But others mocked them and said, “They are drunk on new wine!”
These mockers, chiefly the common people and likely the Scribes and Pharisees who understood none of the languages spoken, fling out a senseless charge. There was no new wine at this season, and if there had been, drunkenness destroys the tongue; it cannot create the faculty of speaking many tongues. They were filled with wine indeed, but not the juice of the grape, with spiritual wine, the gifts of the Spirit of God.
AI summary
Jerusalem was crowded with devout Jews and proselytes from every corner of the known world, some from eastern nations like Parthia and Mesopotamia, others from Cappadocia and beyond. God had made the city a rendezvous of religious people, just as other cities drew traders, so that witnesses to this miracle would carry word to all nations.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 2:5-13
Mockery has dogged every genuine work of the Spirit, then and now. Wicked men deride what serves their own welfare, and derision proves far more effective than sober argument at keeping men from faith. When they cannot argue, they name-call: fanatics, enthusiasts, wildfire. The charge here, drunk men teaching languages, is precisely as wise and rational as such accusations always are.
AI summary