Acts 19:1 - Meaning and Application

Ephesus was an important city in Asia Minor, famous for its temple to Diana, one of the wonders of the world. Paul came there to preach the gospel while Apollos was in Corinth (Acts 19:1). While Apollos was watering the work there, Paul was planting here, and he did not resent that Apollos was building on his foundation. Instead, he rejoiced in it and kept working in Ephesus with more cheer, knowing that such a capable minister of the New Testament as Apollos was now helping the church in Corinth.

Even though some people in Corinth made Apollos the leader of a party against Paul (1 Corinthians 1:12), Paul was not jealous of him. He did not dislike the love people had for Apollos. After traveling through Galatia, Phrygia, and the upper regions of Pontus and Bithynia in the north, Paul at last came to Ephesus, where he had left Aquila and Priscilla, a Christian couple who worked with him, and found them there.

When Paul first came, he met some disciples there. They believed in Christ as the true Messiah, but they were still at the earliest stage of Christ’s school, under John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus. There were about twelve of them (Acts 19:7). They were much like Apollos had been when he first came to Ephesus, for he knew only the baptism of John (Acts 18:25). But they had not had the same chance to learn from Aquila and Priscilla, or they had not been in Ephesus as long, or they were less willing to learn. If not, they might have had the way of God explained to them more fully, as Apollos had.

Notice how Paul catechized them, that is, examined them in the basics of the faith. He had likely been told by Aquila and Priscilla that they were believers who owned Christ and had given themselves to him. On that basis, he took them under questioning. They believed in the Son of God, but Paul asked whether they had received the Holy Spirit, whether they had known that the Spirit’s work of conviction, conversion, and comfort had been revealed after Jesus was shown to be the Christ, and whether they had accepted that truth.

This was not all. The apostles and other disciples had received special gifts of the Holy Spirit soon after Christ’s ascension, and those gifts were sometimes given again on special occasions. Paul asks in effect, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? Have you had that inward proof of Christ’s truth?” We are not to expect those extraordinary gifts now. The New Testament is now complete and confirmed, and we depend on it as the sure word of prophecy. But all believers still receive the Spirit’s graces, which are a pledge and guarantee to them (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14).

So everyone who professes the Christian faith should seriously ask whether they have received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is promised to all believers, to all who ask (Luke 11:13). Yet many people are mistaken about this and think they have received the Spirit when they have not. As some people pretend to have the Spirit’s gifts, so others pretend to have his graces and comforts. We should test ourselves closely: Have we received the Holy Spirit since we believed? A tree is known by its fruit. Do we show the fruit of the Spirit? Are we led by the Spirit? Do we walk by the Spirit? Are we under his rule?

The disciples admitted their ignorance in this matter. They were saying, in effect, that they had not even heard whether the Holy Spirit had been given yet as the Spirit of prophecy. They knew from the Old Testament that God had promised the Holy Spirit, and they did not doubt that promise would be fulfilled in its time. But they had been so cut off from news that they had not heard of his coming. Dr. Lightfoot notes that, by Jewish tradition, after Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel. These men spoke as if they expected his return and were surprised they had not heard of it. They were ready to welcome the news.

The light of the gospel, like the dawn, grows brighter and brighter. It does so not only by revealing truths that had not been heard before, but also by bringing those truths to people who had not yet heard them. Paul then asked how they had been baptized if they knew nothing of the Holy Spirit. If they had been baptized by any of Christ’s ministers, they should have been taught about the Holy Spirit and baptized in his name.

In effect, Paul says, “Do you not know that since Jesus has been glorified, the Holy Spirit has been given? Then what were you baptized into? This is strange. You were baptized, and yet you know nothing of the Holy Spirit? Your baptism would be of no use if you know nothing of the Spirit, because that washing of new birth points to and seals the receiving of the Spirit.” Ignorance of the Holy Spirit does not fit with a sincere Christian profession any more than ignorance of Christ does.

Applied to us, this means that people are baptized to no purpose, and receive God’s grace in vain, if they do not receive and submit to the Holy Spirit. It is also a question we should often ask ourselves, not only whose honor we were born into, but whose service we were baptized into, so that we may live up to both our birth and our baptism. We should often think about what our baptism means, and then live in a way that matches it.

The disciples answered that they had been baptized into John’s baptism. That is, as I understand it, they were baptized in John’s name, not by John himself, who would never have approved of such a thing. Rather, some weak but well-meaning follower of John, who kept up his name as if he were still the head of a party, had done it. Such people kept the spirit of those earlier disciples of John who were jealous of Christ’s growing influence and complained about it to John (John 3:26).

One or more of these, deeply impressed by John’s baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, did not understand that the kingdom of heaven, which John had said was near, was even nearer than they thought. They held on to what they had and thought others should do the same. So, in a blind zeal for John’s teaching, they baptized people here and there in John’s name, or, as Luke says, into John’s baptism, without going any further themselves and without leading others any further.

Paul now explains the true purpose of John’s baptism, showing that it pointed chiefly to Jesus Christ. In doing this, he corrects the mistake of those who had baptized them into John’s baptism and had not directed them to look beyond it and rest in Christ.

People who have been left in ignorance or led into error because of a poor education should not be looked down on or turned away by those who know more and hold to sound teaching. Instead, they should be patiently taught, just as Paul taught these disciples.

First, Paul admits that John’s baptism was very good, so far as it went. John truly baptized with a baptism of repentance, which meant he called people to be sorry for their sins, confess them, and turn from them. Bringing someone to that point is a great gain.

But Paul also shows that John’s baptism pointed beyond itself. John never meant for people to stop with his baptism, but told them to believe in the one who would come after him, that is, Christ Jesus. John’s baptism of repentance was meant to prepare the way for the Lord and ready people to receive Christ, whom John had held out before them. He had said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” John was a great and good man, but he was only the messenger before the King. His baptism was the doorway you passed through, not the house you stayed in. So it was wrong for them to rest in the baptism of John.

When they saw the mistake they had fallen into, they gladly accepted the correction and were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5). This does not mean that Apollos, who was said to know only the baptism of John (Acts 18:25), had to be baptized again when he later learned the way of God more fully. He had understood John’s baptism rightly, even if he knew only that much. In the same way, Christ’s first disciples had been baptized with John’s baptism and understood that it pointed to the Messiah who was near, and they were not baptized again.

But these disciples had received it only with John in view, as if he were their savior. That was such a basic mistake that it was as serious as being baptized in the name of Paul (1 Corinthians 1:13). So when they understood the matter better, they asked to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and that is what happened. It was probably not Paul himself who baptized them, but some of those who were with him.

So this does not prove that John’s baptism and Christ’s baptism were different in substance, or that they were not basically the same. Much less does it prove that someone who has already been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the appointed form of Christ’s baptism, may be baptized again in the same name. These men were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus because they had never been baptized that way before.

Second, Paul gave them the special gifts of the Holy Spirit, as Acts 19:6 says. He did this by solemnly praying for them and laying his hands on them, a gesture used by the patriarchs when blessing others, especially when passing on the great promise, as in Genesis 48:14. Since the Spirit is the great promise of the New Testament, the apostles passed that gift on through laying on of hands. It was like saying, “The Lord bless you with that blessing, the blessing above all blessings” (Isaiah 44:3).

God answered Paul’s prayer. The Holy Spirit came on them in a sudden and powerful way, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied, just as the apostles did and the first Gentile believers did (Acts 10:44). This was meant to introduce the gospel in Ephesus and stir people to expect great things from it. Some also think these twelve men were being prepared for ministry, and that they were the elders of Ephesus, to whom Paul later entrusted the care and leadership of the church.

They received the gift of prophecy so they could understand the mysteries of God’s kingdom themselves. They received tongues so they could preach those truths to people of every nation and language. What a striking change took place in them at once. Just a little while before, they had not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit. Now they themselves were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, like the wind, blows where and when he pleases.