CCC Gainesville | Blog
Reading Acts together:
Tim Keller: Discussions of the nature of “glossolalia” (speaking in tongues) must not distract us from the main point of this miracle. On the first day of any church, a very important decision has to be made. What language (and therefore what culture) will he church conduct its worship and business in? When Redeemer Church held its first service, it did so in English, which automatically made ministry to other people (who did not speak English) of secondary importance for the church. Well, on the first day of Jesus’ church, he refused to choose one language or one culture to minister in! If the apostles had spoken in Hebrew or Aramaic or Greek–the signal would have been set that the gospel was primarily for just one people group. But the Lord on Pentecost shows the world that the gospel is for every tongue, tribe, people, and nation. The first “worship service” is multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-racial in the extreme.
Pentecost means that the unity of the Spirit transcends all racial, national, and linguistic barriers. For centuries, commentators have noted that Acts 2 is a reversal of the curse of Babel. Acts 2 provides a “Table of the Nations” as does Genesis 10. But in Acts 2, a miracle of blessing brings people together through understanding despite linguistic barriers. While in Genesis 11, a miracle of cursing breaks people apart through division despite original linguistic sameness. In Genesis 11, the people of the earth unite to “make a name for themselves” (v.4), and this leads to the disunity of racial and cultural alienation. In Acts 2, when people unite “to call on the name of the Lord” (Acts 2:21) and the result is racial and cultural healing.
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