“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
My Notes
What Does Acts 2:4 Mean?
Luke describes the moment the Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
They were all filled — all (hapantes) — every person present. Not a select few. Not the apostles only. All of them — the 120 gathered in the upper room (1:15). The filling is comprehensive — no one in the room was excluded from the Spirit's work.
With the Holy Ghost (pneuma hagion) — the Spirit promised by the Father (1:4), predicted by Jesus (1:8), and now delivered. The filling is not a metaphor. It is an event — sudden, experiential, transformative. The Spirit that hovered over creation (Genesis 1:2), that empowered judges and kings, that spoke through prophets — now fills every believer present.
Began to speak with other tongues (heterais glossais) — other languages. The tongues are not ecstatic speech but recognizable languages. Verse 6 confirms: every man heard them speak in his own language. Verse 8: how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? The miracle is linguistic — Galilean fishermen speaking languages they never learned, communicating the gospel to Jews gathered from across the Roman Empire.
As the Spirit gave them utterance (apophthengomai) — the word means to speak forth, to declare, to utter with inspiration. The utterance is Spirit-given — not self-generated. The speakers did not choose the languages. The Spirit gave the words. The human mouths spoke. The divine Spirit provided the content and the capacity.
The event fulfills Joel 2:28-32 (quoted by Peter in v.17-21): I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. The filling reverses Babel (Genesis 11): where languages were confused to scatter humanity, now languages are given to unite humanity around the gospel. Pentecost is the undoing of Babel.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'all' being filled reveal about the inclusiveness of the Spirit's work at Pentecost?
- 2.How does the Spirit giving 'other tongues' (real languages) differ from self-generated speech — and what does that distinction mean?
- 3.How does Pentecost reverse Babel — and what does that reversal reveal about the gospel's relationship to language and culture?
- 4.Where do you need the Spirit to give you utterance — words and capacity you do not have on your own?
Devotional
They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. All. Not the twelve only. Not the most spiritual. Everyone in the room — all 120 of them — filled with the Holy Spirit. The promise Jesus made (1:8: ye shall receive power) was delivered to every person present. No one was overlooked. No one was passed over.
Began to speak with other tongues. They spoke languages they had never learned. Galilean fishermen and peasants — suddenly speaking Persian, Egyptian, Arabic, Latin, and a dozen other languages (v.9-11). The miracle was not gibberish. It was communication — real languages, real words, understood by real people from real nations. The Spirit gave them utterance in languages the speakers did not know but the hearers did.
As the Spirit gave them utterance. The Spirit gave. The human mouths moved. The divine Spirit provided. The words were not self-generated — they were Spirit-given. The capacity to speak what they had never learned came from the one who knows every language because he created them all.
Pentecost reverses Babel. At Babel, God confused languages to scatter a rebellious humanity. At Pentecost, God gave languages to gather a redeemed humanity. The same divine power that divided the world through confused speech now unites the world through Spirit-empowered speech. The gospel crosses every language barrier because the Spirit speaks every language.
This is what the Holy Spirit does: he fills, he empowers, he gives utterance. He takes ordinary people and equips them to communicate extraordinary truth in ways they could not accomplish on their own. The Spirit did not come to make you impressive. He came to make you effective — to give you the words, the power, and the capacity to declare God's works to people who need to hear them.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,.... With the gifts of the Holy Spirit; they had received the Spirit…
Were all filled with the Holy Ghost - Were entirely under his sacred influence and power. See the notes on Luk 1:41, Luk…
To speak with other tongues - At the building of Babel the language of the people was confounded; and, in consequence of…
We have here an account of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples of Christ. Observe,
I. When, and where, this…
This verse describes a great miracle, and its simplicity of statement marks it as the record of one who felt that no…
Cross References
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