These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! …We all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done! (Acts 2:7-8, 11)
Occasionally in a passing comment in conversation, you will hear someone elevate and revere with the proverbial hushed tones the man or woman “who speaks four or five languages fluently.” We regard them as educated, or clever, or wired in a way that most people aren’t. We admire their extreme language facility, because “we certainly don’t have it.” How did they possibly gain that ability? “I guess it’s because they are just super smart!”
In this Pentecost Day setting, the awestruck observers remark that these are all Galileans. That is not a synonym for “educated bunch.” They were rural bumpkins who had definitely not traveled to or lived in the far-away places which are listed in verses 9-11 of Acts 2, nor had they acquired the languages native to those areas. Impossible! Those geographical areas were north, south, east, and west of Jerusalem. Something didn’t add up. Was it a trick or a hoax? We need to find out!
Interestingly, the common content of what they were speaking in all these languages was “about the wonderful things God has done!” They weren’t saying elementary language communication bits like “Hi, how are you?” or “What would you like to eat?” or “Will it rain later today?” They were testifying of God’s goodness. Their presentation was fluent and clear in these languages that were foreign to them, as it’s noted that the hearers unmistakably understood them.
The dramatic wind and fire were great signs of God’s presence. But it seems those signs were for internal-to-the-group awareness that God was visiting them in an extraordinary way. But this unprecedented miracle of language fluency across many linguistic boundaries and geographical areas—with the content being a powerful word of God’s goodness—was a public sign that God was at work.
It is noted that some have tried to explain this passage as a miracle of hearing rather than of speaking. That is, the Galileans were all speaking their regular language and somehow when they spoke, their words were transformed in the hearers’ ears, and the hearers heard a message in their own languages. That would certainly be a miracle!
However, a fair reading of the text does not allow for that as a legitimate interpretation of what’s happening here. As we consider the conversation of the ones who were startled by this miracle of language, their amazement centers on this multiple language display unfolding before them. The text says, “We hear them speaking in our own languages.” The logical question lifted in chorus by those hearing these Galileans speak their languages was, “What can this mean?”
The answer is coming.“Father, you brought your message clearly in the heart languages of the people—thank you for presenting it in a way that none of them would miss.”
Freddy Boswell 