While
Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said to him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” He said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with other languages and prophesied. They were about twelve men in all.
Acts 19:1-7
Acts 18 [27.] When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Acts 19 [1.] While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They said to him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Acts 19 [3.] He said, “Into what then were you baptized?”
They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
Acts 19 [4.] Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”
Acts 19 [5.] When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with other languages and prophesied. They were about twelve men in all. He entered into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning God’s Kingdom.
Acts 19 [9.] But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
Meaning:
Paul kept his promise to return to Ephesus (Acts 18:21), the great city of the province of Asia. There he met about twelve “disciples” who, like Apollos before them (Acts 18:24-25), knew only the baptism of John. This short dialogue is one of the passages in Acts most discussed by readers who want to understand how a person receives the Holy Spirit.
- “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
Something about these men made Paul ask. Luke calls them “disciples,” a word he normally uses for followers of Jesus, yet their answer shows they had not heard the full message. Paul’s question assumes that receiving the Spirit is a normal and recognizable part of Christian beginnings. Paul later wrote, “if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his” (Romans 8:9).
- “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit”
These men probably knew the Old Testament teaching about God’s Spirit. What they had not heard was that the Spirit had now been given. John had promised that the one coming after him would baptize “in the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16), but they did not know that this promise had been fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2:4).
- “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance”
Paul did not dismiss John. John’s baptism was from God and prepared people for the Messiah (Luke 3:3). But John himself pointed beyond himself, telling people to “believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.” Paul simply completed what John had begun. The disciples believed and were baptized “in the name of the Lord Jesus,” as Peter had urged at Pentecost (Acts 2:38). This is the only account in the New Testament of people being baptized a second time, and it happened because their first baptism had not been into Jesus.
- “When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them”
The Spirit came, and they “spoke with other languages and prophesied,” as at Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:46). At Samaria, too, the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on new believers (Acts 8:17). In other conversions in Acts, tongues are not mentioned at all (for example Acts 2:41).
Christians read this passage in different ways. Pentecostal and charismatic believers often see it as evidence that a distinct experience of the Spirit, frequently marked by speaking in tongues, can follow conversion. Many others understand these men as not yet Christian believers at all, so that their baptism and receiving of the Spirit together form their conversion; they point to texts such as “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). Some also see the outward signs in Acts 2, 8, 10 and 19 as marking key stages in the spread of the Good News. The text clearly teaches that faith in Jesus, baptism in his name and the gift of the Spirit belong together, and that the Spirit’s coming was evident.
The Significance of Acts 19:1-7
- John prepares, Jesus fulfills
Repentance is necessary, but it is not the whole message. John’s ministry pointed to Jesus, and the Christian faith rests on Jesus himself and his gift of the Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit is for every believer
Paul’s question is still worth asking. The Spirit is not an optional extra but God’s promised gift to all who believe, “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
- Gentle completion of what is lacking
Paul did not scorn these sincere men. He asked questions, listened and taught. Their sincere but partial faith became full faith in Christ.
Cross-References:
Luke 3:16: "He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire," John’s promise fulfilled at Ephesus.
Acts 2:38: Peter called people to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and promised the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:17: "Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit." A similar event at Samaria.
Ephesians 1:13: "having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit," Paul’s later words to the church at Ephesus.
Conclusion: At Ephesus Paul met disciples who knew only John’s baptism and had not heard that the Holy Spirit had been given. He explained that John had pointed to Jesus; they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid hands on them the Spirit came on them, with tongues and prophecy. Believers understand the details differently, but all can see that faith in Jesus, baptism and the gift of the Spirit belong together.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible