Acts 2:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Notice the good judgment of these people. They were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"

Everywhere vice stands alongside virtue. Some marveled; others reviled. The former were truly devout. They lived there in Jerusalem because, according to the Law, they were permitted to appear three times a year in the temple at Jerusalem.

All were amazed, and some, in perplexity, said, "What does this mean?" They did not know how to explain what they heard and saw, and therefore they reverently awaited what would happen.

And they showed their good will, for, marveling at what had happened, they said, "What does this mean?"

"They were all amazed": see the note on v. 7. "Being perplexed, they said, What does this mean?" Their perplexity and question show an expectation that something extraordinary must also come from this extraordinary event. They understood it as a sign and a foretelling of something unusual. Cf. Lk 1:66. Thus people of good disposition marveled and were perplexed, those whom the writer of Acts above called devout (v. 5).

All marveled at the apostles' speaking in different languages. This wonder will be everlasting for people seeking the true foundations of this miracle of God's grace.

Frivolous people, however, without much thought, will find various empty explanations. One such explanation was offered even then by certain representatives of the coarse crowd.

From their own point of view, they did not understand what the apostles were saying. They decided that the apostles were drunk with sweet wine.

The tasting of such wine partly belonged to the Jewish observance of certain feasts. For example, this occurred in the month of Tishri, September, during the treading of grapes.

Their unfermented juice is sweet, but not intoxicating. Thus the slanderers uttered a most absurd falsehood.