Tongues and Two Layers of Meaning

Acts of the Apostles (4)

Introduction

In the second chapter of Acts, we have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, resulting in the gift of tongues, a powerful sermon, and a massive ingathering of new believers. As we read about this stupendous gift of tongues, we might have the same reaction that the initial hearers did. What on earth does this mean (v. 12)? What was the point?

The Text

“And 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 were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine” (Acts 2:1–13).

Summary of the Text

The day of Pentecost was one of the festivals of the Lord appointed in the Old Testament Mosaic calendar (Lev. 23:15). The Feast of Firstfruits was celebrated the day after the Sabbath of Passover week, and so the Israelites were instructed to count fifty days after that day, which would end on the day of Pentecost (from the Greek word for fifty). This festival is also called the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Ingathering, and it was a harvest festival.

When that day arrived, the followers of Christ were all in one place, and were all in one accord (v. 1). And suddenly the room where they were all sitting was filled with a sound from heaven—like a rushing mighty wind (v. 2). Cloven tongues (glossa) like fire appeared and rested on each of them (v. 3). They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began speaking in other languages (glossa) as the Spirit enabled them (v. 4). Devout Jews were there in Jerusalem, coming from every nation under heaven (v. 5). We are not told this directly, but the disciples had apparently spilled out into the street because a multitude gathered as the report spread. All of them were confounded because they all heard their own languages (dialektos) being spoken (v. 6). They began to speak to one another about it because they could tell that all the speakers were Galilaeans (v. 7)—Judas had apparently been the only Judean. How is it we are hearing our own native tongues (v. 8)? The word again is dialektos. All the nations are then listed, 17 in all (vv. 9-11). The wonderful works of God were being declared in all these different tongues (glossa). The listeners were astonished, but still in doubt about what it could all mean (v. 12). There were also some wiseacres there, of course, who accused them of being drunk (v. 13). Just like Eli thought Hannah was drunk when she was praying, so also these skeptics.

Tongues are Languages

The tongues here are not to be understood as mystical jabbering. These are languages, with grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. We can assert this confidently for various reasons. First, the people listening identified what was being spoken with the languages of their home countries (vv. 6, 8). They understood what was being said. Second, glossa and dialektos are words that refer to languages. We get our word dialect from the second one. And third, elsewhere the apostle Paul requires any such expressions in church to be translated (1 Cor. 14:13). Interpretation or translation is not what you would call making something up and projecting it onto the blank screen of gibberish.  

153 and the Feast of Ingathering

There are 17 nations mentioned here, and 17 is the triangular of 153. This means that 17 plus 16 plus 15 down to 1 all adds up to 153. And that is interestingly the number of fish that were caught in John 21:11, when Peter was restored to ministry. And what was that ministry? Remember that he had been called to become a fisher of men (Mark 1:17). When Jesus had done a similar miracle for Peter, this had overwhelmed him with his own sinfulness (Luke 5:8). So the fish were clearly emblematic of the coming haul at Pentecost. We also have the fact that throughout Scripture, the sea represents the Gentiles and the land the Jews. No one in the Old Testament is shown eating fish, but in the New Testament fishing (and the eating of fish) comes to the front and center.

The practice of encoding numbers in names (called gematria) was common in the ancient world. They could do this in a way that we cannot because they used the same symbols for letters and for numbers. They could look at a name, for example, toggle a switch in their brain, and see it as a line of numbers. Add those numbers up, and you have the value of someone’s name. But we have Roman letters and Arabic numbers. So in Hebrew, the first nine letters corresponded to 1-9, the next nine were 10-90, and the last five were100-400. So?

Well, the prophet Ezekiel promised that the time of the New Covenant should be understood as a time of glorious fishing. What would happen when living water flowed out across the threshold of the mystical Temple? “And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many” (Ez. 47:10). The prefix En simply means spring (as in Colorado Springs), and so if we look at the numerical value of Gedi in Hebrew, we find that it is 17, and the value of Eglaim is 153. So Ezekiel is talking about the salvation of the Gentiles under the figure of fish, swimming in living waters from the Temple, and he uses these two numbers. This means that we are justified in taking 153 as a symbolic number for the Gentile nations who will be brought into the kingdom of God—fulfilled here at Pentecost.

Two Layers of Meaning

Because these tongues were actual languages, one of the things meant by the gift would be the things that were actually being said. What the disciples were declaring were “the wonderful works of God” (v. 11). The languages meant what the languages were saying. That is what one of the layers meant.

But what did the mere fact of this miracle mean? What did it mean to those who thought they were drunk, or mad? Paul tells us what the gift of tongues meant to believers and what it meant for unbelievers.

For the unbelieving Jews, the sign of foreign languages in the streets of Jerusalem was a sign of pending judgment. You would not listen to the prophets who continually warned you in your own language (Is. 28:9-10), so maybe you will understand when you hear the languages of foreign soldiers in your streets. The prophet had spelled it out for them, and they had mocked him for it. Who is he trying to teach? Children just weaned? What is with his line on line, precept upon precept approach? Very well then, the prophet replies. If you refuse plain instruction in Hebrew, then maybe you will understand it when your streets are filled with the speech of the Chaldeans. So then, all these different languages in the streets of Jerusalem were a sign of judgment for the unbelieving Jews of the first century. That was the historical function of the gift of tongues. It was a prophetic fulfillment.

But for the foreigners who heard the wonderful works of God in their own language, this was the equivalent of prophecy, which is why it was for those who believe. For them, God was being praised, and was understood as being praised. For them, it meant that the Christ had come, the Christ had been manifested, the Christ had been betrayed and murdered, and then the Christ had risen from the dead.