Acts 19:1-7
1 Now it happened that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples.
2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “On the contrary, we have not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
4 Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.
7 There were about twelve men in all.
Salvation of the Twelve Disciples (3)
The influence of the forerunner, John the Baptist
The influence of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, endured for a long time. Here are some verses from the Acts of the Apostles related to John the Baptist: (1) Acts 1:5 (Words of the resurrected Jesus): “For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (2) Acts 11:16 (Words of Peter): “And I stared at it and was thinking about it, and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the crawling creatures, and the birds of the sky.” (3) Acts 13:25 (Words of Paul): “And while John was completing his course, he kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He…” (4) Acts 18:25 (Apollos’s spiritual state): “This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was accurately speaking and teaching things about Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John.” (5) Acts 19:3-4 (The state of the disciples in Ephesus): “And he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ And they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Paul said, ‘John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’”
Paul’s teaching
“Paul said, ‘John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’” (1) Paul explained the gospel to them. The same thing that Aquila and Priscilla had explained to Apollos was happening here. (a) The role of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for the Messiah. (b) That preparation involved administering a baptism of repentance to the people. (2) Paul taught them about Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Luke does not record this explicitly, as it is naturally implied. “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (1) They believed the gospel that Paul proclaimed, thus becoming disciples of Jesus. As a result of their faith, they received water baptism. (2) Let’s compare other translations. “They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (KJV). “They were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus” (ASV). The latter is a better translation. Baptism is uniting with Jesus Christ. Those who believe in Jesus are united with Him through the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is the outward expression of this spiritual reality. Let us rejoice in the fact that through faith in Jesus, we have been made a part of the body of Christ, His church.
Today's prayer
Gracious Father God, I thank You that through faith in the gospel, I have been united with Your Son Jesus and made a part of the church. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.