Acts 2:1-12
When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Marvellous, beyond conception, was the miracle wrought on the day of Pentecost.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Here were no less than fifteen different nations of the earth brought together on this occasion, and all of them distinguished by a different language. And to these different nations those poor, humble, untaught fishermen of Galilee, were at once qualified to talk on the great things of God.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): They did not speak here and there a word of another tongue, or stammer out some broken sentences, but spoke it as readily, properly, and elegantly, as if it had been their mother tongue.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Some commentators of note, both ancient and modern, have maintained that they spoke only one language, that is, Hebrew, or Syro-Chaldaic; but that the people heard them every one in their own language. This is really making the miracle consist in the hearing, and not in the speaking, and seems so groundless, that it does not need any laboured confutation. Our Saviour promised, Mark 16:17, that they should speak with new tongues. And Luke here plainly asserts that they did “speak with other tongues,” or in other languages.
MATTHEW HENRY: They spoke not from any previous thought or meditation, but “as the Spirit gave them utterance;” He furnished them with the matter as well as the language. It is probable that the apostles spoke of Christ, and redemption by Him, and the grace of the gospel; and these are indeed the great things of God―they heard them both praise God for these great things and instruct the people concerning these things.
WILLIAM KELLY (1821-1906): It must be borne in mind that the Spirit works in conjunction with the understanding—that is, with the understanding of the one who speaks, and those who hear.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): They did not utter anything of themselves, and what came into their minds, things of little or no importance; nor in a confused and disorderly manner; but they were wise and weighty sentences they delivered, as the word signifies; even the wonderful works of God―the great doctrines of the Gospel; and though in different languages, yet in a very orderly and distinct manner, so as to be heard and understood by the people.
MATTHEW HENRY: These disciples of Christ, that now speak with other tongues, speak good sense, and know what they say, and so do those they speak to.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): They “began to speak with other tongues,”―not in the absurd and unintelligible jargon of cunning impostors or deluded fanatics.
PHILIP MAURO (1859-1952): We believe that the modern error regarding tongues, as made prominent by those who call themselves “pentecostals,” is one of the most dangerous of these last days…Most earnestly, therefore, do we warn the beloved people of God against it.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): [In England, about 1830], Edward Irving, founder of the “Catholic Apostolic Church,” propounded the theory that the supernatural gifts which existed in the early Church had been lost through the unbelief and carnality of its members, and that if there was a return to primitive order and purity, they would again be available. Accordingly he appointed “apostles,” and “prophets” and “evangelists.” They claimed to speak in tongues, prophesy, interpret and work miracles…Irving’s theory, with some modifications and some additions has been popularized and promulgated by the more recent so-called “Pentecostal movement,” where a species of unintelligible jabbering and auto-suggestion cum mesmerism is styled “speaking in tongues.”
A. W. TOZER (1897-1963): It has magnified one single gift above all others and that one gift, as Paul said, was the least. Now, that does not cause me to have great confidence in the movement that would do that. Then there is an unscriptural exhibition of that gift, which incidentally began in the United States about 1904.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): There seems something monstrous in this determination to hold converse with God in sounds which fall without meaning from the tongue. Even if God did not declare His displeasure, nature herself, without a monitor, rejects it. Besides, it is easy to infer from the whole tenor of Scripture how deeply God abominates such an invention. As to the public prayers of the church, the words of Paul are clear―the unlearned cannot say Amen if the benediction is pronounced in an unknown tongue, 1 Corinthians 14:16. And this makes it the more strange, that those who first introduced this perverse practice ultimately had the effrontery to maintain that the very thing which Paul regards as ineffably absurd was conducive to the majesty of prayer.
PHILIP MAURO: Its phenomena—ecstasies, transports, prostrations, yielding to “the power,” displaced personality—are the very same as hypnotism, spiritism, and other psychic and occult phenomena.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Some time ago I officiated at a funeral―I was told that the dear lady who had passed away had a number of friends given to the use of a gift that they called “speaking in tongues,” though it certainly was not that which the Bible refers to as the gift of tongues. They had a habit of going off into a semi-trance condition and uttering strange sounds. Someone forewarned me, “Just as you stand up to preach, these women will immediately begin to exercise this weird gift of theirs. Their jaws will work in a peculiar way for a few minutes and after that they will start to babble.” I began to preach and, sure enough, in a minute or two I saw the jaws begin to work. But the undertaker was on the job and immediately suggested to the four ladies that they leave. In a moment they straightened up, but answered with indignation, “This is a gift of God and we are free to use it where we will.” The undertaker replied, “Not here in my undertaking parlor.” And so they were quiet.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): If you meet people who say they speak in tongues, or if you have been at a meeting where this is claimed, and if there was disorder and confusion, then you are entitled to say, in terms of the scriptural teaching, that whatever else it may have been, it was not the gift of tongues.
