Acts 2:2

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The spectacular events here are suggestive of the wonders that attended the giving of the Law (Exodus 19:16f), such as the loud trumpet, the smoking mountain, the terrible earthquake, the thick cloud, and Jehovah descending upon Sinai in fire.

Wind ... fire ... There was no wind, but the sound of a mighty wind; and no fire, but tongues resembling fire, at Pentecost. Despite this, wind and fire are both typical and suggestive of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is typified by the wind in that: (1) it is gentle; (2) it is powerful; (3) it is invisible (John 3:8); (4) it is the "breath" of life itself. Fire typifies the Holy Spirit in that: (1) it gives light; (2) it provides warmth; (3) it purifies; and (4) it is an emblem of God himself (Hebrews 12:29), and in this latter quality standing for the judgment of God against wickedness.

That such elemental forces of nature were manifested both at Sinai and at Pentecost is evidence, according to Lange, that the "kingdom of power and of grace is governed by one God."[11] It is also proof that the God of nature and the God of religious faith are one and the same. Although the tongues so strongly resembled fire, this may not be called a baptism of fire; "for the context in the Gospel (Matthew 3:11f) suggests that the baptism of fire is the judgment of those who reject the Messiah, the burning of the chaff with unquenchable fire."[12]

All filled with the Holy Spirit ... This has reference to the Twelve apostles only. See under Acts 2:1. Beasley-Murray gave expression to a common misconception regarding this outpouring of God's Spirit on the Twelve. He said:

At Pentecost the Spirit came upon the disciples with no other condition than that of prayer; they are not baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, either prior to or after the event.[13]

None of those persons who had been baptized of John's baptism had any need to be baptized again; and it is a dogmatic certainty that the Twelve had been baptized by John's baptism (John 4:1,2), because there is no way to believe that the apostles would have been baptizing others with a baptism to which they themselves had not submitted. Moreover, if they had rejected John's baptism for themselves, it would have been "rejecting the counsel of God" (Luke 7:30); and, had they done that, Jesus would never have named them apostles of the new covenant. For further discussion of this, see under Acts 1:5.

On this Pentecost, there were two measures of the Holy Spirit given: (1) the miraculous outpouring previously promised the Twelve, and (2) the gift ordinary which is received by every Christian. The three thousand who were baptized received the second of these following their baptism; and it may be assumed that the one hundred and twenty (who, it may be assumed, were also baptized by John's baptism) likewise received that same gift. There is utterly no basis for supposing that they too were given that apostolic measure of the Spirit which would have enabled them to raise the dead, speak with inspiration, and be guided "into all truth," in the manner of the apostles. If they did receive that measure of the Holy Spirit, where is the record of any of them ever doing such things as the apostles did?

The new birth has two elements in it, requiring that all who experience it be born "of the water" and "of the Spirit." All who received God's Spirit that day, in whatever measure, were "born of water," in that they were baptized (either with John's baptism or that commanded on Pentecost), and also "born of the Spirit," that is, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, whether in apostolic measure or in the measure called "the earnest of our inheritance," (Ephesians 1:13).

Began to speak with other tongues ... Despite the insistence of some that this has reference to ecstatic utterances like those of so-called "tongues" today, such a view is refuted, absolutely, by the fact that men of many nations understood every word in their native languages. Nothing like this was ever seen, either before or after the astounding event before us. As Lange said:

The confusion of tongues occasioned the dispersion of men (Genesis 11); the gift of tongues re-united them as one people.[14]

The event at Babel, referred to by Lange, was a direct intervention of God in human history; and the same thing, with opposite purpose, is apparent here. The action at Babel was not repeated, nor was this.

This baptism of the Spirit was never repeated. It was later extended to believers in Samaria (Acts 8), to the Gentiles (Acts 10-11) ... The filling of the Spirit was often repeated, but not the baptism with the Spirit.[15]

Wesley noted that:

(They) spoke languages of which they had been before entirely ignorant. They did not speak now and then a word of another tongue, or stammer out some broken sentences, but spoke each language as readily, properly, and elegantly as if it had been their mother tongue.[16]

If Wesley's view is correct, and the conviction here is that it is, then it would be logical to understand each one of the Twelve speaking in a different area of the great temple concourse, in each instance speaking in the language of his hearers. There is no way to understand this as a group of twelve men standing closely together and all speaking at once. Later on, Peter did stand up with the eleven; but then there were not many speakers, but only one.

Boles' comment on the "tongues" is:

They were not uttering unintelligible sounds, nor using a mere jargon of syllables with no meaning; their sentences were clear and their words distinct, so that every man heard them speaking in his own language.[17]

This phenomenon was doubtless the "baptism of the Holy Spirit." De Welt stated that:

We can know as a dogmatic certainty that Acts 2:4 is the literal fulfillment of Acts 1:5. Jesus had promised (the apostles) the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and here is the fulfillment of his promise.[18]

[11] John Peter Lange, Commentary on Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, n.d.), p. 31.

[12] Everett F. Harrison, Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 387.

[13] G. R. Beasley Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1962), p. 105.

[14] John Peter Lange, op. cit., p. 31.

[15] Everett F. Harrison, op. cit., p. 388.

[16] John Wesley, op. cit., in loco.

[17] H. Leo Boles, Acts of Apostles (Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1941), p. 33.

[18] Don DeWelt, op. cit., p. 36.