Acts 2:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

We Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, (verse 10) Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene. There are also among us visitors from Rome, Jews and proselytes, (verse 11) Cretans and Arabs. We hear them speaking in our languages, preaching the great works of God.'

Yet it is difficult to understand how they were 'from every nation under heaven.' There were then far more peoples than Luke lists by name. Perhaps, seeing eighteen peoples then in Jerusalem, whose names he records below, he was carried in thought to the eighteen grandsons of Noah, the founders of all nations. Therefore he said, 'from every nation under heaven.' Or perhaps he said this according to a common manner of speaking. Often, instead of saying many things, we say all things. Instead of many men, we say all men. Such examples are also found in Holy Scripture. Instead of 'many have turned aside,' the prophet David says: 'All have turned aside.' Likewise: 'They mount up to the heavens and go down to the depths.' And the Evangelist John said: 'I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written' (Ps 13:3; Ps 106:26; Jn 21:25). Therefore perhaps the divine Luke, instead of saying 'from many nations,' said: 'from every nation.' What, then, did the Jews do when they heard the Apostles' wondrous speaking in different languages?

Christ's disciples, mostly Galileans by origin, were known to be unlearned and uneducated men. No knowledge of any foreign language could be expected from them, apart from their Galilean dialect. Yet each of these men was speaking in some foreign language. Therefore, however diverse the crowd was in origin and language, each heard among those speaking of the great works of God someone who praised God in the language of his own land.

Then they began inspired speech. It poured irresistibly from their mouths, formed of words in which each word was their heart, their embodied faith and love for their heavenly Teacher. What were the most famous orators of the classical world before them? They composed their speeches according to the rules of art, speeches animated only by their poor vanity. The inspired speeches of the Apostles thundered like thunder shaking mountains. They acted with the force of a hammer breaking rocks. Countless crowds listened in silence to the wondrous speeches. They marveled more at these speeches than at the dread manifestations that had drawn them there.

Under the first irresistible impression of these speeches, the masses of the people did not notice their miraculous outward feature. They only felt that these speeches were extraordinary. They felt that they pierced to the marrow and burned the listeners' hearts like fire. But when the first impression had passed, the multilingual masses looked at one another to share what they had experienced. Then they noticed with amazement that each had heard the speeches just delivered in his own native language. From astonishment, everyone's face seemed to freeze.

How could this be? The Egyptian, who until then had prided himself that his language was known only to those born in the land of the pyramids, now heard his own language. The Greek and the Roman, who considered their language the possession only of educated men, also heard each his own language. And from whom? From these ignorant, obscure, poor Galileans, whose very name sounded contemptuous. At first their silent amazement began to express itself in words and exclamations. A murmur of exclamations and questions ran through the masses. All turned to one another for an explanation of the mysterious event. 'Are not all these who speak Galileans?' they asked one another in astonishment. 'And how do we hear, each in our own native language, how we hear them speaking in our languages of the great works of God? And again all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another: What does this mean?'

'There were' means, more precisely, that they lived or resided there. The Greek word properly denotes a permanent place of residence, not merely temporary stay in a given place. On this basis one may suppose that the Jews meant here had previously lived in the various lands mentioned below. Then they had moved to Jerusalem for permanent residence, drawn by their religious feeling, being devout men. They wished to spend a pious life, or the last years of life, in the very center of the theocracy, near the temple unique among the Jews. There service to the true God was performed, sacrifices were offered, and so forth. They also wished to lay their bones in the holy land and the holy city.

However, it seems that in the writer of Acts this word also has the meaning of temporary stay in a given place. He later uses it of those living in Mesopotamia and elsewhere in verse 9. Therefore they were only temporarily in Jerusalem at that time. Thus we must suppose that the writer of Acts speaks here of Jews of both kinds. Some had moved from other lands to Jerusalem for permanent residence. Others had come here only for a time, as pilgrims. This was one of the great Jewish feasts, to which devout Jews came from many and distant lands; compare Acts 8:27 and following.

'Devout men' are later contrasted with frivolous men in verse 13. The former responded with amazement and perplexity to what they now saw and heard. The latter responded with frivolous mockery.

'From every nation under heaven' is an intensified, popular hyperbolic expression. It denotes the many lands and many peoples from which there were visitors in Jerusalem at that time. The many lands are then listed in verses 9-11, though of course not all lands under heaven. Around the time of Christ, the Jews were indeed scattered through various countries east and west of Palestine, and north and south. Some were there involuntarily, as prisoners of war. Others were there voluntarily, especially for commercial interests.

With them were also native representatives of various peoples. In different degrees they had joined themselves to those who truly believed in God and were called 'proselytes.' Some of them remained for a long time in Jerusalem, both to become acquainted with the true faith and to serve God. For this reason the writer of Acts calls them devout men. Such also could have been Jews who had lived many years in various distant lands and came to Jerusalem in old age. They wished to lay their bones in the holy places, as many Jews of modern times also do. As for all nationalities, it is clear that the writer of Acts speaks only of those peoples then known, whom he later lists in verses 9-11.