Paul's Ministry At Ephesus

Acts 19:1–7 “Now it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper regions and came to Ephesus and found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. Now there were in all about twelve men.”

Luke writes in Acts 19:1 “And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth the capital city of Achaia, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples”

Towards the end of Paul’s 2nd missionary journey in Ephesus, he had told many of the Jews in the synagogue that he would return to them, God willing. Paul who is now on his 3rd missionary journey, has made good on his promise to return to Ephesus after going to the region of Galatia and Phrygia to strengthen the disciples. Once Paul came to Ephesus, he found some disciples. We find out later in v.7 that there were 12 in total who were disciples. The word disciple [mathetes /math·ay·tes/]means learner or follower of someone. In the NT the word disciple is widely used to either describe followers of Jesus Christ, disciples of the Pharisees (Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33), and disciples of John the Baptist (Matt 9:14). There were disciples of Jesus Christ who were not saved but followed him because of his miracles, but as soon as Jesus began teaching “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood” they stopped following him (John 6:66).

Paul had his suspicions about the disciples that he met. So begins to question them to find out if they were saved.

Acts 19:2 “And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received.”” 

Paul’s question was significant because if they had received the Holy Spirit, that would be proof that they were saved. Their answer to Paul that they had not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received indicates that they were unfamiliar with out pouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus Christ on the day of Pentecost, which is problematic because according to v.3 they were disciples of John the Baptist and he taught that the Christ would come one day and baptize with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8), so they must have forgot this teaching or missed hearing about it, but more importantly their answer that they hadn’t heard if the Holy Spirit is being received proved that they were not saved.  This is because the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is proof that a person has been saved.

(Book, Chapter, and Verse)

John 3:5 “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

Acts 11:15–18 ““And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could prevent God’s way?” And when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.””

Romans 8:9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

Ephesians 1:13“In Him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,”

Titus 3:5 “He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”

1 John 3:24“And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave us.”

1 John 4:13“By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

It is the indwelling work by the Holy Spirit that enables a person to repent, believe in Christ, be saved, and sealed in Christ. No person can be saved apart from the Holy Spirit.

This leads Paul to ask yet another question to find out who they were disciples of.

Acts 19:3 “And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.””

Why does Paul ask them in what manner they were baptized? It's because disciples of Jesus Christ were instructed to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19).  These men revealed that they were disciples of John the Baptist. And I mentioned earlier that John the Baptist had taught his disciples that the Christ would come and baptize with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:7-8). This further proves that these disciples were unfamiliar with the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. For if these disciples had been saved, they would have been baptized into Jesus’ name after they had believed.

Acts 2:38 “And Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 2:41 “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.”

Acts 18:8 “And Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.”

Acts 19:4–5“Then Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Paul explains to them that John’s baptism was for repentance of sins and to prepare people for the coming of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:2-4). These men believed that Messiah would come one day, but they had no idea that the promised Messiah had come in the person of Jesus Christ, and they certainly didn’t know about Holy Spirit. But by the grace of God when they heard what Paul had taught them, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, which immediately united them with Jesus by faith.

Acts 19:6–7“And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. Now there were in all about twelve men.”

Luke records the only time in the Acts where the laying on of hands followed baptism. I point this out because some believe that this text is evidence that laying on of hands was a practice during baptism by the early church. Now remember, these 12 men only knew about John’s baptism. They never heard about the Holy Spirit, so Paul laying hands on them would convey to them that they are now included in the church by the evidence of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by the outward manifestation of speaking in tongues, not ecstatic gibberish that is practiced by those in the charismatic movement. These were known languages that were being spoken by these men; languages that they had never learned, and they began to prophesy just like on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:4–11“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. So they were astounded and marveling, saying, “Behold, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? “And how is it that we each hear them in our own language in which we were born? “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the district of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”

In the book of Acts the speaking in tongues always served as evidence that Gentiles had received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and their salvation experience was no different than the Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 10:43–48“Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the word. And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter answered, “Can anyone refuse water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for a few days.”

This would be Luke’s last recorded manifestation of tongues and there is no more mentioning about the gifts tongues after 1 Corinthians, and Paul said that the sign gift of tongues would cease (1Cor 13:8). And this became evident because not all the Corinthians spoke in tongues (1 Cor 14:5). Today Charismatic still misinterprets Scriptures to say that a person hasn’t received the Holy Spirit unless you have had the evidence of speaking tongues. This cannot be further from the truth. Every person has the indwelling Holy Spirit at the time of their conversion.

Paul’s ministry at Ephesus shows us how to interact with those who have different beliefs. He probed these disciples to find out if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. His inquiry about their beliefs opened the door for him to witness the gospel of Christ to them, in which they, by God’s grace they had believed and were baptized. You will come into contact with people who have all sorts of different beliefs. Ask them questions to find out about their beliefs are and this will allow you to witness the gospel of Christ to them. And if by the grace of God, they too will come to believe in Christ for salvation.