What the Bible says about Gibberish
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Mark 7:32 The man's deafness was absolute; he could hear nothing. This greatly limited him, especially in those days when sign language and other communication helps did not exist as prominently as they do today. The poor had no access to speech therapists, and the medical practices of the time offered no hope at all. His deafness also put him in danger, as people use their hearing more than they realize to avoid harm. Spiritual deafness is no different: When we cannot hear or refuse to hear the Word of God, we endanger ourselves greatly, not hearing the warnings of God's ministers against the enticement and pull of sin and its curses and penalties. While physical deafness is a very limiting disability, it does not normally lead to death, but spiritual deafness is infinitely worse, leading to eternal death. The man was almost entirely mute except for a speech impediment that kept him from communicating with others verbally. The word "impediment" in Mark 7:32 does not mean he could not make any sounds but that he had great difficulty in speaking. He could make sounds with his mouth, but they came across as gibberish. Mark's account states that Jesus "loosed" the man's tongue, which may indicate that the problem was a birth defect. Deafness and dumbness are often associated because humans learn to speak by hearing. A person who cannot hear his own voice or the voices of others has difficulty with pronunciation. If a person becomes deaf later in life, he will be able to speak much better than one born deaf or who loses his hearing as a child. The relationship between the inability to speak and deafness pictures some of sin's effects. Those who are deaf to the Word of God will have great difficulty speaking properly of spiritual matters. Even the most educated sinner betrays an impediment in his speech as soon as spiritual truths are introduced, but when he opens his ears to receive the truth, his spiritual speech will improve greatly and continually. Just as Jesus physically healed the man to enable him to hear, He must spiritually heal us so that we can understand God's Word (see John 8:47; I Corinthians 2:9-14). Martin G. Collins The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Healing a Deaf-Mute (Part One) Related Topics: Gibberish | Healing of Deaf-mute | Inability to Speak and Deafness | Jesus Christ's Miracles: Healing a Deaf-mute | Miracles of Jesus Christ | Speech Impediment | Spiritual Deafness

Acts 2:6 Notice that the word "tongues" appears in verse 4, but in verse 6, the word "language" is used. Why were they not both translated the same way? The reason is that they are from two different Greek words. The one in verse 4 is the most familiar, glōssais, which means a "language" or "tongue." But the Greek word in verse 6 is dialekto, which has practically come into the English language untranslated as "dialect." These people from all over the Roman world not only heard in their own language, but they heard the disciples in their own dialect. God refined this explanation to ensure that we would understand that this manifestation was of languages people were familiar with but did not necessarily speak themselves. They not only recognized the language itself but even the various local dialects within the language. The disciples, then, to whom God had given His Holy Spirit, did not speak unintelligible gibberish, but each person hearing heard each person speaking, not only in his own language but even in his own dialect! When Jesus was on trial, Peter was identified as being Galilean because of the way he spoke. Suppose the Jews in Judea spoke Aramaic, and that Peter spoke Aramaic, which is likely. Yet, Peter from Galilee spoke it in a dialect different from the Judeans' Aramaic spoken in Jerusalem. So, that young lady in Jerusalem quickly identified Peter as a Galilean. This recognition is what Luke is referring to in Acts 2 in this awesome miracle. The miracle was not only in the disciples' speaking. The miracle of hearing may have even been greater because it had to work in each hearer's mind so that he recognized that each disciple spoke in his own dialect. That is pretty precise. Based on what Paul writes in I Corinthians 14 about God's concern for order and organization at church services, it is probable that all who received God's Holy Spirit were not speaking at once. Rather, God organized it so that the language and dialect could be clearly and distinctly heard by those observing. This was an awesome miracle! The combination of these factors was never again repeated. Luke does not tell us what those who were filled with the Holy Spirit uttered. Therefore, we can reason that the purpose of their speaking in other languages was, at this point, not to help the observers listen intently to the content they were hearing from the disciples but to grab their attention to listen to what the apostle Peter would say later in his sermon. John W. Ritenbaugh Pentecost and the Holy Spirit Related Topics: Disorder | Disorderly Gathering | Gibberish | Language, Miracle of | Languages Spoken on Pentecost | Speaking in Tongues | Tongues, Speaking in

 

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