Pentecost:  A Gift of Speaking…or Hearing?

By

John C. Orlando, Jr.

Acts chapter 2 brings us to one of the most pivotal and dramatic events in redemptive history.  Since it is beyond the scope of the topic at hand, I refer the reader to following link that contains numerous articles that provide a good overview on the significance of Pentecost:  http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/holyspirit.html

I will begin to answer the question by making reference of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements to provide a modern context to the discussion, and because I believe it may have a bearing on why this question has come up in the first place in modern times. 

With the advent of the Pentecostal movement and its emphasis on the continuance of the so-called “sign” gifts (speaking in tongues, especially), the church, at least from the Protestant side of the house, has had to account in some manner for the claims of those who maintain that those gifts are still extant today and should be sought by believers today. 

The Pentecostal movement, born in the very early 1900’s, itself has undergone modifications through the years, and as such is by no means a monolithic movement.  Some, such as the Apostolic movement and Oneness Pentecostals (the United Pentecostal Church) deny the doctrine of the Trinity, and would seem to have, contrary to claims otherwise, a works-based doctrine of justification.  This link contains an excellent overview: http://www.gospeloutreach.net/opgospel.html

Others, such as the Church of God (Cleveland Tennessee), and the Assemblies of God, are more orthodox from an Evangelical standpoint in their teaching, affirming the Trinity and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. 

The one thing that is held in common by all Pentecostal denominations though is that tongues is the initial physical evidence that one has indeed been baptized in/with/by the Holy Spirit.

There is also a movement known as the Charismatic movement, which has it roots in Pentecostalism.  While there are different views held by among Charismatics with regard to the sign gifts, broadly speaking, Charismatics, while agreeing with the premise of Pentecostalism that the sign gifts are for today, nevertheless modifies this a bit, and would state that while tongues may be one evidence of the baptism in/with/by the Holy Spirit, it is not the only evidence that such a thing has occurred. 

With these things in mind, what is the answer to the question of what occurred on the day of Pentecost:  was it a miracle of speaking (i.e., the followers of Christ were actually speaking in languages that they did not previously know), or was it a miracle of hearing (i.e., the followers of Christ were speaking in their native language, but what the crowd heard was the languages that are spoken in the nations that they were from). 

As novel as this question may sound, it is by no means a new question.  The 16^th century Reformer John Calvin, for example, in his commentary on the book of Acts, alludes to those who held that it was a miracle of hearing.  Calvin states:

“But because Luke setteth down shortly after, that strangers out of divers countries did marvel, because that every one of them did hear the apostles speaking in their own tongue, some think that they spoke not in divers tongues, but that they did all understand that which was spoken in one tongue, as well as if they should hear their natural tongue. Therefore, they think that one and the same sound of the voice was diversely distributed amongst the hearers…But we must first note that the disciples spake indeed with strange tongues; otherwise the miracle had not been wrought in them, but in the hearers. So that the similitude should have been false whereof he made mention before; neither should the Spirit have been given so much to them as to others.”  (emphasis mine).

Calvin notes a couple of things.  First, that there were some (he doesn’t mention who) that take the events in Acts 2 as miracle of hearing (Calvin even intimates in a portion that I did not quote above that he was intrigued by the idea, but did not find it satisfactory).  Secondly, Calvin pinpoints one of the problems with holding that it was a miracle of hearing, namely, that it would locate the miracle not in the disciples themselves, but in the hearers.  I will have more to say about this a bit later,

John Wesley, the 18^th century Arminian evangelist, in his commentary on Acts 2:4, states in even stronger terms than Calvin that this was a gift of speaking:

“The miracle was not in the ears of the hearers, (as some have unaccountably supposed,) but in the mouth of the speakers. And this family praising God together, with the tongues of all the world, was an earnest that the whole world should in due time praise God in their various tongues. As the Spirit gave them utterance - Moses, the type of the law, was of a slow tongue; but the Gospel speaks with a fiery and flaming one.”

Thus, the question is not something new to our times.  However, I have noticed that this question has taken on more significance in our time due to the advent of Pentecostalism and Charismatic theology, and it would seem that in order to discredit the claims of Pentecostals, many are advancing the theory (and, in agreement with Wesley, I believe unaccountably so) that the miracle that occurred on the day of Pentecost was a miracle of hearing. 

The key text that answers this question is Acts 2:4, which reads, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  I believe that this verse can only teach one thing:  that the disciples, due to being filled with the Holy Spirit, actually spoke in other tongues (human languages which they had never learned) as the Spirit gave them utterance (or, caused them to speak).  As noted above, this is the position of both Calvin and Wesley, and it is also the position of some the more notable expostiors of Scripture that have blessed the church, to include Matthew Henry, John Gill, Jamieson/Fausset/Brown, and A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament, to name a few. 

Here is sampling of what some of those noted commentaries say with regard to the Acts 2:4:

Matthew Henry:  “They began to speak with other tongues,” “besides their native language, though they had never learned any other. They spoke not matters of common conversation, but the word of God, and the praises of his name, as the Spirit gave them utterance, or gave them to speak apophthengesthai - apophthegms, substantial and weighty sayyings, worthy to be had in remembrance. It is probable that it was not only one that was enabled to speak one language, and another  (as it was with the several families that were dispersed from Babel), but that every one was enabled to speak divers languages, as he should have occasion to use them.

(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

John Gill:  “And began to speak with other tongues;” “besides, and different from that in which they were born and brought up, and usually spake; they spake divers languages, one spoke one language, and another, another; and the same person spoke with various tongues, sometimes one language, and sometimes another. These are the new tongues, Christ told them they should speak with, (Mark 16:17) such as they had never heard, learned, nor known before…” http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/GillsExpositionoftheBible/gil.cgi?book=ac&chapter=002&verse=004&next=005&prev=003

A.T. Robertson’s Pictures in the New Testament:  “With other tongues (eteraiß glwssaiß). Other than their native tongues. Each one began to speak in a language that he had not acquired and yet it was a real language and understood by those from various lands familiar with them. It was not jargon, but intelligible language.”  http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/

Now, of what importance is this issue?  The miracle on Pentecost was the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, which was evidenced, as miracles are, by an outward display.  As Calvin noted, it was the disciples that spoke, otherwise the miracle (which ultimately is the giving of the Holy Spirit) would not have been wrought in them, but in the hearers.  The promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was to be for all of God’s people, as Peter says in Acts 2:39, “…as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself …” (emphasizing the absolute sovereignty of God’s grace in redemption), not to the enemies of God.

In other words, the giving of the Holy Spirit, and all that would be manifested as a result of that, was for the followers of Christ, not those who were not followers.  The pouring out of the Spirit was evidenced by a miraculous occurrence: the Holy Spirit poured out upon God’s people caused them to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

As a side note, lest those who are believers look to themselves and boast in their “decision” or their “making a commitment” as the reason that they are followers of Christ, Peter emphasizes in verse 39 that being a follower of Christ is predicated and dependent upon the sovereign grace of God alone, not on anything good found within the individual.  The only reason why those who repented and were baptized that are mentioned in verse 38 is due to solely because of the sovereign call of the Lord, not because they were suddenly smarter or wiser than those who did not repent.  The calling spoken of Acts 2:39 is not the general call of the Gospel that goes out to every single person without exception, rather, it is the internal, effectual call of regeneration—the mighty working of the powerful and amazing grace of God whereby He removes hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh, giving His sheep the gifts of faith and repentance, enabling them to appropriate the perfect substitutionary work of Christ made on their behalf (another fundamental truth that has fallen on hard times in modern “Evangelical” churches, who continue to exalt the “sovereign” will of the clay over and against the sovereign will of the Potter).  

Back to the question.  There are reasons why the giving of the Holy Spirit was evidenced by the followers of Christ speaking in other languages which they had never learned before. 

First, as noted previously, the giving of the Holy Spirit was to all of God’s people without exception.  In the Old Covenant, this Spiritual empowerment was relegated to a select few for a set time.  In the Old Covenant, only certain ones were empowered to prophesy, and only certain ones were called to be priests.  Now, however, the power of the Holy Spirit for the work of ministry was to be given to all of God’s people without exception, because all of God’s people, without exception, are priests and prophets before God, as Peter says in 1 Pet 2:9, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

Second, the speaking of the other languages (the known languages found throughout the known world at the time) made it clear the God’s redemptive purposes were not confined to the tiny nation of Israel, but were worldwide; to people of every nation, tribe, and tongue (Rev 5:9 states, “For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God.”). 

The Gospel was to be taken all over the world, and would be spoken in every language under heaven.  This is what so astonished the crowd on the day of Pentecost: they heard the disciples proclaiming the wonderfully works of God in their own languages (Acts 2:11). What are the wonderful works of God?  In a nutshell, it is Jesus Christ and Him crucified (http://www.geocities.com/johnandursula/heartofchristianity).

With these things in mind then, to locate the miracle to the hearers and not the apostles is, in effect, to move the pouring out of the Holy Spirit from the apostles to the enemies of God.  Wherever the miracle was occurring, that is where the Holy Spirit was being poured out, so, to say that the miracle was occurring in the hearers is to say, in essence, that the Holy Spirit was being poured out upon them, and not the apostles. 

This has huge ramifications.  First, it turns the entire narrative on its head. The text states in no uncertain terms that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, not those in the crowd, and it was the apostles who were actually speaking.  This is all brought plainly to light in verse 4, where it says that they all “began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  According to the text, what were the apostles doing?  They were speaking.  What were the apostles speaking?  They were speaking with other tongues.  How is it that they were speaking with other tongues?  By the Holy Spirit who gave them utterance. 

Second, if we make this a miracle of hearing instead of speaking, then, as noted above, that means that it was the crowd that was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and not the disciples.  This would, at the very least, imply that:

1.  God was not faithful to His promise, because He promised to baptize the disciples with the Holy Spirit, when instead He here is seen doing that to the crowd. 

2.  God has left the disciples utterly powerless to do what it was the Holy Spirit was given to them that they might do:  be witnesses in all of the world (Acts 1:8). 

3.  God would be working miraculously in His enemies, and not in His people. 

Context, Context, Context

Not only does Acts 2:4 clearly teach that it was the disciples who spoke unknown languages, but I believe that the overall context of Acts chapter 2, as well as the entire context of the New Testaments teaching on tongues, teaches that this is always a miracle of speaking ,and never a  so-called miracle of hearing. 

The first instance of the mention of tongues in the New Testament is actually found in the Gospel of Mark, where it states that one of the signs that would follow them that believe in Christ would be that they would speak with new tongues (Mark 16:17).  We note that this in the context of the giving of the Great Commission in Mark’s gospel (it is also interesting to note that all of the things mentioned in this passage in Mark are actually fulfilled in one form or another in the book of Acts (see Acts 2:4 (speaking in new tongues); Acts 3:2-8 (healing); Acts 8:6-7 (casting out demons); Acts 28:1-6 (not being harmed by poison)).  These were all used to testify to and verify the validity of the apostles’ ministry.  With the passing away of the apostles, those things are no longer needed, for the ministry of the apostles has now been verified, and actually lives on in the infallible, inerrant Word of God.

As we come to Acts, Christ tells his disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait, for, “…you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5).  This baptism, Jesus said, would produce significant results:  “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses…” (Acts 1:8)  Please note the link of the speaking in new tongues with witnessing, and witnessing with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

As we turn to Acts 2:4, we come to the first instance where tongues is mentioned.  Note that the disciples were gathered together, the Holy Spirit fell upon all of them, and then the Scripture just states simply that they “began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”  This tells us what the disciples were doing, and mentions nothing about anyone else.  What is it that the disciples were doing?  They were speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

Then in verse 6, the passage tells us that when this “sound” occurred, the crowd came together.  What is the sound that occurred?  It was the sound of the apostles speaking as the Spirit gave them utterance.  As a result of this, the crowds were confused.  Why?  Because the Holy Spirit caused the followers of Christ to speak in other tongues (known human languages), and this is what the crowd heard.  Peter and the other disciples with him were speaking in languages that they did not know, but were known to the hearers. Some people mocked them, and others were amazed. 

Peter then explains to the crowd that they were not drunk.  Why would they be accused of being drunk?  Because of the things that they were doing: speaking in these languages. Please note, the crowd did not look to some cause within themselves, but outside of themselves:  these followers of Christ are drunk.  Peter explains that they were not drunk with wine, but this was that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.

When we look at the prophecy Joel that Peter refers us to, the thing that is mentioned is a miracle of speaking, not a miracle of hearing.  The miracle of speaking is that now all of God’s people would “prophesy.”  The prophesying that is in view is ultimately the proclaiming of the Gospel.   We note that those who were present on the day of Pentecost marveled because they heard the disciples proclaiming the marvelous works God in their own languages (v. 11).  This is interesting particularly as we come to 1 Corinthians 14, where tongues is elevated to the place of prophesy once it is has been interpreted.  In other words, those who spoke in tongues were proclaiming the wonderful works of God in a tongue (dialect/known human language) that was previously unknown to them (in the sense that they could not speak it, nor understand it). 

The problem at Corinth was that people were speaking these things, but, they were doing so without anyone there to interpret what they were saying.  In order to interpret something, obviously, there must be someone who is actually speaking.  On the day of Pentecost, God provided both the messengers and the interpreters.  He caused the followers of Christ to all speak in languages that they had never learned or spoken previous to that occasion, and then God ensured that those who were present (i.e., the crowd) were comprised of people from all over the world, and thus they were able to understand what the disciples were saying. 

The fact that what occurred on the day of Pentecost was a miracle of speaking is clear then from the context of the passage itself, and there simply is no exegetical warrant at all to maintain that it was a miracle of hearing.  If we include Peter’s referencing Joel’s prophecy, there are at least 7 direct statements to the fact that the disciples were speaking in languages unknown to them.

But, not only do we have the context of Acts chapter 2 that teaches that the followers of Christ were speaking in languages they had never learned, but the entire context of Scriptures proves as much.  Moving on in the book of Acts, for example, we see the same thing happen in other places that occurred on the day of Pentecost (Acts 10, Acts 19).  In each instance, we discover that what is in view the entire time is speaking in tongues, not a miracle of hearing, and it was this speaking in unknown languages that actually served to demonstrate to the apostles and the other Jewish believers that salvation had indeed come to the Gentiles as well. 

Finally, it is the speaking in tongues that is referred to by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12-14, not the miracle of hearing.  And, it is of particular note that Paul mentions that the fact the speaking of tongues was actually a sign against unbelievers.  This takes us back to 2 places now:  Isaiah chapter 28, and the day of Pentecost.  In Isa 28:11, God passes His sovereign judgment against the reprobate, and states, “with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people…” This is precisely what occurred on the day of Pentecost.  The disciples speaking in other known languages was that, “which in the Old Testament [was] prophesied as a sign of God’s judgment on the ungodly and of His deliverance of the elect.”

This article is an excellent overview regarding this:  http://www.the-highway.com/cessation-tongues_Coppes.html.