While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
On hearing this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. Acts 19:1-7
It’s around 52 AD, some twenty-odd years after Jesus was crucified, and after the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church on the day of Pentecost. And it’s in Ephesus, a major city of the Roman empire, about 600 miles from Jerusalem.
That’s the setting for a very odd story.
Paul has paid an earlier, fleeting visit to Ephesus (Acts 18:19-21), but now he returns for what will turn out to be a far longer stay. And no sooner has he arrived than he comes across a puzzling group of people. Luke refers to them as “disciples”, which generally means “Christians”, but in the story I’ve quoted above it appears that they might be better described as “disciples of John the Baptist”, not of Jesus at all.
How so? Well, they have never received any baptism apart from the one given by John (verse 3); it seems they haven’t been baptised into Jesus. Indeed, the way Paul mentions Jesus makes you wonder if they knew his name at all. But then, neither have they ever heard of the Holy Spirit (verse 2)! – in spite of the clear teaching of John as recorded in, say, Mark 1:8. How confusing is this!
You can almost hear Paul’s mind whirring into gear: “Mmm, there’s something not quite right here! Something missing!”
As a result, he does two things. First, he baptises them again, but this time “in the name of the Lord Jesus”; and second, he prays for them with the laying on of hands so that that they not only believe in the Holy Spirit, but actually experience him in a very tangible way, namely with “tongues” and “prophesy”.
The story bristles with intriguing questions…
Who were these men? Members of some kind of “John the Baptist sect”? If so, how come it had survived for over twenty years since John’s death? And how come these men were located in a big centre of imperial Rome, six hundred miles from Galilee, Judah and Jerusalem?
Still more… Were these men “Christians”? Or should we call them “not-quite-Christians”? or “sort-of-Christians”? or, perhaps, “half-Christians”? If they really were disciples of John the Baptist, how come they had missed the fact that all he was bothered about was to point people to Jesus, not draw them to himself? Wasn’t this the man who spoke those wonderful words, “He must become greater, I must become less” (John 3:30)?
What’s going on?
I wish I knew all the answers. I don’t, of course – but in that respect I find I’m in good company among Bible-teachers and real experts. Still, this strange episode suggests two or three lessons worth noticing.
First, it corrects any idea we may have had that early Christianity, even in New Testament days, was completely uniform.
It wasn’t! Quite apart from Acts 19, the book as a whole makes clear that there were various “schools of thought” among different Christian groups – perhaps especially between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians (you can follow that up in Acts 15 and in Galatians if you like).
Second, it suggests that if that was the case in the earliest days, how much more is it likely to be the case today!
Our world is far more complicated than theirs, with a massive multiplicity of religious ideas, some pretty much Christian, others barely so, and others decidedly not. So let’s not be surprised if we come across “Christians” with somewhat wacky views.
Third, it warns us to be very careful about nailing our colours to rickety masts.
I don’t have any doubt that dear, faithful, Jesus-centred John the Baptist would have been utterly horrified to know that there were “disciples of John the Baptist” so long after Easter and Pentecost. (I suspect too that Martin Luther would be bemused if he knew that a whole denomination was named after him; or John Calvin, that there is a branch of Christianity which likes to call itself “Calvinist” – hear Paul on this sort of thing in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17!)
Pigeon-holes are, no doubt, very useful things for letters, keys and such-like (maybe even for pigeons!), but they aren’t designed for people to be squashed into. People are individual, varied and different, with messy lives, messy views – and sometimes messy doctrines. Let’s get used to it.
But… not too used to it!
We mustn’t miss the fact that once Paul had spotted the odd situation of the “disciples” in Ephesus, he decided to do something about it. He wasn’t content to let it rest as if it didn’t matter. And neither should we.
So… If we come across “sort-of-Christians” who are obviously confused, untaught or half-taught on various matters, it is the responsibility of those who have a reasonable grasp of Bible teaching to help them towards a fuller understanding – with, of course, patience, sensitivity and love.
Only may God grant us the grace and power of the Holy Spirit to do it well!
Lord God, enable me always to say of Jesus, “He must become greater, I must become less”. And help me too to patiently and lovingly lead others to say the same, however strange some of their ideas might be. Amen.
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
On hearing this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. Acts 19:1-7
It’s around 52 AD, some twenty-odd years after Jesus was crucified, and after the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church on the day of Pentecost. And it’s in Ephesus, a major city of the Roman empire, about 600 miles from Jerusalem.
That’s the setting for a very odd story.
Paul has paid an earlier, fleeting visit to Ephesus (Acts 18:19-21), but now he returns for what will turn out to be a far longer stay. And no sooner has he arrived than he comes across a puzzling group of people. Luke refers to them as “disciples”, which generally means “Christians”, but in the story I’ve quoted above it appears that they might be better described as “disciples of John the Baptist”, not of Jesus at all.
How so? Well, they have never received any baptism apart from the one given by John (verse 3); it seems they haven’t been baptised into Jesus. Indeed, the way Paul mentions Jesus makes you wonder if they knew his name at all. But then, neither have they ever heard of the Holy Spirit (verse 2)! – in spite of the clear teaching of John as recorded in, say, Mark 1:8. How confusing is this!
You can almost hear Paul’s mind whirring into gear: “Mmm, there’s something not quite right here! Something missing!”
As a result, he does two things. First, he baptises them again, but this time “in the name of the Lord Jesus”; and second, he prays for them with the laying on of hands so that that they not only believe in the Holy Spirit, but actually experience him in a very tangible way, namely with “tongues” and “prophesy”.
The story bristles with intriguing questions…
Who were these men? Members of some kind of “John the Baptist sect”? If so, how come it had survived for over twenty years since John’s death? And how come these men were located in a big centre of imperial Rome, six hundred miles from Galilee, Judah and Jerusalem?
Still more… Were these men “Christians”? Or should we call them “not-quite-Christians”? or “sort-of-Christians”? or, perhaps, “half-Christians”? If they really were disciples of John the Baptist, how come they had missed the fact that all he was bothered about was to point people to Jesus, not draw them to himself? Wasn’t this the man who spoke those wonderful words, “He must become greater, I must become less” (John 3:30)?
What’s going on?
I wish I knew all the answers. I don’t, of course – but in that respect I find I’m in good company among Bible-teachers and real experts. Still, this strange episode suggests two or three lessons worth noticing.
First, it corrects any idea we may have had that early Christianity, even in New Testament days, was completely uniform.
It wasn’t! Quite apart from Acts 19, the book as a whole makes clear that there were various “schools of thought” among different Christian groups – perhaps especially between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians (you can follow that up in Acts 15 and in Galatians if you like).
Second, it suggests that if that was the case in the earliest days, how much more is it likely to be the case today!
Our world is far more complicated than theirs, with a massive multiplicity of religious ideas, some pretty much Christian, others barely so, and others decidedly not. So let’s not be surprised if we come across “Christians” with somewhat wacky views.
Third, it warns us to be very careful about nailing our colours to rickety masts.
I don’t have any doubt that dear, faithful, Jesus-centred John the Baptist would have been utterly horrified to know that there were “disciples of John the Baptist” so long after Easter and Pentecost. (I suspect too that Martin Luther would be bemused if he knew that a whole denomination was named after him; or John Calvin, that there is a branch of Christianity which likes to call itself “Calvinist” – hear Paul on this sort of thing in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17!)
Pigeon-holes are, no doubt, very useful things for letters, keys and such-like (maybe even for pigeons!), but they aren’t designed for people to be squashed into. People are individual, varied and different, with messy lives, messy views – and sometimes messy doctrines. Let’s get used to it.
But… not too used to it!
We mustn’t miss the fact that once Paul had spotted the odd situation of the “disciples” in Ephesus, he decided to do something about it. He wasn’t content to let it rest as if it didn’t matter. And neither should we.
So… If we come across “sort-of-Christians” who are obviously confused, untaught or half-taught on various matters, it is the responsibility of those who have a reasonable grasp of Bible teaching to help them towards a fuller understanding – with, of course, patience, sensitivity and love.
Only may God grant us the grace and power of the Holy Spirit to do it well!
Lord God, enable me always to say of Jesus, “He must become greater, I must become less”. And help me too to patiently and lovingly lead others to say the same, however strange some of their ideas might be. Amen.
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