Context No. 2882 of 4322 · Acts

Acts 2:1-13: in context

1Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. 4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. 5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. 6When this sound was heard, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. 7They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans? 8How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabians—we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!” 12They were all amazed and were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”

On the day of Pentecost the believers are gathered together when suddenly a sound like a rushing wind fills the house, tongues like fire rest on each of them, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in other languages. Devout Jews from every nation under heaven are in Jerusalem, and each one hears the disciples declaring the works of God in his own native tongue. Some are amazed; others sneer that they are drunk.

The Spirit comes not as a private glow but as a public, boundary-crossing gift. The very first thing the Spirit does is make the disciples understood by people of every language, a deliberate undoing of Babel, where language once scattered people; here it gathers them around the works of God. The gospel is for every nation from the first day, and the Spirit is given not for the believers' own experience but as strength to make Christ known across every barrier that divides.

Do I think of God's Spirit as given mainly for my private experience, or as strength to make Christ known across the barriers that divide people?

Sources

Acts 2:4: "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability."
Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me... to the uttermost parts of the earth."
Genesis 11:9: "Its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth."