What does Acts 2:8 Mean?

Study Notes

tongue
language.

Context Summary

The priests in the Temple were offering the first loaves of the new harvest, in celebration of the feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came as the first fruits of our inheritance. Suddenly there was a sound that was heard throughout the city. There was no wind, but the sound of a rushing, mighty wind. Suddenly, as each looked on the rest, he saw their heads crowned with tongues of flame. Each, too, became suddenly aware of a drawing toward the Lord, of a longing to see Him glorified, and of a vast enlargement and enhancement of spiritual joy and power.

When presently the vast crowd collected to know the meaning of the sound, each inspired soul gathered a little knot of hearers, to whom he discoursed of Jesus and the Resurrection; and the hearers heard in their own tongue, the wonderful works of God. The Holy Spirit used the telepathy of mind and heart, so that involuntarily the speaker clothed his thoughts in language borrowed from his hearer's vocabulary. This was the sign of Babel's undoing. [source]

Chapter Summary: Acts 2

¹  The apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, and speaking various languages,
¹²  are admired by some, and derided by others;
¹⁴  whom Peter disproves;
³⁷  he baptizes a great number who were converted;
⁴¹  who afterwards devoutly and charitably converse together;
⁴³  the apostles working many miracles,
⁴⁶  and God daily increasing his church