The Charismatic Speaking in Tongues: Pentecost or Babel?
- Nino Marques de Sá
- Jun 9
- 2 min read

When many Christians hear the word “Pentecost,” they immediately think of ecstatic speech, personal experiences, and the kind of dramatic spirituality found in charismatic services. But is that what really happened in Acts 2?
The story of Pentecost is often misunderstood. Rather than being about chaos or private emotional highs, Pentecost is about clarity, unity, and mission. It’s the moment when God poured out His Spirit to empower His people to proclaim “the mighty works of God” to the nations, in their own languages. That’s the key: known human languages, understood by those present. This wasn’t unintelligible babble or mystical tongues no one could interpret. It was a supernatural undoing of something that had gone terribly wrong in human history.
Back in Genesis 11, humanity united, but not around God. They united to make a name for themselves at Babel. So, God judged them by confusing their speech, scattering their efforts and fracturing their unity. But in Acts 2, God reversed this. At Pentecost, He brought people together not by making them the same, but by making them one through the Spirit. And through the gift of languages, the message of Christ broke through the division.
Modern charismatic expressions of tongues—often ecstatic, unintelligible, and lacking interpretation—mirror Babel more than Pentecost. At Babel, speech became confused. At Pentecost, speech became clear. One fractured community, the other formed one. One exalted man’s pride, the other proclaimed God’s glory.
Pentecost wasn’t a spectacle; it was a declaration. The Spirit came not to stir chaos, but to proclaim Christ. Not to divide with noise, but to unite with truth. So let’s reject the confusion of Babel and embrace the clarity of Pentecost: Spirit-empowered speech, gospel truth for every nation, and a church united not by subjective experience, but by shared confession.
Let the church speak with one voice. Let the nations hear. And let the name of Jesus be lifted high.
Nino Marques
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