GRAMMAR makes a difference to the theology of these readings. Why, in Romans 8, does the NRSV repeat the noun “Spirit” (not repeated in the Greek) in “the Spirit intercedes”? Surely it is to avoid having to choose between the Spirit’s grammatical gender — “it” = neuter (Western theological gender); “he” = masculine (and, sometimes, Eastern theological gender); “she” = feminine.

Calling the Spirit “the Advocate” makes him masculine. Calling the Spirit “Holy Wisdom” makes her feminine. Calling the Spirit “Spirit” makes it neuter, because “spirit” in everyday English is a stuff, not a person. What clearer proof do we need, in gender-sensitive times, that language matters to how we understand things? And that language makes no difference at all to the essential nature of the thing itself?

According to Peter, the prophet Joel had foreseen this day of Pentecost, which was to be different from all previous Fiftieth-days-since-Passover. It would be a time of prophetic speech no longer confined to the trade union of prophets, but instead lavished on men and women, old and young alike. Later, the Church came to regulate the Spirit (if that isn’t an oxymoron) through a clerical trade union instead. The contest of priestly and prophetic voices and attitudes continues to govern how Christians have access to the God we all believe in.

Our celebration of (as it were) freedom of speech contains a difficulty for many readers: that is, the list of nationalities in Acts 2. Most are straightforward to pronounce, but some are not. The real impact of the reading is in the maths of the list: 15 nationalities, but only 12 apostles. It cannot be that the apostles have learned a language each. The message is transformation, not translation.

Why are the tongues of flame divided? The image of a forked tongue first of all suggests deceit. This may be because of the snake in Genesis 3.4-5, or because of vague memories of dialogue in old-fashioned cowboy films: “White man speak with forked tongue.” Lancelot Andrewes’s first Pentecost sermon muses on this puzzle, observing that the tongue can be the best (Psalm 108.1) or worst (James 3.6) of our members.

True, the first divided tongue was a sign of the first deceit; but Acts 2 turns the symbol inside out (the theological word for this is “recapitulation”). This time, division is a blessing, not a curse. This time, “the message has gone out to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19.4): the “division of tongues”, Andrewes says, is a “reversing of the curse of Babel” (Genesis 11).

The divided tongues of fire tell us that God’s Spirit is calling to all the peoples of the earth, but his/her/its work does not end there. There is an ongoing work of education to be done, an enlightenment to dawn upon us so that, now God has spoken directly to us, we can learn to talk to him. In Romans, Paul states that we do not know what we ought to pray for (at least, in the NIV — not “how we ought to pray”, as in the NRSV). But the Spirit does the work of prayer for us, with groans that cannot be put into words.

Here is a firm encouragement, if we strive to follow that example; to make use of silence in private prayer and corporate worship. If even the Holy Spirit lets go of words in communicating with God the Father, we must be incapable of finding adequate speech. The best conclusion that we can draw from this is that God gives us what Augustine calls “the inferior cacophony of words” because we are not yet ready for pure communication that does not need articulate speech.

This is not a case of our developing our fluency through instruction in prayer. The Spirit is our advocate, standing between us and God, saying for us what we cannot put into words for ourselves. This is how we should intercede for others, too. Using many words is not necessarily a virtue in prayer (Matthew 6.7) or a gift of the Spirit.

In court, advocates have a specialist skill in persuasion. In faith, the Advocate has two functions: the first is to plead on our behalf, as counsel for the defence; the other is to be the prosecuting counsel who exposes the failings of the world.