Where the People in Acts 19 Baptized in Water Again

Question

Why had the disciples in Ephesus not received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:ane–7)?

Answer

During Paul's 3rd missionary journey, he encountered some men who are described as "disciples" who had not even so received the Holy Spirit. Luke recounts the incident: "Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. At that place he found some disciples and asked them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' They answered, 'No, we have not fifty-fifty heard that there is a Holy Spirit.' So Paul asked, 'And so what baptism did yous receive?' 'John'south baptism,' they replied. Paul said, 'John'southward baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming later on him, that is, in Jesus.' On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his easily on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. At that place were virtually twelve men in all" (Acts 19:ane–7).

We know that, when a person is built-in again, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in that person'due south life (one Corinthians half-dozen:19). If a person does not have the Holy Spirit, so he does non vest to Christ (Romans viii:ix). And so why is it that these men in Ephesus did non have the Holy Spirit, when it seems that they had believed?

The central is that they had not yet believed in Christ. They did not know nearly Jesus' saving work (or the Holy Spirit'south indwelling) until they met Paul. A careful reading of the starting time office of Acts 19 reveals several facts almost this group of twelve men: ane) They were "disciples"—but not of Christ. Rather, they were self-identified disciples of John the Baptist (poetry 3). two) They were not believers in the risen Lord Jesus Christ—Paul's question about their conversion experience reveals that they knew nothing of the Spirit or His power (poetry 2). 3) They had taken the first stride—repentance of sins—merely they had non taken the corresponding step—faith in Christ.

In brusque, the "Ephesus Dozen" were still living nether the Old Testament economy. They saw the need of repentance and were still awaiting the Messiah. They did not know the Christian message.

A further clue of their spiritual condition is found in the preceding affiliate. Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew and a skilful orator, had been preaching in Ephesus (Acts 18:24). However, "he knew only the baptism of John" (poetry 25). The just information Apollos had about Jesus was what he had heard from John; thus, he knew Jesus was the Messiah, merely he knew nothing of Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection. Two believers in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila, took Apollos aside and "explained to him the mode of God more than adequately" (verse 26). After he understood and received the gospel, Apollos became a dandy apologist for the Lord Jesus (poetry 28).

It would seem that the twelve men whom Paul encountered were some of Apollos' followers. They had been baptized for repentance, but they had not heard the whole gospel message. Paul filled them in on the details of Jesus' expiry and resurrection—the essential elements of the gospel—and told them to believe (Acts 19:4). Once the men received Christ by faith, the Holy Spirit, true to form, filled them with His presence. They became new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).

John the Baptist'southward ministry was one of preparation for people to receive Christ (Mark 1:two). He preached repentance of sins, and, as people repented, they showed their change of heart past an outward cleansing. But simply repenting of sin is non enough. Nosotros must have Christ. John himself understood the limitations of his ministry: "I baptize you with water for repentance. But afterwards me comes 1 who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to comport. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11).

Those who, like Apollos and the "Ephesus Dozen," stopped with John's baptism merely had half the story. They needed more repentance; they needed religion in Christ. The disciples in Ephesus heard most Jesus from Paul the campaigner, Jesus' representative (Acts ix:fifteen). As they received his message, they were baptized in the proper noun of Jesus Christ, and they received the Holy Spirit in a way that publicly, unmistakably linked them to the gospel as preached past Paul.

"For we were all baptized by ane Spirit and so every bit to grade ane trunk—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink" (1 Corinthians 12:13).

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This page last updated: January 4, 2022

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