And they were all amazed and in perplexity, saying one to another, What would this mean?
At Pentecost the crowd heard people from Galilee speaking their own home languages. No one could deny it, and no one could explain it, so they turned to each other and asked what it meant.
Luke uses more than one word for the crowd's state. Each word has its own cause.
Confounded, amazed, and in doubt (or, perplexed) — this is how Luke describes the crowd. Confounded, when each man heard his own language. Amazed, as they remembered that those speaking to them were Galileans. Perplexed, since they could not understand what it meant. Something new and strange had clearly happened. What did it mean? That was the impression made on many who were there… No one denied that something unusual had happened. Yet no one could give a good explanation.
The many languages were God's doing, and He had a reason for them.
God was now speaking to them through people, through vessels guided by the Holy Spirit. When God speaks, He wants souls to hear and understand… He had once used His power to make communication between nations difficult, at least in some measure. Now, by power joined with grace, He made sure that people of different nations and different languages would hear about His Son, and about salvation, in their own language, with nothing in the way.
So what did it all mean? One writer sets the crowd's question and its answer side by side.
So we see this great crowd gathered together in Jerusalem. They were full of amazement at what they were hearing about the wonderful works of God, each in his own language. They ask, "What does this mean?" And the answer is, "Jesus Christ is exalted and glorified." Peter makes this fact known to them in his powerful speech.
The same writer names the root of their confusion. It never crossed their minds that these wonders came from the One recently crucified, now in supreme power at God's right hand. They were wrong about Christ, so they could not read what was in front of them.
Their confusion was not stupidity. The natural mind has a limit, and this went far past it.
No wonder these strangers in Jerusalem were amazed and perplexed at such an event. No natural man can understand the origin or the working of such divine power. In honesty, he can only express perplexity; in mockery, he can only make some absurd suggestion such as "they are full of new wine."
The crowd split in two. One writer suggests why some of them laughed: they were local men who could not follow the foreign languages.
But others — most likely Jews born in the land, who did not understand the different languages — mocked…
Both groups saw the same thing.
Those who hear are amazed — as well they might be — and say, "What does this mean?" Some ask honestly, What does this mean? — and it is a most blessed thing to ask honestly what God means — yet, sadly, others mocked. How sad, my friend, to be counted among the mockers, either then or now. Do not forget that if you mock in the day of His grace, God can do the same in the day of your calamity. (See Prov. 1:20-33.)
The question of verse 12 was not left hanging. Peter cleared away the slander first, then supplied the explanation from their own Scriptures.
As usual, men arrange themselves into more than one class — some astonished, others hostile and scornful. Peter takes the lead in explaining with seriousness and clarity. He plainly denies the unworthy charge of drunkenness. The early hour alone should have silenced it. It was really what Joel spoke of — not the fulfilment as it will be in the last days, but an outpouring of that kind.
- Undeniable. No one in the crowd argued about the facts. They all heard the languages. Their problem was not evidence but explanation.
- Deliberate. God had once made communication between nations hard. Here He reached past that barrier, so every nation present heard about His Son in its own language.
- Unreachable. Perplexity is the honest limit of the natural mind. It cannot trace where such power comes from or how it works.
- Divided. One event, two responses: honest questions and mockery. It is a blessed thing to ask honestly what God means.
- Answered. Peter gave the meaning they lacked. Jesus Christ is exalted and glorified, and what they saw and heard was the proof.
But others mocking said, They are full of new wine.
The day of Pentecost drew a crowd, and the crowd split in two. Some asked what Galileans speaking foreign languages could mean, while others sneered and blamed the wine.
Luke describes a mixed audience. One group missed the miracle for a reason the others did not share.
Confounded, amazed, and in doubt (or, perplexed) — that is how Luke describes the crowd. Confounded, when they heard each man his own language. Amazed, as they remembered that those who addressed them were Galileans. Perplexed, since they could not understand what it meant. Something new, something strange, had undoubtedly happened. What did it mean? That was the impression made on many who were present. But others mocked, saying, "They are filled with new wine." These were very probably native-born Jews, who did not understand the different languages. No one disputed that something unusual had happened. Yet no one could give a satisfying explanation.
The word for new wine can mean fresh grape juice. Peter's reply settles how the mockers meant it.
In classic Greek this word normally means the sweet unfermented juice of the grape. Even so, it is certain, from Acts 2:13 compared with verse 16, that this is not its New Testament sense... The context shows that the wine meant here was well known to make people drunk. Mere irony! some object. But if the sneer of the Jewish scoffers had been ironical, would an apostle have replied so seriously, "These people are not drunk, AS YOU SUPPOSE" — not merely as you say?
The mockers thought they had an easy explanation. One plain fact undid it.
"Full of new wine," the mockers had said — an easy solution, as they thought, of that strange and startling sight which they witnessed. But the charge was easy to refute, and its folly was plain. The time of day should have made the accusers keep silent — it was only the third hour. Men were not in the habit of getting drunk by nine o'clock in the morning. The disciples were not drunk with wine. They were filled with the Spirit.
The real cause of what they saw was not in Jerusalem at all.
Peter declared that the exaltation of Christ explained everything: "Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God... He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing." The Lord Jesus was above; that is why there was power below. But it never entered their minds that the marvels of the tongues came from the One who had been crucified so recently. He was now in supreme power at the right hand of God.
The charge was false. But one writer asks why such a mistake could be made at all.
On the day of Pentecost the crowd mistook the Spirit's action in the apostles for the effects of wine. This shows that the action of wine on the natural man imitates or counterfeits the action of the Spirit of God in the believer. In fact, when any of the early Christians were filled with the Spirit, they were lifted out of themselves. They became vessels for the expression of the Spirit's power, whether in testimony or in praise.
Since the two can look alike, another writer draws a warning for us.
If we are set on being Spirit-filled, we should guard against anything that would imitate it without being it. We should never mistake excitement for the Spirit's anointing... Do not confuse the natural excitement of wine with the Spirit's power, which takes a man outside of himself.
In one sense the mockers stumbled onto the truth without knowing it.
The disciples were so full of joy and power that some mocked and said, "They are filled with new wine." They were indeed full of new wine, but it did not come from this earth. It was the new wine of heaven.
The two responses in the crowd are still the two responses today. One of them carries a cost.
Some ask honestly, "What does this mean?" It is a most blessed thing to ask honestly what God means. But others mocked. How sad, my friend, to be counted among the mockers, either then or now. Do not forget that if you mock in the day of His grace, God can do the same in the day of your calamity.
- The cause — Christ exalted at God's right hand explains the whole scene. It never crossed the mockers' minds, so the power below made no sense to them.
- The charge — "new wine" here means wine that makes people drunk. Peter's reply, "as you suppose," shows he took the insult as a real charge, not a joke.
- The reply — nine in the morning was answer enough; they were not drunk with wine, they were filled with the Spirit.
- The counterfeit — wine's excitement imitates the Spirit's power. The two can look alike, so never mistake excitement for the Spirit's work.
- The choice — one crowd, two responses: honest inquiry or mockery. Honest inquiry asks what God means; mockery in the day of grace risks God doing the same in the day of your calamity.
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and spoke forth to them, Men of Judaea, and all ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give heed to my words
At Pentecost the crowd was split: some puzzled, others sneering that the disciples were drunk. Peter stands up to answer them, and the first public preaching of the Christian message begins.
Peter first calls a divided crowd to listen. Two very different reactions were already in the room.
As always, people fall into more than one group: some amazed, others hostile and scornful. Peter takes the lead and explains, with weight and clarity. He denies the shameful idea that they were drunk. The early hour alone should have silenced that charge against God-fearing people.
The change of posture matters. These men had been sitting; now they stand, and one of them speaks.
God, however, would not leave them in doubt. So the apostles stood up (we last read of them sitting), and Peter lifted up his voice. He spoke aloud, to an audience he surely never expected. The first Christian sermon was about to begin.
One man speaks, but twelve are standing together. Weeks earlier these same men had been far from united.
This is all the more striking in the twelve apostles. We heard of their sharp differences and their jealousy of one another. How like other believers and other servants of the Lord in every age! The presence of the Lord only held it in check; it never removed it, as the Gospels honestly tell us. Now see the same men after the Holy Spirit was given. By His power their words and ways showed only the activities and affections of the life they had in Christ. "Peter, standing with the eleven" — they were now truly one.
The choice of preacher is the surprise. The man who had denied Jesus gets the first word.
Then Peter stood up with the eleven. What grace, that Peter of all the apostles should be so used! What overflowing grace that he should be the first to preach in the name of the risen Jesus! This was the preaching of a restored backslider. Grace had worked so deeply that he could calmly accuse the Jewish nation of denying and crucifying their Messiah. They might have replied that he had denied Him too. But Peter had confessed his sin and been forgiven; and his conscience was clear and happy before God.
Guilt makes us evasive. Settled forgiveness makes us honest.
We see the same cleansed conscience in Peter. He charges the Jews with what he had done in a worse way himself. The soul cannot bear to rest on what it knows will condemn it. So where there is no certainty about forgiveness, there is always some deceit in the heart. Once we see our sins as completely "blotted out," we have no interest in making our sinfulness look smaller.
Was this simply a man getting his confidence back? The answer lies deeper.
But look at this same man fifty days later. Now he faces no servant girl, but the whole crowd who had rejected Christ. Without a tremor he stands up as spokesman for them all, and lays the awful crime of Christ's death at their door. What made the difference? Was it only that Peter's soul was restored? Ah — he was filled with the Spirit, and knew no fear.
Peter is also the man Christ trusted with keys. Writers are careful to say what those keys are not.
Peter has nothing to do with letting people into heaven. Christ has the keys of heaven, be sure of that. He keeps those keys, but in His service down here He may and did use Peter, and put into his hands two keys with which to administer the kingdom of heaven. Why not one key? He had to open two doors. In Acts 2, where he preached his first sermon on the day of Pentecost, he put one key into the Jewish door, and opened the way for them to get blessing. The name of that key was "Repentance," I think. In Acts 10 he went down to Caesarea and opened the door to the Gentiles, and the name of that key was "Believe."
- Spirit — Peter's courage is not recovered nerve. He was filled with the Spirit: the man who trembled before a servant girl now faces a hostile crowd without fear.
- Unity — The same Spirit gave the twelve one mind. Men once marked by jealousy now stand together as one.
- Grace — A restored backslider preaches the first Christian sermon. That is the loudest thing this verse says about God.
- Clear conscience — Forgiveness freed Peter to name sin openly. A soul unsure of pardon always shades the truth about itself.
- Open door — Peter turns the first key at Pentecost: repentance for the Jews. Later he turns a second key: belief for the Gentiles.
for these are not full of wine, as *ye* suppose, for it is the third hour of the day;
Peter's first sermon opens with a denial. The crowd had sneered that the disciples were drunk, and the hour of the morning is his whole reply — a small detail carrying a much larger claim.
One writer sets the mockers' easy explanation against the true one:
"Full of new wine," the mockers had said — an easy solution, as they thought, of that strange and startling spectacle they were watching. But the charge was easy to refute, and its folly plain. The time of day should have made the accusers keep silent — it was only the third hour. Men were not usually overcome with wine by nine o'clock in the morning. The disciples were not drunk with wine. They were filled with the Spirit.
Nine in the morning was not just early. A fixed religious habit went with that hour:
The third hour of the day was the hour of the daily sacrifice. The custom was to go without food and drink until it was offered, especially on feast days.
Another writer names where such a sneer comes from, and pushes the custom to its conclusion:
The devil will invent any reason to get rid of the testimony of God, but usually shows his folly in doing so, and especially so here. The custom among the Jews was not to break their fast before the morning sacrifice. So they had not eaten, much less drunk.
One writer marks two responses to divine power — honest bewilderment and cheap ridicule — and follows what Peter did with the second:
No natural man can understand where such divine power comes from or how it works. If he is honest, he can only say he is puzzled. If he is mocking, he can only make some absurd suggestion such as "they are full of new wine." Peter does not ignore the suggestion, thoughtless and irresponsible as it is. He stands up together with the eleven apostles and dismisses the mockers' remark with a blunt reminder: it was only the third hour of the day, about nine in the morning. Then he goes on to give the real explanation of the divine power that had been shown among them.
With the false explanation gone, Peter traces this power to a Person out of sight. What the crowd thought of Jesus is why they could not see it:
Peter declared that the exaltation of Christ explained everything. His words were: "Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God … He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing." The Lord Jesus was above; that is why there was power below. It never entered the people's minds where the marvel of the tongues came from. It came from the One who had recently been crucified and who was now in supreme power at the right hand of God. Because they were astray about the truth of Christ, the Jews could not understand what was taking place.
Having said what it was not, Peter says what it was, and points to the prophet Joel:
He plainly denies the unworthy idea of drunkenness. The early hour alone should have silenced that charge against God-fearing souls. It was really what Joel spoke of. It was not the fulfilment as it will be in the last days, but an outpouring of that kind.
Elsewhere Scripture puts the two fillings side by side, with a practical warning:
Alongside the call in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit there is the other one: "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery." If we are set on being filled with the Spirit, we should guard against anything that imitates it without being it. We should never mistake excitement for the Spirit's anointing… Do not confuse the natural excitement of wine with the power of the Spirit, which takes a man outside himself (see Acts 2:13-17). They are as different in origin as flesh and spirit.
- Charge — The crowd said the disciples were drunk. The hour of the morning made that absurd.
- Custom — The third hour was the hour of the daily sacrifice. Until it was offered, people ate and drank nothing. The men had not even eaten.
- Correction — Peter does not ignore the mockery. He clears away the false cause first, then gives the true one.
- Cause — The power on earth came from Christ, exalted at God's right hand. The crowd missed that, so they could not read what they saw.
- Contrast — Not drunk with wine, but filled with the Spirit. Believers still guard that difference, and never mistake excitement for the Spirit's power.
but this is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel,
A crowd in Jerusalem has just heard the disciples speak in languages they never learned, and some of the listeners say the men are drunk. Peter answers by pointing to the prophet Joel — and what he meant by pointing there has been debated ever since.
Peter deals first with the sneer, and only then with the sign. The hour of the day was enough to answer the charge.
"Full of new wine," the mockers had said — an easy answer, as they thought, to the strange and startling sight they were watching. But the charge was easy to disprove, and its folly clear. The time of day should have kept the accusers quiet — it was only the third hour. Men were not used to being overcome with wine by nine o'clock in the morning. The disciples were not drunk with wine. They were filled with the Spirit.
Peter's exact words matter. These writers quote an older version — "This is that which was spoken" — where the ESV has "uttered." Peter names what kind of event this is; he does not say Joel's prophecy is finished.
The point he insists on was this — the wonder in front of them in Jerusalem was one their own prophets should have prepared them for. "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." He does not say that it was the fulfilment of the prophet. Men, theologians, have said so, but not the Spirit of God. The apostle only says, "This is that which was spoken." That was its character. How far it was to be carried out then is another matter. It was not the excitement of nature by wine, but the heart filled with the Spirit of God, acting in His own power and in all classes.
Read in its own book, Joel's promise follows Israel's restoration to their land. That setting is what keeps Pentecost from being the whole story.
"And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh"... God speaks here of the time when He shall have re-established the Jews in their land, for He says, "My people shall never be ashamed"... This is after the blessing of the people, so that they may enjoy it. But when the day of Pentecost is there, Peter says, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel," Acts 2:16. Yet the Holy Spirit came on only a small number, because the nation had not received Christ.
God kept the door open to Israel through the early chapters of Acts. How much of Joel's picture came true turned on their answer.
Students of Scripture have often noticed how patiently God bore with the Jews through the first seven chapters of Acts. Until Stephen's death, we might say, the Lord was ready to return to the repentant nation. Sadly, the nation was not ready to have Him, and so God's purposes went on to their fulfilment for the Church. If they had received the truth as a nation, Joel's prophecy would have been fulfilled in full. As it was, that fulfilment, for Israel, waits for a future day.
"All flesh" is the widest phrase in Joel's promise. The many languages the apostles spoke were the first sign of its reach.
"All flesh" here, we think, stands in contrast to Israel only. And Peter's heart at that moment must have been full of this. The last words he had heard from the Lord's lips as He ascended to heaven were "to the ends of the earth." He was filled with the Holy Spirit, who had come to bear witness to the world. Filled, gifted and inspired by the Holy Spirit, the apostles spoke — not the language of the Jew only, but many different tongues. The blessing was for all... All flesh does not necessarily mean every individual, but that all nations are in view.
Peter stops partway through Joel's prophecy. One writer sets this beside the Lord's own reading of Isaiah, where He stopped in the same way.
Peter's first use of the prophecy in Joel is similar to the Lord's use of Isaiah 61 in Luke 4. There He stopped at "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord"; the time for the "day of vengeance" had not come. So here, Peter ends with the words, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved," because this was the end of his ministry.
- Not that — Peter answers the mockery first. Nobody is drunk at nine in the morning. The crowd was watching hearts filled with the Spirit of God.
- This is that — Peter names the character of the event, not its completion. He never calls Joel's prophecy finished. This is the kind of thing Joel described.
- That is later — Joel's "afterward" belongs to a restored Israel in their land, so his full picture still waits.
- Only a few — the Spirit came on a small company, because the nation had not received Christ. Had Israel received the truth, Joel's words would have run their full course.
- But for all — Peter stops at the promise that everyone who calls on the Lord will be saved. "All flesh" means all nations, so a narrow beginning carries the widest promise.
And it shall be in the last days, saith God, [that] I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your elders shall dream with dreams;
Peter's first act as a preacher is to reach for an old prophecy. Joel had described this scene centuries earlier. But how does the day of Pentecost relate to Joel's words? Commentators still ask whether Peter announced that the prophecy had arrived, or something more careful.
Peter's exact wording matters. He does not claim the prophecy had run its course; he says the scene in front of them matched what Joel described.
Notice the point he presses. The wonder in front of them in Jerusalem was one their own prophets should have prepared them for. "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." He does not say that it was the fulfilment of the prophet. Men, religious teachers, have said so, but not the Spirit of God. The apostle only says, "This is that which was spoken." That was its character. How much of it was carried out then is another question. This was not nature stirred up by wine. It was the heart filled with the Spirit of God, acting in His own power and in every class of people.
The same care shows in where Peter breaks off. Joel's sentence continues, but Peter leaves the rest unsaid.
He stops in the middle of a verse... Peter stops at the general statement of salvation, which is true for every age. He deliberately holds back from quoting the end, which belongs only to the future, when the Lord returns to reign at Jerusalem. The Apostle was guided by God. Who on earth at that moment, apart from the Holy Spirit, knew what was about to happen, or the character of the work that must come before Israel's blessing?
Joel wrote "afterward." Peter says "in the last days."
If you look at Joel it is clearly this: "And it shall come to pass afterwards." That means after God has restored Israel, and set them in blessing in their land, and they own Messiah. Then they get the Spirit... "and afterward I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh." Now here Peter changes the word "afterward" and puts in "the last days," and so takes in a distinct testimony.
Commentators differ over how far Joel's words were then met. Some place the full accomplishment still ahead:
For the Jew these are the last days, and they run on to the millennium... And the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy about the pouring out of the Spirit will come after the church is removed, and before those days close.
Isaiah, Ezekiel and Joel all wrote about the Spirit being poured out. Joel's words reach further than the other two.
Isaiah and Ezekiel predict it, but they tie it to the last days, and to a blessing God would give Israel. On this matter their view as prophets stopped at the borders of the nation. Joel is different. His range of vision takes in all flesh... God was about to go beyond the narrow bounds of Judaism and to minister blessing to Gentiles. So saving grace would be known by some of all flesh, not only by some of Israel's race.
The phrase itself is wider than one nation, and it points to a blessing still to come.
Indeed, the prophet's words here reached beyond what that day accomplished. "All flesh" cannot rightly be limited to Israel. God was soon going to bring Gentiles to the name of Christ, and He will bless the nations in the future kingdom.
The blessing Joel promised was something new, and it reached even the lowest ranks of the people.
But there was a new thing God would give them. He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. The young men and the old men of the people would have visions and dreams. Even on the male and female servants this rain from heaven would fall.
Dreams and visions are not decoration in the promise; they are the method.
It is to be noted that in the last days when God pours out His Spirit on all flesh the sons and daughters will prophesy, and the young men shall see visions, and the old men shall dream dreams. This will be the way that God will make known His mind in those days.
So what should Christians expect today? One writer warns against a common mistake.
In this time of grace the Holy Spirit is here. He belongs by right to every individual Christian and to the Church of God. It is ours to walk in the Spirit and to be filled with Him. Many are unclear about this. They see that the spiritual condition of the Church as a whole is low, and they grieve over it. But they think the only cure is another outpouring or baptism of the Spirit. This is not the case, however sincere they may be. The real need is more simple faith in the mighty fact that the Holy Spirit is present on earth. Let us use the power we have, and God will honour the effort.
- Promise. Peter answers the mockery by pointing to Joel. What the crowd saw was the Spirit poured out, not wine at work.
- Precision. He says "this is that," not "this is fulfilled," and stops mid-verse — leaving unquoted what belongs to a future day.
- Timing. Peter turns Joel's "afterward" into "in the last days." Commentators differ on how much came then and how much still waits.
- Reach. "All flesh" reaches past Israel — sons and daughters, young and old, male and female servants alike.
- Possession. The Spirit given at Pentecost is still here. The call is not to seek another outpouring but to use the power we already have.