Acts 2:5-13

The Audience Reaction

Moses instructed that all males be present for the feast of Pentecost, so it is no surprise that Luke would say, "Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven." Luke listed at least fifteen separate nations represented on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:5; Acts 2:9-11). "The list of geographical names shows the diversity of the people to whom the apostles spoke, the provinces and locations mentioned lying in all directions from Jerusalem and representing a cross-section of the languages spoken in the entire Roman empire" (Coffman).

The coming of the Holy Spirit was effectively confirmed by the witnesses who came together because of the sound like a rushing, mighty wind and said they heard every man in the language in which he was born. The audience did not have to be told something unusual was happening. The apostles did not have to tell everyone that they had received, or gotten, as some say, the Spirit. Those from the fifteen nations mentioned by Luke heard them speaking in their own tongues, or languages. They also saw that which Christ poured out. Their surprise at what they heard and saw moved them to seek possible explanations. Some merely wondered at the meaning of the occurrences, while others said the apostles were drunk (Acts 2:6-7; Acts 2:11-13; Acts 2:33).