2:4
“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”. It is probably a mistake to draw a fine distinction between being filled with the Holy Spirit, and being baptised in the Spirit. We will see that by chapter 4 that the disciples have already been filled with the Spirit on three occasions. We are born again by the Spirit, and He continues having an effect on our lives. This includes both His ongoing work within us, the provision of gifts, and sometimes in dramatic ways. Here they all spoke in tongues. In 1 Cor 14 the tongues are languages that cannot, without a special gift, be understood. Here they are specific known languages.
2:5
As mentioned earlier (2:1), this was a major festival in the Jewish calendar, which is why there were numerous visitors to Jerusalem from a wide variety of nations. They are depicted as people who were serious about their Judaism, hence adding credibility to the rest of the account. Note that it says “every nation under heaven”. Now clearly they were not literally from every nation, what it means is that there were people from most of the nations in Asia Minor and parts of Europe. We should recognise when it is a mistake to treat the Bible over-literally.
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