You’d think if everyone spoke the same language that they would get to self actualization and truth a lot faster. But in Babel what they actually decided to do was to build a tower to make a name for themselves. People weren’t actually seeking truth or transcendence. “Let us make a name for ourselves”, just pride and ego and legacy.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down and now many people of different languages can hear and understand the gospel in their own languages.
I’m in awe. Instead of God wanting us to all learn Hebrew or Aramaic or Greek to learn about the gospels he actually wants us to learn about it in our own different languages?
He’s inclusive and the good news is for everyone, not just those who know Hebrew or Greek?
He meets people where they actually are?
The Parthians, Medes, Elamites in Acts 2 each hear in their own native language.
If it required Hebrew or Greek, only those with the education, geography, or social access to acquire those languages would be able to grasp it fully. Pentecost demolishes that gatekeeping at the very moment the church is born.
Israel was “chosen” not to be the only ones with access to God, but to be the vehicle through which God would reach all peoples.
A core Islamic doctrine is that the Quran is only truly the Quran in Arabic. To pray correctly, to recite properly, Arabic is required. This means millions of Muslims worldwide memorize and recite words in a language they don’t actually understand.
This is a meaningful difference to me. Does God want us to come as we are, in our own tongues to worship? Or is his full revelation tethered to one human language that he deems perfect and irreplaceable?