One of the most interesting, and most debated, narratives in the New Testament is the account in Acts 2, where we hear about the Spirit inspiring a large number of Jesus’ disciples, including Peter, to speak “in other tongues.” In classic Pentecostal theology (i.e., the theology of the Pentecostal churches), this story has been taken to be evidence of the beginning of the phenomenon known as glossolalia, or speaking in angelic tongues (see 1 Corinthians 13:1). The problem with that assumption is that the Greek text of Acts 2 doesn’t in fact support such a view.
The story tells us about a wide variety of Diaspora Jews present in Jerusalem for the one-day festival, and when the disciples of Jesus begin to share the Good News with them, “each one heard them speaking in the native language of each … Parthians, Medes, Elamites, [etc.]” (Acts 2:6‒9). When you hear a phrase like “speaking in other languages,” one naturally has to ask—other than what? What is the point of comparison? In this story, the point of comparison is with the native language of Galileans, namely Aramaic. The audience heard the disciples speaking in human languages other than their own native tongue.
Sometimes the issue has been muddied by the suggestion that there were two miracles involved—the disciples spoke in angelic tongues, but each person heard it in their native human languages. Alas, the Greek grammar is against this suggestion. The phrase “in their native language” modifies the verb “speaking” in verse 6, not the verb “hearing.” So there is exactly one miracle of speech at Pentecost—a miracle my Greek students regularly pray for, namely, the ability to suddenly speak a foreign language without further study! In short, the Pentecost story is not about glossolalia, despite the name of the modern Protestant denomination. If you want to find a story about glossolalia in a story about conversion in Acts, then you should turn to the story of Cornelius in Acts 10.
The larger context of the story that Luke is presenting also supports this interpretation of the text. You will remember the incident of the Tower of Babel, a story in which God confused the languages of humankind so they would not join together to commit more idolatry (Genesis 11:1‒9). The narrative begins, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.” At Pentecost the multiple languages problem and language barrier is not resolved, but the Good News overcomes the problem by being shared in all the various languages of the persons present there. While Pentecost doesn’t reverse the effect of God’s confusing the languages at Babel, it overcomes the problem for the sake of the salvation of the nations.
Finally, there may be one other echo that the Pentecost story has. There was an early Jewish tradition that the revelation of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Sinai came in all the languages of the world—since it was God’s Word not just for Hebrew-speaking Jews. Here is a closer parallel to the Pentecost story, and it may be that Luke in Acts was 066 suggesting that God had indeed done at Pentecost what the rabbis had suggested once happened at Sinai (see Philo, Decalogue 46), namely, shared his saving Word in all human languages. The proof we are on the right track is that the one-day festival of Pentecost had come to be the day when Jews celebrated the giving of the Law at Sinai. Luke’s presentation of what actually happened at Pentecost reflects and echoes these earlier traditions.1
One of the most interesting, and most debated, narratives in the New Testament is the account in Acts 2, where we hear about the Spirit inspiring a large number of Jesus’ disciples, including Peter, to speak “in other tongues.” In classic Pentecostal theology (i.e., the theology of the Pentecostal churches), this story has been taken to be evidence of the beginning of the phenomenon known as glossolalia, or speaking in angelic tongues (see 1 Corinthians 13:1). The problem with that assumption is that the Greek text of Acts 2 doesn’t in fact support such a view. The story tells […]
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