Lord always spoke of the coming of the Comforter in connection with His own departure. He promised that the other Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, was to be in them; but none of these promises could be fulfilled before He Himself had been glorified. We have already seen how He, before His departure to be with the Father, had told them to tarry in Jerusalem, to await the promise of the Father, and how He had reminded them that: 'John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized of the Holy Spirit after not many days.' On the day of Pentecost all these blessed promises were once and for all fulfilled." (Gaebelein)
"Those who hold that Pentecost marks the historical beginning of the Church of this dispensation should examine carefully those Scriptures which deal with the Holy Spirit and His work. A simple comparison of His operation at Pentecost with His operation today, as outlined in the Pauline Epistles, can lead to but one conclusion: that the baptism with, or in, the Spirit at Pentecost has been superseded by another baptism altogether — that by which believers are baptized into one body — and that the Body of Christ did not exist (except in the mind of God) when the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. If our Fundamentalist leaders will verify and accept this fact, they will have the answer to the 'Pentecostal' fanaticism that is gaining such headway in our day...
"The filling with the Spirit...is now an objective set before us by grace, and as we seek, by faith, to realize this objective rich, deep blessings and real spiritual victories are already ours, to say nothing of the rewards to come. What a challenge to faith! Yet few accept the challenge, and thus it again becomes evident that God's people on earth will never consistently please and honor Him until He Himself takes control and cause them to; until the Holy Spirit takes possession of them and supernaturally controls them. This is what will take place when the Old Testament prophecies about the Spirit are fulfilled (Ezek 36:24-28) and this is what Pentecost was a foretaste of." (Stam)
from heaven a noise - It was like a wind but was not wind.
with other tongues - actual languages unknown to the speakers but understood by the hearers (v 8)
"We look in vain through this Book to find that they continued in speaking in these different languages. It is a wrong conception to think that they exercised this gift ever after in preaching the Gospel. From the sixteenth chapter we learn that Paul and Barnabas did not understand the Lycaonian speech; the Greek language was universally used and made the use of the other languages almost unnecessary.
"Twice more we find in this book the tongues mentioned in connection with the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 10:46 and chapter 19:6. In the first passage Cornelius and his household having believed the Gospel received the Holy Spirit and they spake with tongues. Not a word is said in this instance that other languages were used. There was no need for it. It was an ecstatic speech glorifying God. In chapter 19 after the Apostle Paul had laid hands upon the disciples of John whom he had found in Ephesus (a thing which Peter did not do with Cornelius) the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Here again not a word is said about anyone hearing a strange language. The speaking in tongues is here paired with prophesying. These are the three instances in the Book of Acts where speaking in tongues is mentioned. On the day of Pentecost; Cornelius and his house and the Jewish disciples found in the dispersion, waiting for the Hope of Israel. In each case it was for a sign and for a specific purpose, but only in the first instance are different dialects and languages mentioned. On the day of Pentecost the gift was for a sign to the multitude; in chapter 10 the evidence to Peter and the Apostles that the Gentiles had received the same gift (chapter 11:15) and in chapter 19 the outward evidence that the Jewish disciples of John had also received the Holy Spirit and shared in the same gift.
"We read not a word about this gift in connection with the other places visited by the apostles, not a word is said about speaking in tongues in the ministry of Philip in Samaria, nor during the great journeys of the Apostle Paul, with the exception of the case mentioned above. It is therefore clear that the speaking in tongues was neither a universal nor a permanent gift, and that it appeared only in these three cases for a sign." (Gaebelein)
"But why was it necessary for them to speak with other tongues? Because they were to be witnesses, from Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). Witnesses of what? Witnesses of the resurrection of the crucified King, and the miraculous gift of tongues was another supernatural sign that our Lord was the right King. With Israel's rejection of Christ, of course, tongues continued rather as 'a sign...to them that believe not' (1 Cor 14:22; then were done away (1 Cor 13:8).
"It is frequently supposed that these apostles were sent 'to testify the gospel of the grace of God,' but there is not Scriptural foundation whatever for this assumption, for neither this phrase nor the message is found in the Scriptures until we come to the Apostle Paul (See Acts 20:24 and cf. Eph 3:1-3). Those who would understand the message of grace must get this clear in their minds. In their last conversation with the rise Lord the eleven had asked Him whether He would now restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6) and while He had declined to tell them when this kingdom would be restored, He had commissioned them to go forth as His witnesses — obviously to proclaim Him as the risen King, for this was how they knew Him. At Pentecost they began to carry out this 'great commission' and did proclaim Him as King (Acts 2:29-36; 3:19-21). Indeed, had Israel accepted her Messiah the apostles could then have proceeded to bring the other nations to Messiah's feet. (It is true that Israel's rejection of Christ and the resulting judgment had already been predicted, but all this must be viewed in the light of such passages as Matt 23:37; Luke 4:18-19; 19:41-42.)
"There is a distinct relation between what happened at Babel in the days before Abram's call and what took place here at Pentecost more than two thousand later. There, at Babel, God judged man's rebellion with the confusion of tongues; here He bestowed the gift of tongues. There His purpose was the scattering of the race (Gen 11:7-8); here, its regathering, beginning, of course, with Israel. (See Luke 24:47; John 11:51-52; Rom 15:8-10). Since Israel rejected the glorified Christ, this gift has been withdrawn (1 Cor 13:8) and the Jews, like the rebels at Babel, have been scattered to the ends of the earth, while the Millennial kingdom and blessing are held in abeyance until a future day.
In our day, therefore, God is not carrying on negotiations with, or through, any nation. The Jews joined the Gentiles in rebellion against God and His Christ, and have been scattered along with the Gentiles, all of them concluded in unbelief. But let us never cease to thank God that 'where sin abounded, grace did much more abound' (Rom 5:20). 'For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all' (Rom 11:32). 'And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby' (Eph 2:16). The call, therefore, is now to individuals in a world given up to judgment, as in infinite love and mercy, God offers reconciliation, by grace through faith, to all who will accept His rejected Son as their Savior." (Stam)
vss 9-11 - These countries form a circuit around the Mediterranean Sea.
visitors from Rome - Romans who were temporarily residing in Jerusalem.
"It seems clear from a comparison of Acts 1:15 with Acts 2:1-4 that not merely the twelve, but the one hundred and twenty were given the gift of tongues. The passage we are now considering confirms this, for in this list of languages and dialects spoken, more than twelve appear.
"Pentecost was one of Israel's three annual feasts at which every male was required to appear at the sanctuary at Jerusalem (Ex 23:14-17). The disciples, therefore, had a vast audience of 'Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven,' in which many more than twelve languages were represented." (Stam)
the day of Pentecost - "The fourth of the annual feasts of the Jews (after Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits), it came 50 days after First Fruits (a type of the resurrection of Christ, 1 Cor 15:23). Pentecost was the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks, so called because it fell seven (a week of) weeks after First Fruits. It celebrated the wheat harvest (Ex 23:16)." (Ryrie)
"The Greek word Pentecost means fiftieth, having reference to the fact that the feast then celebrated was kept on the fiftieth day after the offering of the barley sheaf on the day following the Passover Sabbath (Lev 23:15-16). The name was in common use among the Hellenistic Jews and is found in some of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament (Tobit; 2 Macc). The festival was the second of the three great annual Jewish feats, occurring between the Passover and the feast of Tabernacles. In the Old Testament it bears the names 'feast of weeks' (Exod 34:22; Deut 14:10), 'the feast of harvest' (Exod 23:16), and 'the day of the firstfruits' (Num 28:26).
"It marked the close of the what or grain harvest (Exod 34:22), not that the entire harvest of all the produce of the land which was commemorated later by the feast of Tabernacles or ingathering. It was regarded emphatically, therefore, as the 'feast of the firstfruits'. In order to emphasize this feature of it, the special offering appointed consisted, apart from the other sacrifices, of two wave loaves made from the newly gathered wheat 'for firstfruits unto the Lord' (Lev 23:17).
"Another characteristic of the feast was gratitude for deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Deut 16:12), while it was specially appointed also that no servile work was to be done (Lev 23:21). As time went on, the Jews came to associate with it a further commemoration, that of the giving of the Law at Sinai on the fiftieth day, as they reckoned, after the exodus from Egypt. In the days of the apostles it was the most numerously attended of all the Jewish feasts, since the dangers of travel, especially by sea, during the early spring and late autumn, prevented many from coming to either the Passover or the feast of Tabernacles. It occurred about the month of May.
"We should notice, also, the perfect agreement here of type with anti-type. Our Saviour, as the Lamb of God, died on the cross, and so fulfilled the meaning of the Paschal feast (Lev 23:5). On the morrow after the Paschal Sabbath, i.e., on Easter Sunday, He arose again, in exact conformity with the type, as the 'sheaf of the firstfruits' (Lev 23:10; 1 Cor 15:20). On the fiftieth day after the presentation of that resurrection sheaf the firstfruits of the harvest were gathered in upon the day of Pentecost (Lev 23:15-17)." (Walker)
"What took place on that memorable day and what was accomplished? First of all the promise of the Father as well as of the Son was accomplished. It is familiar to every reader of the New Testament that John the Baptist had witnessed concerning Him who was to baptize them with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3). The Lord also had spoken repeatedly to His disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 6 we read His words: 'If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?' This promise related to the future. In John 7:37-39 we read: 'In the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.' The promised Spirit could therefore not come, the promise could not be fulfilled till the great work of redemption on the cross had been accomplished and the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and taken His place in Glory. In the subsequent promises in this Gospel, the Lord always spoke of the coming of the Comforter in connection with His own departure. He promised that the other Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, was to be in them; but none of these promises could be fulfilled before He Himself had been glorified. We have already seen how He, before His departure to be with the Father, had told them to tarry in Jerusalem, to await the promise of the Father, and how He had reminded them that: 'John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized of the Holy Spirit after not many days.' On the day of Pentecost all these blessed promises were once and for all fulfilled." (Gaebelein)
"Those who hold that Pentecost marks the historical beginning of the Church of this dispensation should examine carefully those Scriptures which deal with the Holy Spirit and His work. A simple comparison of His operation at Pentecost with His operation today, as outlined in the Pauline Epistles, can lead to but one conclusion: that the baptism with, or in, the Spirit at Pentecost has been superseded by another baptism altogether — that by which believers are baptized into one body — and that the Body of Christ did not exist (except in the mind of God) when the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. If our Fundamentalist leaders will verify and accept this fact, they will have the answer to the 'Pentecostal' fanaticism that is gaining such headway in our day...
"The filling with the Spirit...is now an objective set before us by grace, and as we seek, by faith, to realize this objective rich, deep blessings and real spiritual victories are already ours, to say nothing of the rewards to come. What a challenge to faith! Yet few accept the challenge, and thus it again becomes evident that God's people on earth will never consistently please and honor Him until He Himself takes control and cause them to; until the Holy Spirit takes possession of them and supernaturally controls them. This is what will take place when the Old Testament prophecies about the Spirit are fulfilled (Ezek 36:24-28) and this is what Pentecost was a foretaste of." (Stam)
from heaven a noise - It was like a wind but was not wind.
with other tongues - actual languages unknown to the speakers but understood by the hearers (v 8)
"We look in vain through this Book to find that they continued in speaking in these different languages. It is a wrong conception to think that they exercised this gift ever after in preaching the Gospel. From the sixteenth chapter we learn that Paul and Barnabas did not understand the Lycaonian speech; the Greek language was universally used and made the use of the other languages almost unnecessary.
"Twice more we find in this book the tongues mentioned in connection with the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 10:46 and chapter 19:6. In the first passage Cornelius and his household having believed the Gospel received the Holy Spirit and they spake with tongues. Not a word is said in this instance that other languages were used. There was no need for it. It was an ecstatic speech glorifying God. In chapter 19 after the Apostle Paul had laid hands upon the disciples of John whom he had found in Ephesus (a thing which Peter did not do with Cornelius) the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Here again not a word is said about anyone hearing a strange language. The speaking in tongues is here paired with prophesying. These are the three instances in the Book of Acts where speaking in tongues is mentioned. On the day of Pentecost; Cornelius and his house and the Jewish disciples found in the dispersion, waiting for the Hope of Israel. In each case it was for a sign and for a specific purpose, but only in the first instance are different dialects and languages mentioned. On the day of Pentecost the gift was for a sign to the multitude; in chapter 10 the evidence to Peter and the Apostles that the Gentiles had received the same gift (chapter 11:15) and in chapter 19 the outward evidence that the Jewish disciples of John had also received the Holy Spirit and shared in the same gift.
"We read not a word about this gift in connection with the other places visited by the apostles, not a word is said about speaking in tongues in the ministry of Philip in Samaria, nor during the great journeys of the Apostle Paul, with the exception of the case mentioned above. It is therefore clear that the speaking in tongues was neither a universal nor a permanent gift, and that it appeared only in these three cases for a sign." (Gaebelein)
"But why was it necessary for them to speak with other tongues? Because they were to be witnesses, from Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). Witnesses of what? Witnesses of the resurrection of the crucified King, and the miraculous gift of tongues was another supernatural sign that our Lord was the right King. With Israel's rejection of Christ, of course, tongues continued rather as 'a sign...to them that believe not' (1 Cor 14:22; then were done away (1 Cor 13:8).
"It is frequently supposed that these apostles were sent 'to testify the gospel of the grace of God,' but there is not Scriptural foundation whatever for this assumption, for neither this phrase nor the message is found in the Scriptures until we come to the Apostle Paul (See Acts 20:24 and cf. Eph 3:1-3). Those who would understand the message of grace must get this clear in their minds. In their last conversation with the rise Lord the eleven had asked Him whether He would now restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6) and while He had declined to tell them when this kingdom would be restored, He had commissioned them to go forth as His witnesses — obviously to proclaim Him as the risen King, for this was how they knew Him. At Pentecost they began to carry out this 'great commission' and did proclaim Him as King (Acts 2:29-36; 3:19-21). Indeed, had Israel accepted her Messiah the apostles could then have proceeded to bring the other nations to Messiah's feet. (It is true that Israel's rejection of Christ and the resulting judgment had already been predicted, but all this must be viewed in the light of such passages as Matt 23:37; Luke 4:18-19; 19:41-42.)
"There is a distinct relation between what happened at Babel in the days before Abram's call and what took place here at Pentecost more than two thousand later. There, at Babel, God judged man's rebellion with the confusion of tongues; here He bestowed the gift of tongues. There His purpose was the scattering of the race (Gen 11:7-8); here, its regathering, beginning, of course, with Israel. (See Luke 24:47; John 11:51-52; Rom 15:8-10). Since Israel rejected the glorified Christ, this gift has been withdrawn (1 Cor 13:8) and the Jews, like the rebels at Babel, have been scattered to the ends of the earth, while the Millennial kingdom and blessing are held in abeyance until a future day.
In our day, therefore, God is not carrying on negotiations with, or through, any nation. The Jews joined the Gentiles in rebellion against God and His Christ, and have been scattered along with the Gentiles, all of them concluded in unbelief. But let us never cease to thank God that 'where sin abounded, grace did much more abound' (Rom 5:20). 'For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all' (Rom 11:32). 'And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby' (Eph 2:16). The call, therefore, is now to individuals in a world given up to judgment, as in infinite love and mercy, God offers reconciliation, by grace through faith, to all who will accept His rejected Son as their Savior." (Stam)
vss 9-11 - These countries form a circuit around the Mediterranean Sea.
visitors from Rome - Romans who were temporarily residing in Jerusalem.
"It seems clear from a comparison of Acts 1:15 with Acts 2:1-4 that not merely the twelve, but the one hundred and twenty were given the gift of tongues. The passage we are now considering confirms this, for in this list of languages and dialects spoken, more than twelve appear.
"Pentecost was one of Israel's three annual feasts at which every male was required to appear at the sanctuary at Jerusalem (Ex 23:14-17). The disciples, therefore, had a vast audience of 'Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven,' in which many more than twelve languages were represented." (Stam)
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